Does it matter if you own your domain name?
Imagine yourself at a cocktail party, telling an editor about your wonderful new idea. They ask where they can see your work. You grab a napkin write down your webpage address: www.johndoeisagreatwriter.bloghoo.googpress.com.net.
Who's going to remember that? Who's going to type that whole address? Why not invest a little money in your career and buy the domain name www.johndoe.com?
But don't take my word for it. Writer and tech Guru Scot Herrick has a wonderfully concise post about why you should own your domain name. Check it out:
"I simply went to Network Solutions where I bought my domain name and moved my domain from the SquareSpace servers to the Yahoo! servers. But it was my domain. My control. My stuff. The moral of the story here is this: order a domain name and then find a hosting site that will allow you to use the domain name as your address. The difference is about $12 a year."
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Thanks, Jason!
I don't think most people, first starting out working with the web directly, understand the implications of selecting the name for where to place their work.
I know I saw fast, easy, and instant results. Then, after a couple of months, I got frustrated with something and tried to move and found that all the traffic I had built based upon the name of my "free" site was not able to be moved. The content, yes. The name, no.
Thinking through a bit on what you want for your site and its name will pay big dividends later.
And, as an aside, I need a few more cocktail parties with editors discussing book proposals!!
Thanks...Scot
Posted by: Scot Herrick | January 8, 2007 10:55 AM | Permalink to Comment