Why We Insist That You Have Your Own Domain Name

Currently, there are about 250 million unique domains registered worldwide. 1 in 10 Internet users have their own domain and 80 million domains are registered in the United States alone! This data shows how important a domain has really become, but if you’re still not convinced whether you should have your own, read on!

Your own domain name is an integral part of your site

Having your own domain is simple, relatively inexpensive and available to everyone. What are the advantages offered by a domain?

• Forms a part of your corporate identity
• Provides professionalism
• Makes your website easier to remember for your visitors
• Makes email accounts customizable
• Optimizes your website in search engines (SEO-friendly)

Each one of these factors provides easy and effective communication with customers, suppliers and partners. Read on to learn how to choose the perfect domain name for your website.

What can happen if you don’t register your own domain?

1. You risk being targeted by speculators

The most dramatic situation is when someone gets the domain before you. Imagine that your subdomain is “smith-technology.webnode.com” and someone registers the name “smith-technology.com”. In that case, you must prepare for two scenarios: either a speculator bought the name and then wants to sell it for a much higher price, or what is worse, a competitor is ahead of you. In the latter case, it will cost much more to get the domain (even may be impossible).

Webnode for example lost control over Webnode.pl currently owned by a competitor from Poland. In 2008, Webnode.ru was registered by a Russian speculator and only this year managed to buy it back. The price was much higher than it would be if we had managed to register it in time.

2. You miss attracting a larger audience

If you are one of those who don’t pay attention to optimizing their websites for search engines and say “I don’t believe in SEO”, you might be brave but you also risk missing customers. For everyone else we recommend the purchasing a domain for SEO. Older domains have greater authority and domains with a greater number of links are also best evaluated by search engines. Do you really want to continue wasting time and new customers who may be looking just for you?

3. You lose access to your account

What can happen if you forget the login details to your regular free email account? Nothing good. If you don’t have a password or a different way to recover the data, you can wave goodbye to your account as much as your business. Your own domain gives you the opportunity to have your own email accounts, eliminating the risk of losing access to them.

4. People have a hard time remembering your website

Keep in mind that long email addresses are difficult to remember (especially with more than 1 or 2 words). It’s up to you if you want to write all words together, or separated by dots or dashes:
- Smithtechnology.com
- Smith.technology.com
- Smith-technology.com

If you go further complicate matters for their clients using a subdomain (smith-technology.webnode.com) or unusual extensions (.org, .info, .eu), then you have a problem. When our users are looking for us in Germany they type “Webnode.de” in search engines. However, our address for this country is “de.webnode.com”. Thus, problems grow!

5. Using a free e-mailing service will raise suspicion

Some companies use a free email service (Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, etc.). Is a message from a suspected email “Work from home and earn $500 a day” from an email address jahelp@gmail.com just a coincidence?

Do you still think that buying a domain is secondary? If you changed your mind, register your domain before someone else does!