Renaming Your Blog Requires Choosing An Available Blog Name

Like creating a blog, the task of renaming your blog involves one very important step - choosing an available blog name.

When you rename your blog - as in change the blog address - you have to pick a name (address) that's not in use. Both creating a blog, and renaming a blog, suffer from one key detail - you can't identify an available address before you get started.

When you create, or rename, a blog, you can only get to the task at hand, and start with the best choice.

Like "Create a blog", you'll only find out about an available URL after you have successfully chosen that URL for your blog. Unlike "Create a blog", the Blog Address wizard does not verify availability in real time.

1. Paste or type the desired blog name (Only the "yyyyyyy" in "yyyyyyy.blogspot.com").
2. Hit Save.
3. If the name was available, you'll be looking at the initial Blog Address display, with the new address "yyyyyyy.blogspot.com" identified - and "yyyyyyy" will now be unavailable.
4. If the name is not available, you'll get the sad news

   Subdomain: yyyyyyy is not available.

   And now, go back to Step #1, and try again.

If you want to do the rename with the least stress, you make a list of possible choices before you start, and sort the list in decreasing preference. Decide which names you like the most, before you start. Then start the above process with Step #1, and your top choice. If you end at Step #4, pick the next choice in the list, and go to Step #1, again.

As with "Create a blog", you should plan to go through your list as promptly as possible. Hesitate too long, when making the next choice, and your alternate choices could be unavailable.

If your choice of name will affect design work on the existing blog, yet you wish to change the blog design before renaming the blog, setup a stub blog - and pick the best available name for the stub blog, now. Once that's done, make the necessary design changes on your current blog - then swap names between the stub blog and your current blog. You'll likely use the stub blog, later.

As with creating a new blog, please note that addresses previously taken will not be reissued to you by Blogger - a 10 year old blog remains valid, whether published once daily for 10 years, or once 10 years ago and never again.

And as soon as you get the new name successfully chosen, be prepared to continue the renaming process, as promptly as possible.

>> Top