We have already discussed why self hosted blogs are better than free blogspot blogs.
Still we have majority of bloggers who prefer blogspot, and they have all the good reasons to love and support blogspot . Some of them are :
Free, Unlimited bandwidth, Unlimited storage.
Though storage is not unlimited but we have plenty of options like creating different author profile and use them to store images and files.
The only thing which they might not like with blogspot is .blogspot domain name, which can be easily taken away by using a custom domain name.
Why you should buy a custom domain for your blogspot blogs?
Buying a domain name is cheap :
Buying a domain name is pretty cheap, you can easily get good domain name ending with .com or .org in between 7$-10$. If you are really low in budget, you can consider buying a .info domain which will cost you between 1$- 2$. You can buy .com domain name for cheap from shoutmydomain..
Social media sites :
Social media sites doesn’t hate blogspot but they even don’t love it. Websites like Digg and Buzz.yahoo , blogspot domain names are not seen with a great eye.
Web promotion:
Talking about web promotion , which starts from social media sites to link building, most of top websites doesn’t like giving a link back to blogspot domain. If you will notice wordpress blogs blogroll, it will be hard to find a blogSpot domain there.
Seriousness towards blogging :
You have been working a lot on your blogspot blogs, but without a nice layout, template and domain name, people will not feel that you are very serious about blogging. One simple reason you are not ready to spend few dollars for thing which you love.
Branding
Using your custom domain name, you can use it to brand yourself easily. Use a nice logo, favico and banner to brand yourself. You can look for wordpress like blogspot themes to give a entire new look to your blogspot blogs.
Google Apps
With custom domain, you will also get facility to use Google Apps and you can have email address of your domain name. Like I have admin[at]shoutmeloud.com
Monetization
It’s much easier to get your adsense account approved with a custom domain, just like I discussed How to get your adsense account approved for blogspot with little trick.
How to start with custom blogspot domain ?
Search for a domain name using any of these 5 domain name suggestion tools. The simplest way is you can buy a custom domain from Google, under your blogSpot panel.
If you already bought a domain name from third part domain registrar, you can use this guide from Google to set up custom domain on blogspot blog.
The idea is simple, with little effort you can give your blogspot blog a professional look.
If you like the post do consider adding shoutmeloud in your feed reader. If you have custom domain name now, you ca easily use it when you migrate to wordpress and this way you will not loose your domain identity.
Though if you want to move to wordpress, I will recommend reading my tutorial on
Step by step guide to install self hosted wordpress blog.
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Article by Harsh Agrawal
Harsh has written 1211 articles.
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{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
You talk about ‘seriousness’. but to be honest, if you are serious about blogging, you should buy a domain, buy a hosting package and install wordpress
Really nice post Harsh… Buying a domain name is not a big task but its very difficult to a chose a domain name.
Great tips, i have recently switched to a custom domain from blogspot.
That’s good because when you will migrate to wordpress after some time, that will be an added advantage for you in terms of PR and link Juice.
Great post Harsh, Can you please tell me that Custom domain name of blogspot blog easily move to wordpress.
Domain registration india
I think I must rethink to blogging
.-= forlan ´s last blog ..How to linkedin? =-.
iam having some 140 backlinks to my blog, if i switch to custum domain will i loose all backlinks?????
Engineer
You will not. All your link juice will be 301 redirected to new domain.
thanx a lot harsha . . .
Great post
I have a question. I am recently using blogger. If I take a new domain, or transfer my blog to some other address (wordpress etc) , is it require to wait 6 months again for adsense? (I am from India).
Thanks.
Yes, you need to wait for 6 months after purchasing a new domain.
I got a domain name (free) from http://www.co.cc but I dont know if this type domain can be used for adsense or not. Anybody have any suggestion?
My problem is that I have no credit card. When I tried to get a paid domain, they are asking for credit card. But as I started my blog in march, I want to move it to a self-host as soon as possible. Kindly answer some questions to help me:
1. I want a paid hosting and paid domain name that will accept direct deposit to their account, bank draft, cheque etc. Is there any in your knowledge?
2. I am Indian, which company will be suitable for me to purchase domain and hosting. Indian company, or other?
3. Can I pay any foreign company without credit card?
4. If I must need a credit card to get a paid domain and host, please suggest me from where to get it.
You bring up some good points about blogger/blogspot blogs. First of all, there’s the issue of professionality.
Many people think blogger blogs look less professional because of the basic templates that have been around for years. This is changing a little bit since they just released a brand new blogger design system built right in. I’ve been testing it out and it’s been pretty fun to learn how to use.
I absolutely love writing and posting on blogger because it makes everything so simple. I’ve had a site there for years and I will probably keep it there as long as they let me.
Harsh, can you change your domain name after you get adsense?
not just the blogspot but even change the part before blogspot?
Thanks
Great blog. I’m considering buying one from google.
Thor you should..It will eventually help you a lot. If you are planning to buy it in a couple of days, I would suggest use Godaddy Football World cup offer
http://wphostingdiscount.com/godaddy-fifa-world-cup-2010-fever-99-cent-domain-soccer99/
I think you are absolutely correct. Anything you can do to make your website appear more professional is a really smart thing to do. A unique domain name will also give you site the potential of having a strong brand presence. Why not give it an original name?
hey hi harsh
thanks for all ur article i just have some query in my mind abt blogspot
as i m newbie
i want to buy a domain name
i already have a site with http://www.ziddle.blogspot.com
now i want to make it
http://www.ziddle.com
as i m indian i even have credit card with me but can i buy directly from google for 10 dollar whether it is safe
and whether google checkout accept credit card from india since my money is in rupees and i have to pay in dollar so hw it is possible
plz help me waiting for ur reply thanks
Hey Arsh
Google is a reliable place to buy domain. And you will be charges In INR as money will be charged in $ but you will see it in the form of INR (Currency conversion).
Alternatively you can use my domain service http://www.shoutmydomain.com to buy .com domain.
Do let me know if you have any more questions.
Great post, Thanks man!
Hi harsh! What about ‘.in’ domains? while consider cost they are cheap, But will they rank well..?? waiting for ur reply thanks.
Hello Mr.Harsh Agrawal,
As far as I am concerned, to be frank, it is not the question of money that is involved in hesitating to go for Wordpress.
I am not a techie and I have some fears as to make a try with something which I do not know about.
However, whenever I see your blogs and other Wordpress blogs, I really want to have one like this.
Hope I try before it is too late!
Thanks and regards……..
Great post Harsh, Can you please tell me that Custom domain name of blogspot blog easily move to wordpress.
I want to know if there are any options to pay custom domain charges in INR on blogspot. Because it show charges $10, but it is not possible to pay in Dollars as credit card company restrict to purchase anything in Dollars or foreign currencies.