Make Your Website Easy to Find

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Do you know the quickest, easiest way to make your website or blog easy for you to advertise and easy for visitors to find when you share it with them?

Get your own domain name!

Why should you get your own domain?

  • It’s less than $15 a year.  Small investment, big reward.
  • Brand yourself / your website with a professional www.yoursite.com instead of you.someotherdomain.com.
  • Your URL belongs to you (as long as you pay your registration and renewal fees!).  At places like Blogger, WordPress.com, Weebly, and anything else you don’t own, you don’t own your URL.  If you violate the terms of service or the site goes out of business, your URL disappears.
  • All those links you’re building — they’ll point to a domain you own.  No worries if you change website hosts, selling venues, or blogging platforms because your links still point to you.
  • Make it easy for visitors to find you because  you can point it to where ever you’d like.  So if you start out at Blogger then move to your own domain, your URL can stay the same.  If you sell on Etsy then get your own website, or the other way around, you can point your domain to where you want it and customers keep going to the same URL.

Here’s the basics of what a domain name is and how it works:

 

Photo Credit: jaylopez at sxc.hu

Comments

  1. Tracey Rissik
    Twitter: traci_london
    says:

    Hi Michelle,

    firstly, thanks for organising the UBC – fantastic work!

    Your video is a brilliant, simple way of explaining hosting & domains to newbies – I’ll be referring people to it – very clear…
    Last blog ..Making your website “sticky” !My ComLuv Profile

  2. Lisbeth Tanz
    Twitter: lisbethtanz
    says:

    I just had this discussion with someone today who has started a blog site on WordPress.com. Well written and great video (as always). :)
    Last blog ..Empower Someone Else – Ask For HelpMy ComLuv Profile

    • Michelle Shaeffer
      Twitter: MichelleShaeffr
      says:

      Glad you’re helping guide in the right direction, Lisbeth. A lot of people don’t realize they can go ahead and get their own domain even if they’re just setup with wordpress.com or blogger. Yesterday is the best time to get our domains registered, and right now is the second best time, no matter where we’re at in the website process. :)

  3. Melanie Kissell @SoloMompreneur
    Twitter: melaniekissell
    says:

    Nicely done, Michelle!

    Now for the “chicken or the egg” question …

    Several folks have asked me what’s the better choice for a domain — use your own birth name or a keyword/s? It’s always a bit tricky to give a crystal clear response. My best advice is to base your choice on the type of business you’re building. Would you agree? Of course, you could always do both kinds and make one a ‘redirect’.

    Wonderful video. And the next time I’m in the market for a domain name, happy to know I can visit Host Creo!

    • Michelle Shaeffer
      Twitter: MichelleShaeffr
      says:

      I agree – it really depends on the purpose for the domain and what we’re branding or building on it. I have some keyword rich domains and others like michelleshaeffer.com

  4. Heather Bestel says:

    Great info and wonderful video,
    I will be sharing it with my readers.
    Thanks Michelle
    Hx
    Last blog ..Happy Mother’s DayMy ComLuv Profile

  5. Through the Lens of Kimberly Gauthier, Photography Blog says:

    I struggled with a domain name. My first didn’t match my site AT ALL – I don’ t know what I was thinking. My 2nd (and current) is my name. Kimberly Gauthier.

    I write a photography blog called Through the Lens of Kimberly Gauthier, my business license is Kimberly Gauthier Photography. By having a domain name that is my name it allows me flexibility in where I go with my photography.

    I can continue writing (which I will) AND I can start a portrait photography business (which I will) and sell prints (which I will) all without changing or buying new domains.
    Last blog ..Photography Challenge- Fabulous FridayMy ComLuv Profile

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