# How to set up URL redirecting for an ignorant beginner? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 22, 2014, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-set-up-url-redirecting-for-an-ignorant-beginner/693718 "2014-07-22T04:34:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-set-up-url-redirecting-for-an-ignorant-beginner/693718/1 "2014-07-22T04:34:23Z")
So let’s say that I have a lot of cool things to tell the world, and to do so I’ve decided to start a blog. Now, I’m just positive that everyone on planet earth will want to read what I have to say, and being a narcissist I know that using Blogger or the like just isn’t going to cut it. Doesn’t have the right look Therefore, I have an idea fitting a genius such as myself. I write my blog using a commercially available blogging site. I lease a .com URL and link the blog to that URL. So I advertise my weekly wisdom as [Lanciasinfinitewisdom.com](http://Lanciasinfinitewisdom.com), and when the masses go to type in that URL, they get redirected to my blog. How do I, someone with limited computer knowledge, accomplish this? I want to create a weekly blog, but have it linked from another URL, not the [blahblahblah.blogspot.com](http://blahblahblah.blogspot.com). I’ve done some googling on URL redirecting, and the instructions literally read like code (they are code!). Is there an easy way for a noob to do this? Or is there a better way of doing a blog that doesn’t use a blogging service such as blogger? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-set-up-url-redirecting-for-an-ignorant-beginner/693718/2 "2014-07-22T04:44:37Z")
URL redirection doesn’t really have anything to do with what you want to set up. Services like Blogger already support using [custom domains](https://support.google.com/blogger/troubleshooter/1233381?hl=en) for your blog. Just register your domain and follow the instructions there. If you actually want to host your own site with your own installation of blogging software, that’s a lot more involved. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-set-up-url-redirecting-for-an-ignorant-beginner/693718/3 "2014-07-22T04:48:35Z")
Most domain hosting services will do this as part of the domain registration package. I do exactly this - I have my own domain, but since it costs money to host it at the registrar, I simply redirect [www.mydomain.com](http://www.mydomain.com) to [www.IhaveFreeHositngSomewhereElse.com](http://www.IhaveFreeHositngSomewhereElse.com). The registrar (Domain Registry Of America) offers this for free (or at least included in the price of registration), and it’s a simple fill-in-the-blank process to set it up. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-set-up-url-redirecting-for-an-ignorant-beginner/693718/4 "2014-07-22T05:05:23Z")
If you hire a hosting service, lease a domain name and install whatever blogging software you want ( it’s very easy or the host will install it if you wish ) — such as [WordPress.org](http://WordPress.org) ( not [WordPress.com](http://WordPress.com), which is much the same as Blogger, but not owned by Google yet ), either you set a few switches in the control panel the host offers, or you do it the manual way by adding redirection lines in an .htaccess file — note the dot before which shows it to be a hidden file in Unix, no dot.xxx after as in .exe. or .txt. Personally, having acquired .org and .net under the tld racket, I redirected them to .com in both the control panel _and_ the .htaccess file. This is very simple. You get a sample .htaccess with the software; add lines or modify it in a very basic text editor ( not anything like Word: this applies to all stuff you upload: Office software adds extra formatting ); and upload it to the root directory of your host’s space with FTP. You can find sample lines of 301 code for **[redirection](http://edward-designer.com/web/htaccess-url-rewrite-simplified/)** anywhere and substitute what you need. .htaccess works with Apache servers, but most hosts run on that. If you go with Blogger or [WordPress.com](http://WordPress.com), presumably you can ask them to add redirects. If you just want them to substitute another URL for the one they gave, they will charge you something. I have never written a line of code, and have neither interest nor ability in programming.