When to get a domain

[ThisIsMiss]

I just started a blog last month - mostly for fun, but to also make a little money on the side. It's been doing pretty well so far - at least better than I thought it would its first month. I've been wondering though - when do people usually decide to get a domain for their blog? I've already been thinking about transferring my blog to WP, and then I started to think about my domain. Since my blog is still in its infancy I figured I have plenty of time to work on that, but maybe doing it now would make it easier?

Also, how does one go about doing that? Maybe that should be a topic of its own..

[angienewton]

I personally recommend always having a domain and hosting account before starting a blog. Free blog platforms are best suited for hobby bloggers.

[Jeannie Zavala]

I agree with Angie. Free blog sites are limited and I can't personalize it to my liking. I believe you can transfer you blog posts to your new hosting sites but double check on that. It will be better for you to do it now than later before you get more followers and traffic.

[Anny57]

I think you should get your domain as soon as possible. I wish I had purchased my own hosting with the domain that I had three years ago when I started my blog. My 3 year old blog was deleted last month and I had to start all over again. I am so glad I found all my blog posts online (the cached version).

[Leslie B]

I agree with Angie, too. If you're serious about blogging as a business (to make a full-time or part-time income), having it on your own hosting and domain name will be crucial. You don't want to rely on other businesses too much because they might limit what you are able to write about and they can always shut down their service.

Leslie

[dlandry]

A domain is one of the first things you should get, even before hosting.

A domain is who you are and where people can find you. When you start out with a free one from Blogger or Wordpress that has the .blogspot or wordpress.com extension and switch later you're essentially starting from scratch as far as ranking with google and other stats go.

When I started my blog I used a subdomain of another domain I owned. I was making money but decided I wanted the blog to have it's own domain. When I rebranded with a new domain . I transferred all my content, I did a 301 redirect but I lost my PR, my Alexia went sky high and those that worked with me on sponsored posts and advertising didn't want to work with my until I got my PR, domain authority and page authority back since that's what they're paying for. It's been since November, I finally got my PR back and advertisers and reps are starting to take me seriously again.

[flutterfly]

Thanks for posting this, I've been wondering about this as well

[ThisIsMiss]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I went ahead and got a domain name.

I am still hosted by blogger, but only because I have NO CLUE how to switch over to a hosted site from here. I am really not very technical. It will take me some time until I can figure it out. I don't have many posts, so I don't really mind putting them back on from scratch. It's just that doing this is what I think will lose some of my ranking since blogger is integrated with Google+ and that's helped me with ranking so far. You are right though, better to try and get it done now rather than later!

What web hosting sites do you recommend for someone leaving blogger?

[Anny57]

I heard that hostgator is a good hosting company, and that's the one I recently purchased mine with. They have a package, I think it is called "Baby Croc," which allows you to add more than one domain under that hosting package. I am liking them so far and having fun with wordpress.

[dlandry]

Originally Posted by ThisIsMiss

Thanks for the advice everyone! I went ahead and got a domain name.

I am still hosted by blogger, but only because I have NO CLUE how to switch over to a hosted site from here. I am really not very technical. It will take me some time until I can figure it out. I don't have many posts, so I don't really mind putting them back on from scratch. It's just that doing this is what I think will lose some of my ranking since blogger is integrated with Google+ and that's helped me with ranking so far. You are right though, better to try and get it done now rather than later!

What web hosting sites do you recommend for someone leaving blogger?

Being hosted on Blogger doesn't help with Google PR, it's how well you SEO your site and posts. How many backlinks you have and however they change algorhythm for that round. When I moved from Blogger to Wordpress I also rebranded. I lost my PR at first but 5 months later I've got it back. A lot that move but keep their domain don't lose or may lose for a short time. I'm actually finding I'm getting more traffic and more search engine traffic because there are plug-in's for WP that help with SEO. They make it so easy to just fill in blanks where with Blogger you need to think and make sure you're using the right keywords in different places and hope you've got it right.