Thursday, June 7, 2018

Best Domain Registrars (Why I choose NameCheap?)

Ever wonder how to make a website with the URL like where you are right now (https://www.madspad.com)? this is called a TLD or Top Level Domain site.  This differs to a subdomain which looks like this (https://www.lifeviewsandstories.blogspot.com).  See the difference? When you are interested to make your own site without a blogspot.com word or wordpress.com in your link, a TLD.  You can make it easier.

First thing, you have to look for the best "Domain Registrar" that suits your needs (you may also read the list of domain registrars here).  Domain registrar is where you can create your own TLD or your own website under your preferred name. Example: "nameofoyourblog.com"

I would like to share how I made my Subdomain Blogsite to a TLD or own Domain Site. You may read How To Set Up a Top Level Domain in Blogger  Deploying a blogger site to my own domain using Namecheap was very efficient for me to use and for the word itself, yes it is very cheap.  You can buy a TLD with 10$ (P500) and make your site have richer content.

Setting up everything with Namecheap made me excited for effectively have my own website. Could choose my preferred name of the site and do this with easy steps.

Google also is giving clear details with regards to verification on how to host the blogspot site via Domain Registrars like Namecheap so I got even more eager to do it myself.

In owning your own domain, it is very important to take heed of what to change in the Blog settings of your blog as well as settings on the chosen domain registrar.

I have tried signing up and searching for each domain registrar sites like GoDaddy, HostGator and lastly NameCheap. I could say that Namecheap was the best among them, aside from you can avail this affordably, it is very easy to set up! Please note that the reviews stated are unbiased so now let's look with some other reasons below:

1. You will notice that the backend is intuitive and simple. What you paid is worth it so you can manage your website.
2. NameCheap has no misleading advertisements and claims.  Unlike other WebHost provider and Domain registrar, in using NameCheap, what you see and avail is what you really get.
3. The TLD of Namecheap only cost at least $10/yr (for the updated price please visit their site) they have a free privacy that cost around $2/  Aside from that, Namecheap offers SSL at very low rates. Aside from that, you could buy your own Comodo SSL starting at just $10 per year.  Pretty much right?
4. The support team of Namecheap for me is the best, it offers 24/7 free service and accessible however they do not provide phone call assistance.  As tried, their live support team is very responsive. During the time I was setting up my blogger site to their domain level service I encountered an error at all times gladly the representative is really great at answering my questions.  Namecheap status is also available where you can see all the status updates that Namecheap has been doing every day, any enhancements and changes to their site.  See below image:


After purchasing a custom domain from them, it felt a warm welcome received an email making me feel that whenever you have concerns or guide, they are always willing to help.


NameCheap standard for me is quite high among others based on experience.  Let’s see if the services offered would stay consistent for years to come.  Will keep you posted.

To start buying a TLD from Namecheap, you may use this link and note that when someones buy using your link, you can get a small commission.





How To Set Up a Top Level Domain in Blogger

Before setting up a TLD or a custom domain name for your Blogger site, you have to prepare a good address or link to your site. I strongly recommend to prepare the best name or compose of words that are significant and meaningful for you.  May use name that also ends with (.com) that is being used also nowadays and social media users more familiar with the domain name that ends with .com, nice example for this would be my custom domain site which is madspad.com


Supposedly, you have your blogspot site ready-made from Blogger that is running and with good content as possible as well as with your domain name source is accessible to you.  Let's say for example I chose Name cheap as my domain registrar, however, you may also consider GoDaddy, Hostgator, Wordpress and many more sources of TLD. After deciding what to use and domain name.



Everything starts with buying a Domain name.  My best advice for this step is to always choose the good quality and reviews of a certain domain name resource.  In fact, you can have your own custom domain for 10-15$ for a year so once you have decided go to the chosen domain (see the list of domain registrars).  You might want to read why I choose Namecheap


  • Head over to your blogger profile. Go to Settings->Basic and go straight Publishing section.
    Hover to 'Blog Address, choose 'Setup a 3rd party URL' for your blogspot blog.



  • Click on + Setup a 3rd party URL for your blog' and there you may add the chosen domain name that you have purchased. Please see screenshot below and take note of the triple w that you have to put to the text box along with your domain name blog address.


  • Tick the checkbox for your blogspot site to be redirected to your new custom domain name site.
  • Your visitor may view your site starting with https for the encrypted connection. You may change the drop-down to yes or no by your preferences on HTTPS section. After filling the important fields upon clicking the save button, you will encounter an error 12 and your own 2 CNAMEs that you'll need to enter later for your chosen domain name registrar.



After this step, you can go straight to the address of Domain name source wherein you can set up your DOMAIN credentials, and what you'll input there is the Name, Lable or Host field that blogger provided you in your settings. So now you may see the following steps on how I set up CNAME and A record at chosen Registrar of a custom domain that is at Namecheap.

Setting up CNAME Record and 4 A Records. Login your credentials to access your Domain Control Panel.  Hover to the Account Tab and choose the submenu 'Dashboard'.  Or you may directly choose the ' Domain List' on the sidebar.  


Click the MANAGE button, then proceed to the 'Advance DNS' tab.  See below image for reference:


As you can see, I wrote a blue pen for privacy reasons.  Going back to the blogger settings a while ago, you'll see 'View settings instruction' you may view it to get the 4 A records. For the CNAME record, you need to input the 'Host' field from blogger settings to the Host column in your Namecheap settings.  Same with the 'DestinationTarget, or Points To' field from Blogger that you'll input into the 'Value' column.  The image says where to put the important fields.
Note that the value of the CNAME record usually ends with googlehosted.com.



Upon Viewing settings instructions from Google, you have to input Google A 
records which are 4 IPs


After this final step, wait for at least 24 hours, observe if there's a problem and your blogger site directs to your new custom domain site. 

Hope you were able to do the steps correctly. Happy Blogging! :)




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