Should I buy a domain for my new website?
Professionalism. Does this matter, like seriously, does it really matter. I’m creating this website/blog/thing and I’ve wondered if I should splash a bit of my cash and throw it into purchasing a domain name. In theory I would like to “monetize” or eventually generate at least some income from whatever work I put into this website, and if I do, I keep thinking to myself, “I should buy a domain name”. It’s the kind of thing I’ve always done in the past, new projects get new domains, new email addresses, maybe even throw some money at google or Microsoft and pay for services like Apps or exchange.
So far though, this thing, whatever this thing may be, is just me sitting at my computer and pouring my stream of conciousness into the keyboard hoping that something readable will appear at the other side.
Domain names, although they don’t cost a lot, also do not cost nothing and in the era of extremely powerful search engines it probably doesn’t actually matter whether a domain name is relevant, usually.
For instance if I was to search on Google for a topic, lets say, “Using github to publish a website for free”, what would I get?
Did their domain name help them get found by the google algorithm?
No. Medium.com is as average or esoteric a name as any other, but rather what enabled them to be found as the top search result is a combination the content of their page (I read it, it is superb), and a non trivial amount of attention put to creating usable, readable, and searchable content with all those juicy keywords that search engines love to chew on.
So, here’s my thoughts. I don’t think it makes a damn bit of difference in the current year to buy a domain or whatever. Certainly for hole in the wall websites like this one. Ideally, I guess that a niche website that is trying genuinely to make a name for itself inside of its field it would help at in some way to give the search engines that little extra kick in the butt to push them towards one bit of content over another, but you know what, for me I simply just don’t care.