If you only blog for family and friends, have no intention of generating a wide readership, or simply can't be bothered at working with your blog, then the answer is no, and you can ignore the rest of this post. I won't hold it against you! However, if you have any intention on becoming a serious blogger, then my answer to this is "YES DEFINITELY!".
Although this particular blog is relatively new (at the time of writing this post), I have been blogging in various places for over three years now. From what I've seen, read and personally experienced, having a custom domain name for your blog is a very good way to show your readers that you are a serious blogger who cares about what they write. It can also have many other benefits too, which I'll explain about shortly.
Having a free hosted blog address such as yourblog.wordpress.com or myblog.blogspot.com is perfectly fine when you're first starting out, but can become the blogging equivalent of having an AOL or Yahoo address, and may well imply that you don't care enough about your blogging identity to pay a few pounds for something more.
There are many options to purchasing a custom domain, and your choice depends on a number of factors:
- The blogging platform you use
- How much control you would like over your blog's performance and appearance
- How much you are willing to spend!
As you may be aware, I have chosen to publish my Blogger blog to a custom domain, which Blogger hosts for me. This is probably the least expensive and simplest method of having a custom domain for my blog. Bloggers on other platforms may have to choose a different option: Wordpress users would need to purchase a hosting package and host their blog software on their new domain; Typepad bloggers would need to map their new domain to their Typepad blog in addition to the blogging fees, and so on.
The choice is a very personal one, and my choice may not suit others so well. For example, one of my other blogs is a self-hosted Wordpress blog; I chose this option so that I would also have storage space to upload files to my domain, have extra "pages" in my blog to make it a more functional "website" for my content, and also to have maximum control over my add-ons and widgets. With both this and my Glamumous blog, I have realised that the new Blogger software is more adequate for my needs, and that the hosting is much more simplified.
Of course, there are many exceptions to my "rule" that successful blogs need a custom domain name; many popular blogs are hosted at shared Blogspot, Wordpres and Typepad domains because their content is great and readers keep coming back for more. But in my humble opinion, having a custom domain can really help your popularity.
Here's one final note: if you do intend to have a custom domain for your blog, do this sooner rather than later as it really avoids many of the pitfalls of redirecting readers, updating your blog address at various sites, and moving images/files/etc from one server to another. Trust me, it's worth the effort!
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Technorati Tags: custom+domain domain+name domains blog+host blog+software blogger wordpress typepad
i got a custom domain and immediately i got a site link and seem to get a legit link a month even though my site isint very good. also i noticed my revenue go up and the number of visitors became more steady after the name buy. i then got anouther site that im attempting to take seriously on a custom domain. within an hour i got a comment on that site...crazy...then i got 3 ad hits on that site in a few more hours.../custom domains are transferable as well so you can transfer to a host if your needs change for example you need special features or a bigger band width...you know this...also if blogger keels you can keep your links to your home page so a custom domain is good job security...yout site rules and congrats on the blog of note...
ReplyDeleteI wish i could have own domain soon, it just I'm still test my knowledge about this whole stuff. I stick on blogspot to learn about SEO stuff and other blogging related stuff. After I confident then I will use my own domain.
ReplyDeleteIf I have a blog subdomain. But my blog has a pagerank number was 3. I want to ask, if I change the blog domain name into Top Level Domain, whether it will affect the pagerank?
ReplyDeleteemail me at fherry dot ngeblog at gmail dot com
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteGreat website cool article its outstanding,
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Thanks for view this article.
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Jeff
Domain Names
Great article, recently i bought domain name for my blogspot, but the traffic inn't good :(
ReplyDeleteI am thoroughly convinced in this said post. I am currently searching for ways in which I could enhance my knowledge in this said topic you have posted here. It does help me a lot knowing that you have shared this information here freely. I love the way the people here interact and shared their opinions too. I would love to track your future posts pertaining to the said topic we are able to read.
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about information and love learning more on this. If possible, as you gain expertise, It is extremely helpful for me. would you mind updating your blog with more information
ReplyDeleteEvery one saying the custom domain name is powerful in the business it is having any entry features?
ReplyDelete