Blogger offers a great method to change your blogspot address to a DOT COM address by buying a Custom Domain for only 10$ US.
Using a Custom Domain gets your blog a brand new address without losing traffic, search engine position or Google Page Rank (Page Rank is only lost temporarily). Your blog is still hosted by Blogger free of charge with unlimited storage (for posts) and unlimited bandwidth and no security worries.
Your new domain is managed by Enom.com or GoDaddy.com and the 10$ US is paid to them. Blogger does not manage domains..........
Email From Google Apps.
After successfully completing the transaction for buying the domain you will get a confirmatory email from Google Apps. This is what it will say (For domain XYZ.COM) :
Hello Abcdef xyz,
Welcome to Google Apps!
Congratulations on completing your purchase of XYZ.com. Your new domain has been registered with eNom/GoDaddy and will expire on Month Day, Year. Your domain will be automatically configured to work with the Google Apps services you select. We're excited to help you offer powerful communication and sharing tools to all your users.
If you haven't already created an administrator account for your domain, click the following link:
https://www.google.com/a/cpanel/domain/setup/XYZ.com/BIG_NUMBER?hl=enOnce you have set up an admin account for your domain, you will have access to the Google Apps control panel. Here you can monitor the status of your services, manage your user accounts and email lists, create web pages, and customize the interface and services to your organization's needs. Through the control panel, you can also view and edit all your DNS settings, update your WHOIS information, and renew your domain before it expires. Please keep your WHOIS info up-to-date so that eNom/GoDaddy can contact you with important domain registration information. To access the control panel in the future, you can bookmark :
https://www.google.com/a/XYZ.com.
Your services will be activated shortly. You can now create user accounts to give your users access to all the great services you have signed up for, including email, IM, and calendar. As services are activated, your users can immediately start sending email and setting calendar appointments. It's that easy.
At any time, if you get stuck or if you want to tell us about your experience with this service, you can find more information and get in touch through our help center :
(https://www.google.com/support/a).
Sincerely,
The Google Apps Team
First Login at Google Apps.
To change your CNAME and A records for your domain you have to first create a Google Apps account. To do this click the link in the above email :
https://www.google.com/a/cpanel/domain/setup/XYZ.com/BIG_NUMBER?hl=en
You will get the login screen at Google Apps :
For Username and Password enter the same as those you used for login at Blogger.com when you bought the domain.
Then select a username and password for your administrator account, and review the Terms of Service.
If you cannot login go here to reset the password.
Login to Domain Manager.
After successfully logging in at Google Apps. Dashboard click the Domain Settings link and then the Domain Names link. Lastly click Advanced DNS Settings to find the information to login to your GoDaddy or Enom.com account.
After login at GoDaddy or Enom.com change the CNAME and A records for your domain.
Free Google Apps. Goodies.
Google Apps. is free for use and offers the following goodies for Bloggers :
1. Free Gmail email for your domain. For example I created one at vin[at]blogdoctor[dot]me.
2. A Start Page for your domain which is an iGoogle personalized page. Here is my start page.
3. Google Sites.
4. Google Talk :
To chat with me click above button and add :
as contact. To add such a badge to your blog go to :
http://www.google.com/talk/service/a/MYDOMAIN.COM/badge/New
Replace 'MYDOMAIN.COM' with your actual domain. Customize the badge and copy and paste the code in a Html page element in your blog.
You can also add the Google Talk Gadget to your blog :
To add this gadget go here, customize the gadget and copy and paste the code given in a Html gadget or in Edit Html tab of Post Editor.
Now visitors to your site can chat directly from your web page.
Enjoy!
