Most bloggers who start a blog on BlogSpot, WordPress, or Tumblr blogging platforms neglect the importance of a custom domain. If you’re starting your brand new blog on BlogSpot or Tumblr blogging platforms, your primary blog URL would be something similar to yourblogname.blogspot.com or yourblogname.tumblr.com.
Creating your first blog on these blogging platforms is no problem because everything is free: Unlimited bandwidth, posts, and no downtime.
However, the downside of free blogging platforms is that you have to buy a domain for your blog. There are lots of domain name extensions you can choose for your blog. To name a few: .com, .Org, .Net, .co.uk. .edu, .int, .in, .Tips, .Club. . Guru etc.
Actually, there are hundreds of domain name extensions you can choose for your blog. But, if you are thinking about why you should use a custom domain name rather than a subdomain name for your blog, here are a few reasons.
Reasons to Use A Top-Level Domain For Your Blog
Branding
When you first create a blog on the BlogSpot blogging platform, you’d get a sub-domain name under the .blogspot.com domain. Since many spam websites are built on BlogSpot and people don’t like to read free domain blogs, you should change your sub-domain into a custom or top-level domain.
When you have a custom domain name for your blog, you can create social channels on each social media website. Another thing is that you can promote your website using social media, email outreach, social outreach, and advertising through the top-level domain very quickly.
When I changed my blog domain from a generic .blogspot.com subdomain to ProBlogTricks a long time ago, It was easier to promote my website on social media and other directories, online forums, and communities.
Take a look at below Google SERP. Google treated Pro Blog Tricks as a brand. I used a custom domain name, and people used that brand on social media, other websites/blogs, and typed in Google search engine, which helped increase the brand exposure of the Pro Blog Tricks blog. Please note that Problogtricks is now rebranded as Pitiya.
If you want to increase the brand exposure of your blog and eventually increase the authority in your industry, you have to use a custom domain name. Have you ever seen a subdomain’s name perform like a top-level domain (TLD) in Google SERP?
Professional Look
Which is easier to type and remember from these two domains www.pitiya.com or pitiya.tumblr.com? Surely, the first domain name is much easier to remember and type. As it’s a custom domain, I was able to create social profiles on different social networks.
It gives us brand awareness and stands Pitiya blog out as a professional blog, just like QuickSprout.
In blogging, professionalism is a significant factor in standing out from others and competitors. Think of this as a normal reader: Which result would you prefer to click on Google? On the top-level domain or sub-domain?
Acceptance
It is unnecessary to say that a few programs and services, such as BuySellAds, don’t accept subdomains. So if you want to get your proposals/applications approved for the first time without any problem, you should have a website with a custom domain name.
Another thing is if you apply for specific affiliate programs such as ShareASale, WPengine, Clickfunnels, or Long Tail Pro with your subdomain blog name such as weirdname.blogspot.com, it is tough (actually no possibility) to get your blog approved.
Therefore, having a custom domain name for your blog gives you the ability to make money blogging and make money blogging quicker.
Make Money With Your Blogspot Blog – Read Complete Guide Here
More People Like to Click, Read, Share and Link out
At Pitiya, we received more social shares and natural backlinks when we moved to the top-level domain. Natural social shares and backlinks are what Google wants and like. These helped steadily increase the organic traffic and ensure that any Google update didn’t stick with the search traffic.
If you’re serious about blogging and think your blog is a business, I strongly recommend you change your domain from a subdomain to a top-level domain. It will increase social shares and backlinks, and people will sign up for your newsletter and return to your blog again.
SEO benefit
Have you ever seen a subdomain rank for a high-converting keyword on Google’s #1 result page? I guess your answer is similar to mine, NO. Why does Google rank top-level domains than subdomains higher in Google? Does Google hate subdomains?
No, Google ranks subdomains, too, in SERPs. But Google intends that a top-level domain with quality content and authority is relevant and valuable for people rather than a free sub-domain web page.
That does not say that sub-domain names can’t rank for highly competitive keywords top in Google. However, it depends on factors such as click-through rate, domain authority, page authority, etc.
.blogspot.com, .wordpress.com, or .tumblr.com blogs get a lower click-through rate than TLDs. That causes a decrease in the search engine rank because Google doesn’t want web pages with lower CTR to rank top in SERP.
Also, if you intend to move from Blogspot to WordPress or from Tumblr to WordPress in the future, you would start using a custom domain name today because you can move your blog with the link juice and page authorities to your new host location.
How to Set up a Custom Domain Name for Your Blog?
Although creating a free blog is an easy task and all things are free, you shouldn’t stop here. Have you heard that “Free Things costs you“?
Not everything on the internet is free. If you set up a custom domain name for your blog, you stay ahead of thousands of other bloggers. Here’s how to set up a custom domain for your blog.
Step #1. First, you must buy a domain name for your blog. Before purchasing a domain, you should find an available Top-level-domain for your blog. I have listed a few useful and essential tools to check the domain name availability. Check them out here: How to Check Domain Name Availability – Free Online Tools.
Step #2. After you buy your desired domain name, you have to set up the DNS and CNAME as your domain host. Follow these steps in this article to set up a custom domain name for BlogSpot and these steps for Tumblr. You don’t need to buy a domain from other services using a WordPress-hosted blogging platform. You can easily upgrade and set up the custom domain.
Step #3. Wait a few hours and change the URL of your blog.
Don’t forget to change the Interlinks in your blog posts with new links.
Step #4. Add a new site map to Google Search Console and other webmaster tools (Bing Webmaster tools, Baidu Webmaster Tools, Yandex Webmaster tools). You can ask for a crawl request from your webmaster tool dashboard, which will expedite the crawling process and quickly rank your new domain.
Read my previous article to learn how to get Google to index your website/web pages quickly. And you would use the Semrush site audit tool to find errors on your website.
If you’re new to Semrush, read my detailed review on Semrush: Semrush review: The Last SEM Tool You will have to Use. And get a Semrush free trial account for 14 days to test how Semrush search engine marketing tools work out for you.
Semrush can hack your blog’s growth, especially if you are getting started on new brand identity. Check out this guide to learn how.
Step #5. Change The URL address in the Google Analytics account. So you can get more accurate reports about your website and user activities.
Conclusion
Although .blogspot.com and .tumblr.com subdomains are free to use, you should decide to upgrade your blog from a subdomain to a top-level domain. You must use a TLD for your blog to take your online business to the next level. It will increase the traffic and stand you out from thousands of mediocre bloggers and millions of spam blogs.
So what are other reasons every blogger should use a custom domain name for their blogs? Share your views in the comments.
Custom Domain makes you look more professional. Also they are easy to remember. Blogpost & Tumblr are free to use but you will have to follow some rules there. One wrong attempt and they may delete your whole Blog.So it is better to have your own Domain and Hosting.
Yes, there are many advantages of custom domains than sub-domains. BlogSpot and Tumblr will ban your account, if you violate their terms and services. But if you want to create a blog free without worrying about bandwidth limit, hacking problems etc, it's better to choose a hosted blogging platform such as BlogSpot.Another thing is that not everyone can afford to buy a hosting package. But many people can purchase a domain name. Having a custom domain for your blog will give a professional look like you said.Thanks for your feedback.
It happened again, Chamal
I feel good branching on your blog – Always!
I know the benefit of owning a custom domain on a Blogspot Blog and that i suggest to everyone on blogger platform .
And That's why – My new Blog ( Blogginglane.com ) is getting a good number of Traffic even with just few post being published
Good share bro.
But sincerely, It pains me the much that your wonderful posts doesn't Get good number of Comments; What'd you think can be the Cause?
Hi John,
Yes, definitely without setting up the custom domain for blog, we can't talk about other stuff. Same as yours, after i started using the custom domain name for this blog, i saw a significant increment of organic traffic. Funny enough, i saw more traffic after i deleted 300+ low quality posts (some posts contributed 30%+ of overall traffic!). Yes, blogging is not a number game. It's all about the quality of posts and how much they are helpful.
Yes, this blog gets low comments as compared to other blogs. I found there are a few obstacles of me and the content marketing strategies i use. For me, i didn't proactively promote content and increase the brand exposure. As usually, some my content do not evoke the "wow-factor" and a few don't have actionable tips (in simple words, they are useless posts, but they are important posts in terms of organic traffic). There are a few remedies to increase the comments and other things. But, time is the main obstacle of me.
It's all about knowledge, John. At the end of the day what is most important is the knowledge and experience you obtained. Still experiment!
Thanks John for putting your ideal comment.