HOW TO SET UP A CUSTOM DOMAIN IN BLOGGER

What is a custom domain? It's a type of domain that stands alone having your name or whatever you give it with. askhjoe.blogspot.com is not a custom domain, its  affiliated with something else. It does not advertise itself totally rather also advertizing another website called "blogger" .

When you have a custom domain, it will be easier for your fans to remember. It will also give you a uniqueness that increases your Google analytical points and thereby encourage more trafficking.

Now in other to do this, you need to buy a domain name from the numerous places on the internet like Godaddy or Blacknight, DreamHost, BlueHost or google out many domain name sellers online and make your choice. But please go for those that can give you full support. Support is better here than prices. Note. After buying the Domain Name, do not buy Host or Hosting, what we need is only the Name. Go ahead and and register and pay for it blogger will always be the host we just want independent name. Since blogger will do a good hosting job then why do we need to pay for another?

 This is so beautiful till it will not affect any of your links at all and even if someone visits your former blog name it will redirect him to the new name. Its also easy to manage and share.

Step 2: HOW TO SET UP CUSTOM DOMAIN ON BLOGGER

 Now that you have registered a domain name, its time to bring it to blogger and permanent it. Follow the steps below:
Go to you Blogger dashboard ==> Settings ==> Publishing ==> Blog Address. Then click on ADD A CUSTOM DOMAIN NAM. [See images below for a guide on how to get there]

STEP 3: Add Custom Domain Name, add in your new domain name www.domain-name.com and click save.
STEP 4: You should now see an error. This gives you the details you need to properly set up your new domain so keep this page open for the next step. The first CNAME is the same for everyone. The second is a specific CNAME for your blog.

STEP 5: Open the Settings Instructions in a new tab to refer back to later. Here you can see the settings for a top-level or sub domain. Here we will be using top-level domain – www.domain-name.com

SETTING UP YOUR CNAME RECORDS

1. Open a new tab and login to where you registered your domain and find settings. Click on DNS (Domain Name System) settings or records, it could also be called Name Server Management. Create a new CNAME record. I’ll explain below the method for both Blacknight and GoDaddy as it slightly varies depending on the provider. If you can’t find the right settings, check out this page for further instructions or check with your domain name provider.
2. Under the Name/Host/Label field, enter www or domain-name depending on where you bought the domain (domain-name for GoDaddy, www for Blacknight – more details below). Under Destination/Target/Points To, enter ghs.google.com. This is the same for everyone.
3. Your second CNAME will consist of numbers and letters. Under the Name/Host/Label field, enter the details from Blogger that look like 00aa0aaaaaa. Under Destination/Target/Points to field, enter the details from Blogger that look like aa-a0aaaa0aaaaaa.dv.googlehosted.com. 

NOW YOU HAVE TO: Set up A-Records

Here you are to add your A-Record so that (what we call) naked domain name (i.e  domain-name.com) will be redirected to your full domain (www.domain-name.com) or else when your naked domain is clicked it will only show error result.

1. Enter the following list of Google's IP addresses, and you will need to enter a new record for each of the Four I.P addresses. Find the A (Host) heading and table and enter the following where Host is @ and the value is the following:

• 216.239.32.21
• 216.239.34.21
• 216.239.36.21
• 216.239.38.21

2. Delete old entries that are not needed no more
3. Before moving forward, make sure that your settings are active. It could take up to one hour.

FINISHING TOUCHES

• Go back to Blogger ==> Settings== > Publishing== > Blog Address. Enter your domain name (www.domain-name.com) ==> SAVE. Note: If you followed our steps here closely, you shouldnt see any error at this stage. Do not forget to tick the option of redirecting from domain-name.com to www.domain-name.com. This will enable the readers who click your former domain name "www.domain-name.blogspot.com" to be automatically re-directed to your new  domain name. 
• Note Also: These things can take upto to 2days or 48hours to come up right. So do not panic when you see no changes. As long as at this point you didn't see erro message above, be rest assured that you did well. But if it didn't change after 48hours, you can do it again and follow the procedure closely.

FINAL SETTING AT THE OTHER END
Here we will teach you how to set up the final stuff at the website you registered your domain name. I will use Godaddy which we are more familiar with.

GoDaddy

Login to your GoDaddy account. Click Launch beside Domains == > DNS Zone File.
You’ll see a table with different headings, so find the "CNAME" heading and click "quick add".

SETTINGS:

 For the Host enter your new domain name without the www or the .com – domain-name. For Points To, enter ghs.google.com. Again, add your specific CNAME – for Host enter the details from Blogger that look like 00aa0aaaaaa. Under "Points To" enter the details from Blogger that look like aa-a0aaaa0aaaaaa.dv.googlehosted.com 

Please look below for more detail... and if you didnt use "Godaddy" try contacting their support toguid you to locate DNS Zone File

BLUENIGHT
If you registered your domain with Blueblack follow the following steps:
Log in to your account on BlackNight, thenClick on your domain name ==> DNS ==> DNS Records. Add a New Record, change the "Type" to CNAME.
At domain enter www
For canonical name add ghs.google.com. and save.
Note: You may have to deactivate one of your other records for this to save.
Add another record for your specific CNAME – for the domain field, enter the details from Blogger that look like 00aa0aaaaaa. For canonical name enter the details from Blogger that look like aa-a0aaaa0aaaaaa.dv.googlehosted.com. Add another new record for each of the A (Host) IP addresses as written above.
[See Picture Bellow]

QUESTIONS THAT MAY ARISE AFTERWARDS

Will I lose traffic?

Blogger uses 301 redirects to forward users from the subdomain (www.domain-name.blogspot.com) to the custom domain (www.domain-name.com) so you won’t lose rankin

Adsense stopped working?

If you are using Adsense on your blog, you will have to update the URL to your new custom domain.

It won’t load/work/etc?

It can take up to 48 hours for everything to be configured properly so double check that you have done everything right and give it a couple of hours.

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HOW TO ADD AUTOMATED RELATED POSTS TO BLOGGER

Here we are going to see how to create Related post widgets in HTML format.STEPS TO CONFIGURE 'RELATED POSTS' WIDGET ON YOUR BLOG

STEP 1: Go to dashboard==> Template==>Edit HTML (See the picture below)

STEP 2: Click anywhere on the open box containing HTML codes, hit Ctrl + F on your keyboard. This will bring out a search bar.

STEP 3: Input the code </head> and press  Enter on your keyboard to search.

STEP 4: Place the following code above the </head>

 <!--Related Posts with thumbnails Scripts and Styles Start-->
<!-- remove --><b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>
<style type='text/css'>
#related-posts{float:left;width:auto;}
#related-posts a{border-right: 1px dotted #eaeaea;}
#related-posts a:hover{background: #EEEEEE;}
#related-posts h2{margin-top: 10px;background:none;font:18px Oswald;padding:3px;color:#999999; text-transform:uppercase;}
#related-posts .related_img {margin:5px;border:4px solid #f2f2f2;width:100px;height:100px;transition:all 300ms ease-in-out;-webkit-transition:all 300ms ease-in-out;-moz-transition:all 300ms ease-in-out;-o-transition:all 300ms ease-in-out;-ms-transition:all 300ms ease-in-out;-webkit-border-radius: 10px;  -moz-border-radius: 10px; border-radius: 10px; }
#related-title {color:#666;text-align:center;padding: 0px 5px 10px;font-size:12px;width:110px;}
#related-posts .related_img:hover{border:4px solid #E8E8E8;opacity:.7;filter:alpha(opacity=70);-moz-opacity:.7;-khtml-opacity:.7}</style>
<script type='text/javascript' src='http://helplogger.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/relatedposts.js' />
<!-- remove --></b:if>

<!--Related Posts with thumbnails Scripts and Styles End-->

 Note: You can change the height of the Thumbnail by adjusting the 100px

 Remove the the codes in Violet if you want the Related Widget to also appear on the Home Page

 Also adjust the color and sizes on the one in blue above.

STEP 5: Find the code  <div class='post-footer'> 

 Above it copy and past the following code below

<!-- Related Posts with Thumbnails Code Start-->
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>
<div id='related-posts'>
<b:loop values='data:post.labels' var='label'>
<b:if cond='data:label.isLast != &quot;true&quot;'>
</b:if>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>
<script expr:src='&quot;/feeds/posts/default/-/&quot; + data:label.name + &quot;?alt=json-in-script&amp;callback=related_results_labels_thumbs&amp;max-results=5&quot;' type='text/javascript'/></b:if></b:loop>
<script type='text/javascript'>
var currentposturl=&quot;<data:post.url/>&quot;;
var maxresults=5;
var relatedpoststitle=&quot;<b>Related Posts:</b>&quot;;
removeRelatedDuplicates_thumbs();
printRelatedLabels_thumbs();
</script>
</div><div class='clear'/>
</b:if>

<b:if cond='data:blog.url == data:blog.homepageUrl'><b:if cond='data:post.isFirstPost'>
<a href='http://helplogger.blogspot.com'><img alt='Blogger Tricks' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh60f6Kxj3QLPjePxZ1RrnoHgtfgeQ0N_pGjBWiZVuNilB6ZneqKt-_bjpv22SxmuQGHSF1fw0CaTmxP4jOKt6usMqL9GMuF82AdcGsDKTeDGjD3tHl6JwIx-Kkcyfbu0R0_Swjh_s5VjyU/s1600/best+blogger+tips.png'/></a>

</b:if></b:if><!-- Related Posts with Thumbnails Code End-->

NOTE: Maxresults=5 are the maximum number of posts  you want to display, so you can change that
            Remove the the codes in Violet if you want the Related Widget to also appear on the Home Page

This should do the job, but if you didnt still see the Related Posts then do the following:

Search for </b:includable> [Search with the same Cntrl +F] . Place the following code above it

<b:includable id='postQuickEdit' var='post'>

That's all.
Save the template.

 

 

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HOW TO REMOVE BLOGGER LOGO

It feels so good to know how to go around somethings especially to establish a true identity from the top of your head to the sole of your feet.

If you are reading this, there a high probability that you are looking for a way to remove blogger logo and put yours, so i say relax for I will show you just that in a very simple and concise steps.


STEP 1: Get your logo (The one you want to replace this with), make sure it is square shaped.

STEP 2: Log into your dashboard, then ==> Layout==>click on Edit Favicon

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HOW TO PUT AUTOMATIC "READ MORE FEATURE" ON BLOGGER POSTS

It is s very good thing after selecting a good template, you try to redesign the way your write-ups should appear on your blog that won't scare people away.When someone is reading a topic, he may be scared thinking its a very long one seeing how the texts go so down.
Using the "Read More" link helps to arrange and add more respect and uniqueness to your blog.
 Lets go there:

There are two ways to add 'Read more' link or tag to your posts

1.USING THE JUMP BREAK WHILE EDITING
 The first one is the one you insert when you are composing your post on your dashboard. When you reach where you want to add the 'Read More' tag click on 'INSERT JUMP BREAK'. See picture below

The Circled button is where you click.

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