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Are you still using an unsecured connection (HTTP)  between your readers and your blog? still, searching for a way to enable HTTPS for your blogger blog with a custom domain? Want to increase your blog’s SEO ranking? or just want to know about SSL (Secure Sockets Layer ) certificate and how to obtain a free one?

Today’s post will guide you on every step required to move from HTTP to HTTPS which is a secure (encrypted) connection between your readers and your blog.

I know you were heartbroken when blogger limited the free HTTPS to subdomains (.blogspot.com) only, I was too until I found this solution which I rather call a free gift with an extra layer of super fast blog speed.

Yes, you heard me right! – Today’s post will not only show you how to enable a free HTTPS certificate for a blogger custom domain rather it will also provide you a drastic increase in blog page speed. I used this method to power my own blog and in less than 24 hours my blog was running fully on HTTPS.

All links automatically redirected with just a setup that took me less than 20 mins and I know it will take you less because I have crafted this post just for you.

What is HTTPS?

Due to online information hackers, web developers provided a solution that helps prevent these hackers from getting customers’ information from your blog. HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure) is encryption that helps protect you and your blog readers.

When SSL was introduced, it was used by E-commerce sites that collect sensitive data such as emails, passwords, credit card details, etc from visitors but over time SSL grew into a must-have for blogs.

Why do I need HTTPS For Custom Blogger Domain? – Advantages of SSL

HTTPS encryption has become important to blogs for certain reasons and also to add to it, Google has decided to add a ranking percentage to sites using SSL which means if you enable SSL on your BlogSpot blog, you would have a higher ranking edge over other blogs.

Many WordPress blogs have moved to HTTPS because it is very easy to add SSL to WordPress using plugins – this again has given them ranking power over BlogSpot bloggers with a custom domain name.

Below are a few important reasons why you need to enable HTTPS on your blogger blog.

1. Increase SEO Ranking: Google is wise and due to this sense of their’s, Google has included a ranking power to SSL which means if you want to properly SEO optimize your blogger blog, you need to setup HTTPS.

Google claims to rank 30% of websites with https enabled on the first page.

2. Protect Your Visitors: You really don’t want to endanger your blog visitors. HTTPS encryption helps you protect your blog visitors from any online information hacker searching for internet users details.

3. Increase Conversions and Traffic: Sensitive internet users prefer to browse HTTPS enabled blogs. So if your custom domain is not showing the https and green padlock, they will simply abandon the site.

4. A professional Look: Having that green padlock on your blog link definitely makes your blog look professional.

5. Faster web: I don’t know about other blogs enabling HTTPS but the method I used sure increased my blog’s loading time by over 50%.

Disadvantages Of Enabling HTTPS on Blogger Blog

During your migration from HTTP to HTTPS you are going to encounter a few fallbacks which you can as well refer to as disadvantages.

1. While migrating to HTTPS, your blog will experience a drop in traffic until Google crawls and index all your HTTPS-enabled URLS.
2. After enabling HTTPS on your blog, going back to HTTP might cause your site to get totally deindexed by search engines.

HTTPS vs HTTP – what’s the difference?

Before the introduction of HTTPS, we all used HTTP and you are still using it. So what is the difference?

HTTPS is secured encryption but HTTP is not (it can be easily hacked).

1. Google added an extra ranking factor to HTTPS but HTTP is treated badly (unsafe).
2. HTTPS comes with a green padlock while HTTP comes with an info icon.
3. HTTPS stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure while HTTP stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol.
4. HTTP is free for all while HTTPS is not. Except you get a shared version from LetsEncrypt.

Are you scared?

Am asking cause I know how I felt when I decided to move to HTTPS especially when you are already getting high website traffic from search engines. Blogger actually made this hard for custom domain users.

Once you purchase a domain name and switch to it, you would lose your free HTTPS. I was really sad when I saw the message: “Warning: HTTPS is not available at the moment for custom domain blogs”.

One thing in life is, not until you take a step you can never move forward neither can you fall. What do I mean? if you are scared of moving to HTTPS then you would never enjoy the benefits of it.

Asking me, I would say you move because the benefits are worth it. It is nothing to be scared about!. As long as you follow the steps, your blog will not experience any offline issues. It would continue working even when it’s still propagating.

Want to set up free HTTPS on your blogger custom domain?. – let’s get started.

There is something I want to show you…

Introducing CloudFlare CDN

Have you heard of Cloudflare? have you used it? – if you have used it then you know the functionality it brings. I am going to show you how to move your blog to HTTPS (obtain a free SSL certificate) using CloudFlare.

but first, let me show you many more things you can do with CloudFlare and how it can help you power your website.

What is CloudFlare CDN?

CDN short for Content Delivery Network is a system of servers that help deliver web pages and contents (images, HTML, CSS etc) to a user based on geographical locations of each user.

What CDN simply is, is a way of delivering your content faster and safer. Instead of loading all your contents from your server, CDN acts as a middle man that help distribute your content.

Using CDN is over 50% faster than delivery contents from your own server. Why? CDNs have millions of servers distributed around the world which means your content gets to load almost instantly.

CloudFlare is a type of CDN that provides everything a CDN provides plus extra features which includes free shared HTTPS, email obfuscator, Analytics, DDoS security and much more.

CloudFlare comes with different plans but its free plan is just enough to enable SSL on a blogger custom domain and not just that you can also enjoy free add-ons on the free plan.

Features Of CloudFlare

1. Free HTTPS for your blog
2. Protects your site from threats
3. Improves your blog’s performance and speed
4. Obfuscate your email from spammers.
5. Adds an extra layer of caching to your blog
6. Works great with other CDNs

Now you know what CDN and CloudFlare is, let us get started with adding HTTPS to blogger custom domain which should take only a few minutes.

How To Migrate Blogger Custom Domain From HTTP to Free Secure HTTPS

Now it’s time to get the job done real quick and start enjoying a massive boost in SERP plus a secured website from online hackers. In case you find any issues at any point, feel free to comment.

Create A CloudFlare Account

To create a free CloudFlare account simply visit www.cloudflare.com >> locate “Get Started Today” >> Add your Email and choose a password >> Hit Sign Up.

On the next page, tick ” I agree to …” and >> Click Create Account.

Add Your Blogger Blog To CloudFlare

Get started with CloudFlare. You have just taken your first steps to HTTPS. On this next page, locate “Add a website”, in the box below it, input your blog custom domain URL. (e.g www.protechblogger.com). >> Scan DNS Records.

It will take CloudFlare a few seconds to scan your blog. What this simply does, is provide custom nameserver for your blog’s integration.

After counting, click “Continue”.

Verify DNS Scan Records

After the scan, CloudFlare will provide the list of all your DNS records just as shown in the below photo. Do verify to see if all your records are complete.

Click “Continue”

Select a CloudFlare Plan

A free plan is just enough for us to enable HTTPS on blogger but if you feel you need more than a normal blog plan then go for the other plans.

In this article am using the “Free Website”. – select it. You would see it’s feature. >> Locate “Continue” and let’s go!.

Change Your Nameservers

This time you would have to visit your domain registrar dashboard to change Nameservers. What this simply does is allow CloudFlare to take control of traffic and performance of your blog.

I use garanntor and I have explained its steps below. All domain registrars are nearly the same but you can also browse how to change nameserver for your specific registrar.

NameServers using Garanntor
Open a new tab and Login to your registrar dashboard >> go to client area >> Domains >> beside you domain name, Click the drop-down icon (next to spanner icon) >> locate manage nameservers >> Nameservers >> you would see your default name servers (even CloudFlare showed you) >> switch to custom nameservers >> replace the name servers accordingly >> Change Nameservers.

It will then take at most 24 hours to propagate. Does that stop us from working? No. We will continue with the setup and before 24hours, everything will start working automatically.

Go back to CloudFlare and click “Continue”.

You have just setup CloudFlare on your custom domain name. Your account will not be active yet. Because the Nameservers are still propagating.

Enable Free HTTPS (SSL Certificate) For Your Blogger Custom Domain Name
Let’s get started with enabling the free https on your blog. This is the solution to what BlogSpot refused to give us. Using CloudFlare free shared SSL we are going to enable HTTPS on your blogger blog.

It should start working in less than 24 hours and your blog should not experience any downtime and if it does, it will be for only a few minutes that is if the nameserver takes longer than expected to propagate.

In the “Crypto” tab, locate SSL and at the right, you should see “Full” >> Click it and select “Flexible” from the options.

Congratulations! That is all the work in setting up HTTPS for blogger blog. Next up is to properly forward blog pages using 301 redirects.

301 Redirect Blog Domain, SubDomains, and Blog URLS to HTTPS

Using page rules, we will redirect all blog pages from HTTP to the HTTPS version of your blog. This will have an effect on all pages both home page, post page, static page and subdomains, that is if you use subdomains (e.g blog.protechblogger.com).

Note: The option for “Always HTTPS” maybe not be available until your nameservers have finish propagation. In case you face this problem, just wait till your nameservers finish propagating before setting page rules.

Info: in the rules below, replace protechblogger.com with your domain name.

Go to “Page Rules” on the top tab >> “Create Page Rule”.

In all rules, replace “protechblogger.com with your blog URL.#

Rule 1

if the URL matches: http://*protechblogger.com/*

Locate and Click Settings, Set it to “Always Use HTTPS”.

Rule 2

if the URL matches: http://protechblogger.com/*
then the settings are: Forwarding URL >> 301 – Permanent Redirect.
Bottom URL: https://www.protechblogger.com/$1

Rule 3

if the URL matches: https://protechblogger.com/*
then the settings are: Forwarding URL >> 301 – Permanent Redirect.
Bottom URL: https://www.protechblogger.com/$1

Those are the page rules which you need to set. Each of these page rules will help redirect both the www and the non-www version of your HTTPS-enabled blog.

Changing Security Options

CloudFlare acts as a protection guild for your site and it helps you prevent bad browsers and bad bots from accessing your website. But then you don’t want it preventing everybody from entering your website,

so you need to change your security options to low.

Go to “Firewall” >> “Security Level” >> Change it from Medium to “Low”.

Congratulations! Your blogger blog has fully moved to HTTPS but then you need to give it a few hours to see the changes.

Please do wait till your blog fully migrate to HTTPS before you do the next steps. Though you can continue with it, it is advised to be a bit patient. While doing mine, I simply went to bed and continued the next day.

Fixing Mixed Content Errors After Moving to HTTPS

If after moving to HTTPS, your blogger blog starts working, you might experience a little problem which is called mixed content error.

How do I know? If your blog load showing HTTPS and then shows an info sign after loading then your blog is faced with a mixed content error.

What is Mixed Content?

This is when some of your files such as JS, Images are requesting to load using HTTP instead of the newly installed HTTPS. This is a big problem for bloggers using the old templates.

This is why BlogSpot provided the new themes so as to overcome mixed content errors. But still, if you love your theme so much and don’t want to go for the new themes then I can help you out.

It’s going to be a little work, especially when you are afraid of your template HTML. So first thing first is to back up your template.

1. Replace all HTTP with HTTPS

Go to themes >> Edit HTML >> Using CTRL + F search for HTTP. You would find a lot of URLS. Now all you simply need to do is replace all these HTTP with HTTPS. – All of them both images and external links.

2. Using Default Blogger Search Box?

If you are using default blogger search box, then you will also have a problem with the mixed content error.

Go to themes >> Edit HTML >> Search for the below code.

<form expr:action='data:blog.searchUrl'>

If found, replace it with the below code.

<form expr:action='data:blog.searchUrl.https'>

That should fix any problem with mixed content. But then these files might just be in blog widgets added in the layout section so be sure to visit layout and inspect each widget for HTTP URLs.

Next up visit your blog and press CTRL + Shift + J to find verify if there is any mixed content error.

What next? – We need to work on our SEO settings.

How To SEO Optimize Blogger Blog With (HTTPS) SSL Certificate

While setting up SEO on your blog, it will not have a one day impact instead it will take time. Google and Bing will have to crawl your blog HTTPS version.

Replace all “blogname” with your domain name and “BLOGTITLE” with the title of your blog.

Step 1

Go to themes >> Edit HTML >> Search for the below code. It’s in the head section of your blog.
<b:include data='blog' name='all-head-content'/>

If you can’t find this code, paste the below code right after <head> but if you found the code, replace it with the below code.

<link href='https://www.blogname.com/favicon.ico' rel='icon' type='image/x-icon'/>
<meta content='blogger' name='generator'/>
<link href='https://www.blogname.com/feeds/posts/default' rel='alternate' title='BLOGTITLE - Atom' type='application/atom+xml'/>
<link href='https://www.blogname.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss' rel='alternate' title='BLOGTITLE - RSS' type='application/rss+xml'/>
<link href='https://www.blogger.com/feeds/BLOGID/posts/default' rel='service.post' title='BLOGTITLE - Atom' type='application/atom+xml'/>
<!--[if IE]><script type="text/javascript" src="https://www.blogger.com/static/v1/jsbin/2591933621-ieretrofit.js"></script>
<![endif]-->
<meta expr:content='data:blog.url' name='og:url:domain'/>
<!--[if IE]> <script> (function() { var html5 = ("abbr,article,aside,audio,canvas,datalist,details," + "figure,footer,header,hgroup,mark,menu,meter,nav,output," + "progress,section,time,video").split(','); for (var i = 0; i < html5.length; i++) { document.createElement(html5[i]); } try { document.execCommand('BackgroundImageCache', false, true); } catch(e) {} })(); </script> <![endif]-->

How to find blog ID?

If you don’t know your blog ID, simply look up at the URL bar while in your dashboard and you would see it (e.g blogID=5090122629090583639).

Save your template.

You might also want to manually redirect pages to make sure all pages are redirected. While doing mine, the Page rules were just enough for me but you can add the below code to add an extra layer of redirection.

Optional – Javascript redirects

To do this, search for </head> and paste the below code just above it. Don’t forget to replace blogname with your blog name.

<script>
$(document).ready(function()
{           $("a").each(function()
{             var i = $(this).attr("href");
var n = i.replace(http://www.yourdomain.com, "https://www.yourdomain.com");                               $(this).attr("href", function() {               return n             })           })         });       </script>

Update Your Robot.txt

Next up is to update your former HTTP robot.txt file to an HTTPS enabled robot.txt.

To get this done, Go to Settings >> Search Preferences >> Custom robots.txt. >> Edit.

Replace the default one with the below one.

User-agent: Mediapartners-Google
Disallow:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /search
Allow: /
Sitemap: https://www.blogname.com/sitemap.xml

Save your settings.

Submit HTTPS version to Webmasters

Visit Google Webmasters and add your HTTPS versions as new properties. That is https://www.blogname.com and https://blogname.com >> After that you should now have 4 different properties for your domain i.e

http://www.blogname.com
http://blogname.com
https://www.blogname.com
https://blogname.com

Change your preferred domain name to https://www.blogname.com and submit a new sitemap to it.

How To Enable Blogger SSL On Free BlogSpot Domain

I have seen some BlogSpot bloggers using a subdomain and still don’t have HTTPS enabled. I will assume you didn’t know what to do! – the little guide below will show you how to enable HTTPS for your free BlogSpot domain name.

Go to settings >> basic >> HTTPS redirect >> Change it to YES.

if you have issues with mixed content, please follow the procedures above. Don’t forget to also update your Robot.txt and submit new URL to webmasters.

Final Words

I believe you have been successful in adding HTTPS to your BlogSpot blog.  In case you faced any problems, I am here to help and will get it done for you at a very cheap price.

Blogger SSL is important for your blog you should migrate your blog today from HTTP to a free shared HTTPS certificate offered free by CloudFlare. So I hope you liked my post if you still face any problems please ask me in the comments and also spread this post if you liked it.

Blogging Platforms are where you can create a Blog for free and paid. There are several websites that provide you with the facility to create a free Blog but users are looking for the best Blogging platform to create a blog. There are free Blogging platforms as well as paid and both of these are different from each other. As you know free Blogging platforms will not give you all the features and tools to use in it your Blog but on the other hand, if we take a look at the paid ones, they give you all the features as well as tools but today in my post I will show you the Best Free Blogging Platforms to create a free blog online and will also show you the ones which are paid.

WordPress.org (Self-Hosted)

WordPress.org is a self-hosted but free Blogging platform that is currently being used by thousands of bloggers. If we define it we can say that it is a downloadable software that is used for creating a blog with your web hosting. WordPress provides you with a Rich post editor, Facilitates Plugins, and several different beautiful themes. WordPress is very easy to manage and it works really fast. WordPress is also an SEO-friendly blogging platform.

What’s its price?

WordPress.org is totally free and you can download its latest version their site.

Is Hosting included in WordPress.org?

No. Hosting is not included in wordpress.org as it is a downloadable file package which you can upload and install on your web hosting server which you already host.

Any Skills Required?

No, you don’t need any special skills to manage WordPress as it is easy to use blogging platform and you can learn using WordPress in an hour if you haven’t used it before.

Are Themes available?

Yes, there are thousands of free WordPress themes available at wordpress.org and you can choose the one you want plus you can find a lot of free themes for WordPress as there are 100’s of websites and theme stores that provide you WordPress free themes.

Plugins and Extensions?

WordPress is known the best because of its best plugins and extensions feature as there are more than 40,000 WordPress plugins in their directory and so much more around the web.

Blogger (Blogspot)

Blogger/Blogspot is the oldest and one of the best free blogging platforms to create a blog free. Blogger is owned by Google and you get your free blogger account by signing in to your google account. You can create several Blogs as you want on Blogger because there is no limit for Blogs. Blogger is fast and easy to use and you can also associate your own domain with Blogger.com and there are a lot of free templates available on the internet for Blogger blogs.

Is Blogger free to use?

Yes, Blogger is absolutely free and you can create several blogs on blogger without any charges.

Is hosting included in blogger?

Yes, Blogger provides you with its free unlimited Webhosting and you can also associate a custom domain name with a blogger blog.

Any skills required for Blogger?

No skills are required for using blogger as it is a user-friendly platform and it is very easy and simple to use. You can learn it in minutes.

Are templates available?

Yes, there are some templates available by Blogger which you can use for your blog and there are thousands of templates available on the internet which you can also use by uploading them on your blog.

Plugins or extensions for bloggers?

No plugins are available for bloggers.

WordPress.com

WordPress.com is also a free Blogging platform but it is not good as WordPress.org. It is the hosted version of WordPress. The difference between these is that it is a hosted version and instead of downloading and then installing it on your web hosting you can just create a WordPress account and sign in to use this WordPress version. There are many popular websites that are using wordpress.com you can see all the notable users using WordPress.

Is WordPress.com free to use?

There are three plans available.

$0- Best for basic blogging

$99/yr – Best for professionals

$299/yr – Best for advanced business solutions

Is hosting included in wordpress.com?

Yes, Hosting is included in wordpress.com with no extra or additional free.

Any skills required for WordPress.com?

It is much easier than the wordpress.org version as you have to set it up manually for yourself in it but in wordpress.com you only have to create a free account and start your blog in minutes. It is very easy and simple to use and there are a lot of features available for you to make your free blog perfect.

Are themes available on wordpress.com?

Yes, there are some themes available for you on wordpress.com but if you purchase a premium version you can get some more features and themes. Compare to wordpress.org there are not many themes available for wordpress.com if you are using a free plan of wordpress.com.

Are Plugins available on wordpress.com?

There are some plugins like stats, comments, polls that are popular are included in wordpress.com but no third-party plugins can be used in wordpress.com as if you are using a free plan for WordPress.

Wix.com

Wix.com or Wix is modern and one of the best free blogging platforms to create a blog free as well as paid version also available. It is owned by Wix.com Ltd a Cloud Based Web Development Sevice Software Company based in Israel. Wix supports modern HTML5 language and also has drag & drop features. You can create an eCommerce store using the Wix platform.

Plan & Pricing

Wix free plan gives your hundreds of templates and top-grade hosting absolutely free.

There are many paid plans are available on Wix.com Platform.

2$ to 4.44$ per month Plans are available on the website plans included custom domain names.

Business & eCommerce Plans starting from 3$ to 7$.

Is hosting included in Wix.com?

Yes, Hosting is included in wix.com with no extra or additional free.

Any skills required for Wix.com?

Basically, it is an easier platform as you have to set it up manually for yourself.  You only have to create a free account and start your blog in minutes. It is very easy and simple to use and there are a lot of features available for you to make your free blog perfect.

Are templates available on wix.com?

Yes, there are some templates available for you on wix.com but if you purchase premium templates you can get some more features and designs.

Tumblr

Tumblr is also one of the most used Blogging platforms online. Tumblr is created by David Karp which is online since February 2007. It is a kind of microblogging platform with an aspect of social networks. Tumblr is great for blogging if you want to publish short content, photos, videos, gifs, etc. It is a kind of community build by users and they love to share and engage in each other’s content.

Is Tumblr free to use?

Yes, Tumblr is absolutely free to use and the price is $0.

Is hosting included with Tumblr?

Yes, Hosting is included with Tumblr and no additional fee is required and you get your subdomain like protechblogger.tumblr.com or if you want to associate your own custom domain with Tumblr it is also possible.

Any skills required to use Tumblr?

No, You don’t need any special skills to use Tumblr as it is a very easy and simple user-friendly blogging platform and you can use it with ease.

Designs available for Tumblr?

Yes, There are a lot of themes and designs available for Tumblr, and some of them are paid.

Are plugins or extensions for Tumblr?

No, there are no plugins nor extensions available for Tumblr.

Ghost.org

Ghost is a downloadable blogging platform software and also a hosted blogging platform free. This is a great Blogging platform, it is created by some employees who have worked in WordPress in the past. They wanted to make it a simple version of WordPress. Now it is one of the popular Blogging platforms to create a blog.

Is ghost.org free to use?

If you want to use the downloadable version it’s $0 but if you want to choose the hosted version then they have some plans which you can choose from. The plans start from $8 to $200 depending upon you the number of blogs you want to create and the amount of website traffic you get.

Is hosting included in ghost?

Yes. Hosting is included in the pro plan of a ghost but if you want to use the downloadable version then you have to find and choose a web host for it and you can also associate a custom domain with it.

Any skills required for ghost.org?

It depends upon what you are looking for, if you want to use the pro plan self-hosted ghost blogging platform then it is simple and no skills are required but if you are wanting to choose the downloadable version then you have to set it up with a web host and installing ghost platform on your web server will be wanting some skills.

Are designs available on ghost.org?

There is a large variety of themes available for ghost.org but many of them are paid. There are also premium themes available for ghost blogging platforms around the web.

Are plugins or extensions available for ghost.org?

No, there are no external plugins or extensions available for ghost.org but there are some features like social media, SEO, comments, and much more which are already built-in ghost.org.

Conclusion

Well, this was the list I made about the best blogging platforms to create a blog. In my list I have shared some of the popular and best blogging platforms and software. Now you have to choose the best blogging platform. I am also giving you a short recommendation about every blogging platform on my list.

You should use wordpress.org if :

• You are Building a professional blog for yourself or your business and want to take full control of it.
• You want your blog to look the way you want and change its themes, plugins, and whatever you want.
• You want to make a lifetime blog and make money with blogging.

You should use blogger and wordpress.com if:

• You want a blog quickly and you have no money.
• You want to start a free blog.
• You want to start a hobby or personal blog and write content in it.

You should choose Tumblr if:

• You are planning to start a photoblog.
• You are starting a microblog.
• You are starting a free blog and making posts on different topics.

You should choose Ghost.org if:

• You have a passion for modern technology and want to start a blog that is most different from others.

These were my recommendations for you to choose the best blogging platform and start a blog. If you still have any questions or want to share your recommendations please discuss with us in the comments below.