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Out with Blogspot, in with yourownname.com!

I have several friends who are starting a blog soon or have started one recently, and I’ve encouraged them to abandon free blog-hosting services like Blogspot and Typepad in favor of having their own domain. Here are a few reasons why this is the way to go:

You appear more professional. If what you have to say isn’t important enough to warrant investing $9 for a domain registration, it’s probably not worth reading. Perhaps this is a bit of blog-snobbery on my part, but I consider individual domain-hosted blogs to be more worthwhile and credible than one whipped up in ten minutes or less at livejournal. There are exceptions to every rule, of course — I read some really amazing blogs by really creative individuals who run blogs hosted at free sites. However, having a domain name makes it easier for you to be taken seriously. It really is an investment in yourself and your ideas.

Your own domain is easier to remember. Say you’re mingling with a few people at a casual get-together. The topic of your realm of expertise comes up. “Oh! I could teach you so much about [real estate, SEO, scrapbooking]! Head to my blog! It’s at sallywildflowerhopechest — all one word! — dot blogspot dot com.” Suddenly, your friend’s friend Sabra Smith walks around the corner. “Oh, were you guys just talking about [papermaking, sewing, travel-planning]? You should check out my blog at sabrasmith.com!” It’s obvious that Sabra’s URL is more memorable than yours.

It’s a way to sell yourself, not your site. Think branding. When the people who read your blog grow accustomed to seeing your name on their browser or typing it into their address bar, do you want them to remember you or your website? What if one of your most loyal readers runs into 80-year-old Lorna Cabot up the road, who is looking to buy a timeshare in Florida — your specialty! — but she’s never used a computer? Unfortunately, when your reader points her in the direction of sallysellstimesharesbytheseashore.blogspot.com, Mrs. Cabot isn’t going to file that away — it’s useless to her. On the other hand, if your reader is used to typing sallyseacrest.com into her browser, she’s more likely to be able to recommend that Mrs. Cabot give Sally Seacrest a call — and Mrs. Cabot can easily find you in the phonebook (or get her granddaughter to google you) because she’ll be able to remember that name.

You’ll avoid the faux-pas of a so-last-year trend. Hey, remember when livejournal was the cool place to have a blog? It isn’t anymore. Now Tumblr is the place to be – for now. This may be the least of your concerns, depending on your demographic, but there are thousands of people competing to be the blog your readers make time for. The best way to avoid being seen as defunct or behind the times is to avoid internet trends all together.

Your content is your own. Forever. It isn’t everywhere else. Unless you’re fluent in legalese and know exactly what’s outlined in the terms of use you’re agreeing to, I wouldn’t take the risk. Enough said.

Freedom. The aforementioned being said, even if they aren’t claiming your content, they could prohibit it. Whether you want the ability to post photos of yourself breastfeeding or use ad revenue to pay your hosting costs, you have the most freedom at your own domain. With your own domain, you have the freedom to make your blog look and act basically any way you want. (Note: your hosting company could have restrictions about what you are and are not allowed to have on their servers, so check that out, too.)

Search engine ranking. Your own domain will rank higher with the search engines. Why? I couldn’t tell you. I’m not an SEO expert. Email this guy if you need SEO advice. (Keep in mind: higher rankings = more visitors.)

I know it can be pretty overwhelming to dive in and try to do all of this yourself as a newbie, but there are plenty of tutorials to be found on the web. I do all of my domain registrations through godaddy and I could not recommend WordPress more.

Still stuck? Let me know. I’m thrilled to help.

PS. Currently using a free service and ready to make the switch without losing any of your current content? No problem. Get in touch and we’ll work through it together.