Why You Should Own Your Own Domain - Other Reasons for Owning Your Own Domain
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I’m going to keep with the idea that you own your own business and your web site serves that business. If you have your URL printed on business cards, flyers, brochures, or other marketing material, and you don’t own your own domain name, what happens when you change web hosts? You have to change all your material, because your URL has changed! If you own your own domain name, your URL remains the same, regardless of how many times you change web hosts.
Here’s a side note. Say you have decided that your web site does need its own domain name, but you’re willing to have someone else register it (like your web host). Resist the temptation. Articles can and have been written about the nightmares people have gone through getting back their own domain names from their web hosts, or trying to transfer a domain name under those circumstances. By the same token, you should read any contract you have with your web site designer carefully; make sure the domain name will be registered in your name. The registered owner is the one that receives notice of renewals, and all major changes to the account must be approved by the owner. If you’re not the registered owner, you may never hear about these matters, and they’re important to your livelihood.
What if you’re a blogger? There are many sites now that make it easy to set up a blog, but they don’t give you ownership of your own domain name. Do you really need to own your own name? Well, that depends in part on what you plan to do with your blog and whether you mind being stuck with whatever platform/interface the blogging site offers. Many blog sites do not provide their users with an easy way to move their blogs from one site to another; they don’t exactly have an incentive to do that, after all. If you host your blog on your own domain, you’re not locked in; you have far greater freedom and control as to what you can do with it.
When it comes right down to it, those are perhaps the biggest reasons for owning your own domain name: freedom and control. You don’t have someone else telling you what you can and can’t do with your site (or at least not to the extent that they would be if you didn’t have your own domain), and you can control what goes on it. You aren’t at the mercy of any one particular web host or email company or Internet service provider. Why start your business with those kinds of handicaps anyway when you can be the master of your own domain?
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