As a business owner myself, I cringe whenever I see other business owners – for both online and “brick-and-mortar” businesses – use the free email and website hosting supplied by their Internet service provider (ISP). I am sure you have come across such businesses yourself, ones that do not have their own domain name but rather use that of their ISP, often their cable or phone company. But these business owners do not realize that they are making a big mistake by not getting and using their very own domain name.
There are two major problems with a business that does not have its own domain name. The first is an issue of control and flexibility, the second has to do with branding and long-term marketability.
ISPs love it when you use the free email and hosting services they supply. it hardly costs them anything to support those services and it is an easy way to discourage you from switching to a different ISP.
Think about it: if you have your ISP-supplied email address plastered over all of your business cards, you will hesitate to switch to a different ISP, because you will have to abandon the old email address as part of the process. The ISP effectively holds you hostage because you are using something they control – their domain name – as part of your business operations. Not the best place to be, really.
If, on the other hand, you have your own domain name, you can switch ISPs whenever you want with only minor disruption to your business operations.
Branding is perhaps the biggest problem when it comes to not owning your own domain name. You spent a lot of time choosing the perfect name for your business. so why do you not control the online version of the same name?
Your own domain name is a powerful marketing tool. For one thing, it makes your business seem bigger than a hobby business run out of someone’s house, even if that is really what it is. it also makes it easier for your customers to remember and find you. and search engines will be able to place your business on their maps and provide all kinds of useful information – your phone number, fax number, email address – with hardly any effort on your part.
Registering and using a domain name is a lot easier than you think it is. You can register a domain name for around $10. You can host the domain almost anywhere for less than $10/month, which includes multiple email accounts and a website. Cost is definitely not the issue here.
