If you are at all serious about blogging, or think you may someday become a more serious blogger, is it essential that you take the time to learn how to set a domain name. This is a very inexpensive purchase at just approximately $10/per year for your domain name registration. This is a very small investment that will insure that you will have your domain name of preference and won’t ever have to worry about switching over your blog post links down the road when you might be read to switch. This will also allow you to build up your Google Page Rank that won’t be built if you are using your name at a .blogspot or .wordpress type of account. When I first started blogging, I just used blogger’s free blog hosting service. A few months in I learned how important it was to have my own domain name and was able to continue using blogger but rather than being amomstake.blogspot.com I was able to change my name to www.amomstake.com.

How to Set a Domain Name in Blogger

If you use blogger to run your blog, you can follow this easy tutorial to learn how to set a domain name right from your settings panel. It is extremely simple and you’ll quickly wonder why you didn’t do this sooner! To start, login to your blogger dashboard and select your blog. Then, you will just select the “Settings” tab from the menu bar. It will be the last option on the list. Doing this will automatically bring you to the “Basic” settings page which is where you can change your name settings.

You will see a section called Publishing and under that your Blog Address. You can click the link right below your address that says, +Add a custom domain. Select that option.

You will be directed to a page where you have the option to search for a domain name and can even purchase your domain name right here through Google. I would, however, not recommend that you purchase your domain name here through Google. When I started my blog, I purchased my domain right through blogger. When I was ready to leave blogger’s platform and start using a self-hosted website using wordpress, it was extremely confusing and difficult to get my domain name switched from Google’s hosting to my own purchase independent of blogger and Google. You have to do some running around trying to verify that it was actually you that purchased your own domain and it is really confusing to do so. However, you can just visit www.GoDaddy.com , which is who I use, and purchase your domain name directly and you will have complete control over your domain name and avoid this future problem. Plus, GoDaddy.com almost always has a great sale going on where you can often even find your domain registration cheaper! So, the next step is to head over to www.GoDaddy.com or your other choice of domain registrar and pick out your name.

Smoking Hot Savings! $5.99 .COM from GoDaddy.com!

Once you have purchased your domain name, you can click the link to “Switch to advanced settings”. Type in your domain name here. You may be prompted that you will need to take additional steps to verify your domain name ownership. Blogger will provide you with two CNAME settings. You will login to www.GoDaddy.com or your domain registrar and change your settings by adding the two additional CNAME records that are shown to you in blogger if this additional step is required for you.

Owning your own domain name will give you credibility that you are not in this as a very fleeting hobby. It is just a small step to take the time to invest a little bit of money and show you are serious about your blog.