Using an URL from domainDiscount24 for a blog

This article shows Blogger users, who have purchased a domain through Google Apps using domainDiscount24 (dd24.com), how to set up the 2nd CNAME statement that is needed by  Blogger's custom-domain verification step. 

Most of the information also applies to any who purchased a domain from Key Systems / DomainDiscount24 / dd24 and wants to use it for a Blogger blog.

Why buy a custom domain from Google Apps

A while ago, I noted that Google Apps now provide the ability to buy a range of domains not available via Blogger - for example co.nz (New Zealand), .com.es (Spain), .in (India), .de (Germany) -and many more.

Although they advertising that pricing is "from $US8", when I finally used Apps to buy my co.nz domain, the actual cost was $US20. C'est la vie.   And besides, anything to make the setup-process easier is welcome - and this is a feature of domains purchased using Google Apps.

One good thing that I noticed about buying a domain via Apps is that you set up a domain-administrator account as part of the process.  Though it's a bit more "technical" than many Bloggers are used to, it's better to have the admin account set up to start with, instead of having to try to find it when you want to check the settings, access the email that comes with your domain, or use the URL for some other type of website.

Also, after the domain administrator account was set up, the details for logging on to my registrar account were emailed to me.   This is a nice touch - it's possible to get the details from the domain-administrator account, but having them at hand during the setup process was handy.

What happens when you buy a domain through Google Apps for your blog

Google are partnering with several domain registrars for domains registered via Apps, and my one came from domainDiscount24 (dd24.com) - which is actually the brand-name of a German company called Key Systems.   I was a little concerned at first, about whether this would work with Blogger - but my fears were soon put to rest.

Once you have purchased a domain through Google Apps, the domain settings that are automatically configured for you are aimed at having the domain used with Google Sites.
(Does anyone actually build websites using Sites? I'm reluctant to, out of concern that Google are going to "spring clean" it out of existence!)

This isn't exactly what you need, but it's a good start:

• The CNAME for the www "sub-domain" was pointed to  ghs.google.com - which is what Blogger needs.
• The ANAME records that were set up had the correct values, as per Blogger's requirements.

So the only challenge is setting up the second CNAME record that is now part of the security verification for switching to a custom domain.

How to set up a 2nd CNAME record for a domain from domainDiscount24

In domainDicsount24 term, this is done by creating another sub-domain that is named after the host-value from Blogger's instrutions, and giving it a txt record with the 2nd value.  
(NB  I think that technically  you are not actually creating a "real" subdomain - but that's the phrase that DD24 used to describe what needs to be done.)

Follow these steps

1   Log on to the dd24.com website with the account information (get this from the Google Apps> Domains> Advanced Settings tab - or from the email that they sent you after you set up the administrator account.)


2  Click on the domain name


3  In the upper right is a drop down menu where you can access and create all sub-domains for your domain name (I was using a netbook so had to scroll to see it)


4  Choose Create New Subdomain from this menu,


5  Enter the "Name, Label or Host" field value from Blogger.  
(See Using a domain purchased from another registrar if you're unsure where to get this information from Blogger - remember that it's specific to your blog, and each pair of values is valid for around 24 hours.)


6  Click Create Subdomain.


7  In the window that opens, specify the settings:

• Put the "Destination, Target or Point to" value from Blogger into the field called CName.
• Under DNS settings, leave Source set to "Not in use"
• Under Mail settings, leave Source set to "Not in use"

8  Save the dns settings, by clicking Verify Changes.


Job done - at this point, your second CNAME has been created, and you can log out from the domainDiscount24 site and go back to Blogger to continue he custom domain setup there, as described in Using a domain purchased from another registrar.

domainDiscount24 warn that, as always, may take several hours until DNS changes take effect - however recently I was able to re-direct my blog to the custom domain within Blogger almost immediately.

The only additional step that I needed to do was use the Apps dashboard to make the web-address work without having www at the front (Blogger has this option to tick, but it appeared not to be working.)

And I was pleased to notice that, after the domain purchase had verified properly, I did not have to enable  accounts from my custom domain to use Blogger - it was turned on by default.   (This didn't happen immediately, there was a time delay while the Google Apps purchase was verified.   But it did work eventually).

About domainDiscount24

Of course I didn't work this out myself - I had to get help from domainDiscount24 to figure out how to do the 2nd CNAME record, since the word "cname" wasn't on the front of the domain management tool for my domain.

They don't seem to have on-line help articles.

But when I clicked their Help button:

• I was sent to a nice web-form where I could submit my question. 
• An answer arrived within 3-4 hours (even though I'd sent my query at 1am, German time).
• The answer was correct - and it showed that they clearly understood the question, had checked what was set up so far.

So overall, I'm a happy customer, and now I just need to work on building my new site.

And I think I'll keep domainDiscount24 in mind if I'm looking to buy more domains in the future, including some of the ones that Google Apps doesn't provide access to as yet.

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Related Articles:

Google Apps now provide the ability to buy a range of domains not available via Blogger

Using a domain from another registrar for your blog

Making custom domains work without having www at the front

Allowing custom domain users to access Google's Blogger - the website making tool for the rest of us

Enabling Blogger on Google Apps domains

For Google Apps accounts, access to Blogger is controlled by the domain administrator.  This article shows why domain administrators may want to turn off Blogger access, for their domains - and describes how to enable Blogger access if required.

Blogger and Google Apps Domains

Previously I've described Google Accounts,  the difference between Google and Google Apps accounts, and the work being done to resolve conflicting accounts.  

People who have Google accounts can use Blogger by going to www.Blogger.com.   But for Google Apps account users, access to Blogger is controlled by the domain administrator.  There are reasons why domain administrators may not want their users to have Blogger.    But there may be times when it is appropriate, so this post shows how to enable Blogger access, too.

Why limit Blogger access:

Reasons why domain administrators (from commercial companies at least) might not want to allow their users to use Blogger with their domain account, include:

• It doesn't feel like work:

Other Google products accessed with domain accounts can be set to use the domain-owner's logo.  So they look like a company tool, even though they're provided by Google.   This reminds people that they should only use the accounts to do things that are appropriate "at work".   But Blogger cannot (currently) be set up in this way - people who are using it may forget that they are using a work / organisation tool, and may be tempted to publish personal material using the account.

• Access control:

Firstly, there is currently no way to use Blogger to publish a blog that can be read by everyone using the domain, and not seen by anyone outside it.    This means that Blogger cannot be used for company businesses that should not be shared outside the company.    (The closest option in Blogger is to set up a private blog and invite people to read it - but there is a maximum of 100 invitations ever, and besides this option does open some security holes.)

• What happens when people leave

In well-managed companies, when a person leaves their domain account is deleted (perhaps after a month or two, in case they come back).    If someone has made a document or blog using domain account, and that domain account is deleted, then it's likely that the document or blog will be deleted too.   This isn't such a big deal for documents:  they can be transferred to other accounts.    But even though there is a procedure for transferring ownership of blogs, there are some items commonly found inside blogs (eg pictures, videos) that cannot be transferred given the tools that Google offer at the moment.

No Blogger access at all?

There may be times when it is appropriate to allow people to access Blogger through your domain accounts.

Currently, this is all-or-nothing:  either you give access to everyone or no one.   Google Apps doesn't have a way to let you give access to small group of your users.

If you want to give access, follolw the  procedure outlined below.    However note that it's possible to turn access off again as quickly as it was turned on.   If you do need to allow access to let a person "rescue" a blog that is attached to a domain account, it should be easy enough to arrange a limited time with them, during which they can log on, and at least give another, non-domain, account administrator access to the blog.

Also, this isn't about blocking all access to Blogger.com from the workplace.   It's only about what people can do with their "company" domain account.   If someone really wants to use Blogger at work and/or for work purposes, they can still set up a separate Google account and use that for Blogger (provided the overall security policies let them do so).    This account is an asset that needs to be managed (just like their office keys, credit card, work mobile, official Twitter account, Facebook page access, etc) - it's just not inside your domain.

How to turn on Blogger access in your domain

1. Go to the Google Apps control panel, and sign in to the domain-management function.
2. Log in, using an account with domain administration rights.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Go to the Organization & Users tab
4. Switch to the Services sub-tab
5. Scroll down to the Other Google Services category
6. Note the Terms of Service issue described on the screen - only continue if this does not cause a problem for your company etc.
7. Find Blogger in the list   (it's currently 2nd in my list, so easy to find).
8. Click the On button beside Blogger, so it goes green.
   
   
   
   
   
9. Click the Save changes button at the bottom of the list.

This will allow every user in your domain to use Blogger, by logging in to www.Blogger.com with the domain account that you set up for them.

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Related Articles:



Procedure for transferring blog wnership

Understanding Google accounts

The difference between Google and Google Apps accounts

Resolving conflicting Google and Google apps accounts.

Restricting your blog's readers isn't as secure as you'd imagine

Setting up your custom domain

Conflicting Google and Google Apps accounts

This article is about resolving conflicting Google and Google-Apps accounts:  an issue that is is going to start for people who set up a blog using an email address that is being moved to Google Apps.

Google accounts vs Google Apps accounts

Previously, I've described Google accounts and Google-apps accounts

As at October 2010 the two types of account were not the same, even though they looked similar. Therefore it was easy for one person to have :

• A Google account called Joe.Bloggs@AnyCompany.com (because that's just any old email address)
• A Google Apps account also called Joe.Bloggs@AnyCompany.com

The Google Apps account can only been set up when a new custom-domain was registered or purchased for AnyCompany.com  - or when the existing AnyCompany.com domain moves to Google Apps.

Joe should know about the Google account (assuming he's still actively using it).   But if he isn't aware of all the things being done in the IT department of AnyCompany, he might not even know that the Google Apps account was created when the IT manager was quietly testing options for a move to Google Apps.

 
Merging Google and Google Apps

In recent months the number of programs included in Google Apps has grown massively.

But to include the "older" tools like Blogger, Picasa-web-albums etc, they had to move to a new infrastructure.  To do this, they needed to fix up situations like the one described above, where there are two different accounts called Joe.Bloggs@AnyCompany.com

The work to enable this has been done.  Organisations that use Google apps have been moved to a new infrastructure, which needs the apparently duplicate accounts to have been fixed.  

So, when this happens for AnyCompany, cleaning up the conflicting Joe.Bloggs@AnyCompany.com accounts needs to be done.  

Google decided (I believe wisely - more about that later) that the two accounts will not be merged:  they aren't, and never will be, the same account.

Google have written about the conflicting accounts issue.  They say that the first time that Joe Bloggs logs into Blogger (or Gmail, or various other Google tools outside of Apps) after AnyCompany has moved to the new infrastructure, he willl be shown a special screen where he must rename the Google account.

[Even though Google' account transition process is now complete, it's likely that Blogger users will continue to see this request as the log into to infrequently used Blogger accounts in the future.   This is why I have updated this article now (June 2011), rather than deleted it.]


What to rename the Google account to

It looks like you can rename the existing Google account to any other text string that looks like an email address - and of course isn't already taken.   (Again, I haven't tested this yet, but it would be consistent with how Blogger works now).

Personally, I suggest renaming it to some other real email address that you control - ideally a new address that is just for the purpose. 

I don't think it will be possible to rename it to a gmail address, since creating the gmail address will create a Google Account, but in this case the Google account already exists.


Scenario 1:  Google account relates to the company:
If the blog(s) etc owned by the original Google account are related to AnyCompany, then one option is to rename it to Joe.bloggs2@AnyCompany.com.   This will work, provided there's not already an account with the same name.   But it may create issues (for the companies domain administrator) if another person called Joe Bloggs comes to work for AnyCompany in the future.

In general, if the Google account relates to company business, it would be a good idea to consult with the IT department to see how it shoudl be treated.   It's often a good idea to use a generic account name (eg blog.Editor@AnyCompany), and to simply hand on the details for this account when you leave the organisation.  That way, at very least the administrators of the domain will be able to get access to them because they'll control  the email address that matches the Google-account name.


Scenario 2:  Google account not related to the company:
If the blog(s) etc owned by the Google account are personal, or related to something other than AnyCompany (which could be AnySchool or AnyNonProfit, etc), then I would strongly recommend that the account is renamed to some valid address which is outside the control of AnyCompany, for example Joe.Bloggs@yahoo.com. 

You need to make sure you keep control of and access to the email address, so that you will continue to have access to the Google account even after you've left the company (or school, etc).

Aside:  this is why I think it's a wise decison not just to merge the Google and Google-Apps accounts:  there is far too much chance that people will have used their work (or college etc) email address to set up a Google account that has nothing to do with work etc.

Combining the Google and Google-Apps accounts

Currently, Google don't provide any tools (that I know of) to let you combine accounts.  

Some Google-products (eg Feedburner) have tools to let you transfer ownership of items in them to another Google account.  But some products don't have any features like this.

Blogger lets you transfer blog ownership by giving another account administrator access and then removing yourself.  But unless you are certain that you can successfully transfer all the items in the blog (remember, Picasa-web-albums currently has no way to transfer album ownership, ditto videos, calendars, etc) you still need the original Google account to exist.   (You might choose to log into it with gmail and set message-forwarding and then never use it again.  That's fine ... just so long as you don't delete it.)

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Related Articles: 



Understanding Google accounts

Understand google-apps accounts

Transferring blog ownership

Setting up your custom domain

Auto-renewing your blog's custom domain

Amazon Associates and Blogger

Linking Blogs and Websites.

Google Apps, Google Accounts and Blogger

This article is about Google Apps:  what it is, how to access it, and what the account-names look like.   It discusses the great similarity between Google and Google Apps accounts, and looks at some of the small differences between them and how these relate to Blogger.

What is Google Apps?

Google Apps is a group of on-line applications and services that Google package together.  They are sold as a service to companies and other organisations, and people (individuals and companies/organisations) can use services on Apps for free, for up to 10 users.

You can sign up for Google Apps, using either a custom-domain that you purchased from another domain registrar, or by purchasing a domain-name (ie URL) through Google.

Also, people who purchase a custom-domain through Google / Blogger or Sites are strongly recommended to set up one Google Apps account to administer their domain with, and may create up to 10 user-accounts in the domain.  

Google Apps account-names are  groups of letters and numbers that look like an email address,  for example, Joe.bloggs@ACompany.com.

Initially Google Apps included things like:

• Docs (to replace MS Word etc)
• Spreadsheets (to replace Excel etc)   
• Presentations (to replace PowerPoint),
• Google-mail which looked and worked very much like Gmail in regular Google accounts - but was still different (to replace Outlook / Exchange) etc.
• Google Sites (for point-and-click website creation)

Today, many other software-as-a-service applications have been added to this list.

Google accounts vs Google Apps account

Initially, and until late 2010 / early 2011, a Google Apps account was NOT the same as a Google account, even though they appeared similar in many ways.  If an Apps user (even the domain Administration) wanted to use AdSense, Blogger, Picasa-web-albums, Google Maps, and some other applications from Google, then s/he needed to set up a separate Google account.

However since sometime in early 2011, Google Apps has been extended to include almost all the services that were previously available to Google accounts.   Effectively this means that now a Google Apps account is almost totally the same thing as a Google account.

To make this happen, Google had to resolve conflicting Google and Google Apps accounts.  This included asking owners of Google accounts with the same name as Google Apps accounts to choose a new name for their account.  They have also transitioned existing Google Apps accounts to Google, which has seen domain administrators get a flurry of warning emails.


Using Blogger with a Google Apps account

Today, if you have a Google Apps account, you can use it to log in to Blogger, Picasa, etc just like you did with a Google account, and you can do things like transfer blog ownership to Google Apps accounts.

The only exception is if your domain administrator has restricted your access to certain services.   For example, if your domain administrator has turned Blogger off for users in your domain, and you try to use Blogger with that account, you get a message like this:

It reads:

This service is not available
Blogger is not available for YOURDOMAIN.XXX. Learn more about Google products that you can use with YOUR-LOGIN@YOURDOMAIN.XXX.
If you are the Google Apps administrator, please read these articles to learn more about controling user access to Google Apps services and turning services on/off for certain users.
Did you use this product with a different Google Account? Sign out of your current Google Account and then sign in to the account that you want.

The only way around this is to ask your domain administrator to give access to Blogger (which they may be unwilling to do because it means giving access to all users in the domain, not just you) or to use another, different, Google account for Blogger.


Apps Security vs Blogger Security
Security restrictions that your domain administrator has set in Google Apps don't currently apply in Blogger.   For example, Google Docs may be set up so that only people in your domain (eg company) can see your documents.  But this if you create a blog in Blogger, this uses the Blogger security setting that you impose (under Settings > Permissions) - and by default it will be visible to the whole world.  This is why some domain administrators are not keen to enable Blogger for users in their domains.

(I haven't investigated, but it's likely that the same thing applies to other apps that were previously accessed via Google accounts not Google Apps accounts - eg Picasa.)

Other Google-account tools:
There are a few Google products that currently are not available using Google Apps accounts:

• Buzz
• Health
• Powermeter
• Google Profiles
  (NB  Blogger Profiles are available in the usual way via the Blogger Dashboard > Edit Profile link)

(ref:  http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?answer=182213&hl=en&ctx=ch_b%2F0%2FServiceNotAllowed&p=blogger)

Again, if you want to use these applications, you need to use another, different, Google account.

Google Sites:
Some Bloggers use Google Sites, accessed with their Google account, to host files.

Currently, the Google Sites login screen that gives a choice between logging in with a Google Account, or with a Google Apps account, like this:

Despite this, if the Sites service is enabled for your domain, you can use your Google Appts account details to log in via the top, Google Account, part of the screen.  And if you choose the "Sign in with a Google Apps Account" link, the screen now asks for your email address (ie your account name), and simply puts it in the top part of the screen and asks for your password there.

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Related Articles: 



Understanding Google accounts

Resolving conflicting Google and Google Apps accounts

Setting up your custom domain

Auto-renewing your blog's custom domain

AdSense and AdWords - understanding the difference

File hosting options

Using a "foreign" custom domain for your blog

Transferring blog ownership

Auto-renewing your blog's custom domain

You can make sure that your custom domain name is (or isn't) automatically renewed each year, if you purchased it through Blogger or through Google Apps.

What is renewing a custom domain about?

If you have purchased a custom domain (eg www.fred-fish.com), then you have the right to use that name for however long you purchased it for.   How long that is depends on the contract with the domain-registrar (ie the company that you purchased it from).

If you purchase a domain through Blogger (and thus through one of eNom or GoDaddy), the only option you have is to buy it for one year.

After the term of your contact is finished, you need to either buy it again or switch your blog to use another domain name (perhaps your old blogspot name).   And if you don't buy the domain again, someone else will be able to buy it.

If your custom domain name is important to you (and it will be if your blog is successful), then you will want to make sure that you have done the "paperwork" to re-purchase well before it's due to expire.   Your domain registrar should send you a reminder email about a month before the registration is due - but it's sometimes very easy to miss details like this.

Luckily, Google makes it easier by providing an option to automatically renew your domain each year.

Using the auto-renew option

When you first purchase a domain, one of the questions is whether to automatically renew the registration each year.   I usually answer "no" because I don't want my credit card charged with something I didn't specifically authorise.

But there are some domains that have become very important to me, and I want to be certain that they are renewed.  So I'm prepared to turn auto-renew on for them.

Follow these steps to turn domain auto-renew on:

1  Go to Google Apps   (www.google.com/apps)


2  Sign in by entering your domain name, and choosing Domain Management.


3  Log in with the administrator account that you set up when you first purchased the custom domain - remember that this may now be called bloggeradmin, if you purchased it more recently.

If you see an "Account Management" screen after logging in, then you may need to Go to Google Apps   (www.google.com/apps) again - sometimes it may take you to the wrong screen if you were logged into a regular Google account at the start.


4  Choose the Domains tab from the Admin Console.


5  Make sure that the the Automatic Renewal check-box is set to on, ie ticked (or off / unticked if you don't want to auto-renew).


6 Press Save Changes  (which only appears after you have made a change on the page)

What happens next

If the Auto-renew option is ticked, then about a month before the renewal is due Google sends you an email to remind that that it's going to occur.  

After that, at the appropriate time, Google charges the credit-card associated with your Google Apps account (ie the one you used to purchase the domain) for a one-year renewal.

The one thing that you need to do is make sure that the credit card that you have linked to the Google account is still valid.

You can find more information about Domain payments on this Google help page.

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Related Articles

Checking the credit card that is linked to your account

Setting up an administrator for your custom domain

Transferring Blog Ownership.

Understanding Google accounts

Uploading MS Word documents to Blogger - via Google Docs

This article is about transferring material from Microsoft Word .doc documents to your Blog posts, using Google Docs to keep the formatting.

Previously in writing posts for Blogger in MS Word, I noted that if the source document is MS Word, then the only approach is to copy/paste via a text-editor.

Unless, of course you use a totally different tool like Windows Live Writer instead of Word.

But recently I had a Flash of the Blindingly Obvious (TM):   Google Docs lets you upload MS Word documents, and offers to convert them to Docs format during the upload.   Google Docs is web-friendly, and is pretty compatible with Blogger.   So it should be possible to upload a Word .doc to Docs, convert and open it in Docs and copy/paste into Blogger.

Does it work?

So far, I've tested this approach with two different documents:  a very simple document (one header and two paragraphs) and a slightly longer document with a lot of formatting (I took my own CV, took all the personal details out but kept the formatting).

You can see the results in these posts:

• Converting a simple Word file to Blogger, and
• Converting a complex Word document to Blogger using Google Docs.

The results are promising.   In each case, the pasted contents were accepted by Blogger and the post published without any further editing.    

There are some issues:

• In the complex document, the tablular layouts are followed strictly, resulting in some parts of the post that are wider than the standard column.
• I haven't tested it with a long document (more than 4 pages):  in theory there shouldn't be any problems, but I have had issues with conversion of some larger document previously.
• And I'm sure that it won't work with some of Word's advanced features that aren't (yet) supported by Docs,eg auto-generated tables.
• I'm not sure how well conversion from Word on a Mac to Google Docs works.  

I'm keen to hear about other people's experience with this approach - please leave a comment below comment below.

Detailed Instructions:

Follow these steps to transfer material from Word to Blogger via Google Docs:

1. Log in to Docs   (www.docs.googe.com)
2. Click Upload ...
3. Click Select files to upload ...
4. Select the source files from your computer
5. Made sure that "Convert documents, presentations, and spreadsheets to the corresponding Google Docs formats" is ticked 
6. Click Start Upload ...
7. When the upload is finished, choose Go Back to Google Docs
8. Open the file in Docs
9. Select the contents that you want to upload (possibly use Select All from the Docs menu)
10. Copy (you may need to use Edit / Copy from the browser, not from inside Docs)
11. Switch to the Blogger post editor, in Compose mode
12. Paste.
13. Add any other content that you want in your post.
14. Preview the post, and do any final formatting changes that are needed.

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Related Articles:

Writing posts for Blogger in MS Word.

Showing a PowerPoint Presentation as a slideshow in your blog

File sharing hosts:  places to store files used in your blog

Google Apps accounts

This article was written in October 2010, to support information about resolving conflicting Google and Google Apps accounts.

It is now replaced by Google Apps, Google Accounts and Blogger, which describes the situation now that the conflicting accounts have resolved and all Google Accounts have transitioned to Google's new infrastructure.