5 reasons why your own domain name is a must
Many people don’t really know what a domain name is and why it’s important to have one. So much so that our support team is often asked what the added value of a personal domain name is. In this blog post you’ll find the answer to that question. We’ll also explain why having your own domain name is so important for your online store. Let’s find out!
First things first: What’s a domain name?
A domain name, or simply ‘domain’, is the address (or URL) used to find a website or online store on the internet. Our domain name is www.myonlinestore.com. A domain name is always made up of a name – in our case myonlinestore – and an extension – in our case .com.
If you decide not to go for your own domain name, your URL will be, for example, www.myonlinestore.com/store/newbornmusthaves. If you do choose to have your own domain name, you will have your very own URL, for example www.newbornmusthaves.nl.
Your own domain name comes with a lot of major advantages:
1. A good ranking in search engines
Search engines like Google attach great importance to a domain name when ranking websites in their search results. Google, for example, wants the contents of the website to be as relevant as possible to the persons entering their keywords.
Google considers a unique domain name as an individual website. As a result, everything starting with www.myonlinestore.com belongs to one and the same website for this search engine. So if your URL is www.myonlinestore.com/store/newbornmusthaves, you are sharing a domain with the thousands of GO stores whose URL also starts with www.myonlinestore.com/store/. And many of those sell anything but retro bicycles. Some sell clothing, other garden tools… You get the picture. In a nutshell, not at all relevant to the person you want referred to your online store via Google.
If you do have your own domain name, all pages and content are yours. Google sees this and as such, considers your site much more relevant to its users. And if your domain name includes the keyword(s) you want to be found with, for example retro cyclist, then you’re all set for success!
2. Professional look
Having your own domain name looks professional. But there’s more! It’s your online identity and reflects who you are. Coffeecups.com looks more professional than myonlinestore.com/store/coffeecups, and particularly if you sell high-quality products, it’s a smart move to extend this quality approach to your very own professional URL.
3. Your own email address
The cherry on the cake in this professional approach? You can also send emails through your own domain. An info@yourdomain.com email address looks more professional than a Hotmail or Gmail address. These providers may be useful for private use, but not for business. Moreover, every email through your own domain is a form of advertising for your store and boosts your visibility.
4. Value for your customers
Your domain name is the first thing customers see in the search results or when they type the URL. Users attach great importance to a domain name and often instantly link it to the contents of the website or online store. As such, the URL plays an important role in their expectations. When you type www.kidsshoes.com, for example, you expect to find shoes for children. Likewise, when you see www.retro-bikes.com, you expect a website that sells retro bikes.
5. Visibility
A domain name is easier to remember than a sub domain name, which also boosts your visibility. Let’s be honest, www.electric-bikes.com is easier to remember than myonlinestore.com/store/electricbikes. The longer the URL, the more difficult it is to remember. And you wouldn’t want potential customers to enter a keyword search hoping to find your website and end up on your competitor’s site instead.
How to get your own domain name
All our paid packages include a free domain name and matching email address. Even our new package MyOnlineStore GROW!