If you blog on blogger you'll be only too aware that Google moved all UK based .blogspot.com blogs over to .blogspot.co.uk addresses a couple of weeks ago. Unsurprisingly it's caused lots of issues including a huge drop in visitor numbers, loss of comments and posts simply not redirecting at all.
All of my personal blogs are on blogger but they all have custom URL's and as a result I haven't experienced any problems at all with the switch over.
The blogger forums are full of questions but not many answers, so one thing you could try is switching to a custom domain of your own.
I know this sounds pretty scary if you don't like to mess with the back end of your blog but since Blogger introduced the ability to buy a domain (through Go Daddy), it's actually really easy to do and you don't have to worry about messing up any coding.
Here's a step by step guide...
My blog address is currently www.sian-to.blogspot.com and I want it to be www.londonundergroundlover.com. Here's how to make the switch.
1. Open your blogger dashboard and go to Settings.
2. In Publishing click on Add a custom domain.
Type in the custom domain that you want to switch to.
The domains that you can buy through bloggers are limited to .com, .net, .biz, .org and .info so it's a good idea to do a search to see if yours is available before you start. You can search for available domain names here.
The domain that I want to buy is http://www.sian-to.com, it's available to I'm good to go.
3. Click Continue to registration.
4. Fill in your registration details and make sure the box for Automatically renew my registration every year is ticked.
Please do this because if you don't you will wake up a year from now with your url pointing back to Go Daddy...
I'm talking from personal experience here and it is a stress that you really can do without.
5. Click Proceed to checkout and pay.
6. On confirmation page click on Click here to retrieve your purchase.
This will take you back to your blog Settings page and you will see that my www.sian-toblogspot.com address is now redirecting to www.sian-to.com.
4. Fill in your registration details and make sure the box for Automatically renew my registration every year is ticked.
Please do this because if you don't you will wake up a year from now with your url pointing back to Go Daddy...
I'm talking from personal experience here and it is a stress that you really can do without.
5. Click Proceed to checkout and pay.
6. On confirmation page click on Click here to retrieve your purchase.
This will take you back to your blog Settings page and you will see that my www.sian-toblogspot.com address is now redirecting to www.sian-to.com.
And that people is it.
Sometimes it can take up to 48 hours for the re-direct to kick into place. This one was instant as I set up a new blog to walk you through the process.
Please note that Blogger domain registrations are limited to .com, .net, .biz, .org and .info and the registration price is $10 a year (about £8).
I had to start a new blog to walk through this step by step... so www.londonundergroundlover.com will be the new home to my Instagram tunnel fixation. I do hope you will stop by from time to time?!
Any probs give me a shout and I will endeavour to help.
UPDATE: If you've worked through this tutorial and you are getting the 'Another blog or Google Site is already using this address' error, you will find a simple fix here.
You seriously are a star! Thank you for doing this, I owe you one! Actually, I owe a lot of people 'one' for helping me with techie problems, including the fabulous Nickie O'Hara.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to sit down this week and get this sorted out. I've got a few blogs that I'll mess with before I do it with CJ, I don't have much faith in myself, lol.
Thanks again, Sian.
CJ x
Amazing!!!!!!!
ReplyDeletethank you for this post, I have bought my domain!
thanks again
I've noticed loads of blogger .com blogs redirecting to the .co.uk
ReplyDeleteversion. It appears that if you go to the .com you are automatically
redirected, so dont know why you would lose traffic? I always think it
looks better to have a proper domain rather than .blogspot.com.
OMG with Nickie holding my hand, I have just made the switch to www.superamazingmum.com
ReplyDeleteNow how do I go about changing everything??! We need a part 2 please missy!!!
Thanks Sian. When the email arrives about Google Apps and DNS (?!) is there anything that needs to be done? Here's mine:
ReplyDeleteAdvanced DNS settings
Sign in to godaddy to change your MX records, CNAME and other advanced DNS settings.Redirect the naked domain (http://bloggomy.com) to http://www.bloggomy.comChange redirectTo enable this redirect, you must change the A record with your domain host.
Thanks for that advice. Much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteDisclaimer: I don't have any connections to any of the ranking sites. This is just stuff I've picked up along my way...
ReplyDeleteChanging your URL will have an affect on your rankings, at least certainly eBuzzing (wikio as was) and Tots100, which are the two I know most about. That is because these rankings are calculated in part based on the number and quality of links from other sites to your own. Since your site will change URL, any links you've built up on the old URL will no longer count, and you'll need to wait whilst your links build up on your new URL.
Typically it would take about 6 months for your ranking to recover to where it was before. BUT it's worth doing because once you've got your own domain name you'll never have to change again, even if you decide to leave Blogger in the future
You'll also lose your Google PageRank, and it will take a similar amount of time for this to recover, but it's harder to predict as Google only update their PageRanks sporadically.
Hope this helps!
You seriously are a star! Thank you for doing this, I owe you one! Actually, I owe a lot of people 'one' for helping me with techie problems, including the fabulous Nickie O'Hara. I'm going to sit down this week and get this sorted out. I've got a few blogs that I'll mess with before I do it with CJ, I don't have much faith in myself, lol. Thanks again, Sian. CJ x on
ReplyDeleteI followed the tutorial, it was very easy to follow and pictures really helped
ReplyDeleteI have total faith in your ability. Do come back and let me know when it's all switched over.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know you had a paranormal blog, what's the URL?
Sian, thanks again for this tutorial. I've just bought the domain name for my paranormal blog Marvellous Mable and it did seem to work - they took my money at any rate!! It hasn't changed over yet so as you say here, I'll wait a couple of days to make sure. Once I can see it's all worked fine on MM, I'll think about doing it with CJ - I have NO faith in myself!!
ReplyDeleteCJ x
Hi New Dad,
ReplyDeleteNo it's not the same. You can't self host blogger blogs.
Thanks for this, I've been wondering about changing mine since I started it a couple of months back. Pardon the newbie question, but this isn't the same as self hosting, is it?
ReplyDeleteYou're right, it doesn't really matter and I'm not high on any lists anyway. It's just someone said I should be cautious before leaping into a domain change and it's made me nervous as I'm not tech-minded at the best of times.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post and your advice. Will mull over...as usual!
Well I just clicked on it and I got your site! Hurray to that!
ReplyDeleteDid you follow the tutorial or did you just go ahead and do it? I would like to know that it works for people!
Trish,
ReplyDeleteDon't get hung up about rankings....
But if you are concerned I would suggest speaking to someone at the ranking sites to clarify. I've never really been bothered because to me it's about my blog and not where I am on a list.
Lou, did you do it as above?
ReplyDeleteI didn't get an email. What you see above are the exact steps that i took.
I've been thinking about doing this but am worried about how rankings are affected as I have had my blogspot name for some time. Are there any disadvantages I should consider?
ReplyDeleteThank you, I've just registered my custom address. Fingers crossed I've done it all right.
ReplyDeleteboorooandtiggertoo.com