Domain Names, they aren’t just for celebrities and businesses anymore. Sure, you might think you don’t need a domain name unless you own a company or want to start a blog, but you are wrong. Purchasing your personal domain, especially if the .com is available, can and will be useful in the future. Why may you ask? Keep reading to find out.
Personal Branding
Owning your own domain is a great way to brand yourself online. This is especially important if you are a journalist, graphic designer, writer, architect or anyone who need clips or examples of their work to show potential employers. Your personal domain can act as your online business card. It gives you the chance to brand yourself in a particular light, while also giving people a chance to see a glimpse of your work. If someone happens to search for you online and you own your personal domain, it will be the first thing to show up in the search engine. It is the easiest way to be found online and also adds a layer of professionalism.
Ease of Use
Gone are the days when you had to purchase web hosting to use your fancy domain name. Now you can use them on various platforms like wordpress.com, Tumblr, and Blogger. By using these sites you gain free hosting, a large community of members and an easy to use the platform. You can also use your domain name in a multitude of other places! By creating subdomains you can use your domain for things like your blog (blog.mydomain.com), your Photobucket account (photos.mydomain.com) and even redirects to your various social media accounts. Subdomains, when used correctly, can improve your SEO because they are focused on a certain topic.
If You Don’t Buy It Someone Else Will
If we learned anything from the Ted Cruz domain debacles, it’s this. If you don’t buy your domain name, you run the risk of someone else getting it. What they do with it once purchased is no longer up to you. If your firstnamelastname.com is available, get it now and don’t let it go. You never know when you might want/need to use it. If that isn’t an option try your adding your middle initial.You don’t want to run for office one day and find that your domain has been purchased as a redirect for the other candidate. Be prepared now and save yourself from that embarrassment and bad press later.
It Costs Less Than Your Latte
Domain names can be purchased for a low yearly fee and an array of domain choices are available. We sell .com .net .org and other domains for $15 a year. You can also get .me .co and a few other specialty domains for a slightly higher fee. This means that even if your .com domain is taken, you can still get your first name and last name as a domain by using .net .org or .me. For less than 3 lattes at Starbucks, you can have a professional website, on your own custom domain, that you can use for anything.
With everything moving online, it is easy to see why having your own domain name is a smart decision. If we haven’t convinced you yet, purchase one here and try it out for a year. You won’t regret it, we promise.