Friends, I have been trying to get my official dot-com up and running again instead of using this freebie Blogspot address. Blogspot is all well and good, and much more credible as a web address than it was seven years ago when I started this blog, but Dorkabetic.com just has such a pleasant ring to it.
So my domain name expired, and Google made it pretty difficult to just renew it through them. I hadn't set up autopay, so they wanted me to log in to my Google Apps account. Google Apps, for what I needed it for, was no longer free. I did some reading and decided to get a new domain name host.
I chose GoDaddy for decent reviews and overall affordability. I was happy about this decision.
I still haven't gotten Dorkabetic.com back on the net, except for a Google 404 page with a cute little robot on it.
I'm not a web designer (beyond a WYSIWYG editor), and I sadly have not yet learned to code. I'm not sure how to fix my issue here, mostly because I'm not sure what the issue is. I've followed a couple of sets of directions to the T, and still, Adorable Googlebot says Adorable 404.
Do any of you have experience connecting your Blogspot name to your domain? Admittedly, I can spend more time on the phone with GoDaddy customer service about this, but I always think of these problems in the middle of the day at work when I can't spend all afternoon on the phone with GoDaddy customer service. If anybody has any tricks or easy solutions for me, I'm all ears.
Professionally speaking, I need to get back on my feet with all of my writing, blog included. Having my own shiny URL makes things feel more important to me. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
I have my domain(s) registered with a GoDaddy competitor (who was cheaper), but the process is basically the same either way.
ReplyDeleteYou must first have acquired your domain name; by the way, you might consider seeing if GoDaddy can acquire your now-expired domain from Google since you once owned it. There may be some technical stuff about doing that which I cannot answer, but I believe you must enable the domain to be released in your former host's account settings (in your case, Google). I owned one domain which I originally registered with Yahoo! and it was a pain in the ass to deal with, so I had my new registrar acquire that domain from Yahoo! (I was the domain name owner and had to release it in my Yahoo! account settings). Maybe that's too much, and not worth noting because of the complexity, but I thought I'd mention it.
Anyway, in Blogger, you will then need to create what they call a CNAME record for your new, customized domain name (see instructions at http://goo.gl/jzfGij). CNAME stands for "Canonical Name", and ii is an entry within the broad internet Domain Name System (DNS) which specifies where a user can find your web pages, or any other URL. You'll use the CNAME to associate your custom domain with your blog. By the way, the CNAME setup process for newly-purchased domains and Blogger may take up to 24 hours.
Once that is done, you need to go to your GoDaddy account, and configure your domain (which was registered with them). Blogger has good instructions on how to do that (see http://goo.gl/7QCbSv).
One final thought: If you decide to switch from Google's Blogger to a different blog host (such as WordPress); they may facilitate much of the dirty-work for you. That might be something to consider, although porting your design and everything might be more complicated than you want to do right now.
Hope that helps!
I just stay on the phone with the GoDaddy people until my problem is solved. And I think their helpline is 24/7
ReplyDelete