Hello Readers, in this article we will talk about why you
need a custom domain name for your blogger blog. Custom domain names have great
importance in blogging. Most of the beginner bloggers start their blogging
career from sub-domains like blogspot or wordpress. I started my blog with a
blogger sub-domain, but I realized the importance of custom domain names very
soon and I purchased one for my blog Unziptech a few days ago. In this article I
will share my experience about custom domain names and why you should not delay
buying one for your blog.
Blogger is undoubtly the most popular free blogging platform
and it gives numerous features to its users including custom templates and
widgets. Many blogging platforms ask their users to upgrade to paid plans for
such features. But we will not talk about the best blogging platform in this
article. Blogger also allow you to redirect your blog to a custom domain name.
You can buy a domain name from Google Blogger or any other domain registrar.
But before discussing more about it, I would like to answer a few questions:
Will I lose my Alexa ranks?
Yes, at least for a few days. I know alexa ranks are very
important for every blogger. But after getting a new domain, you need to claim
your site on Alexa, in order to get re-indexed and ranked by Alexa.
Will I lose my Page Rank and Backlinks?
Again the same answer, yes. The page rank and back links
were pointing to your old domain. Google needs to re-index your site for your
new domain. Re-indexing may take up to 2-4 weeks or may be a little more. Once
your site is re-indexed all your back links will be pointing to your new domain
and you will get your PR back on the next PR update.
Will I lose my Subscribers/Fans/Followers?
No, it won't affect your social
networks subscribers/fans/followers count. You just need to update your new
domain name in all of them.
I guess these were the most important questions that come in
mind of every blogger while buying a custom domain name. Now let us see some
great advantages of choosing a custom domain for your blog:
Brand Power:
When you are on a sub-domain like blogspot or wordpress, you
unwillingly promote their brand and not yours. By choosing a custom domain like
www.yourwebsite.com you can make your own brand and promote it.
Search Engines:
Almost every SEO
experts believe that Search Engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing like TLD
domains more than the sub-domains. So there is a great chance that you will
increase your blog traffic.
Advertisements Programs:
Almost every blogger wants to earn money online
from their blog. But some Ads providers like BuySellAds (there are others as
well) do not accept sub-domains. So you will lose the golden chance of earning
more from your blog.
Readership:
You will surely increase your blog's readership by choosing
a custom domain for your blog. A TLD domain for your blog tells your readers
that you are serious for blogging. It is observed that blogs with TLD domains
have more loyal readers than blogs with sub-domains. You will also get more
fans, subscribers and followers on social networks.
Only Domain Name:
A blog hosted on blogger needs only a custom domain to be
purchased. You need not to purchase a hosting account for that. A “.com” domain
name costs around 500INR or 10$, if purchased from Godaddy. You can save 35% by
using this promo-code "WOWUnzip20"
before 31-05-2013 or 20% after this date.
Page Rank:
Page rank grows with the internal linking and external
incoming links. In the next PR update all your previous back links will be
redirected to your new domain and your PR will start increasing.
Alexa Rank:
After claiming your site on Alexa with your new domain,
Alexa will start analyzing your traffic and within a few days you will start
improving your alexa traffic rank.
You own Sub-Domains:
By purchasing a custom domain name, you can create
sub-domains for your blog. I have recently created a demo sub-domain for my
blog. You can create any sub-domain like contact.your-website.com or
downloads.your-website.com.
Here I listed a few advantages, you can explore plenty other
by moving on a custom domain name. I strongly recommend all of you guys who are
still using sub-domains for their blogs not to delay buying a custom domain for
your blog. We have seen some great advantages of using custom domain names and
now let us go through the disadvantages of delaying custom domain name:
Re-Indexing:
Once you start your blog with a sub-domain and you start
getting a good amount of traffic, it is not very easy to make your mind for a
custom domain name. You will lose your traffic at least for a few days. Search
engines will take more time to completely index your site, if your site is
pretty old and has more content. I noticed a drop in the organic traffic of my
blog, but now it is improving.
Page Ranks Update:
The more you delay purchasing a custom domain name for your
blog, more you will need to wait for your Page ranks to be stable. Google uses
a permanent redirection for your old blog address and it takes time to
completely redirect all your back links to your new domain.
There are other things that you need to take care of, like
you need to start a lot of things from scratch. You need to submit your blog
with new domain name to all of the blog
submission directories, Search engines and Alexa. You need to update all
your social networks with your new domain. But don't worry, after 2-4 weeks
your blog will be in a stable form and you will see great improvements in your
traffic and ranks.
Final Words:
If you are thinking to move to a custom domain name, don't
delay it and if you were not thinking for it, i hope after reading this article
you will change your mind. It costs less than 10$ or 500INR for a .com domain.
You can also buy a ccTLD like .in, if you are not interested in .com domains.
You can checkout our blogger tips and
tricks section for more blogging and seo
optimization articles.
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