What You'll Need

Blogger is great because it will host your content for free. But, if you want to use elements such as a personalized header, lots of pictures, PDF's of your clips or video not hosted at YouTube, you're going to need some outside server space. And, if you're going to buy server space, you might as well buy a domain name, too. Buying your own name is a good idea for two reasons. First, you don't want someone buying www.yourname.com and putting up whatever they want. Secondly, it's more professional than having your Web site's address as www.yourname.blogspot.com. Here's what you do:

1) Buy a domain name at a site such as domains.com or godaddy.com, and hosting to go with it. You probably won't need too much space, and you can usually get both for less than $10 per month.

2) You'll need an FTP client to transfer your files to your new server space. There are plenty of free ones available for download. SmartFTP is a good one that is very easy to use.

3) If you bought your own domain name, you'll need to tell your hosting service that your site is hosted at Blogger (although some elements will be on your private server space). This is called creating a CNAME record. Every service will have slightly different instructions, so just search or contact the provider. Instructions for GoDaddy can be found here.

4) Lastly, you'll need to tell Blogger that you have a private domain. Just log into Dashboard, and go to Settings>Publishing>Custom Domain. Enter your personal address and voila! Your Blogger page will appear at your personal domain in a few hours.


Return to the Main Page