Free vs. Custom domains for your business.

I am sure by now we all know how important it is to have a website for your business. A website is the first thing people see that represents you and your work, so let’s talk about different types of domain names. 

When you sign up for a website, whatever the website that you choose, you will usually be given a choice of creating a free domain or purchasing a custom domain. Let’s talk about some differences between those two types of domains. 

A free domain through your website host is usually a domain name that includes the name of the host website. For example, here at Visibly Online, we choose to host our websites through WordPress. If we were to not buy a custom domain, instead of our web address being Checkoutmysite.com, it would be something like checkoutmysite.wordpress.com.

Why is it important to have a custom domain over a free one? As you can see, it shortens the length of the web address greatly, but there are other perks besides that. A custom web address is more professional and can make your business look more credible. It can also help brand your business/website and keep everything cohesive. When people go to find you, you want everything to match, and a custom domain is a great way to do that. 

One more thing a custom domain can do for you is to allow you to have a professional email address. When you purchase a domain, you can sign up for an email account with your domain as the address. For example, if you purchase a domain for your cupcake business, you can choose to use your name and business in your email. [email protected] sounds much more professional than [email protected]. It’s just one of those things that adds polish to your business. Custom domains are not as pricy as you would think, we say give it a try and make it custom.