When You Setup A Custom Domain, Please Know And Observe Your Limits Of Expertise

Too many blog owners, when they setup a custom domain for their blog, do not consider the details.

We see signs of the problem, too often, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

Can someone give me step by step instructions for setting up a custom domain with xxxxxxx registrar? I contacted xxxxxxx customer service - and they told me a lot of things I didn't understand! Would it be easier just to transfer the domain to GoDaddy?

The short answer here would be

Yes, it would be easier just to transfer the domain to GoDaddy.

Unfortunately, that answer is not completely correct - and the correction may leave you with a broken domain.

Too many blog owners, eager to setup a non BlogSpot URL for their blog, do not consider the details involved, when they bypass "Buy a domain".

Part of the blame, for this problem, has to fall onto Blogger's head. People using "Buy a domain", for their first domain purchase, see the domain purchase as such a simple process. They never become aware of the complexities involved in a domain purchase, until they setup their second domain, and decide to "roll their own".

Let's look at the levels of experience needed.

• Beginner: Use "Buy a domain".
• Intermediate: Use the Google Apps or Google Wallet wizard - or alternately, buy a domain from one of the 8 identified registrars.
• Advanced: Buy a domain, directly, from any of the thousands of registrars, worldwide.

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As of 2013 June, "Buy a domain" is not offered, as part of "Add a custom domain" - although blog owners, in the USA, may use Google Domains. This will leave people outside the USA with one option - "Advanced".

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Beginner blog owners are strongly advised to use "Buy a domain". Choose an available domain, provide payment details, and your domain is setup. Wait until Transition expires, and get to work referring your readers, search engines, and other Internet services, to your new, non BlogSpot URL.

Intermediate blog owners, able to understand simple instructions, should be able to use the wizards provided by Google Apps or Google Wallet. Alternately, Blogger provides reasonably complete and simple instructions for setting up a domain with the 8 most popular registrars.

Advanced blog owners are free to choose any registrar, of the thousands out there. But beware! You are on your own, when you do this.

• Use of any non designated registrar does not free you from the constraints of the three custom domain models.
• It will be your responsibility to determine the syntax used by the Zone Editor, that's provided by the registrar.
• It will be your responsibility to ensure that the registrar, that you choose, can provide the required DNS address entries.
• It will be your responsibility to verify the precise sequence used, in any DNS host / registrar setup task.
• It will be your responsibility to research the details, before you start.
• Once you have purchased the domain of your choice, that domain will remain with that registrar, for 30 to 60 days. Very few registrars let you buy a domain - then immediately transfer registration.

So choose your registrar according to your needs - and according to your skill level. Don't start a custom domain project, before verifying that your experience is complete. Make the right choice, before you sign on the dotted line.