How To Convert Your Blog into Website

 

Many people start a blog just because of their interest in writing. Blogs tend to become more popular if they properly maintain it and write high quality content. Also it can attract many unique visitors having same niche.

I will explain the procedure of converting Blogger blog into website, word press blogs can be converted to website in similar way only.

(1) Change Blog Template.

Blogger templates are very generic. You will find similar templates on many other blogs. So if you want to convert your blog into website, find 1 suitable template which looks unique and different from other websites. You can select from available frameworks and later modify it according to your needs.


You can find different templates on below sites.

Blogger Templates :- 
http://btemplates.com/
http://all-free-download.com/free-website-templates/free-blog-template.html
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/50-most-beautiful-blogger-templates/

Wordpress Templates :- 
http://wordpress.org/themes/browse/new/
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/49-most-downloaded-wordpress-themes-of-all-time/

(2) Buy domain and Redirect your blog to your domain

Steps

(1) Purchase domain name from Go Daddy, Big Rock etc.

(2) Go to Dashboard of your Blog. Then Navigate to Settings --> Basic and find publishing section.

(3) There click on Add Custom domain and write the domain name you purchased. There you will get 2 DNS records that you have to enter in the domain manager account of your domain you purchased.

(4) Here is the screenshot of Go daddy account. You can add dns records by clicking on edit and later add.

(5) Forward your domain something.com to http://www.something.com. This is very important step otherwise you won’t be able to open your site by typing www in browser. You have to go to forwarding setting and do like this.

(6) Later make sure that the check box to redirect your blog will always be checked.

how to Custom Domain Setup on Blogger with Godaddy.com

Custom domain setup in Blogger.com is used to create your own blog URL.      (for example: from myblog.blogspot.com to myblog.com).

When you purchase a domain from Godaddy.com, they assign an IP address (A record and CNAME record) for the domain. Hence, you need to change those records to point to your Blogger.com blog. This post can help you to change the A and CNAME records of your Godaddy account.

Follow the steps given below:

1. Login to your Godaddy account and click on the My Account tab.

1. Under Domains, you will see the list of your domain names. Click on Advance Details of your desired domain. You’ll be directed to the Domain Manager page.

1. At the bottom of the Domain Manager Page, you will see a section under the heading DNS Manager, where you can edit the DNS configuration of your domain by clicking the Launch link

1. Under the A(Host) Tab of the DNS manager, enter the 4 IP addresses as below, one-by-one, using the Quick add button, to change the A records.

216.239.32.21
216.239.34.21
216.239.36.21
216.239.38.21

1. Click on the Quick Add button in the box labeled CNAME(alias). If you’ve already created a CNAME record for your blog’s address, click the pencil icon next to the existing CNAME record.
2. After you are done adding records, click on Save Changes to save your edited data.
3. For the Name, enter only the sub-domain of the address you want to use for your blog. For example, if you picked www.myblog.com as your address, enter www here.
4. Enter ghs.google.com as the Host Name. Specify a TTL or use the default setting of 1 hour.

This is how you can change the existing domain IP address that now points to your Blogger IP address. Wait for few hours for the changes to take effect in your IP records. After that you can say bye bye to your old Blogger.com blog URL by changing it with your custom domain name.

how to Blogger Custom Domain on GoDaddy

This tutorial will explain how you can set up Blogger on a domain which you bought via GoDaddy.I assume that you have already bought a domain from GoDaddy. Here are the detailed steps for configuring your Blogger Custom Domain with GoDaddy.
1.Login to this GoDaddy Tool

Enter your domain name there e.g.: www.bloggerplugins.org
2.Click on the confirm button and a CNAME record will be created for you and you will get a success Message saying that the DNS records were created


3. If you are publishing to your www domain, then that’s not sufficient. You will also have to create a set of 4 A Records.
To do that first login to your GoDaddy Account and go to DNS Manager

4. Now Click on Edit DNS Zone next to the domain name which you want to use as a blogger Custom Domain

5. You will see a record there under A(Host). Select it and delete it first

6. Now use the Quick Add button to create 4 A(Host) Records as shown in the below screenshot

In the host field you have to give @ and in the points to field, you have to give these IPs respectively
216.239.32.21
216.239.34.21
216.239.36.21
216.239.38.21 (See the screenshot above to see how to input these values)
7. Now Click on the Save Zone File Button on the top right.

8. Confirm the modification by clicking on the OK button

Finally the Set of A(Host) Records should look like this :

You are done with GoDaddy Settings. Now you have to configure your Blogger Account to publish to this domain.

PUBLISHING YOUR BLOGSPOT BLOG TO THE CUSTOM DOMAIN

1.Login to your Blogger Dashboard and Navigate to Settings > Basic and click on the Add a custom domain link

2.Now  Switch to advanced settings

3.Provide your Custom Domain URL and click the Save Button

4. Now Click on the Edit Link Once again

5.Now select the redirection Option and save the settings Once again

5. Now your blog should be visible at your new domain. 

Adding Google APPS to your Godaddy Domain(Mail[yourname@yourdomain.com] , Calendar etc)

1.Once again go to the Godaddy Configuration Tool and key in the following URLs one by one and click on the Confirm button
mail.bloggerplugins.org
calendar.bloggerplugins.org
docs.bloggerplugins.org
sites.bloggerplugins.org
You will obviously have to replace bloggerplugins.org with your domain name while doing this.
2. Create MX records for that Domain using this Automatic Configuration Tool
3. Now Signup for Google APPS using this link
4.When you finish the signup process, you will be taken to the Google APPS dashboard. You might be asked to create a CNAME to verify your domain ownership.
In that case you should create a CNAME(Alias) Record with the following Details
Host: googlefffggghhh12345 [The one provided on your Google Apps dashboard for the verification purpose.This is just a sample string.You should use the one provided and not this sample string :)] This is the alias name.
Points To : google.com
You can add this Record in DNS Manager under CNAME(Alias) using the Quick Add button and don’t forget to Save the Zone File. 
5.Once you have verified the ownership, you can access each of the Google Applications. You can also change them to custom URLs(that's why we created the CNAMES using the Godaddy tool in Step 1).You can change the URL of the mail application to mail.yourdomain.com(To do that Click on the APP and then Click on the Link Change URL)

setup your Blogger blog with GoDaddy

We've recently launched a new feature in custom domains that lets you download a DNS file that contains all the DNS settings you need to configure your blog on a custom domain.

GoDaddy DNS service supports this feature so Let's show you how it's done:

For this demo, I assume you have an existing blog and you have already purchased a domain on GoDaddy.

Step 1: Go to the Settings Tab of your blog in the Blogger UI and click on the "Add a custom domain" link.

Step 2: Enter the URL you would like to use for your blog and press Save. I'm using "www.thisdemoblog.com" but the URL doesn't need to start with www such as "blog.mridey.com" where I published this article.

Step 3: You will get an error. It's expected as you have not configured GoDaddy with the DNS settings required. Now click on the "DNS settings file" link and save the file. Keep this window open, you'll need it later.

Step 4: In a new window, go to GoDaddy, login, go to the Domain Control Panel and click on your domain name.

Step 5: Click on the "DNS Zone File" tab.

Step 6: Click on the Edit button.

Step 7: We need to delete some of the existing records that GoDaddy adds by default. Select all the "A" records with "@" as host as well as the CNAME record "www" (if the URL you want to use starts with www) and press the Delete button.

Step 8: Press the "Save Zone File" button.

Step 9: Press Ok to confirm.

Step 10: Press Ok to confirm again. :)

Step 11: Now let's load the new records. Click the Import/Export button and select "Import".

Step 12: Click "Select File" and find the file you have saved in step 3, then click the "I understand ..." checkbox and press the Ok button.

Step 13: Press Ok to confirm.

Step 14: You should be able to see your new records loaded in GoDaddy. Four "A" records as well as two CNAME records. All good.

Step 15: Go back to the Blogger settings window we kept open in Step 3 and click "Save" again.

Step 16: If like me the GoDaddy DNS server processed the changes really quickly, it should all work fine and the settings should be accepted. You should be back to the main settings with your new custom domain accepted as the blog Address. So click on "Edit".

If Step 16 fails, be patient and retry later. It can take up to 48h for DNS settings to propagate. 

Step 17: Enable the "Redirect ..." checkbox and press Save. This is to allow "naked domain" redirect i.e. when users type your domain name without the www at the beginning.

Step 18: Finally click the "View blog" button at the top of Blogger UI, it should all work fine and your blog should now be enabled with a custom domain.