Step 1 – Buy your domain nameThe first thing to do is to buy your domain name. I suggest using a registrar that is separate from your hosting account. Personally, I use
Namescheap.
The reason I suggest keeping the name registrar and hosting separate is so that you can switch to a new host easily if a company comes out with a killer hosting package.
Step 2 – Get a hosting account
Next, you need to get a hosting account. I own a
Host Monster
account, which allows me to put unlimited domain names on my one account. They also offer a ton of storage and bandwidth, and have great customer support.
If you bought your domain separately from your hosting account, you need to set up your DNS. Otherwise, move on to Step 3. Also, if when purchasing your domain, you were asked to specify your primary domain, and set that up during the sign-up proces, move to Step 3.
The following instructions apply to HostMonster or Bluehost and Godaddy accounts. The principles are the same for other hosting, but details may vary. Consult the support for your registrar and hosting account if you need help for your specific needs.
Godaddy (or whatever registrar you used) needs to know where the files are that make up your actual website. To point Godaddy to your hosting account, sign in to your account at Godaddy, click on ‘My Account’, and then click ‘Manage Domains’. You should now see all of your domain names listed. Click on your domain name. On the right you should see a section that says “Nameservers Summary”, in that section click on the “Click here to see details or to modify” link.
Once you are at the Set Name Server screen, select ‘Single Domain’ and the ‘Custom Name Servers’ radio buttons. In the Name server 1 and 2 fields you need to enter the name server information from your hosting account. Most likely you received this in an email when you signed up for your hosting account.
Host Monster’s
name servers are NS1.HOSTMONSTER.COM and NS2.HOSTMONSTER.COM.
You almost have your domain and hosting account set up, and that is most of the hard stuff. The last step is to set up your addon domain on your hosting account. Log into your cpanel (usually http://yourdomainname.com/cpanel) and from there, click on the “Addon Domains” link. Follow the directions, and you should have your domain name pointing to your hosting account in no time.
Step 3 – Set up an FTP account
Set up your FTP account. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol which is the way Blogger publishes your blog to your hosted account.
From your cPanel (http://yourdomainname.com/cpanel), click on ‘FTP Manager’. On the next screen, click “FTP Accounts.” You can now create a new account which will be used by blogger to publish your blog by clicking “Add FTP Account.”
Make sure you specify the correct directory that you want your blog to be published to. For example, if you want your blog to be located at http://youraccount.com/blog/, then the path would most likely be /home/acc_name/public_html/blog/, unless you are using an addon domain, in which case it would be located at /home/acc_name/public_html/addon-domain-name/blog/.
Step 4 – Get a Blogger Account
Now, you’ll need a
Blogger account. This is a pretty easy and painless step. Just follow their directions.
Step 5 – Connect Blogger to your FTP Account
The last thing you’ll need to do is connect Blogger to your ftp account. Once you are signed into your Blogger account, go into your blog’s admin panel, click on the ‘Settings’ tab, and then on the ‘Publishing’ sub-tab. From there, click on the “Switch to FTP” link.
From here, just fill in the information according to how you set it up in the hosting cPanel. Note: the FTP Server will be ftp.yourdomain.com. Your FTP path should be left blank if you set up the ftp account correctly. The username should be in username@domain.com format.
Hope this helps. With all that said, I use WordPress now for my blogging, which if you bought a hosting account through
Host Monster is really easy to set up. Just go to the “Fantastico” link and create a new WordPress install.
