I decided to start my online presence with a blog while I work on my portfolio. I expect my portfolio to take at least 6 months to prepare. In the meantime, I'll write posts and see what happens.
This post will discuss how to setup a blog with Blogger and then use a custom domain name for your blog, such as www.mydomain.com.
STEP 1
Get a Gmail or Google Apps account. Blogger is now owned by Google and they require you to have a Google account.
I have a Google Apps Pro account, which is more advanced. It allows me to receive email at a custom address that's not "@gmail.com".
STEP 2
Create your Blogger account and create the blog. This has been completely streamlined. Just find the "B" logo on your Google account, click on it, type in the name you want to call your blog, then click Create.
Here are detailed instructions: How to Start a Blog on Blogger
STEP 3
I recommend creating a few posts and customizing how the blog looks.
STEP 4
Get a custom domain name. I like using GoDaddy. Use the search field to see if your domain name is available. The domain name is what you want to call your website. For example, the domain name for this blog is www.mualisa.net. Find something you want and purchase it. I usually don't purchase any add-ons.
Congratulations, you're almost there!
STEP 5
Link your custom domain name to your blog. In other words, when you type in www.yourdomain.com, you will be forward to your Blogger site. Your Blogger site will be your website.
This step has a few sub-tasks. You'll edit some things on the GoDaddy administrator panel and then you will edit some things on you Blogger account.
Follow these instructions are from GoDaddy to map your domain name to your Blogger site.
Additional Instructions:
Custom Domain Setup on Blogger with Godaddy.com
STEP 6
Create a CNAME record at Blogger for your custom domain.
This is another thing you need to do in order to connect your Blogger site to your custom domain name.
Instructions:
https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/58317
More instructions for using a custom domain name for your Blogger site:
https://support.google.com/blogger/troubleshooter/1233381?rd=1
- There will be check boxes you fill in to continue the instructions as you follow.
You'll notice when you update your Blogger settings. It will give you an error message.
blog.mualisa.com is forward to www.mualisa.com.
Other things:
1) Change MX records at GoDaddy or your domain provider. When you send to you@yourdomain.com, the mail will be sent to your domain account hosted by Google Apps.
Google instructions for changing your MX records - do this at GoDaddy or wherever you're registered.
https://support.google.com/a/answer/174125
2) Change CNAME records.
https://support.google.com/a/answer/47283?hl=en
Again, do this to forward your blog.yourdomain.com and calendar.yourdomain.com to your Google Apps account.
3) Add a domain alias at Google Apps if you own more than one domain. I use this to send email using different domains.
https://support.google.com/a/answer/53295
4) Edit account settings in Google Apps to send out using a different email address. I noticed I need to wait awhile in order for the domain alias change to propagate. This can take a few hours.
