We've Moved: http://blog.zumkhawala.com

This blog is now hosted at web address http://blog.zumkhawala.com.  Yes, blogging is old these days. Everyone twitters now or micro-blogs at identi.ca.  I continue to invest time in my blog.  blog.zumkhawala.com is a custom address.  Having a custom address on a domain of your choosing is dirt simple.  Blogger.com, the software hosting this blog, provides for free a blog address at the "blogspot.com" domain.  This address just didn't cut it - boring as cardboard - so this blog went with for an new address on a "custom domain," zumkhawala.com.

If you continue to blog and want a custom domain, it's easy to do and fun.  The whole process takes 30 minutes.  The major blogging services: Blogger, Wordpress, or TypePad, all allow custom domains for free.   Each one of these services provide details instructions, but here is an overview:

• Purchase The Domain
• Tell the Domain Provider About Your Custom Blog Address
• Tell your Blogging Software About Your Custom Blog Address

First, you have to purchase the domain from a domain registration provider such as Go Daddy or Network Solutions.   zumkhawala.com is managed by Network Solutions, though Go Daddy seems cooler: Go Daddy has Danica Patrick on their homepage and offers lower prices.  You can purchase the domain for one year or many years, but you can not purchase it for

Who it is???

 lifetime and pass it on for generations.  WHOIS services will tell you if a domain you want is

 available, or who owns it, which may be important if you want a domain like "ilikebeer.com" which is owned and you wish to contact the owner to purchase it from them.

After you own the domain, you have to tell your domain registration provider that your blogging service is where you want the address to point to.  You have a lot of control here:  you don't have to give the whole domain over to your blogging service.   For example, only "blog.zumkhawala.com," a sub domain of the "zumkhawala.com" domain, is under control by my blogging service Blogger.com.

Finally, you must tell the blogging service what your custom domain is.  And you done!   Readers can now find your blog at your custom domain address. 

 

You have to watch your domain registration and make sure your ownership never expires.  If you purchase a domain for one year, after that one year, it will be freely available for anyone to purchase again unless you extend your registration.  Current owners always have the option to extend their registration...you can't buy a domain if it's already owned by someone else without the current owners permission.  There is a whole industry around domain snipers, entrepreneurs who look for expired domains and purchase them, holding them at a high price to the previous owner.  So watch out for snipers!