The Drama of Domain Mapping My Blog

TSK: Say, its about time I mapped my domain name. I hope Technorati still recognizes me when its done.

In case you havent noticed, I recently used the domain mapping feature on typepad to map my domain name “tallskinnykiwi.com” to my main blog. That address was tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com, or, if you found the extra time to type it out, tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/tallskinnykiwi – a URL which is obviously too long to remember and too awkward to use. The URL is now shorter and easier to remember. Even the archives have been changed. Thanks Typepad – Domain mapping rocks!

Typepad says: “Domain Mapping is the process of pointing a registered domain name to a TypePad site, weblog or photo album. Domain mapping is more than domain forwarding, because your permalinks and URL contain the address of your domain (www.example.com), and not your TypePad sub-domain (example.typepad.com).”

This is one of the cool features of Typepad. In order for it to work, your domain name provider has to let you do it – which is why I took tallskinnykiwi.com away from domainpeople.com [who did not cater for domain mapping] and transferred it over to networksolutions.com which now controls all my domain names and lets me map them free of charge.

TIP: Some domain providers like Network Solutions charge a yearly fee for web forwarding but NOT for domain mapping. So it is also CHEAPER as well as BETTER to map your domains.

The change means that tallskinnykiwi.com no longer forwards to tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com but rather my entire blog has been recalibrated and the address of every post has been shortened to reflect the new address. But the links on your blog to my old blog posts STILL WORK – and you don’t need to change that permanent link on your blog roll.

[God bless you for that link. Do I see another one? . . . Yes . . over there. Thank you. Anymore links before I close in prayer?]

But this changeover took a few weeks and there was a period of time during my blog-fast last month when tallskinnykiwi.com pointed to nothing at all. Sorry if that was confusing to you. Its still a little confusing to Technorati which is something i didnt expect.

TSK: Honey, I’m thinking of mapping my domain name

Technorati: Please dont, Darling. Change unsettles me.

TSK: But how can I go on living with my cumbersome URL?

Big question on everyone’s lips is this:

“Do you lose your inbound links when you map your domain?”

Answer is NAY! Domain mapping does not cause any links to fall away. They are still in fellowship, still connected to the vine. Although some links have fallen off my site for other reasons and I will tell the Technorati parable of “The Pruning of the Vine” another day when I have all the answers.

But . . . Technorati is a little dazed and confused over my domain mapping and my Tallskinnykiwi blog now appears 3 times on their radar, as if I am a Trinity, or even worse, a blog with a multiple personality disorder.

Technorati: Who are you and who are your friends?

TSK: Its just me. Its TSK!

Technorati: But Darling. You look . . . smarter. Shorter.

TSK: Its my domain name. I had it mapped. All the smart blogs are doing it these days.

Technorati: I dont know. Its confusing. Its too much!

TSK: But Sweetheart, its a change for the better. Give it time. You’ll get used to the change.

Technorati: I already told you. Don’t go changing to try and please me. I never let you down before. I love you just the way you are!

TSK: Baby. Come on. Its the NEW ME!

Technorati: But you know my eyesight is poor. Now I see three of you.

[camera zooms out slowly, leaving the two lovers in a rough sea of contemplation]

Tip: Map your blog EARLY in its life rather than later because the various addresses on the inbound links may NOT add up to the same blog.

Case in point. According to Technorati,

tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com has 702 links and was last updated 26 days ago

[thats a LIE! I used to have more links and I am posting daily]

tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/tallskinnykiwi has 503 links and was last updated 28 days ago

[that broad is slandering me!]

tallskinnykiwi.com has 121 links and was last updated 45 days ago.

[BLOODY COGSWOGGLE!!! Dont listen to that TART!]

But they are all the ONE SAME BLOG and technorati seems unable to do anything about it. I have emailed them. I have removed all three URLs and then claimed them again but, alas, no repentance from Technorati who still snobs me and resists my every attempt at reconciliation.

Technorati: TSK, Daaahling . . . how could you change your URL like that?

[TSK turns his face to light a cigarette. The smoke wafts up into a dank, wispy canopy of repressed emotion]
TSK: Things change, Honey . . . you need to deal with it.

Technorati: Precious, you know I find it hard to deal with change. If you ever really loved me, you wouldn’t have mapped your STINKING domain name!

TSK: I tried to tell you . . .

Technorati: . . . You broke my heart! Your’e DEAD to me now!

[Technorati.com reaches down to retrieve her retro purse and commences her hurried exit.]


TSK: Noooooooooo . . . please . . . not that! For goodness sake, Technorati baby, pull yourself together. Can’t you see we need each other!!

Technorati: You should have thought of that before domain mapping, you silly, flippant . . . pathetic excuse for a blog!

TSK: But please . . don’t walk out on me without leaving me the permanent inbound links. You at least owe me that. Please, I BEG YOU!

[Technorati.com pauses at the door. Her demeanor cold and expressionless, her attitude clothed in deliberate defiance, she turns her face towards TSK ]

Technorati: Keep your damn links, you miserable mess of html. But don’t expect me to stay up waiting for you to update yourself. From now on . . . your’e just a faint memory. You’re just . . .

[her voice trails off as she exits through the doorway]

. . . you’re . . . just some blog I used to know.

[The breeze from the door-slam puffs the life from the candles. TSK, barely visible, is left to wallow in his self-afflicted misery as the techno-noir ambience fades to black]

Technorati Tags: blog, domain mapping, typepad