Buying a custom domain for blogger

Question

I'm about to move my blogger site to a custom domain.

I do all the steps as told but whenever I find the perfect custom domain (that is free) I get redirected to Google apps for business.

Is it necessary to get Google apps for business before buying a custom domain?

If I start a free trial of Google apps for business and cancel before the trial period expires, will my custom domain still be valid?

Answer 1

Is it a necessity to get Google apps for business before buying a custom domain?

No. It's unclear why you're ending up in this loop of being prompted to set up Google Apps, but the two have nothing to do with each other. If your're doing the domain search through a utility provided from within Blogger(I haven't used it in ages), it's probably just being offered as some kind of upsell. Is there no option for saying you're not interested in Google Apps?

This support article mentions an offer of Google Apps, but that's it's done via the confirmation email after you've already registered the domain. (If you select the "Buy a custom domain through Blogger." option)

On the other hand, you can also register the domain through whatever third-party registrar you want, and then you'll just have to edit a couple of DNS settings to get your blog pointed to the domain. (Select "Host my blog on a URL that I already own." to see instructions for that.)

Answer 2

No, it's not necessary to get Google Apps for business.

I personally recommend buying a domain independently from Google.

I've purchased a domain through Blogger once and it was a nightmare. (They assigned me a domain through enom at the time. The DNS setting I was given access to were incredibly limited and I had to jump through hoops when I wanted to move my domain away from Blogger. While it was enom, the settings page was like a Google re-branding of Enom and it was far from what Enom themselves offer.

I recommend going through Enom or Gandi or something and then pointing it to Blogger from there. I'd avoid the Google method simply for the lack of control Google gave me over the Enom account they'd assigned me. (This was in 2009, it could be different now.)

Setting up a CNAME in your DNS Zone is a cinch. Blogger will give you step-by-step instructions, depending on your registrar, to get you through it.

Answer 3

As far as my understanding goes you are in need of your own domain name pointing to your blog. So, there are a couple of things to work with...

Register a domain-name and manage its zone (dns zone). In the case you register your domain-name through google's, they provide an option to manage DNS Zone of your domain. For new registration you can navigate enom.com, networksolutions.com or godaddy.com

Now you have two options...

1. Continue with a blogger service - blogger.com or wordpress.com

   here, initially you would be operating with a sub-domain say... yourblog.blogspot.com or yourblog.wordpress.com and afterwards, you can add CNAME to your newly registered domain name say my-new-blog.com as instructed in admin section of your blog and here.

-- Or --

1. Purchase a web-space (shared hosting) and install wordpress or any other blogging app.

   here, you need to add a A record in the DNS Zone pointing to the IP address of your server, where you install your blog.

Answer 4

No it is not. You can buy a domain at GoDaddy or any other registrar. Then use it as your blog through blogger. You will need to setup a CNAME

Here are the instructions from Google

http://support.google.com/blogger/bin/static.py?hl=en&ts=1233381&page=ts.cs

Blogger offers two free publishing options for your blog: hosting on Blogspot (example.blogspot.com) and hosting on your own custom domain (www.example.com or foo.example.com). You can change your publishing option at anytime, and your content will always remain unaltered regardless of which of these options you choose.

Whether you want to purchase a new domain through Blogger or publish on a domain which you already own, we’ll walk you through the process of setting up your blog for a custom domain.