Congratulations! You’ve given birth to a blog.
Consider this: Does it make sense to go to the time and trouble of birthing a blog only to tie it to a generic domain name that’s going to be hard to remember? Far too many bloggers do.
There is a better way. Follow it and your blog should draw a crowd of interested visitors faster than most.
Pick a Name, Make It Official
Rethink how your prospective followers will go about finding you. What do you offer that they’ll be looking for: Your expertise? A product or service? An experience?
With a real child, you wrestle for weeks or months deciding on a name then spend the first few hours and days after his or her birth confirming that the name you chose truly fits the wee being you can no longer live without.
Should the process when naming your blog and choosing your domain name not be similar?
Photo: ©iStockphoto.com/muharrem öner
Once I registered my own first domain name I was convinced this was some seriously cool stuff. Since then I’ve helped friends, family, coworkers, business owners, doctors, dentists, authors, and teachers register more than a hundred domain names so—so you can imagine, I take domain naming seriously — it’s personal.
Benefits of Choosing a Custom Domain Name for Your Blog
- People will follow you more confidently and take you seriously. No matter how you grow, your custom domain name will go with you should you have to change where you’re running your blog or website. Your “fans” will need to memorize your domain name just once to be able to follow you forever. And the constancy of a custom domain name suggests permanence and expertise.
- Your blog will have a name your followers can easily remember and share. There’s nothing worse than wanting to share a good thing and being unable to recall the proper website address for it.
- Your blog name will be based on the benefit you offer. An exemplary browser address bar immediately identifies what it is you’re offering. This makes the address memorable and easy to recall.
In combination the above three pieces work like a charm. Your visitors will talk about your blog and share it; those they share it with will do the same.
An official, memorable domain name is the starting point.
There are other advantages, too. When you use a real name (registered domain name) for your blog or website address:
- You can use your domain name for email addresses to present additional consistency when you send people messages. This is generally not an option when you use someone else’s domain name. (For example, do you often see email@yourname.someoneelse.com? Not likely!)
- As you expand your blog, you can hook up a full web hosting account with additional tools and productivity features
- You can run a self-hosted WordPress website with full flexibility and customize to your heart’s content
- You can run Google apps on your custom domain, a suite of tools that lets you use your own domain name for their email, document, and other cloud computing services. The standard version is free and connects to your registered domain name. There are scores of serious applications that you can use to skyrocket your outreach.
As you know, software and communication services are flourishing and will continue to offer big benefits to the owner of a registered name. There are education tools, business applications, and hundreds of options available using your own custom domain name. Just imagine how well your baby will grow given access to all of it!
Have you found benefits you wouldn’t turn down with your own domain name? What are some of those benefits you rave about? What of the hidden benefits that come with your own genuine and unique domain name – have you found any?
Do tell of your own thoughts on choosing to run your own domain in the comments below. I for one would enjoy hearing your own take on this point.
Using my name for a web site and email address makes things a lot easier, especially for people to find me. It also distinguishes me from the “public” email venues and give me a more serious look as it impies that I paid a lot for the site so I must be doing well. But, I didn’t and Tim helped me with most of it
It sure does make it easier. And as one friend pointed out: when you use a domain name like you Rob, people can do a search and find your site more quickly – even if they forgot the exact domain name! Keep on keeping on Rob!
I couldn’t agree more Tim. Part of the branding of any business or personality is ease of findability as well as recognition. For this reason, making the domain name easy to type, easy to share & memorable should be top priority! These are valuable reminders & tips on a basic concept that many overlook. Thanks for sharing Tim!
Great article Tim.
Personally I started our dugansincahoots blog about 5 years ago as a .com. Initially it was just used for my family to keep up with us, and a personally online diary, but eventually a support raising tool, and now it links me ( a photographer) to my photography site. I publish a lot of family info, but it attracts a new market for my business. If you type dugans into google we are number 6 down the line, pretty good for the number of dugans in the world. If you google dugansincahoots we are number one. It makes it easier for people to find me.
@Jamie, thanks for the input regarding the importance of brand and recognizability. The fact that many overlook means plenty of opportunity for people like you to show how significant a simple step like owning a domain name can be!
@Cari, glad you moved your site and blogging efforts into a custom domain name on WordPress. Woohoo
Searchability is very helpful and you have cornered a niche for yourself there – way to go! When you talk with people about their own blogging efforts – what is the first tip or two you offer?
For better or for worse, my site’s name Blogs News Reviews was what I could find available. Names I wanted like “cutekittens” “princess” and “Google” were taken! Great advice, Tim, and if you’re going to build a blog (a LOT of hard work) you should at least own the darned thing. I just read on SEMrush rank (assuming they know anything) that the cost of getting the visitors to my site is worth $28. After 6 months of blogging, it’s time to relax and enjoy my riches.
Astro Gremlin,
I agree, cutekittens and google are good names to purchase. Perhaps you want to “back order” those domains. Ha
Enjoy the hard work and the relaxing in due time friend!