February 8, 2006
Starting a new blog? Get your own domain name! Do NOT use a subdomain of typepad.com, wordpress.com, blogspot.com (etc)
So, you want to start a new blog. Maybe you don’t have much experience with blogging, so you don’t think it’s that big of a deal which platform you choose or whether you have your own domain name. Well think again.
Don’t fall trap to the disaster that I landed myself in, where I started casually blogging and ended up regularly blogging and hating the platform I was using but can’t easily switch because I stupidly put my blog on a subdomain of typepad (http://blogging.typepad.com)
Now I’m at TypePad’s mercy. They own my ass because they own my address - even though I’m paying $150+ a year for their service. The same could happen to you whether it’s a subdomain on typepad.com, blogspot.com, or wordpress.com.
By not having your own domain name, if you ever decide to move to another blogging platform you run the risk of losing all (or a lot) of your traffic, your search engine rankings, all of your hard earned incoming links, etc because you cannot take your URL with you.
How are you going to redirect your traffic to your new blog when you have NO ability to, say, set up a 301 Permanent Redirect? Which, for those who are wondering, would both:
- automatically redirects human visitors to your new blog site
- tells the search engines that your blog has permanently moved and gives it the new location
(BTW - has any TypePad user whose blog address was a subdomain had a high traffic blog with a lot of backlinks into it that they then moved to a WordPress blog hosted on their own server? Please tell me what your experience was, whether you lost pagerank, traffic, search engine rankings, etc!!!)
Domain names are cheap - about $9 a year for a single one, as low as $6.75 a year if you own more than 50. There is NO excuse to not have your own domain name for your blog. You will regret if at some point down the road if you don’t start out with your own domain name.
www.GoDaddy.com is the site that I use to register my domain names, although there are numerous other options such as $5.99 Domain Names at 1&1, and, if you only need a single domain name the cheapiest option is domain names from Yahoo! for only $2.99.
The irony here is that I actually own a lot of domain names and I genuinely can’t fathom why I didn’t just use a domain of my own when I started this blog. Don’t make the same mistake as me or you could end up feeling trapped like I do right now. Consider yourselves warned.
UPDATE: Just to clarify, my point is that you need to own your own domain name so the URL for your blog points to a domain you own and control. It’s okay to use a subdomain off a domain that you own, but not one that belongs to someone else such as that of a hosted service like typepad.com.
And it’s okay to use a hosted solution - just make sure you pick one (like typepad.com or blogger.com) that allows you to use your own domain name (and always reference your blog’s URL w/your own domain) so that if you ever decide you want to go elsewhere, at least you’ll be able to take your traffic with you. And it’s also a good idea to check to see if whatever blogging platform you start with has the ability to export your posts (and comments/trackbacks) for easiest porting of your site to another platform…
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February 8, 2006
hollyblogs said (trackback):
A Host for Your Blog
Once youre ready to start blogging, you have a big decision to make: where do you want to set up your blog? There are a number of options out there. For example, you may have heard of Blogger and Typepad, two of the best known hosted blogging se…
Stuart Tan said:
Hey Emily,
I write several blogs, but my personal one is Stuart-Tan.Com on personal effectiveness.
I myself was using Blogspot.Com for some time, until I decided to just use the FTP function. It proved fairly painless, and you’re absolutely right - you definitely need to own your own domain. It’s only logical for SEO purposes.
Keep up the great work!
Alan Kleymeyer said:
You make a very valid point. Doesn’t TypePad’s Domain Mapping feature solve this problem?
Tiara said:
Sounds pretty alarmist - for some of us (outside the USA especially) the money used to pay for a domain name would be much better used to, say, pay for food. (US$6 = roughly RM24, which is enough for a week’s worth of lunch or so in Malaysia.) Then there is the added costs of hosting, which can really add up to a LOT.
There’s no need for domain snobbery; whether the blog is good or not shouldn’t depend on where it’s hosted. I’ve seen brilliant blogs on “free hosts” and terrible blogs worth less than the price of the domain.
Hexxenn said:
I considered TypePad once, but the prices are ridiculous. For what they charge, anyone could buy some webspace and a domain and just use WordPress!
February 9, 2006
MYBLOG by Ouriel said (trackback):
ONE OF THE BEST ADVICE IF YOU PLAN TO START A BLOG
If you plan to start a blog, before you even start to create an account, Buy a domain name (www.whateveryouwant.com) otherwise you will be prisonner of your blog plateform (typepad blogger or others) when you will want for example to
Anil said:
It’s probably just as important to mention that you’ll want to make sure, for the same reasons, that you use a tool that supports exporting your posts. Even if you have your own domain name, if you can’t get access your posts and do something useful with them, you’re going to be stuck.
Andrew said:
I agree with what you say about getting your own domain name(s): good to have and now cheap.
I’d add the twist that this is an argument to start with blogger, or some other free hosted service. I keep my old blog (http://bloggingonthefreeweb.blogspot.com) around, at zero cost. I don’t want to remove it, partly because I was too lazy to transfer the posts into my new blog, partly because I don’t want to break anyone’s links.
For some people, having to get your own domain name may seem like an extra blog-founding chore they don’t need.
cyrbellan said:
hello
Very interesting
I have a blog at typepad plat form with a sub domain but have also on my own some domain names.
If i use one of my domain name for my blog, i reveale, disclose it, is there a risk that someone exploit this mark, brand for his own web site, for instance a merchant web site ?
thank you
Tim King said:
Hi, Emily. This is excellent advice. Looking at it from the other perspective, when I set up my latest blog/podcast, I considered services like typepad and blogspot. It was appealing to be able to start it without the setup hassles. But I couldn’t map these services to my own domain. So I went through the trouble of installing WordPress. It was the right decision. It was especially the right decision for me, since I can customize my own site (through plug-ins, complementary applications and PHP code) to an extent the turnkey services would not have supported.
On the other hand, I also have a LiveJournal, which is a personal blog. Using a service like LiveJournal does have an advantage in that you become part of a larger peer network. LiveJournal friends and friends-of-friends and so forth. (Do blogspot and typepad offer similar features?)
-TimK
Melissa Blair said:
I am very new to all this and struggling to understand. I do have my own domain. CultivatingSales.com My host, Hostm, has Wordpress that automatically installs, which I did. Now my URL is http://www.cultivatingsales.com/WordPress/ Does this what I want or do I need to get WordPress out of there altogether? Maybe I can’t even do that? I have my website at http://www.CultivatingSales.com so I can’t have only my blog there. Any words of wisdom? Thanks!
DE said:
Ya they just hit me for 150.00 and I have been having some problems with their support.Just minor stuff but it seems they are having problems but don’t know how to solve them.They do answer my support tickets but nothing seems to get resolved especially when the problem is in there servers.I also notice that my other blogs get a whole lot more traffic the the type pad one that I paid 150.00 bucks for.
Chris said:
Why can’t you switch using Typepad’s “Domain Mapping” feature” Was very, very easy for me to switch over to a domain…
Bloggerpreneur said (trackback):
Control Your Destiny: Own your domain name
One thing that any blogger who may at any point wish to monetize their blog should do when first starting out is to buy a domain name. One of the biggest mistakes in blogging that Ive ever made was hosting my blog on a free service with a subd…
EngLee said:
I was shocked when I read your title. I’m using subdomain for my blog and I don’t see any big deal with it.
Your title should read “Do NOT use a subdomain owned by somebody else”! LOL
February 12, 2006
Blogosopher said (trackback):
Blogging in education- Via DArcy
The Vancouver Education Blogging Sessions at D’Arcy Norman Dot Net
What I refer to as Web 2.0, DArcy calls the read/write web. Others call it a live site- but the idea of 2-way interaction with the user is the concept we are tryi…
Donna said:
Hi Emily,
I am totally confused and hope you can give me some help. I have my blog set up with blogware with my own domain name. I have no idea if I made a wise choice or not. I knew nothing about blogging programs so I chose to get it through domain direct. I paid $100. (I think) for a year. Am I stuck with them or would I be able to move my domain elsewhere?
I have several questions that I’d like to ask but I don’t see a place on your site to ask questions… do you offer that help? Or can you suggest a blogging forum to me?
May I ask one more question in here, please? Do search engines read the Blogrolling program?
I can give you my url so you can take a look to see if I have set it up right with blogware but please be advised that it is an adult blog so I don’t want it to offend you or anyone else that does not want to go into it. http://www.wetalksexblog.com
Thank you Emily for any help that you can offer me.
Donna
Peter T Davis's Small Business Blog said (trackback):
I think you’ve missed the point.
As is common in the blogosphere, one rant begits thousands. I’ve read a few of them,here, here, and here. The rant of the day seems to be “buy a domain, don’t under any circumstances blog with a subdomain of blogspot, typepad, or any other service yo…
Basil's Blog said (trackback):
Picnic 2006-02-11
Today’s picnic basket of items from my blogroll.
February 17, 2006
Andy Wibbels said:
Great post and great explanation! I ranted similarly about this topic over on Business Blog Consulting.
Chris Dollis said:
Thank you! You were responsible for my decision to get my own blog domain names http://lovingbear.net and http://lovingjacqui.net (after only ~3 weeks of blogging) - so if it doesn’t work out it’s all YOUR fault!
Kidding. It was a fantastic idea. I’m using Blogspot FTP and, with significant hacks (all of which are new to me, but fun to learn!) it’s working great.
Love you for your great idea. And ’cause your picture’s hot. Don’t tell my girlfriend, Jacqui, I said that at http://lovingbear.net !
February 19, 2006
neuro said:
Hello Emily,
Sorry to spam your comments here, but I’ve lost your email in a time warp.
I just wanted to mention the release of the 2.0b version if my id band theme (only the 2 columns one, the others are still to come), at http://t37.net/id-band-2-twin
Cheers,
Frederic
Daneel said:
Hello Emily
I foresaw most of the problems you explained in you blog, including having your own domain (Except for Wordpress not having enough plugins
). The control you get is definitely worth the price.
The comment from Tiara (Feb 8, 2006 8:57:32 PM) on the high cost of hosting for individuals living in foreign (developing) countries I do not totally agree with.
I live in South Africa, we are a developing nation. But it is much more economical to host a website in the USA than locally (At least 10 times more economical) . Many of us think of US hosting prices as a blessing.
Excelent blog, keep up the wonderful work!
February 25, 2006
MB said:
Hi EMily,
I found you while searching for online help with Hello from Picassa. I have been very happy with it; however for the past 3 days it does not post my pictures to my blog.
Any ideas and or suggestions???
Namaste,
MB
February 27, 2006
Nuthatch said:
I have two Typepad blogs with mapped domains. One started out as a Typepad subdomain (so folks will have a bunch of those links bookmarked), but I did the other with my domain name right from the beginning. Works fine, I’ve developed many hacks to get around some of Typepad’s style issues (I only have a Plus account), tastes great, less filling.
March 1, 2006
Karen Rani said:
I love your site, domain or no domain. I’m in the process of going from blogger to my own space, and I’m off to search your site on how to use all these new toys I’ve just purchased! Your site is amazing though!
March 11, 2006
Rusty Ellis said:
If you can afford to buy a name, do it. I have actualy bought numerous names, though some of the names I have really never used, but they are mine if I ever wanted to put them into play.
Just for your interest, I use Wordpress. I really enjoy the easy setup and interface. I can literally install a working version in a matter of minutes on a new site.
Thanks Emily for the post.
March 15, 2006
The Journey So Far at Amar Galla&'s Blog said (pingback):
[…] It was then that I found this excellent article by Emily Robbins about getting a domain if you are serious about blogging. What she said made sense. I was always afraid of loosing my readers when moving to a different service. I had already chosen WordPress as my choice of a blogging platform, but now I needed a good Host. On the WordPress.com site I found a list of 3 hosts which were good. Yahoo was the most expensive. I liked the offer by BlueHost very much, but due to various reasons ( which can make a nice blog entry ), I chose Yahoo Hosting for my WordPress account, and as of now, I am really happy about it. It has its own demerits, but it does solve my purpose nicely so can&’t complain. […]
May 15, 2006
thanassis blog said (trackback):
Choosing a Blogging System
Starting a blog was on my todo list for long time. Few days ago, I felt an urge to tackle it. I initially subscribed to wordpress, as probably many would do, after an initial search to google . But then I wisen up..I searched a little harder and figure
May 20, 2006
Famous said:
Yeah you should think to have your own domain name to blog. Happen to me when I’m using Blogspot.com to blog…after few month start blogging and fills all my content including affiliate….suddenly I get email from blogspot.com that my blog are doing something wrong and they had reset everything ….you know everything gone after all the hardwork…now I’m happy with my new blog….so what wrong if I’m doing affiliate with my blog!!!!
May 27, 2006
Leion said:
I think there is always somethings better when you paid for the service and domain…
July 16, 2006
Takuya with Amigo Health said:
Emily,
The only thing I like about using a subdomain is when used with a proper keyword, for example, say you are blogging about a “marketing plan”, using that word in your subdomain helps you rank high in search engines well because those subdomains are of from the authority websites rather than an individual websites.
My friend has “mini sites” he creates for many different niches, and he seems to always rank those high fast with especially MSN Search when after only blogging for like a few weeks and get a few back links pointed at him.
I wonder what your thoughts on it from SEO point of view.
August 30, 2006
John Pools said:
It definately makes sense to buy a new domain for every new blog you make. In response to Takuya, I think a network of mini sites would work alot better for SEO purposes, particularly with google in mind. You can always link to your new blog from your other ‘authority’ site and this will improve the rating of your new site accordingly.
September 13, 2006
Hosting All Inclusive » Blog Archiv » Ein neues Blog starten? Nur mit eigenem Domainnamen! said (pingback):
[…] Emily weiss, wovon Sie schreibt: […]
September 15, 2006
Alex F said:
Hi Emily,
I noticed that you are using a nifty link redirect on your blog. I tried to find the auto links plugin, but it’s creator’s site seems to be down. I’m wondering if you can recommend a similar plugin that reroute all my outgoing links through a php script.
Thanks
October 16, 2006
Thomas Nguyen said:
Hello Emily,
I’m looking into getting my own domain for my blog and was looking into GoDaddy and the prices seem reasonable. I’ve never used a hosting service before, and I wonder how to set one up for a Wordpress blog. In reading your blog here about obtaining a domain, I’m all geared up to do it, but… how?
Any help you can offer me would be wonderful.
Thanks,
Thomas
November 5, 2006
deep.mitch said:
Yes this is thrue ! I can agree with your post….
yes, it’s amazing !
I use wordpress like content managemennt, i’m not a real blogger,
or maybe a dj blogger ehehe… but from the time I started to use wordpress , I feel istantly the power of this great peace of software, and the nice world around it, like peoples like you that offer links to themes , plugs…. it’s really extraordinary…
At the end, but not minus important I wish to thank you, for your site and the useful information I have found by surfing on it….
great work miss …
greetings from Venice, Italy
November 9, 2006
Nita said:
I think somebody said it earlier, but let me say it again. Not everyone earns in dollars and so it’s preferable to use someone’s else domain name, especially for a personal non-commercial blog.
I switched from Blogger to Wordpress easily. I simply imported the content. I also left a last post on Blogger mentioning that my blog address had changed. Those who want to come, will come.
Frankly, as I am a small blogger there was no heart-burning where the other stuff was concerned, like ranking etc.
November 15, 2006
Decaffeinated said:
Why has no one even mentioned how to link your blog up to your domain name once you’ve bought the domain??? I have Homestead and they won’t tell me how to put a blog on my site!
May 6, 2007
Amarendra bhushan’s business blog » Does your ISP not let you use your said (pingback):
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Amarendra bhushan’s business blog » My Portfolio offers you the ability to choose said (pingback):
[…] How to Blog : Starting a new blog? Get your own domain name! Do NOT So, you want to start a new blog. Maybe you don t have much experience with blogging, so you don Blogging tips and tricks, theme and plugin info, blogging software reviews, and more […]
May 7, 2007
Amarendra bhushan’s business blog » Domain Direct registers your domain name for you said (pingback):
[…] How to Blog : Starting a new blog? Get your own domain name! Do NOT So, you want to start a new blog. Maybe you don t have much experience with blogging, so you don Blogging tips and tricks, theme and plugin info, blogging software reviews, and more […]
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December 2, 2007
十之八九 » Starting a new blog? Get your own domain name! said (pingback):
[…] <http://www.emilyrobbins.com/how-to-blog/ […]
December 6, 2007
The Journey So Far - Amar Galla's Weblog said (pingback):
[…] The Journey So Far After setting up my Yahoo account and installing my wordpress blog with their one click setup, I was starting to configure my wordpress 2.0 blog to my needs. It was then that I started researching the net about Technorati tags and better search indexing, url rewriting and tons of various other things which you can do with blogs. I was never an advanced blog user. Was more a moody poster, who did not care about cutting edge blogging and tagging posts, and search engine crawlers. Was blogging till now on a .TEXT based services ( DotNetJunkies ) and then on Community Server when they upgraded their service. It was in that transition phase that I got tired of crashes and page not found errors that I started to look into alternate blogging tools / networks. It was then that I realised how much I enjoy blogging and I should be a bit serious about it. After that I tried the free wordpress.com account and did like wordpress very much. But got frustrated trying to get a image displayed in my header and faced a lot of limitations to what I could do with it. Hence my search for a better blogging network started again. It was then that I found this excellent article by Emily Robbins about getting a domain if you are serious about blogging. What she said made sense. I was always afraid of loosing my readers when moving to a different service. I had already chosen WordPress as my choice of a blogging platform, but now I needed a good Host. On the WordPress.com site I found a list of 3 hosts which were good. Yahoo was the most expensive. I liked the offer by BlueHost very much, but due to various reasons ( which can make a nice blog entry ), I chose Yahoo Hosting for my WordPress account, and as of now, I am really happy about it. It has its own demerits, but it does solve my purpose nicely so can’t complain. So this is how amargalla.com came into existence. Not a very imaginative name, but hey, it’s all about me
Published Feb 16 2006, 02:02 PM by amar […]
January 31, 2008
Get your own domain name, when starting a blog | Weycrest Knowledgebase said (pingback):
[…] clipped from www.emilyrobbins.com […]
February 15, 2008
8 tips for beginner bloggers | DavePress said (pingback):
[…] Starting a new blog? Get your own domain name! (How to Blog) […]
February 17, 2008
The Pickle_Analysis said (pingback):
[…] One thing I accomplished today, although not as important, I’ve finished creating my own domain. The alarming stories I read on this article and many other articles regarding blogspot.com made my decision easy. I don’t see any reason why people should not own their own domains. You will later realized you’ve created pages of blog consisting of some of your unforgetable thoughts and memories in writing, but one morning you wake up and it’s no longer there. Because some guy sitting in an headquarters eating cheese puffs hovering around the delete button. If your blog gets deleted, that would leave a mark of regret. Get your own domain, it’s easy and inexpensive. All you need to know is on this blog. […]
February 18, 2008
The Pickle_Analysis said (pingback):
[…] One thing I accomplished today, although not as important, I’ve finished creating my own domain. The alarming stories I read on this article and many other articles regarding blogspot.com made my decision easy. I don’t see any reason why people should not own their own domains. You will later realized you’ve created pages of blog consisting of some of your unforgetable thoughts and memories in writing, but one morning you wake up and it’s no longer there. Because some guy sitting in some headquarters eating cheese puffs hovering around the delete button. If your blog gets deleted, that would leave a mark of regret. Get your own domain, it’s easy and inexpensive. All you need to know is on this blog. Cheers to blogging! […]
March 17, 2008
Five Tips for Starting With New Media | Personal Visibility said (pingback):
[…] There are lots of other things to consider (Get your own domain name. Learn from the experts. Optimize for search engines.), but this blog really isn’t about technology but rather how to use technology to enhance your visibility. […]
June 28, 2008
Start Your own Blog - how to at Happening Now said (pingback):
[…] First of all check out Starting a new blog? Get your own domain name! Do NOT use a subdomain of typepad.com, wordpress.com, blogspot.com (etc) at How to Blog, an excellent post on the technical side of blogging. In addition, the same author also covers Comparison of WordPress and TypePad by someone who has used both extensively for over a year, which is a great post on selecting the right software platform for your blog. […]