PERSONALIZING YOUR BLOG WITH ITS OWN DOMAIN NAME
Nettica makes it easy
Creating a blog is fun and easy. There are many free
services out there that let you to do it. But now you're ready for the
next step - giving your blog it's own domain name. You may ask yourself,
why would I do that? How can I do that? and of course, why do I need
Nettica?
First, let me say, we use blogs ourselves. In fact, our
weblog is available at news.nettica.com.
We use blogger, but any bloging service will do just fine. Why give it
it's own domain name? The answer: discoverability. It's easier to
remember your own domain name than some of those very complex blog names.
Not only is it easier for humans, but also easier for search engines to
find. After all, you want people to find and read what you write, don't
you?
How do I give it a domain name? Simple, buy one. We
do domain registrations, but if you want to
buy it some somewhere else, please feel free. But what you do need is our
Full DNS Service. Why choose Nettica? Whether you are fully
hosted by the free service or you host it yourself, our DNS service can
accommodate your needs. Our Full DNS Service gives you all the features
you need.
METHOD ONE: URL REDIRECTION
The simplest way to give your blog it's own name is to use Nettica's URL
Forwarding to redirect people to the right location. Simply create
forward record pointing to the correct URL and you're set.
|
|
HOST NAME
|
TYPE
|
TTL
|
DATA
|
EDIT
|
DELETE
|
| myblog.com |
Forward (F) |
1 Hour |
1 http://myblog.blogger.com/ |
 |
 |
| www.myblog.com |
Forward (F) |
1 Hour |
1 http://myblog.blogger.com/ |
|
|
|
|
|
METHOD TWO: CNAME REDIRECTION
The next easiest way is to go with a blog hosting company that support
redirections using a CNAME alias. A typical setup might look something
like this:
|
|
HOST NAME
|
TYPE
|
TTL
|
DATA
|
EDIT
|
DELETE
|
| myblog.com |
Forward (F) |
1 Hour |
3 http://www.myblog.com |
|
|
| www.myblog.com |
Alias (CNAME) |
1 Hour |
www.squarespace.com |
|
|
|
|
|
Blogger also supports CNAME redirections now. To customize your
blogger site to use its own domain you would create these entries:
|
|
HOST NAME
|
TYPE
|
TTL
|
DATA
|
EDIT
|
DELETE
|
| myblog.com |
Forward (F) |
1 Hour |
3 http://www.myblog.com |
|
|
| www.myblog.com |
Alias (CNAME) |
1 Hour |
ghs.google.com |
|
|
|
|
|
and then complete the rest of the setup in the Blogger Publishing Settings.
Nettica also supports giving TypePad sites their own domain name. To
configure a site for TypePad, you would create entries similar to this:
|
|
HOST NAME
|
TYPE
|
TTL
|
DATA
|
EDIT
|
DELETE
|
| myblog.com |
Forward (F) |
1 Hour |
3 http://www.myblog.com |
|
|
| www.myblog.com |
Alias (CNAME) |
1 Hour |
yourtypepadsite.typepad.com |
|
|
|
|
|
With TypePad there are several alternative methods, contact support if you have
any problems.
Nettica supports any hosting service that allows CNAME redirections. This
list is not complete. When looking at the different alternatives, be sure
to see what kind of domain mapping options are available.
METHOD THREE: HOSTING IT YOURSELF
When you host a blog yourself, you still let the service
update your website for you, usually over FTP. To do it you'll need
to be running and web server and a FTP server. You'll also need to
configure the FTP server to point to the root of your web server. You
should also create a user specifically for the blogging service that only has
access to the one location--your website. This is for the real
do-it-yourselfers out there. It takes some work, but it's not
impossible. The hard part is setting up your machine; the easier part is
configuring your DNS.
|
|
HOST NAME
|
TYPE
|
TTL
|
DATA
|
EDIT
|
DELETE
|
| myblog.com |
Host (A) |
1 Hour |
172.26.2.24 |
|
|
| ftp.myblog.com |
Host (A) |
1 Hour |
172.26.2.24 |
|
|
| www.myblog.com |
Alias (CNAME) |
1 Hour |
myblog.com |
|
|
|
|
|
If you need to know your IP address, visit
http://ip.nettica.com . If you're hosting the site somewhere
else (like a webhosting service) you'll still want to use our DNS service
because it has many additional features you just don't get with many webhosting
services. For example, you can configure "home.myblog.com" with the IP
address of your home machine, and then connect to it from anywhere (see
Setting up Remote Desktop for the Internet ). Play music,
transfer files, there's a lot you can do.
EMAIL
You have your domain name, you've got your blog going, so what's
next? How about email? Our simplest service is email forwarding,
which will forward email from you@myblog.com
to yourname@yourisp.com. Or,
our fully hosted mail service may be what you're looking for. It works
will all popular email clients, and includes anti-spam, anti-virus, and
webmail. It takes just a few minutes to add the service to your domain.
SUPPORT
The real reason to choose Nettica - outstanding support.
As all of our customers know, we go the extra mile for you. We provide
the best service and support you will find. We do not fool around with
"trouble tickets". You're not a number to us. We respond to all
questions with personal service from people who know what they're doing.
So there you have it, all you need to know to give your blog
it's own domain name. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to
ask. Chat with us online, or send email to
Support.
Feel free to link to this article either directly or indirectly.
Copyright � 2004-2010 Nettica Corporation All rights reserved.