The complexities of long term commitment: Moving to a private domain

I am going to leap sometime in 2013. Haven't decided on a domain name, except that it won't be the present name.

With regards to setting it up, I currently on Blogger, but have heard that it is possible to build a proper websitey blog on Wordpress. So my plan is to start slowly setting it up on Wordpress, copy all my articles to that site, and then export it to the private domain. No idea if this makes sense or not.

SM I maybe moving in a couple of days already have a test page on test.comboupdates.com.  Actually I like blogger but blogger is google dependent and I dont like that.  I did like to own my own host so that I get complete authority on what I have on weboshpere.  And the external benefits like unlimited subdomains, emails etc. are add incentives.  Also own hosting lets you put in place may scripts which are not possible in blogger.  The Plugin are a good example of that. 

If you want I can help you in moving if  you want 

Thanks a lot Vijay, and don't mind if I hold you to what you said about the help with moving!

Sure SM you can send me a mail at support at comboupdates.com when you want to move

WordPress is not necessarily better than Blogger. After having two sites on self-hosted WP, I decided to host my third one on Blogger (with a custom domain and a custom theme). Just compare the load-time of any self-hosted WP blog, to a blog hosted on Blogger - You'll be shocked with the result. This was my primary reason for shifting to Blogger. Besides, all the basic elements you need to maintain a decent blog, is available with blogger as well. The real (and only) factor that will differentiate you from others is content - not the platform.  

DI agree with you wholeheartedly but somewhere blogger has its own restrictions. 

Destination I get what you say, but the reason I am eyeing WP is that I have seen some really websitey blogs on WP- with overhead tabs and dropdown menus and Facebook comments. It helps you appear legit. I know content is king, my current blog has 0 frills, but I want it to lose the label of a 'blog', because I want to build a 'website'. I think that makes a lot of difference to the casual viewer.

@ Stagg Mann The template is what makes them look like websites. Not the blogging platform. 

Chcek these two templates : 1 2 They both are blogger templates but still look professional. You can see more here.

The first one looks good for The Sorcerer 

Right Vijay 

And @SM That site : http://www.templateism.com/ : is on blogger. Sounds unbelievable, doesn't it? 

If your blog is well established, then try choosing a domain name similar to the one you had on blogger. Domain names cost around 500 Rs per year. Sometimes, you will come across premium domain names which cost more than the normal price ( thousands of rupees ) . In such cases, I would suggest to go for another name instead of spending extra money. 

Setting up the domain name may either be an easy task or a difficult task depending on the technical knowledge you have. If you find it too hard to understand those instructions, ask someone whom you trust to set it up. ( It takes nothing more than 2-3 minutes.)

If you are moving from Blogger to wordpress, one thing you should do is to redirect the url's properly. Otherwise, people who visit your old blogspot pages will leave empty handed.

And about the wordpress vs Blogger thing, if it is a personal blog, I suggest staying with blogger. Using blogger is much easier than using Wordpress and there is no need to worry about security, hacking etc. And it might happen that you might take a long break or quit blogging. For a wordpress blog, you will have to pay for both hosting and domain even for an inactive blog. If you use a custom domain with blogger, you will have to pay only for the domain name. Also, as DI mentioned, speed of blogger blogs is faster.

But if you want to highly customise your blog, then wordpress is the right thing. You can do anything you want with it and there are very few limitations. 

Now, coming to me, I prefer writing my own cms. 

What is the name of your CMS Ranjith   You should have a name for your CMS like RJ or something.  It has a tremendous potential in future

I never wrote a cms.  I am yet to create one for my site. 

Let me tap the potential after a few years ( or decades ) 

Ranjith my definition of customization is adding a Facebook comments box and a Like button, overhead menu tabs, and a JPEG of the website name and tagline. That's it, nothing else, no flash or music or what have you. Is it possible to get that on Blogger alone?

Btw my blog is technically a 'personal blog', but I want to lose that label and want it to be known as a 'comedy website'. The stuff about not having to pay for hosting if you are on Blogger is news to me. I thought the way it worked was you export your Blogger blog to whatever private domain you purchased and pay for the domain name. Actually now that I type it, I realize I don't know the difference between paying for domain and paying for hosting. Please explain :), I'm not a techie, just a writer.

SM it can indeed be done with blogger itself.  And you can buy the domain name minus hosting very cheap.  You can get it from google too.  Go to your blogger dashboard and edit redirect part and you can choose googles option of custom domain.  I am right now on a custom domain with blogger host.  

All the customizations that you are talking about can be done very easily on blogger. The customisations that I was talking about are something like - creating top commenter badges for top commenters which will be shown beside their comments, adding a forum to your blog etc.

There are two things - domain and hosting. Your website is stored on some computer which has an address ( something like 192.142.151.241 ) When someone types www.websitename.com, he will be shown the website which is there on that computer.

1. The name www.websitename.com and the translation of websitename.com to that number is a part of the domain.
2. The storage space on the computer for your site is a part of the hosting.

Free Blogger - Your blog is stored on Google's computers ( servers ) They are also giving you a domain name myname.blogspot.com. You are neither paying paying for the domain name nor the space on their server.

When you go for a custom domain name for blogger, you will have a domain name www.myownname.com for which you will pay. Your website is still there on Google's servers which is free.

SItes on wordpress.com are similar to free Blogger blog's.

But, if you want a custom domain name ( similar to blogger ) you will have to pay some money ( apart from the normal charges of the domain ) 

You can buy your own hosting and domain and set up a wordpress.com blog. Here, you will pay for both domain and hosting.

Thanks Ranjith, this clears up a lot of doubt. But one doubt- you said Blogger blogs are hosted freely on Google servers. Doesnt the same apply to Wordpress sites? Or does Wordpress not host you freely when you get a custom domain? And why would anyone want to pay to host when there is a free option? As in is there any advantage?

Vijay I saw your comboupdates dot com. It says its powered by wordpress *confused*

Also, why is it showing test dot comboupdates dot com and not www dot comboupdates dot com, which is how I would want my own sitename to be displayed

@ Stagg Mann

Blogger blogs are hosted freely on Google servers. Doesn't the same apply to Wordpress sites?

Yes, it applies for wordpress.com blogs. 

Or does Wordpress not host you freely when you get a custom domain?

For a Blogger custom domain, you pay just for the domain ( you can buy the domain anywhere ) . But for wordpress custom domain, you pay for the domain ( which you can buy wherever you want ) + some extra money for allowing you to use custom domain.

And why would anyone want to pay to host when there is a free option? As in is there any advantage?

There are two wordpress platforms. One is wordpress.com and the other is wordpress.org. Wordpress.com is like blogger.com where they provide free ( xyz.wordpress.com ) domain as well as hosting. But wordpress.org is the open source version of wordpress.com. You will have to download the blogging software and upload it to your server and buy a domain name yourself. So, wordpress.com is completely free ( domain + hosting ) while wordpress.org is not free. They give you the software for free. You should buy the domain and hosting.

On wordpress.com blogs, you can use only the themes and plugins which are available here. Whereas, if you host a wordpress site on your own server, you can use any themes and plugins you want( many websites provide free themes and plugins which are not listed in the link I gave above - so these can be used only if you have your own hosting )  and also write your own themes and plugins. So, you have greater control over your blog.

Vijay I saw your comboupdates dot com. It says its powered by wordpress *confused*

Also, why is it showing test dot comboupdates dot com and not www dot comboupdates dot com, which is how I would want my own sitename to be displayed

You buy a domain like comboupdates.com ( by paying money ) . And then, you can add as many subdomains as you want to the main site ( without paying any extra money ) - for example - blog.comboupdates.com, forum.comboupdates.com, blog2.comboupdates.com, somename.comboupdates.com etc....

Vijay wanted to test wordpress. So, he is experimenting with it at blog.comboupdates.com. He installed wordpress.org on his server. That is why you are seeing 'powered by wordpress'. comboupdates.com still contains the blogger combo updates blog.

which is how I would want my own sitename to be displayed

When you buy a domain, you can buy something like staggmann.com and use that address for your blog.

SM I am moving on to custom host tonite so you are seen those changes.  the Test combo is a test domain.

As I said earlier blogger provides free hosting but ultimately it belongs to Google so technically you dont own your articles on blogger(for eg it may pull down a site for non compliance with its ToS).   Free hosting removes this technicality and makes you the boss of your own website.  

What Ranjith said is correct.  your blogname.wordpresss.com is a free blogging site just like blogger but doesnt allow monetization.  While if you can buy a host and install WP or any other CMS on it and make it customisable as you want it.  

Still confused???

Free hosting removes this technicality...

Paid Hosting. 

ok Sry no need to point out mistakes 

Sry

It's sorry not sry 

I'm going to sleep. I'll point out the mistakes in your next reply tomorrow morning. 

Its a shortcut lingo Ranjith and how can you go to sleep 

Why can't I? 

One problem I see with self hosting is eventually they get hacked. I find all these protecting against hacking, viruses, trojans worms whatever a big hassle. Blogger blog on the other hand is just like a simple e-mail account or Facebook account. It is safe and secure as long as you keep a nice strong password. 

@Ranjith: Thanks for your comment about difference between Wordpress.com and wordpress.org. I always held that you get to learn from other's blogs as well as forums. I didn't knew that wordpress supported free blog hosting on their platform.

Anyways, as for the custom domain names, I feel it's not much of a hassle. Atleast for blogs on blogger. All you have to do is purchase a domain name from any of the registrars like godaddy and bigrock (I'll suggest stay away from bigrock because of their pathetic customer service), and then assigning that domain name to your blog by visiting the blogger dashboard > Settings > Basic and Publishing. Also blogger has extensive help available to set these up in the correct manner, like updating the DNS records in the Control Panel of your domain name provider. This link helps you out setting up a blog on a custom domain. https://support.google.com/blogger/troubleshooter/1233381?hl=en#ts=1234251,1734115.

As far as Stagg Mann's concern of enhancements like adding image based site name, or logo, or header slideshows, or menus, it's still available in Blogger. All you have to do is to get your hands somewhat dirty with some coding atleast in HTML. You can google around for whatever you want, and it's there. All you have to do is find the correct thing you need, copy the code and use it properly. You can make changes to your blogger template by navigating to Blogger Dashboard > Template and Customize (If you want to use inbuilt settings) or Edit HTML if you need more bells and whistles. As far as hosting certain scripts are concerned, you have many alernatives. The latest I started working upon was a Google Site (sites.google.com) where you can upload almost any kind of file, and use a reference or a link to that file from there. I'm using Google Sites to use some CSS and JQuery scripts I'm using on my blog for that cool looking slideshow and that menu on my blog.

The Internet is full of reasons to opt a custom domain. Just type in benefits of using a custom domain on blogger.

The biggest benefit I see is that it's your online identity. Once you've started a blog, which you plan to make big, you've got to act fast, if you'd like to save your online presence, otherwise people are fast enough to take your brand name, and reap the benefits out of your hard work, once you're somewhat popular. This applies to Social Networking Sites too. Infact, I moved on to a custom domain within 15 days of starting my blog, and since then, I have been doing all things related to SEO and other promotion with that domain name. As far as prices of domain names are concerned, you can get one for as low as around Rs. 100 to as high as in lacs of rupees, but usually a .com domain costs ~350 to 500. Mine was for Rs. 379.

"All you have to do is to get your hands somewhat dirty with some coding atleast in HTML."

If only it was that easy for technologically disabled people like me Couple of months back, I just wanted to change the background of my blog on blogger. I had spent 4 hours for doing that unsuccessfully.

That was as easy as changing your phone's wallpaper and is available in the Templates > Customize >Background. All you need to do is just some search and lookout for getting things done.

And atleast a blogger who has stayed for as long as 6 months can't be called technologically diasbled. The thing is one doesn't want to know how to do it. If you're managing a blog on your own, you can't count yourself as technologically disabled.

CyberKID, you are saying that because you don't know how much I sweat to keep the blog the way I can manage it. I want to add plethora of plug-ins but I am not doing so because I simply don't know how. Also, I don't think they would do more than give me a headache in the future. Hence, I would still say I am technologically disabled  So I keep it simple and just write.

@ Pankti There are two ways of doing things - the easy way and the hard way. CK mentioned the easy way. You probably tried the hard way by experimenting with the code. 

Ranjith, do you think I am that crazy?  Just ask AV how easy it was supposed to be and what happened. He was trying to help me but after 4 hours, I was good and ready to give it up forever.  And I did.

@ Pankti: I hope you know how to google . If you know that, other things become just easy, though, you still can't expect to spend less time doing such things, but, you can definitely get things done.

Just for some help: Have you ever tried looking at the HTML code of the post? Try taking a look at that and with some trial and error, you can actually learn how to make that post much more customized than blogger lets us do. Have you ever tried composing a document on MS word and pasting in Blogger? You can actually retain the formatting you've done in MS word, and that same formatting, will appear in your blog post.

I too am not aware of too much HTML, CSS, Javascript, and JQuery, but admit that I've done somewhat programming (mainly in Microsoft Visual Basic and associated platforms including VB.NET and VBA), but, I still can implement those things (HTML, CSS, JQuery and Javascript) on my blog, with somewhat trial and error. I've implemented that JQuery and CSS based slideshow as a header in my blog (mind you all the pics used in that slideshow are grown and clicked by me), though it's working on Google Chrome and Firefox, I'm trying to get it work on MSIE as well. In the last two days, I've implemented that menu (that's properly working on Google Chrome only) I'm testing to get it corrected on firefox and MSIE (Internet Explorer). I'm working on some more items including a downloads page that would allow visitors to download the images of flowers that I've grown over a period of time and clicked pictures of with my cellphone.

So, in my opinion, knowing things don't matter much than having an intention to get them done. I'm relatively new to blogging, and thus unaware of blogger platform, which does things quite differently from plain HTML, Javascript and other such things, still, I'm doing it.

Poor AV 

Now, explain what crazy thing you did for it to take 4 hours. 

Great CK.

Ranjith, I had a pic that I wanted to keep in the background. But blogger wasn't accepting it due to the size issues. I tried to change it to the acceptable size in 10 different ways, with the help of AV. But to no avail. At last, I gave up and just selected the pre-existing look. Am still not happy about it. But I am living with it.

Pankti, send me the picture. I'll see if I can do it. 

Removed

Moving to your private domain involves purchasing domain name (costs 200-500 rs per yr and web hosting charges from 0-10 $ per month) After purchasing above stuff, u need to change DNS records and point to the servers of hosting site (not needed if both are from same site).

Blogger as a webhost has an advantage of low cost (only domain charges) and good speed. But lack of customization and need for coding know how for serious customizations are big disadvantages. Only certain domain extensions like .com, .net, .org are allowed on blogger so beware while buying domain name. Domain name is like a land plot on internet so its value depends on its length, easy remembrance etc. Domain names consisting popular or easy to remember words are hard to find with these extensions. 

On wordpress (wordpress.org), you have the advantage of easy customization with plugins, availability of plenty of services (free and paid). But it costs a lot (domain cost +web hosting cost rom 2-10 $ a month + paid themes and plugins if you need very high quality stuff in readymade form). A basic website with multiple options and any domain name and extension is easy to setup on wordpress.

Moving to private domain only makes sense if you are in for long term or have a professional requirement, costs are prohibitive  To minimize wordpress cost you can try free web hosting.

A small correction - Now you can use any domain extension with blogger.

Ok, so here's what I can grasp from all this-

The level of customization I am looking for (FB comments, menu tabs etc) can be got on Blogger too. Sites can be hosted freely or paid, but freely is apparently safer because its not easy to hack those servers. On the other hand, paid hosting can give me complete freedom with regards to content (something I should keep in mind given the sort of content I write) but at the cost of weaker security.

To purchase a domain, ideal site would be Godaddy and I'll have to do is redirect it to my Blog, for which Blogger has internal settings. I am looking for a dot com name so will have to pay anything between 350 to 500 bucks.

Now my major apprehension- if it is freehosting, is it true that I don't own the stuff I write? Isn't that a huge loophole that I should be worried about? How do others react to this situation? 

Special thanks to Ranjith, Vishnu and Cyber Kid for their helpful tech gyaan, and hoping for more gyaan.

 if it is freehosting Is it true that I don't own the stuff I write?

Not at all. You have the right on all your creations ( written work, art etc ) by default. The same holds true for your blog's contents also. Vijay was saying that as Blogger has control over your content, they can take down your site at any time if you violate their TOS or to follow government order. Don't think too much about it. Just keep a copy of your articles on your computer or back up your blog frequently. ( Settings > Other > Blog Tools > Export Blog ) 

It's Vijay, not Vishnu. 

I still maintain that the free blogger hosting has no holds barred. You can do whatever you want, and I don't think any issues with the hacking part. Though, there are hundreds of those groups who hack and deface sites, most of these hacks, are a result of weak passwords giving easy way to the admin account using a bruteforce attack. Some other hacking techniques include SQL injection that can be carried over by experienced hackers, as it requires making use of weaknesses of our programming techniques akso known as exploits. And BTW, your free blogger hosting can also be hacked, the only thing that could keep a check and possibly stop is the Google Sign In precautions, so, you should always keep you google (gmail) account updated with the latest mobile number and a recovery email.

As for private domain name, there is one more easier way, i.e. purchase it from google (blogger dashboard). This way, you won't have to mess around with the CNAME and DNS records (I've read this over the internet), but, I can't say how much can you get a domain for from blogger, as I haven't purchased mine from blogger.

As for Domain Names: Here are a few offers from GoDaddy: PS: These are not affiliate links and I don't be getting any benefit from any of these links. I'm posting these because I've found these links.

.com Domains at 109 only (This one's ~5 months old, the landing page is working, but don't know whether you'll still get it in that much): http://in.godaddy.com/deals2/?gclid=CK_zi8aZ9LUCFQd76wodjTQA0w&isc=gofbcin06&currencytype=INR&ef_id=UTRdrwAAAQY-wqEK:20130311080240:s

25% off on Domain Names (Got this as an offer from Godaddy on my email, a day before yesterday): http://in.godaddy.com/?isc=HPFBFE25&fbiOfferUID=F211A05F-77CB-42BC-9305-506CB0216FBA&offer_id=59643&offid=59643&ci=76231

SM you forgot my name 

Sorry Vijay, my bad. I guess people here only use initials for a reason.

Be careful while selecting the domain name. Its like a property. In the event your plan doesnt workout or for monetary reasons you decide to sell website or domain, good domain name can fetch you quite a decent sum (1000s of dollars). Choose wisely and logically.

.com still rules if you can get a good one.

Staggmann if you are online visit here https://www.namecheap.com/promos/exclusive-promo-0-98-domain-wedfcv.aspx

you will get the domain for as low as 0.98 per year 

Ok I have a question on subdomains. If I create subdomains for my main domain, will their SEO eat into my main site's SEO or will Google treat all of them as a single entity ?

I think Google mostly sees subdomains as different sites. 

See this and this one. 

Purnendu subdomains are seen as separate entity.  You control what you want to feed the search engines for eg. I made my test site unvisible to search engines. 

Ok, I'm buying a domain now. I'm getting a .COM domain registration for mydomainname. com for Rs. 499 and additionally a "Private Domain Registration" for rs. 431. I dont remember checking the last option but it is somehow appearing checked at the last screen. Additionally there is an unchecked box for "Certify my domain". Can anyone help me out with this?

you should come to indichat SM

I bought my domain. A huge THANK YOU to Vijay Prabhu for patiently putting up with my often retarded questions and for getting me a sweet discount.

you are welcome SM

congrats SM.

Dont thank me yet. I still have to do all that CName stuff.

Hi guys, the name finally points to the blog. I guess the redirect from the old blogspot address will take 1 day to kick-in. Now 1 problem I'm facing is- if I enter the name without www, I'm getting an error, and that too after I updated the A records with those 4 IP addresses. Can someone tell me where I'm going wrong?

Settings > Basic > Publishing > Blog Address > Edit > Check the box 'Redirect xyz.com to www.xyz.com' > Save 

Lol the answers are so simple I feel like a moron for asking the questions. Thanks a lot Ranjith.

No Ranjith it is for redirects

SM go to the godaddy cpanel and look for forwarding under forwarding point it to the domain you want to most probably www.yourdomain.com  dont check the masking request.  That should do it 

It happens CK. Once I asked on the forum 'How to disable feed' and found the option myself just seconds after creating the thread. 

Ranjith its SM not CK

@Vijay- Under Forwarding it says off. And also 0 subdomains forwarded.

yep 'on' it and point it to the domain or naked domain as the case may be 

for masking uncheck (dont mask)

All these things were not there when I had set up a custom domains for my blog. ( Or did I forget them?  )

Do I enter www.mydomain.com or just mydomain.com? And how is this different from what Ranjith suggested, because what Ranjith said is also working. And should I undo what Ranjith suggested?

No if that is working let it remain.  IF both www and naked domains are working it wont be a problem SM but i dont think the naked domain is working, it is leading to godaddy page.  Check on some other browser 

You're right it's not working. So which 1 do I enter- with www or without www.

forward it to staggland.com without masking and permanent

Forward To- http://staggland.com

Redirect- 301 (Permanent)

Type- Forward Only

This is under Domain tab, I have done nothing under Subdomain tab. When I save it, under Forwarding it still shows Domain- Off and Subdomain- 0 subdomains forwarded.

Refresh the godaddy page and you will see it as on 

Actually it was opening on Chrome and Firefox using Ranjith's method, but not on IE. On IE it is still showing Godaddy page!

Nope sorry, working perfectly. Thanks again Vijay :D, I owe you.

Oh damn I spoke too soon. Cleared the cache on all 3 browsers and tried again. Not working on Internet Explorer without www 

SM dont redirect it on Blogger settings, forward it in godaddy cpanel as I have said earlier.  It should work just fine

I unchecked redirect from Blogger settings. Now I'm not getting it on any browser.

SM redirect blogger settings to www.staggland.com and then forward it from godaddy cpanel to naked domain.  Do it one at a time and wait for 15 minutes.  

The blogger redirect is working and www.staggland.com is opening. the forwarding has not been done check that out

Ok, Blogger settings are already set to www.staggland.com

Unchecked blogger setting "Redirect staggland.com to www.staggland.com"

By naked domain I assume you mean without www.

Forwarding  

Domain: http://staggland.com(forward only)  

Manage  

Subdomain: 0 subdomains forwarded  

Manage

And there is also a Redirect Type option- 301 and 302. Which one should I pick?

Use 301

301 is permannet redirect - So PR gets passed 

302 is temporary