I have to tell you straight out that I’m cheap by nature and I won’t go buying something if I didn’t think it was absolutely necessary. And getting your own domain? An absolute necessity.
Most people prefer to use a free domain such as Blogger and WordPress, but I am here to convince you why it is a good idea to get your own domain, even if you don’t earn much. You have to spend some to earn some, that’s what I always say.
It is okay if you want to try out the free one first so you can test the waters and get the feel of how blogging works, but you shouldn’t stay too long in this stage. You see, the longer you stay there the more comfy you get to the point that you don’t want to transfer anymore. You will now find a million reasons why not to transfer such as high page rank, subscribers, hassle of transferring, and all that jazz. But even if you have all these reasons, there are a lot more reasons as to why you SHOULD transfer.
1. Branding
What site would you trust more, a free or a paid site? If a site could not shell a few bucks to get its own domain, then some would feel that the site is not invested too much on what he has set out to do. If someone hears about your product for the first time, will they look for you in blogspot or wordpress? No. They’ll look for you in .com.
2. Monetizing
Popular free domains such as WordPress and LiveJournal do not allow advertisements; it would be sad to use Blogger even if you prefer WordPress just because you cannot advertise in it. WordPress can actually be outsourced to any domain you like, and it is the one I would personally recommend compared to others like Joomla. It is easily customizable and there are millions of free themes to choose from as many other people also use it.
For Blogger, even if they allow advertisements, there is not a lot of value to put ads in your site. For one thing, it’s not technically yours, you are still part of Blogspot. Advertisers would want the best link value for their ads.
3. Loosing Valuable Work
Blogger and WordPress can be taken from you at anytime as it is not technically yours. This has happened numerous times to aggravated bloggers, their work vanishes and there is nothing they can do about it. They are not even able to retrieve their posts, so if you don’t have a back-up, you’re screwed.
4. Support
Even if you complain at WordPress or Blogger support for an issue, chances are, you won’t get an answer back because of the sheer volume they have to attend to. They couldn’t care less if you decide to not use their service any more. On the other hand, if you bought your host then they would like to make your stay with them as happy as possible. In most cases they have a 24 hour live customer service to attend to your questions and concerns.
5. It’s Just Awesome
I certainly think so. When my friends ask what my blog is, they would be astonished to find out that I actually have my own domain instead of a free one. And this bragging rights is just for a few dollars a month!
So what’s your reasons why you’re still not switching?