7 Reasons It’s Worth it To Get Your Own Domain Name

1. You Need to Reserve YourName.com Before Somebody Else Does!

I don’t care if your name is Juanita Chandrakanda there are probably hundreds of other Juanita Chandrakandas out there if you want to own juanitachandrakanda.com you had better reserve the domain name right away before one of the other 100’s of Juanita Chandrakandas out there reserve it before you do!

Do you own yourname.com? You can check the domain name availability and reserve the domain name here.

It is important to have yourname.com to ensure your reputation online.  Google puts quite a bit of weight on domain names in search queries. When people Google you it is better for you to control what people find not somebody else.

2. Owning Your Own Domain Name is Like Owning Your Own Piece Of Internet Real Estate

Domain names have been sold for millions of dollars. Now, your domain name alone may not be worth much money but everyday websites that have been developed on domain names are sold for healthy sums of money. If you are hosting your blog on a free platform using their domain name or you are promoting somebody else’s website you are building their business not yours!

For example if you are running your blog on blogspot.com’s free blog hosting service and you spend a year writing valuable posts and developing an audience how much do you think your blog would be worth if you wanted to sell it?

Not much because you do not even own the domain name where it is hosted. However, if you had been developing your blog based on your own domain name and had developed a substantial audience you could sell your blog on a site such as Flippa.com which specializes in selling websites.

You might sell your website for hundreds or maybe thousands of dollars instead of millions but if you had been doing the same work on a blogspot.com domain your blog would be worth much less. The Huffington Post Blog sold for $315 million!

Essentially if you are developing somebody else’s domain you are like a share cropper. You are working the land but you do not own it. You can get kicked out anytime.

3. Owning Your Own Domain Name is Essential if You Are Building a Brand Name

If your marketing and advertising is geared towards building a brand you need to own the domain name which corresponds with that brand. There is no sense in spending money on developing a brand name when you do not even have a domain name which reflects that brand.

When people search your brand name online you do not people to find a website which is completely unrelated. Maybe even more important than reserving “yourpersonalname.com” is reserving “yourbrandname.com.”

4. Promoting Long Affiliate Links Looks Unprofessional and People Are Less Likely to Click On Them

Maybe you are promoting an affiliate program with long links like “http://trackr.leadsleap.com/w928hs9psdf3.” People are less likely to click on a hugely complicate link. Asking people to click on a link like www.mariagarcia.com is much more professional and friendly.

If you are promoting affiliate programs and you do not have your own website you can purchase a domain name and redirect them to the affiliate link of your choice. People feel more confident clicking on a real domain name rather than a long complicated impersonal affiliate link.

You have more credibility if you have your own domain name. It shows that you at least care enough about your business to spend the $10. on the domain name.

When I promote affiliate links I also redirect from my domain name. I use software called Ninja Affiliate Link which works with wordpress. It allows me to create affiliate links like www.quickregisterseo.com/gboost . quickregisterseo.com if my domain name but will redirect viewers to a search engine optimization affiliate program.

If I spend all my time promoting this affiliate link and then decide to promote something else I can just change redirect the links to another program that I find to be better. I am in control. Even promoting affiliate links I am not a share cropper!

5. Owning Your Own Domain Name Allows You To Start Your Own Blog With All The Latest Plugins and Software

The theme I use on this blog is Thrive Theme. The main reason that I chose this premium theme is that it allowed my to place beautiful subscription forms throughout my sites without using pop ups. My pop ups before asked people to subscribe to my newsletter. It worked very well however it detracted from the user experience of my site. With the Thrive Theme layout I get just as many subscribers without annoying my visitors with pop ups.

Do you think I would be able to use Thrive Themes on some free blog hosting platform? Not a chance. And there are thousands of other plugins that are highly useful that can be run only using wordpress from your own domain name and your own hosting account.

If you are serious about your business you need your own domain name. You can get one for free here.

6. Domain Names Are A Huge Factor in Getting Local Business to The Top of Google Local Search Results

I set up a site called bestplumberfortlauderdale.com. It was not an accident that I chose that domain name. I had a client who was a plumber and I wanted to get him ranked on the first page of Google for the keywords Best Plumber Fort Lauderdale. If you type those keywords now into Google you will see that the site is on the first page of the natural search results.

Just owning the domain name was not enough. I had to develop the domain name with relevant content. However, it is obvious that the domain name itself is a huge factor in itself for the favorable rankings.

7. Having Your Own Domain Name and Website Allows You to Build A List

If you are just promoting affiliate programs and sending traffic directly to an affiliate link  you are building somebody else’s list. I would like to make a suggestion. Instead of directly promoting affiliate programs promote your own blog or website first. And do so with the goal of promoting your list first not the program.

You may change your mind later and want to promote another program. If your efforts have been going 100% to promoting somebody else’s website and not your own list then you have to start over.

If you already have built your own list then you have a kick start in promoting new program.

Having your own domain name with your own website allows you to put autoresonder subscription forms on your website and your own unique content. You can offer special support and content to YOUR followers. This distinguishes  you from others promoting your program.

Promoting your website and your own list should be first. Then you should promote your various programs.

Bluehost is offering free domain name if you sign up with their hosting service. Their hosting service is a great deal. Packages start at around 3 bucks per month. For the moment they are throwing in a domain name for free. You can check the form below to see if the domain name you want is available. Then you can follow up and set up your hosting account with them which you will need for your website.