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You might be asking yourself what the point of having your own domain name is. There are a lot of merits to registering your own domain name, and you can do that whether you pay for hosting or use a free service like Blogger. The domain name can be pointed at any “spot” on the web, whether you pay for it or it is free.
The first thing to note is that having your own domain name lends a certain amount of credibility to your blog. Who do you take more seriously: bluebonnetsandbrownies.com or bluebonnetsandbrownies.blogspot.com?
Secondly, it is easier to remember a straight domain name, rather than a subhosted blog name like what I mentioned above. There are lots of different free services out there. Someone might remember the name of your blog, but asking them to remember who hosts your blog as well might be too much for them to remember. So you lose out on the visit they might have made. Worse, you frustrate them as they try to remember your blog name and can’t find it on the services they think of.
When you have your own domain name, you can set up email address aliases for yourself. You don’t have to change the email account you use day to day. What it means is that you can set up addresses like “me@myblog.com”, and have the webservice automatically forward it to your personal mailbox. It looks far more professional on a business card too.
Credibility goes a long way in any kind of business. Whether you consider blogging a hobby or a potential business, having your own domain name means giving the impression that you are 100% in charge, involved, and responsible for your website. If your website is mybakingaddiction.blogspot.com, it’s blogspot that gets that recognition, not you.
Search engines are another thing to consider. Some search engines give the index page of the domain priority over anything else. When you have your own domain name, “mybakingaddiction.com” is the index page. On a free hosting site, “mybakingaddiction.wordpress.org”, the search engine would consider “wordpress.org” as the index page, thus always ranking it before your own blog.
Also, some search engines are now refusing to spider websites on free hosting services. StumbleUpon considers all blogs on free hosting services as part of the same service. When a Stumbler “likes” your free hosted blog, they are much more likely to then get blacklisted by SU. That alone has me not ‘liking’ anything that is free hosted.
When you think of a domain name you like, REGISTER IT! (You can pay sites like godaddy.com or networksolutions.com to *just* register domain names for you, without required hosting.) Or, if you decide to go self hosted, most hosts will offer you the registration of one domain name as part of your package.
Domain names are a single use commodity. You might think of a *great* domain name that describes you perfectly. If you don’t register it when you think of it, someone else could do so. Then, you’d have to buy it from them, at a price they set, to have it. I remember stories of Microsoft paying people thousands of dollars for domain names relating to Windows. You don’t want to end up in a price war with someone who snagged your domain name when you didn’t.
Plus, domains are pretty inexpensive, typically going for under $20 a year. When registering your domain, it may also be wise to do so for longer than just one year because you will usually get a discount on the per-year break down if you do so. Also, to prevent possible loss of your domain, make sure you set it up with an auto-renew feature that bills to PayPal, or a credit card that doesn’t expire for a long time.
Your blog is who you are on the web. The bottom line is that registering a domain name and using it with your blog makes you more you.
Have a question?
Email us at questions@mybakingaddiction.com.
Great series and grea tips!
This is such a wonderful series of interesting and very informative info.
I’ve been contemplating the change, but my .com address is taken. Is .net horrible?
Michele,
Having a .net is not horrible, but know that the culture of the internet is such that people almost always search for .com first, and remember .com better. If the .com you want is taken, and in active use by another blogger, you should probably really evaluate whether or not you want to continue with that name.
Your blog is YOU on the internet. Do you really want to start out so ambiguously and with the possibility of being confused constantly with another blogger?
If the domain is registered but not being used, you can use http://www.networksolutions.com/whois to find out the technical contact information of the person who registered it, and see if they’d be willing to sell it to you. You might pay a premium since they know you want it, but even $100 for the domain name you WANT, that describes YOU, can be worth it in the long run.
Otherwise, maybe consider a blog name change.
I couldn’t agree more; domain names are inexpensive and an important part of marketing your blog. Considering how inexpensive they are, there just isn’t any reason to not use one.
One trick in searching for a domain name is to do a Bulk search. I can’t speak about every domain registrar, but I know that at GoDaddy that option is linked near the bottom of the page. When doing a bulk search, you list multiple names that you might be interested in and the results will eliminate any of those not available. I think it’s a real timesaver vs checking on each name individually. GoDaddy will also list some options they suggest if the names you are searching for are taken.
The MOST important thing when buying a domain name? Remember the email address you used to purchase it with. Remember to change that address should you change your email provider or address. Not receiving notification of expiration and subsequently not paying your domain renewal can create a problem of huge proportions. I’ve had more than one client forget and ultimately have to start over with a new domain name when theirs expired and it was purchased by someone who tried to hold them at ransom to get it back. All could have been avoided by making sure that information is kept updated.
I’ve just started reading Dianne Jacob’s book “Will Write for Food” and was contemplating whether to go for a domain or not. Your post is encouraging me to investigate it further. Thanks.
Thanks for the tips!…again :)
I advise a little research on Google first. See what is being used that is close to the name you desire or if it pops something else up. The first blog name I used (which my kids came up with when they were studying alliteration in school) actually had someone who had a somewhat questionable dance show by the same name. You can bet I changed that one pretty fast!
Thanks again for all the helpful information. Is registering your domain name something you do when you start blogging or as it gains popularity? I have created my blog on WordPress, but have not gone live with it yet? Where do I register a domain name? How much will it cost?
Lisa, as I said above, you really should register your domain as soon as you’ve decided on a name that suits you. There are some services on the web that look for new “free” hosted sites and go out and register the domain name (i.e. the .com version of your blog name) on purpose, so that you have to purchase it from them at a higher price.
There are links to two sites in the post above – GoDaddy.com and NetworkSolutions.com are two sites that offer domain name registration.
It costs less than $20 per year, but varies by how many years you register at one time, as well as who you’re registering with. Sometimes you can catch someone on a special. It works the same way any store does – sometimes Target has a better sale than Wal-Mart, you know what I mean?
Hope that helps.
GoDaddy sometimes offers discount codes online if you search Google as well…
Thanks so much Amber. Sometimes I need to go over (and over) things more than once before it sinks in. Looking forward to more posts.
I totally agree. It’s so much easier to type blogname.com vs a blogspot address. Additionally, I think if possible one should avoid the use of dashes in the address, that just complicates things further. i.e. my-baking-addiction.com vs mybakingaddiction.com Someone might have a hard time remembering how many dashes and where they go.
I’d add that it is important you create a domain that is unique to you. First, you don’t want to be confused with someone else and second, you don’t want others to see you as copycat-ing someone else. You’re an original person, so choose a name that is original to you.
Katie-
I can’t agree with you more regarding originality! Thanks for chiming in!
-Jamie
Totally agree.. the “.com” is the way to go!