5 Benefits Of Having A Unique Domain For Your Blog

One thing I spent a very long time deciding when I first started my blog, was whether to pay for my own domain name. Investing any money in your blog, especially when your followers are still growing and you're trying to find your feet, can be a scary thought. Luckily, domain names are not too expensive, for 2 years I pay around £15 for both my .co.uk name and my .com name. So is it really worth getting a domain name? Does your blog really need one that badly?

It all comes down to what your blogging goals are, do you want to make it a business? Is it something you want to take seriously and monetise? Do you want to be able to work with brands and PR companies?

There are so many benefits of having your domain name that a lot of bloggers overlook. It is the next step in your blogging career and it can have a dramatic impact on its growth.

Increases credibility  - Having your own domain name gives you that extra look of professionalism. By getting rid of your .blogspot or .wordpress extension you are showing you're ready to stand out on your own and take things a little more seriously.

Easier to swap your blog over to a different CMS - If, like a lot of first time bloggers, you've started your blog on blogger and you now feel you want to move to Wordpress, having your own domain will make the switch a lot smoother. One of the trickiest parts about moving from one CMS to another is keeping all your back links in tact, if your domain is the same no matter what hosting you're using, then it's one less thing to worry about.

Branding - Using your blog/business name as your domain can further cement your branding. By bagging your blog/businesses name you have made sure your brand is completely sacred to you, no one else can call their business the same name, as you've already claimed it.

Makes you more appealing to PR company's and brands - Having your own domain means that you are building your own domain authority and trust flow (how trusted you are as a website). These are two elements that brands and PR agencies will look at before deciding whether you're worth contacting. These businesses are looking to build good strong links back to their own website, which means they need to know your site is worth linking from.

Memorable for you and your readers - This ties in pretty much with the branding and credibility points made above. Typing out your whole blogspot domain or wordpress domain can take a long time, it can also be hard for others to remember. If you have a short and snappy domain, it is more likely that people will remember you and they will find it easier to link back to you. It's always safer to assume everyone is a little bit lazy (I know I am), so make everything super easy for them.

If you haven't got your own domain name yet and you've been on the fence for a while, hopefully I've given you a bit more to think about to help make that decision. If I've managed to sway you with my magical words, there's a few sites I can point you to to get you set up. The first is GoDaddy.com, which is the site I manage my domain on. I find it fairly easy to set up and they're also reasonably priced. Or, one that I've heard a lot of people talking about is Bluehost.com, another site that offers domains and seems to be used by a good few bloggers and business owners.

Have you bought your own domain yet? Have you seen any noticeable changes in growth since you switched to your own domain?