Benefits of custom domain

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  omar456398 · Member · Sep 6, 2015 at 7:08 pm

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  I’ve been wondering what the benefits of purchasing a custom domain name would be. Is it worth it?

  I’m not sure whether I should go on and purchase one, or just leave it as it is—free.

  It looks more professional, but could someone provide a breakdown of the pros please? Thanks!

  The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

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  wweadam · Member · Sep 6, 2015 at 9:07 pm

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  Hey there,

  If you’re blogging purely for fun or hobby, a custom domain name may be unnecessary. But if you are considering creating a blog that will be “famous” or potentially career building, a custom domain is a great idea.

  • The biggest advantage to having a custom domain is the name length. Without the “.wordpress” subdomain attached to your custom domain, it’s much faster to type and remember.
  • Another thing to think about is revenue. WordPress.com is a great place to start blogging, because it is free, but if you want to build a career with your blog in the future then you will need to move over to a self-hosted blogging platform, like WordPress.org, once you have enough viewers to support the costs of hosting. Once you’re self-hosting, you will no longer be able to sport the “.wordpress.com” subdomain, and you’ll need a custom domain for your blog. If one day your super popular blog lost its current domain name and switched to a different “.com”, that could hurt your views dramatically as there would be many viewers that didn’t get the memo. With a custom domain name, you can seamlessly transition to self-hosted WordPress when you are receiving enough views to earn some cash without the worry of having people learn a new domain name.
  • Furthermore, a huge benefit of a custom domain name is its search engine value. Generally, websites with a custom domain name rank higher in Google than sites with a subdomain (such as “.wordpress.com”).
  • For aesthetics, a custom domain name gives you the ability to create a custom email @yourdomain.com, instead of using a provider like Gmail or Yahoo.

  When choosing a custom domain name, try to pick something that is short (so people remember it easier), and easy to spell (to reduce chance of typos).

  So there you have it, the pros of a custom domain name! I hope this helps you to make your decision. :)