Renewing Your Custom Domain Registration

Some Blogger blog owners, having experienced the anxiety of custom domain setup, intend to carefully maintain their domain registration.

We see a few queries, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, about domain registration renewal.

How do I make sure my registration gets renewed?

or

How do I renew registration before it expires?

or, possibly

My blog now displays a search page! Have I been hacked?

Some registration issues will depend upon how the domain registration was originally purchased.

Domains purchased directly from a registrar - whether using eNom, GoDaddy, or a third party registrar, will have to be renewed directly from the registrar. It's not possible to migrate a direct purchase to Blogger / Google registration for payment, any more than to use the Blogger / Google automatic DNS setup. Once you purchase domain registration from a registrar, you are on your own.

If you used Blogger "Buy a domain", Google Apps, or Google Wallet, to purchase the domain registration, you should get email reminders when registration is expiring. However, this will depend upon whether your Blogger / Google account, under which you purchased the registration, uses an active and accessible email address.

If you choose to anonymise yourself by using a bogus or inactive email address for your Blogger or Google activities, don't expect to get email reminding you, or allowing you to renew domain registration.

The most reliable way to assure the domain remains registered is to use domain auto renewal. You can check your auto renewal settings using the Google Apps administrator account, for the domain (now called the "Admin Console"). Be aware of the oddities of the Google One Login wizard, and Google Apps, when logging in.

For domains purchased before December 2012, you'll use email from Google Apps, or an entry in your Google Wallet log, to retrieve the token to setup your Google Apps account. For domains purchased after November 2012, you will have only a limited access Google Apps account, which you should reset the password, to access.

If you intend to use domain auto renewal, make sure that the bank account (credit, or debit) is active, and currently paid. If your bank rejects the payment, you should get a notice - but again, this will come reliably when the email account associated with the domain is active and accessible by you.

Procedures for renewal after expiration are different - and may cost substantially more than the normal yearly fee.

The best renewal experiences, of course, start with advance planning.

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How To Unmap Google Sites To Solve "Another blog or Google Site is already using this address."

The literal cause of the error "Another blog or Google Site is already using this address." is that the Google Sites service is mapped to the address in question, in the Google domain services mapping database.

Some help articles published on the Internet imply that Sites mappings are the only cause of this error. This misconception creates some of the confusion associated with the error. Sites is not the only service in the services mapping database - but it is the only service with web address mappings.

The Sites service contains both service address, and web address, mappings - and both mappings can cause this problem. This oddity creates complexity, and makes a linear check list impossible, when using Google Apps to clear the error - as well as diagnosing the error, in a typical dialogue in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

When the Sites service is suspected as the cause of "Another blog or Google Site is already using this address.", one must check both the Service Address Mapping, and the Web Address Mappings, in the Sites service.

Note that the presence of the mappings is not directly affected by the presence of the service wizards, on the desktop of the Google Apps account which you are using. Neither deleting the Apps account, nor uninstalling a given service wizard from the desktop, will immediately reset the mappings for that service, from the database.

If not present on the desktop, the Sites service must be first installed and activated, using the dashboard "Get more apps and services" link.

The Sites service address mapping, like all other services, can be examined and reset using the CustomURL form in Google Apps, as well as "Change URL" in the "General" tab, in the Sites Settings menu. The web address mappings can only be examined and reset using the "Web Address Mapping" tab, in the Sites Settings menu.

1. Select the "Web Address Mapping" tab, in the Sites Settings menu.
2. Select all addresses mapped, and click on "Delete Mapping(s)".
3. Click on "Yes" in the "Are you sure" popup.

If a Sites mapping is not the cause of your problem, Sites won't have a mapped address, in "Web Address Mapping". You will then need to check other settings, in Control Panel / Google Apps.

A Sites service address mapping, like other service address mappings, can sometimes be diagnosed in a simple "302 Moved Temporarily" redirect, in a typical HTTP trace.

Sending request:

GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: www.letthykingdomcome.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:18.0)
 Gecko/20100101 Firefox/18.0
Referer: http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html
Connection: close

• Finding host IP address...
• Host IP address = 74.125.129.121
• Finding TCP protocol...
• Binding to local socket...
• Connecting to host...
• Sending request...
• Waiting for response...
Receiving Header:
HTTP/1.1·302·Moved·Temporarily(CR)(LF)
Content-Type:·text/html;·charset=UTF-8(CR)(LF)
Location:·http://sites.google.com/a/letthykingdomcome.com/
 sites/system/app/pages/meta/domainWelcome(CR)(LF)

A Sites web address mapping is not always so easy to diagnose - and may be the reason behind the fact that some HTTP traces end with the blog owner reporting "Another blog or Google Site is already using this address.", and an HTTP trace simply showing the generic 404 Not Found.

Sending request:

GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: www.markhamdesign.co.uk
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0
 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:19.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/19.0
Referer: http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html
Connection: close

• Finding host IP address...
• Host IP address = 216.239.32.21
• Finding TCP protocol...
• Binding to local socket...
• Connecting to host...
• Sending request...
• Waiting for response...
Receiving Header:
HTTP/1.1·404·Not·Found(CR)(LF)

A Sites "Web Address Mapping" can include an address which is mapped outside Google Apps. This creates a mapping which can't be managed using Google Apps.

If you own a domain and have access to change the CNAME record, you can map any site created in Google Sites outside of Google Apps (for example, sites.google.com/site) to a custom URL

Sending request:

GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: www.medtechpedia.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:19.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/19.0
Referer: http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html
Connection: close

• Finding host IP address...
• Host IP address = 74.125.129.121
• Finding TCP protocol...
• Binding to local socket...
• Connecting to host...
• Sending request...
• Waiting for response...
Receiving Header:
HTTP/1.1·200·OK(CR)(LF)

<body·xmlns="http://www.google.com/ns/jotspot"·id="body"·class="·en············">(LF)
<script·src="//www.gstatic.com/caja/5246m/caja.js">·</script>(LF)
<script·src="http://www.gstatic.com/sites/p/926884/system/js/jot_caja.js">·</script>(LF)
<div·id="sites-page-toolbar"·class="sites-header-divider">(LF)
<div·xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"·id="sites-status"·class="sites-status"·style="display:none;"><div·id="sites-notice"·class="sites-notice"·role="status"·aria-live="assertive">·</div></div>(LF)
</div>(LF)
<div·id="sites-chrome-everything-scrollbar">(LF)
<div·id="sites-chrome-everything">(LF)
<div·id="sites-chrome-page-wrapper"·style="direction:·ltr">(LF)
<div·id="sites-chrome-page-wrapper-inside">(LF)
<div·xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"·id="sites-chrome-header-wrapper"·style="">(LF)
<table·id="sites-chrome-header"·class="sites-layout-hbox"·cellspacing="0"·style="">(LF)
<tr·class="sites-header-primary-row"·id="sites-chrome-userheader">(LF)
<td·id="sites-header-title"·class=""><div·class="sites-header-cell-buffer-wrapper"><h2>
  <a·href="http://sites.google.com/site/medtechpedia/"·dir="ltr"·id="sites-chrome-userheader-title">MedTechPedia</a></h2></div></td><td·class="sites-layout-searchbox·"><div·class="sites-header-cell-buffer-wrapper"><form·id="sites-searchbox-form"·action="/system/app/pages/search"><input·type="hidden"·id="sites-searchbox-scope"·name="scope"·value="search-site"·/><input·type="text"·id="jot-ui-searchInput"·name="q"·size="20"·value=""·aria-label="Search·this·site"·autocomplete="off"·/><div·id="sites-searchbox-button-set"·class="goog-inline-block"><div·role="button"·id="sites-searchbox-search-button"·class="goog-inline-block·jfk-button·jfk-button-standard"·tabindex="0">Search·this·site</div></div></form></div></td>(LF)
</tr>(LF)
<tr·class="sites-header-secondary-row"·id="sites-chrome-horizontal-nav">(LF)
<td·colspan="2"·id="sites-chrome-header-horizontal-nav-container">(LF)
<div·class="sites-header-nav"><ul·class="sites-header-nav-container-tabs"><li·class="current"><a·class="sites-navigation-link·current"·href="/home">Home</a></li><li·class="unselected"><a·class="sites-navigation-link·unselected"·href="/introduction-to-medical-technology">Introduction·to·Medical·Technology</a></li></ul><div·style="clear:·both;"></div></div>(LF)
</td>(LF)
</tr>(LF)
</table>·(LF)
</div>·

A Sites mapping won't always be present - but when it is, it's not difficult to solve - as long as you can access Google Apps aka "Control Panel".

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How To Solve "Another blog or Google Site is already using this address."

Of all of the problems that are typically reported, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, surely the most frustrating has to be

Another blog or Google Site is already using this address.

or possibly

Key already exists for domain ...

One of the reasons for the frustration is that this is not a descriptive error - it's more of a symptom - and this symptom has a number of causes. Since many Blogger blog owners don't understand the principles of problem solving, the solutions for this error may not be obvious.

The monolithic message "Another blog or Google Site is already using this address." is actually a symptom of a number of possible problems.

Some time ago, I identified three categories of problems, which cause the message to be displayed.

1. The URL in question is actually in use, with another blog already published to that domain URL.
2. The DNS addresses are improperly setup, and not pointing to the correct Google servers.
3. There are broken / duplicate pointers, which affect the domain, in the Google internal database.

Check For A Blog Already Published To The Address

If there is a blog already published to the URL, and you control both blogs, make a simple decision - which blog to publish, to the URL in question. If necessary, a second blog can be published to a different host in the domain, and setup a domain cluster. In some cases, a previous domain owner may have published a blog, which you won't control, to the domain.

Check The DNS Address Setup

Having eliminated or solved the possibility of multiple blogs, check and - if necessary - correct the DNS addresses setup for the domain. There are three DNS address models - with one, asymmetrical, being involved with over 99% of the blogs reported with this problem. There is simply no alternative to "CNAME" forwarding, when publishing a blog to a custom domain.

Check For Service Redirections

With the DNS addresses corrected - and DNS propagation latency allowed for - diagnose the problem using a series of HTTP traces. Here, we'll generally see a number of possible redirections.

1. Calendar.
2. Drive and Docs.
3. Email.
4. Sites.
5. Start Page.

If the HTTP traces do not indicate a specific service, you may have an indeterminate case of database corruption.

When dealing with service redirections, start by establishing access to the Google Apps domain administrator desktop. If the domain was purchased in 2013 or later, you'll have use of a basic function Apps account. You'll use two Apps desktop wizards - "Organization & users" and "Settings".

1. Use "Organization & users", to install and activate any service.
2. Use "Settings" to disable mappings, and to uninstall any service.

Named Service Redirection

For a named service redirection:

1. If necessary, install and activate the service.
2. Delete the mappings for the service.
3. Uninstall the service.

Database Corruption Or Unknown Service Redirection

If a specific service is not identified in the HTTP traces, check the "Change URLs for multiple services" display, which is accessible from any "Change URL" service wizard.

1. Select any service, in the "Settings" wizard, and the "Change URL" link for that service.
2. Click on "Change URLs for all domain services".
3. Examine the "Change URLs for multiple services" display, and select the custom mapping, for any service with the default mapping (top) address selected. If any service entry is changed, click "Continue".
4. For each service with mapping which was just changed:
   • If necessary, install and activate the service.
   • Uninstall the service.

Just read about the details, take it one step at a time - and allow time to complete the entire task, carefully.

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How To Use Google Apps To Solve "Another blog or Google Site is already using this address."

The Google domain services database lets one or more Blogger blogs, and / or various Google services, be packaged as part of a domain - giving your organisation its own virtual web server.

Google Apps is used to manage this virtual web server, as you install and un install various domain services. Sometimes a domain, newly setup in Google after the domain has been purchased from a registrar, will have one or more addresses unexpectedly mapped to various Google services. This will be inconvenient to the blog owner, who may wish to use a given URL for a Blogger blog.

The most common cause of the error "Another blog or Google Site is already using this address." involves unexpected mappings, in the Google domain database.

When your domain has unwanted mappings, you'll need to use the Google Apps domain administrator desktop, and various utilities there, to remove the mappings and reset the services. To start, you'll need access to the Google Apps desktop for the domain administrator. For domains recently purchased using Blogger or Google wizards, you'll have a limited function domain administrator desktop.

You'll use two Apps desktop wizards - "Organization & users" and "Settings".

• Use "Organization & users", to install and activate a service.
• Use "Settings" to disable / remove mappings, and to disable / uninstall a service.

Install And Activate Services

Use "Organization & users" - "Services", to activate the various services.

• To install a service, click on "Dashboard", find "Common tasks" at the bottom left, and click on "Get more apps and services". Click on "Add it now", for the needed service.
• To activate a service, go to "Organization & users" - "Services", and look under "Core Google Services" or "Additional Services", for the service in question - and click on the coloured toggle switch as necessary. Then click on "Save changes".

Remove Mappings

Use the Settings wizard, for the service in question - to add and remove address mappings, and to deactivate services. Each different service, listed in Settings, has a different set of menus, and different options.

We currently know of 5 services which can be mapped to a domain, which may interfere with publication of a Blogger blog to a domain address. Any problem service, currently mapped to the default (top) address, will need to be changed to map to the custom (bottom) address.

1. Calendar.
2. Drive and Docs.
3. Email.
4. Sites.
5. Start Page.

To remove address mappings for Calendar:

1. Click on "Calendar", then the "General" tab, then "Change URL" for "Web address".
2. If necessary, select the custom mapping (bottom) address, and click "Continue".
3. If you change the Calender mapping, remember to uninstall Calender.

To remove address mappings for Drive and Docs:

1. Click on "Drive and Docs", then the "General" tab, then "Change URL" for "Web address".
2. If necessary, select the custom mapping (bottom) address, and click "Continue".
3. If you change the Drive and Docs mapping, remember to uninstall Drive and Docs.

To remove address mappings for Email:

1. Click on "Email", then the "General Settings" tab, then "Change URL" for "Web address".
2. If necessary, select the custom mapping (bottom) address, and click "Continue".
3. If you change the Email mapping, remember to uninstall Email.

To remove address mappings for Sites, some extra effort may be required:

1. Click on "Sites", then the "General" tab, then "Change URL" for "Web address".
2. If necessary, select the custom mapping (bottom) address, and click "Continue".
3. Select the "Web Address Mapping" tab.
4. Select all addresses mapped, and click on "Delete Mapping(s)".
5. Some Sites mappings can only be diagnosed, and reset, outside Google Apps.
6. If you change any Sites mapping, remember to uninstall Sites.

To remove address mappings for Start Page:

1. Click on "Start Page", then "Change URL" for "Web address".
2. If necessary, select the custom mapping (bottom) address, and click "Continue".
3. If you change the Start Page mapping, remember to uninstall Start Page.

The CustomURL Wizard

Besides the multiple Sites mappings (in "Web Address Mapping"), it may be possible to use the "CustomURL" wizard, which will list all active services and current mappings. The CustomURL wizard is accessed from any "Change URL" wizard.

1. Click on "Change URLs for all domain services".
2. Examine the "Change URLs for multiple services" display, and disable any references to the default mapping. Select the custom mapping (bottom) address, for any service with the default mapping (top) address selected. If any service entry was changed, click "Continue".
3. For each service with mapping which was changed:
   • If necessary, install and activate the service.
   • Uninstall the service.

Disable / Uninstall Services After Changing Mapping

If you did change or delete any mappings, whether using CustomURL ("Change URLs for multiple services") or an individual service wizard ("Change URL" / "Web Address Mapping"), the final step is to disable or uninstall each service for which you changed or deleted mappings. If you do intend to use any named service, re install it later - after you get your custom domain working.

To uninstall Calendar, click on "Calendar", then the "General" tab. Click on "Uninstall Calendar", next to "Uninstall service".

To uninstall Drive and Docs, click on "Drive and Docs", then the "General" tab. Click on "Uninstall Drive and Docs", next to "Uninstall service".

To uninstall Email, click on "Email", then the "General Settings" tab. Click on "Uninstall Email", next to "Uninstall service".

To uninstall Sites, click on "Sites", then the "General" tab. Click on "Uninstall Sites", next to "Uninstall service".

To disable Start Page, click on "Start Page", then on "Disable Start Page", next to "Disable service".

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After Using "Buy a domain", Blog Owners Are Seeing "Server error" From Google Apps

Ever since Google ended its free Google Apps accounts, we've been seeing reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about problems encountered when setting up a new Google Apps account, to administer a newly purchased custom domain.

Every time I try to login to Google Apps, using instructions in the email message, I get

Server Error: We could not process your request at this time, please try again later.

The limited function free Google Apps accounts, which can be only used for domain maintenance, do not work with the Google Apps account setup wizard, which is generally used after using "Buy a domain". When you see "Invalid request" or "Server error", you need to reset the password for the "bloggeradmin" account, for your domain.

Start by accessing the Google Apps administrative account reset wizard, for your domain. If you use GMail for your email, or other Google products, try to use a different browser for Google Apps. Alternately, use an "Incognito" window, in Chrome - or a "Private" window, in Firefox. Or, clear cache, cookies, and sessions - then restart the browser, when possible.

For this domain, "nitecruzr.net", I would access the account reset wizard as

http://google.com/a/cpanel/nitecruzr.net/ResetAdminPassword

or possibly

http://google.com/a/nitecruzr.net/ResetAdminPassword

You simply change "nitecruzr.net", to your domain URL, to reset the administrative password for your domain.

---

(Update 2013/11/03): This process should be slightly simplified, with Google Apps now using the new integrated Google login screen.

---

Having solved the CAPTCHA in the reset screen, Google will send a password reset email message, for the "bloggeradmin" account for your domain, to the email address used by your Blogger account. Once again, this is a bad time to be using Blogger anonymously.

Open your email, then open and execute the email message, to reset the bloggeradmin Google Apps account. Be sure to enter the complete Google Apps account name, in the Google account reset screen.

Once the password is reset, login to Google Apps. Then retrieve the login tokens, from the Google Apps desktop, to access eNom or GoDaddy.

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Google Apps Ends Availability Of Their Free Edition

Last week, Google dropped a bombshell on many small client developers.

Starting on December 6, 2012, Google will no longer offer new accounts for the free edition of Google Apps. Google Apps free edition is sometimes referred to as "Standard Edition."

This announcement will bring changes to Blogger, and to custom domain publishing. Many owners of Blogger blogs published using the Google Custom Domain feature have learned to use various Google Apps wizards, to setup and to maintain their domains.

Blogger blog owners have learned (some unwillingly) to use Google Apps for various tasks.

1. Access the registrar's Domain Manager wizard, after using "Buy a domain".
2. Deactivate service redirects, such as the Sites service.
3. Maintain domain "auto renew" settings.
4. Reset the ever painful "Another blog ..." symptom of database corruption.
5. Set the option to "Redirect mydomain.com to www.mydomain.com".
6. Setup email delivery for the domain.

Each of these tasks will have to be performed in different ways, for blog owners who purchased their domains after last week. Previously setup Apps accounts, for the immediate future, are safe.

If you already have the free edition, you can continue to use it for free. This change has no impact on existing users of the free edition.

So far, we've seen some new domain owners use the Trial version of Google Apps, to recycle domain settings, when dealing with "Another blog ...". We hope that this technique will allow temporary access to the domain root redirect, and to service redirect, settings also. We are also seeing a limited functionality free version, which requires some effort to setup, in some cases.

In January 2015, Google launched Google Domains, a Google owned registrar, currently available in the USA. Google Domains has many features popular in "Buy a domain" and Google Apps based domain purchases, such as email addresses that can be forwarded to GMail and other front end services. Private and secure cloud based file sharing, with Content Management System supported business class documents, is available using Google Drive.

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Using The Google Apps Domain Root Redirect Setting

Recently, Google Apps added a setting to the domain administrator desktop GUI, which controls the redirect of the domain root (aka "naked domain"). We initially observed this setting, as an option in working around the problem of setting the domain root redirect, in the Blogger Publishing "Advanced Settings" wizard. It's also possible that this setting should be used in recycling the domain settings, when faced with the "dreaded "Another blog ..." error.

Use of the Google Apps Domain Redirect setting is not complicated. It starts with setup of the domain administrator account. For any newly purchased domain - as well as for domains purchased directly from a registrar, it's a fairly simple matter to setup a Google Apps domain administrator account - then to set (or reset) the redirect.

Having logged in to your new Google Apps account, as the domain administrator, you simply click on "Domain settings", then "Domain names". Under the Status column for your domain, you'll find the link to "Change redirect". Hoping that you have a standard asymmetrical DNS configuration for the domain, already setup, you can ignore the warning

To enable this redirect, you must change the A record with your domain host.

and simply click on "Redirect your naked domain" (for a new domain), or "Change redirect" (for an existing domain).

This is a new domain, with the domain root not yet redirected.
This is an existing domain, with the domain root redirected to "www.nitecruzr-test.net".
If the domain DNS addresses are not setup with both the source and target of the redirect (the "naked domain" and alias) pointing directly to the proper Google servers, as in either the symmetrical or asymmetrical DNS address configuration, the redirect setting is useless. The redirect only works within Google servers. This is another scenario where DNS addresses which use forwarding will not work.


The "Change how your naked domain is redirected" display simply lets you designate the "www" (or any alternate) alias as the target for the naked domain redirect.

Designate a web address to direct your users to when they access your naked domain.

Entering the target (defaulting, simply, to "www"), then hitting "Save changes", you are done with this procedure. Now, the domain root should redirect to the alias of your choice.

If you are recycling the domain settings, you'll want to change the redirect setting to something other than "www" - let us say "test" - then change back to "www".

1. Set the redirect to "test", and hit "Save changes".
2. Set the redirect to "www", and hit "Save changes".
3. You're done with this exercise.

If you are clearing the setting, so you can continue with the Blogger Publishing process, you may shorten the exercise a bit.

1. Set the redirect to "test", and hit "Save changes".
2. You're done with this exercise.

In either case, you now continue with the main task at hand, if necessary.

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Accessing The Registrar's Domain Manager, After Using "Buy a domain"

Setting up a custom domain, and publishing a blog to a non BlogSpot URL, is a simple enough task - when we are able to use the "Buy a domain for your blog" wizard.

Sometimes, after using "Buy a domain ...", we may still have to access the registrar's Domain Manager wizard - maybe to setup additional hosts, or to use the domain with non Blogger services.

When we use "Buy a domain", along with setting up the domain for us, the Blogger / Google wizard sets up a new eNom or GoDaddy domain owner account. To let us later login to eNom or GoDaddy, the "Buy a domain" wizard saves the login information, for our new account - in a Google Apps desktop wizard.

Here is yet one more reason why we absolutely must setup the provided Google Apps account, after receiving the Google Apps email. Be aware of the oddities of the Google One Login wizard, and Google Apps, when logging in.

The process of managing a domain, when setup using "Buy a domain", is not too complicated.

1. Setup a new Google Apps account. Since free Google Apps accounts are no longer offered, you'll have to setup a Trial - or limited function - account.
2. Login to Google Apps.
3. Retrieve the Google Apps registrar login information, from "Advanced DNS settings".
4. Login to the registrar (eNom or GoDaddy).

With later domains, purchased using "Buy a domain", you may simply have to activate the "bloggeradmin" account, for your domain.

The domain owner registrar login information is right there, in "Advanced DNS settings".


The domain owner login information is in the Google Apps desktop.

1. Go to "Domain settings" - "Domain names" - "Advanced DNS settings".
2. Open a new browser tab or window, clicking on "Sign in to DNS console".
3. Copy the Sign-in name, and the Password, to the appropriate boxes on the sign-in dialogue, and click "Login".
4. This will put you into the Domain Manager wizard, for the new domain.

If you already had an eNom or GoDaddy account, that will be a separate account - but with this new account maintained for you, by Google.

Just keep your new Google Apps account accessible and active, and keep the domain registration up to date - and you'll have no problem accessing the Domain Manager wizard, and managing the domain, whenever you need. And do not transfer control of your Blogger blogs, to accounts which require Google Apps, without understanding the risks.

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Schizophrenia And Custom Domain URLs - October 2012

Now that the custom domain publishing feature is back online again, there remains one feature of custom domain publishing to be restored to the Blogger dashboard.

The very popular Blogger dashboard option to redirect the domain root (aka "naked domain"), to the "www" alias, may not be reliable - or even available.

Too many people report

I can't redirect the naked domain - I can select the option, but the next time I look, the box will be un checked.

and

My "www" alias works just fine - but the domain root now returns a "404".

Fortunately, there are alternative solutions to provide the naked domain redirect.

There are 3 ways to redirect the domain root to the primary ("www" - or any alternate selection) alias.

• Registrar Domain Manager forwarding.
• Blogger Publishing redirect.
• Google Apps "Domain settings" redirect.

Registrar Domain Manager

The Registrar Domain Manager provides, for some blog owners, the currently most obvious alternative to the Blogger Publishing redirect - but it is not the simplest to use. Depending upon the registrar, and the nature of the domain manager / DNS servers, this procedure may not even work.

Some registrars will recommend simple DNS or frame forwarding to the BlogSpot URL - and this "solution", we know from experience, will not work at all. One problem here will be spurious spam classification, caused by what looks like an offsite redirect of the domain root.

Blogger Publishing

The Blogger Publishing redirect option is the most obvious alternative. This is the preferred option, in custom domain publishing - and re publishing - procedures.

Google Apps "Domain settings"

A less obvious option, the Google Apps "Domain settings" redirect option, is a third solution.

For any newly purchased domain - as well as for domains purchased directly from a registrar, it's possible (though currently, with some effort) to setup a Google Apps domain administrator account. Next, use the "Change how your naked domain is redirected" screen, and change or recycle the domain root redirect.

Which ever alternative you chose - or made to work, the domain root should now redirect to the alias of your choice.

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Custom Domain Purchase - Getting By Without "Buy a domain"

Now that custom domain publishing is once again available, though without the option to buy a domain through Blogger, too many anxious Blogger blog owners are asking the obvious question

How do I buy a domain?

Not a lot of blog owners want to be told

Contact the registrar of your choice.

The backup to "Buy a domain" would be to buy a domain directly from a registrar - however, this presents too many challenges to the casual blog owner.

---

(Update 2012/10/09): "Buy a domain for your blog" is once again part of the Publishing wizard.

---

Fortunately, there is a substitute to "Buy a domain", available through Google. Google Apps - which is the support organisation for "Buy a domain" itself - provides the option to buy a domain, along with the Google Apps Dashboard. Google Apps does not use easy to remember URLs, unfortunately.

To use the Google Apps equivalent of "Buy a domain", you start from the "Home Page" for Google Apps.

http://google.com/a/domain

This currently redirects to

https://www.google.com/a/cpanel/standard/new3

which is titled

Get started with Google Apps for free

From here, you find the all important advice

Don't have a domain yet?
No Problem. You can register a new domain starting from $8 a year.

accompanied by the button "Find domain".

Hitting the "Find domain" button, you get a display that's similar in functionality to "Buy a domain" - except the pulldown list of available Top Level Domains is currently a bit different from the selections offered by "Buy a domain".

To get a better selection of Top Level Domains, you'll have to go to

https://www.google.com/a/signup/?hl=en&source=gafb-globalnav-en

Here you will have to fill out the "You and your business" form, and hit "Next". The next display will start with "Check Availability" - and will provide a much longer TLD selection list.

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Enabling Blogger, If You Now Have An ISP Provided Email Account, That Uses Google Apps Based GMail

We're seeing problem reports from some confused blog owners, who are apparently customers of ISPs who have made the switch, from using a private email infrastructure, to using GMail based email (administered using Google Apps).

When I try to sign in I get this message.

Blogger has not been enabled by the administrator of the domain

How do I administer my blog?

We've known, for a while, that having a Blogger account based on a Google Apps provided GMail account may not be a good long term strategy - particularly if the Apps account is based on a domain which you own, and the domain was purchased to host one of your blogs.

Possibly considering the latter scenario, Blogger / Google now requires that you enable the Blogger service, for any new Google Apps controlled domain - if you wish to use email addresses in that domain to host Blogger accounts. This is a safety measure, helping to prevent you from having a Blogger account that you can't control - or can't recover access when you forget the password.

All of that is fine - when you control the domain that you wish to use to host your Blogger account. But what if you don't control the domain? What if you previously setup a Blogger account based on an email domain owned by your ISP (employer, school, what have you ...) - then later the domain administrator decides to upgrade the domain, to use GMail based email? What happens to your Blogger account?

Short of convincing the domain administrators for your ISP (school, employer) that you have a genuine and urgent need to have a Blogger account, based on an email address that they provide, you're going to need a new email address - provided by someone other than Google, or your ISP (school, employer).

Start by setting up an email account in some third party web service - maybe "Yahoo.com". Then, you have two possibilities. If you're reading this article just before your ISP makes the switch, and you can still use your Blogger account, transfer control of your blog(s) to a new Blogger account that's based on your new email address.

If you just discovered the change by your ISP - maybe because you now see the bad news

Blogger has not been enabled by the administrator of the domain

you are going to have to recover control of your blog, based upon access to your ISP's email account - and setup a new Blogger account based on your new non ISP based email account.

1. Generate a new account recovery email message.
2. Setup a new email account, outside your current email service.
3. Clear cache, cookies, and sessions.
4. Restart the browser.
5. Login to your current email service, find, and open the email message.
6. Click on the link in the email message.
7. Setup a new Blogger account, based on the new email address.

Whatever you do when setting up your new Blogger account, please make sure to verify the email address - and setup recovery options, carefully.

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