ok so i have my own domain - http://just-cool-design.com and I have my blog which is http://poppypetunia.blogspot.com . My alexa ranking has been getting really good for some reason on my blog which is only a few months old but i am hearing that i should host my blog on my own domain for better pr and traffic. I do redirect my just-cool-design to poppypetunia but it for some reason doesnt have as good ranking as when you just type in http://poppypetunia.blogspot.com. Am I doing this right by redirecting the url and still having it hosted by blogger or should i be hosting it myself (adding hosting to my domain). I am confused if you have to pay for your own hosting but you still use the blogger software - or they host you but its your domain name. And which is the best way to go for more traffic?? Ive probably confused everyone by my question but any ideas???? HELP!!!!!!!!
You can use blogger on your host with your domain name, but I would leave it where it is since it is already established with blogger, plus you can use it to send traffic to your domain.
Switching to your own Domain will give it a feel of professional blogger, otherwise in terms of PR, no matter you have blog on your own domain or on Blogspot.
http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=55373 Keep using your blogger blog.. but have it setup with your domain. The above link will guide you through that process.. It is rather easy.
The PageRank thing is a bit of a red herring - what's significant is that you'll lose the links. Only you can decide if it they are links that can be built up again easily and quickly - blog commenting / fourm links are quickly built up, likewise blogroll links - easy enough to just let people know the blog has changed address and ask them to update.
somebody wrote >>>>>>Why do you care about PR? Really!<<<<< Why? Because I want alot of traffic to make $$$$ . Isnt that what PR does? brings more traffic?? or am i wrong.
You're wrong. There is no link between PR and traffic. PageRank is merely a measure of how google is evaluating your links (and what they let you see as your PageRank is crude and out-of-date even in those terms), and is one of the factors that contributes to your position in Search Pages. But there are other factors. And just getting high in a Search page doesn't neccessarily bring traffic - if it's for a serch term that nobody looks for. Forget PageRank - it's no use to you. Think about getting traffic in a variety of ways.
although you say page rank hasnt much to do with traffic, when i check my traffic stats a majority comes from google searches. that isnt PR? it seems if your'e more towards the top of the stack (higher pr) then more people will see you and click on you. Is that not right? im new at this so sorry for the questions and thanks for the answers. ok so what forum can i ask for help and suggestions in increasing my traffic?? (i dont want to pay for traffic either)
You're confusing 2 different terms - PageRank and Serps. PageRank is a value between 1 and 10 that google gives to a site based on how it's evaluating your back links Here's a good recent ding-dong on the forum about the value (or lack of) PageRank http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1002500 The position in the search engine pages is what you're talking about. That relies on a number of factors, backlinks, anchor texts, keyword density, clean code, keyword competition - to name but a few
If you switch to your custom domain, then you ll lose your current PR. But if you rebuild every link, then you will get back it. But you have to ensure that all the sites that were linking was informed about your change in the domain orelse ur PR wont come..
Switching to your own domain means you have the ownership of it instead of using something that belongs to google. Try not to confuse yourself here. PR has nothing and nothing to do with SERP. Having high PR doesn't guarantee good SERP for that matter. PR is just an indication on how important google looks at your site/blog.
Switching to a custom domain is always better. And, if you are taking PR seriously, just don't bother about domains.. BlogSpot subdomains can also gain pretty good PR if SEOd well.