Your Own Domain Name? Here's why it's The First Step to Online Independence

Many people have discovered the power of an online audience to network and develop their business. Those who do it best work very hard to build their reputations and grow their  audiences. But is their work benefiting themselves, or the platforms they publish on?

Of course you should use social media platforms – all the big brands do. But it’s not all they do.

A domain name, registered in your own name, is a haven in the changing fortunes of the Internet. Fads will come and go; some will thrive, and some will not. But a domain name is your piece of the Internet – and comes with the same rights and status as any other registrant, corporation or individual, big brand or Joe Soap.

A domain name costs just a few cents a day in most cases – sometimes a lot less. But it gives you real credibility, security and brand awareness.

A new range of descriptive domain extensions opens up new possibilities – all the good names aren’t gone!

As the leading Irish provider of web hosting, we think that self-hosting offers flexibility and control for bloggers and businesses. It’s where you need to get to, ultimately, but it’s not necessarily the first step.

If you’ve already begun to build an audience on Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube or another popular platform, that's great! But the next step is to take control. That means registering a domain name of your own.

Once you’ve registered your name, it can be live within minutes, simply by pointing it to your current social media page. And this is when you realise the power of the Domain Name System: hosting and domains are not the same thing!

Once you have a domain name, you are free to host wherever and however you like! Your followers will know your domain name, but where that leads them to is up to you.

You can start with a Twitter account, and point your domain name to that. Change to Instagram – the domain name will point there also. Or set up a home page that pulls everything together, or a blog, or a business site.

Take The First Step

At Blacknight, we’ve made it a mission to help individuals and SMEs claim their place online, and our experts can advise you on our range of services from email to ecommerce, cloud and dedicated servers. But every single journey begins with a first step, and in this case, that's a domain name.

We offer hundreds of domain extensions, including popular .IE, .COM and .CO.UK, as well as newer favourites like .ME, .CLUB and .BLOG. Want to take the first step? Talk to us and find out more. Follow us on Twitter; message us on Facebook (see, we use those platforms too – it’s where people live!) – or check out our website (get the idea?)