Setting up Custom Domain Name on Blogspot / Blogger
Blogger/Blogspot is one of the most popular destinations for bloggers both new and experienced. When you sign up for a blogger account or use your existing Google account to create a blog you will get a blog with a URL like yourblogname.blogspot.com. This is a good way to start your first blog. However as you climb the ladders of popularity in blogosphere you will want to have your own domain name like www.yourblogname.com instead of the one above. Blogspot allows for this easily through their blog management interface.
The first step in the process is obviously to register a domain for yourself. We provide one of the cheapest domain registration services in the market. You can checkout http://domains.zyxware.co.in for the latest prices and register for yourself your own domain name. A .com domain goes at Rs. 350 (Approximately USD 8.75).
Godaddy.com who is claiming to the cheapest domain registrar sells their .com domains at USD 9.99. Clearly we have beaten even Godaddy. Even though we have listed the prices in Indian rupees you can still make a payment using US Dollars or any other currency of your preference. Just proceed with the payment and you will be given the option while making your payment using the Paypal interface integrated with the system.
Once you register your domain you will have to set a cname record for 'www' pointing to the following hostname - ghs.google.com. Just send us an email at domains at zyxware.com and we will gladly do this for you. If you already have your domain then you can create an account at xhttp://domains.zyxware.co.in and transfer the domain to your account with us and we will do the rest for you.
If you already have a domain registered with another registrar and would not like to move your services to us or if you would like to register your domain with another registrar you are free to do so. Blogspot has provided sufficient documentation on how to setup cname records with other registrars - http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=55373. We will still try to help you with questions but we may not be able to guarantee you results.
If you are a professional grade blogger or if you grow into one you will soon feel needs that blogspot will not be able to satisfy. At that point you will want to host your own blog. We have different hosting plans that you might want to consider in such a situation. Look at Zyxware Hosting Plans to see details and rates.
Having your own domain name gives you one freedom - the freedom to move away from Blogspot when you feel like doing so. One will have to admire Blogger for giving you this freedom even though it might allow for attrition in their user count. Blogger also gives you detailed instructions on exporting your blogspot blog. This is not in any standard format but we should be able to help you import it into any other bloging application like wordpress or drupal. Just send us a note using the Contact Us page and we can work out a solution for you.
In any case feel free to ask us your questions using the comments forms below and we will try to help you in whatever way we can. Happy Blogging.
