To The Moon And Back

I bought a new domain just recently and wanted to try using blogspot as my host. One, it’s free and two, there are so many cool blogger templates out there that I’d like to try. You’ve all probably tried using a custom domain successfully but I wasn’t fortunate. I tried to follow all the steps from the Blogger.com help page but my changes are not taking effect. So I asked a friend who’s currently hosting her blog at blogspot and she sent me the following:

 The steps are for domains registered at GoDaddy but I’m sure it’s almost the same with other registrars.

1. Log in to your blogger account and go to Settings > Publishing

2. Set the publishing to your blogspot address

3. Log in to your GoDaddy account and access the domain that you want to update

4. Select ‘Enable Forwarding’
- Select 302 Moved Temporarily
- Forward to http://name.blogspot.com

5. Select ‘Enable Masking’ and click OK

6. Open a new browser and type your new domain http://name.com. It should now redirect to your blogspot address (http://name.blogspot.com). It might take a while before the domain gets redirected to blogspot so be patient

7. When the domain redirection is working, go back to GoDaddy account and access Namerservers

8. Check Hosting Name Servers then click OK.
Your namerservers should now say:
Name Server 1: NS51.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
name Server 2: NS52.DOMAINCONTROL.COM

9. Now, click ‘Total DNS Control and MX Records’

10. Under the CNAME section, click ‘Edit’ for the www entry

11. Under points to host name, change @ to ghs.google.com

12. Login to your blogger account then go back to Settings > Publishing

13. Change publishing to custom domain and type in your new domain:
http://www.name.com

14. Save Settings

15. Check redirect name.com to www.name.com

16. Save Settings

Now this may all seem redundant and the original instructions might have worked with you. However, I know a couple of friends who experienced the same problem using their custom domains so I don’t think there’s any harm following the steps above.

This is how outdated I am.

I used to see updates on the sidebar of my friends’ blogs and always wondered how they do that. Of course, it’s nothing that a few clicks can solve but I was very busy (as always) that I didn’t have enough time to spare a few clicks. After two months, I’m happy to announce that I am now a Twitter. I just finished the registration and will be installing the widget on all my blogs. This way, my friends and not so friends will see what I’m up to even if I’m not blogging.

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? Bloggers can use it as a mini-blogging tool. Developers can use the API to make Twitter tools of their own. Possibilities are endless!

Try it out. It’s cool, it’s fun. It’s the best way to blog if you have a busy day but still want to keep your friends updated. I, for one, will take advantage of this tool.

I’m sure you’ve all heard about John Chow and read his blog. If you are interested in earning money online but haven’t visited his blog, then you will be surprised at how much you will learn just by reading two or three of his posts. He’s earning about $30,000 a month from his blog and posts regularly about money making websites, which puts him on top of my mentor list. He even has a free Make Money Online ebook that you can download (I have but haven’t gotten a chance to read it yet).

This morning, I saw an article in his blog - 10 Blogging Mistakes To Avoid. One of the tips caught my attention immediately.

Blogging Mistake #2 - Blogging Only For Money
If you’re blogging only for money, then you’re in for a shock. Yes, you can make good money with a blog, but despite what that National Post story on me said, it takes a lot more than “no effort.” 99% of blogs on the Web cannot make more than $100 a month. John Chow dot Com makes money because I don’t blog for money. If the only reason you’re blogging is to get rich, you will fail.

And he’s so right. The love for blogging / writing should always come first. Content is and always will be king. With regular updates and quality posts, you get lots of readers, tons of backlinks and high traffic. When you have all that, making money should just come naturally.