DOMAIN TIPS

WHAT IS A DOMAIN

A domain is a site on the Internet like http://www.blogger.com which you can register with a domain name registrar likegodaddy.com. Incidentally, godaddy.com is reputed to be one of the cheapest place you can register a domain with and is very popular. You will then get your own IP address. This domain is your "property" and you are free to do whatever you want with it. You will of course have to pay for it plus renew it every year or longer. If you lapse in your renewal, your site goes offline (404) or you get some other error messages.

ADVANTAGES OF HAVING YOUR OWN DOMAIN

If you use one of those free website hosts or blogging platforms like Google Blogger, you will get a sub-domain, and not a domain. The URL of this blog is
http://adsense-alert.blogspot.com
and is a sub-domain which is not owned by me but by Blogger. They can take it away from me anytime and don't need to give me any reason. However, Blogger has said their blogs do not expire, even unused blogs or blogs with no post or blogs which have not been updated for umpteen years. However, they do delete what they identify as spamblogs. The advantages of using blogspot.com is that you don't have to worry about renewal of domain or hosting fees. 

Google Blogger has recently introduced custom domain where you can register your own domain and have it hosted free by Blogger. You can also chose to host it on your own and publish your post via FTP (File Transfer Protocol) but you are restricted to using the old classic template. If you are using platforms like Wordpress, I believe you will have to download their software. Unless the company that offers such services to you, you may have to content with security problems, maintaining a database, configuration, keeping the softwareupdated and current, etc.

Many people are of the opinion that having your own domain command more respect. It is rather like using a real business address as compared with using your house address for you business. People are said to have more confidence with the former and are more comfortable doing business with them. Further, you have full control over what you can do with it. 

Further, many says having your own domain is better from SEO (Search Engine Optimization) point of view. When your site is a sub-domain to the main site (part of a main site), and search engines pay more attention to main than to other parts of a web site. It is then easier to work your way to the top pages of a SERP (Search Engine Result Page). Plus you will be promoting your own site, not the site of a blogging platform provider.

Another advantage of having your own domain is you can have your own more prestigeous and email address like myname@mysite.com rather than myname@yahoo.com or myname@gmail. Some people look down on free email address.

RELATION OF HAVING OWN DOMAIN WITH EARNING ONLINE

In the first place, you may want visitors to have confidence in your site and content, and many may feel that using your own domain will give them that extra confidence, particularly if you are doing e-Commerce. Even if you are only earning via advertisements like Google AdSense, earning is directly proportional to traffic, and many feel it is easier to promote your site if you have your own domain.

WAYS TO SAVE ON REGISTERING DOMAINS

If you have set your mind on having your own domain, a good way to save on the registration fee is using Godaddy coupon codes. You can get a number of CouponHeaven coupon codes with which you can get discount for various services offered by godaddy.com

Footnote: I use the free blogspot.com because I am now 58 years old and don't expect to live forever. There will come a day when I cannot be around to renew the necessary fees if I use custom domain or host the blog on my own. Blogger has stated that blogs created with Blogger do not expire, but the problem with New Blogger is it is tied with a Google account. This Blogger account was created using a gmail address and according to Gmail Program Policy, " Google will terminate your account in accordance with Section 9 of the Terms of Use if you fail to log in to your account for a period of nine months". When that happens, the Google account plus the Blogger account will be terminated too. Yahoo email when they first started, have stated Yahoo email is for life (what exactly do they mean by "for life" I am not sure), but they will inactivate your account if you do not sign in for long period of time. I don't know if adding a Yahoo email address to the Google account will make a difference and will try to find out. Anyway, I have some ideas of getting around this problem and will make a post about it in the near future, and I will make a note to update this post when I do