First of all let me tell you that I'm new to blogging. About a month ago I decided to start my own blog at my own domain. I had already tested a blog solution at blog-city.com so of course I ordered their Premium membership to be able to have my blog at my own domain.
Unfortunately I found out afterwards that this solution wasn’t very easy to set up. I would have had to change my DNS settings for my domain and I was unable to.
So what to do? After doing a couple of hours of research I found out that blogger.com makes it possible to host your blog on your own domain. I decided to give it a try and now this seems like the perfect solution for people who would like to have their blog on their own domain. It’s very easy to upload your posts to your domain. You just push a button in the blogger.com interface. You don’t have to install any software and you don’t need to know about programming.
I have nothing bad to say, except that it was a bit difficult to find information about this possibility (that’s why I’m writing this article).
So if you want a blog on your own domain I recommend Blogger.
Article comments
1 - Mark Sahm
Just wait until you need something Customer Service related to be resolved by Blogger. Then you may reconsider this.
2 - Matt
Simon--this is sage advice for the newcomer. For folks looking for a more robust application to publish on, though, Blogger is a dog. I started there, but graduated to Wordpress, which I now swear by.
3 - Mark Sahm
I agree with Matt. I upgraded to WordPress last month after a month long dispute with Blogger before that. WP is leagues better for setting up your own style, instead of trying to tweak Blogger's cookie cutter templates.
4 - Triniman
Do tell why Blogger is a dog. I haven't had problems with it.
5 - Aaman
I use my own template on blogger - to good effect - but am yearning to run my own domain - I'd probably want to keep my blogger.com URL, though, so to not lose the capital built up there.
6 - uao
Could you point out where the button is? I own a domain I never use because I don't want to go to the trouble of changing DNS settings.
I also have a blogger account.
Can't find that pesky button anywhere.
7 - Matt
"Do tell why Blogger is a dog. I haven't had problems with it."
triniman--perhaps dog is a bit oo harsh. It just doesn't have enough going for it to complete with a program like MT or Wordpress because those programs rely on tons of folks creating plugins and hacks to expand the usability. If you want to categorize your posts in Blogger, good luck, because no functionality exists to do it.
Blogger is great if you don't plan on doing anything remotely funky (sideblogs, most recent comments in sidebar, categorization etc.)
8 - Simon Glue
"Could you point out where the button is? I own a domain I never use because I don't want to go to the trouble of changing DNS settings."
1. Login to blogger.com
2. Choose your blog.
3. Choose "Settings".
4. Choose "Publishing".
5. Choose publishing via FTP.
6. Fill out the necessary information about your domain.
7. Then create a post. When you publish your post it will either be uploaded to your domain automatically or you may have to enter your FTP login.
8. Done!
9 - Josia
Your blog looks really nice so far Simon ...
10 - Simon Glue
Thank you very much Josia. Yours looks very nice to.
I have an idea about networking. I offer other bloggers to create a post in my blog and then a get a post in their blog. That way we can all reach a larger audience.
If you are interested please e-mail me at blog [at] hephey.dk
11 - uao
Thank you Simon for the clear, concise directions. You've done me a biggie help here, wish Blogger would be as helpful.
12 - Matt
I agree. Thanks for the help Simon. Blogger does not make uploading to your own domain host very well known. I am trying to build posters at my humble little blog. If anyone has any ideas, I sure could use the help.
13 - Precious
I am wondering how to do this self hosted blog and thanks for this information Simon. It's very helpful. More power to you!
14 - Newblogger
Do I need to know programming to use WordPress? I'm reading these posts and conclude that WP may be the way to go, but I know NOTHING about programming.
I did go through some tutorials and have a domain name and my own webhost. But I've yet to choose a "theme or Template yet.