Inevitably the question arises of whether or not you should host your own site or blog, or put it on a free or low cost site such as Blogger, Squidoo, or Weebly, among the hundreds of platforms out there. There are definitely some attractive reasons why one would consider this: some of those sites have built a good reputation and authority, and it’s easy to tap into some of that. However, I’m here today to give you 10 good reasons why you should host your own domain.
1. Credibility — Hosting your own site gives your site, business or you in general a certain amount of credibility and legitimacy as opposed to hosting your site on free web space.
2. Design Freedom — You are in no way tied to the host’s website or blog template. You are free to use whatever you desire, and to modify your site to your heart’s content.
3. Branding – Branding yourself or your business is infinitely easier to do when your site is known as johnsmith.com as opposed to johnsmith.blogspot.com. It’s hard enough to build a brand: don’t intentionally put up obstacles.
4. You Can’t Be Deleted — Hosting your site or blog on your own domain ensure that no one can delete your site, as can happen when you host on someone else’s platform. Ask the many webmasters who had their money sites on Squidoo prior to the recent purge.
5. You Control The Advertising — No longer will you have to put up with ads on your site that you receive little or no revenue from. You control which ads if any are displayed, and you get all the money.
6. A Better Email Address — Your email is on your web space, and controlled by you. You are not subject to the limitations that a low cost or free hosting platform puts on your email, and you have the ability to use your email as a marketing tool.
7. Flexibility — Should you need to move your site or blog, you won’t lose any marketing efforts you’ve put into it. Links will still go to the same site, and so will your advertising. What happens when your web hosting platform on one of these free or cheap web hosting platforms goes out of business? Unfortunately, so do you! At least at that web address, and you’re faced with starting over.
8. No Long URLS — With your own domain your URL will probably be shorter, and hence more memorable.
9. Search Engine Ranking — The search engines tend to give sites on their own domains a bit more credibility, and hence better rankings. This is really not such a secret, as you are far more able to optimize your own site’s URL than you are a lens on Squidoo, for instance.
10. SEO Ease — It’s far easier to optimize your site when you have control over the design and template features. You also can set up the internal linking far more to the search engines liking if you are in control.
There you have it, 10 solid reasons why you need to host on your own domain. The other sites have a place, and that usually resides as either personal sites or as marketing tools, but not as a place where you need to build a brand or a business!
