Blog Domain URLs on Third Party Hosted Blogs

I received a good question from a friend on Facebook today and my response may be helpful to others starting new blogs.  Here's the question:

I've created a new blog for a client. She will be going with WordPress with a WordPress URL. Her business name is already taken and she's debating whether she should use the name of her upcoming DVD or her name. Example: DVDname.wordpress.com or should she use her name: firstnamelastname.wordpress.com. I am leaning towards using her name...what is your opinion?

When you host your blog with a third party (like TypePad, Blogger, Wordpress.com) vs. self-hosting your blog (Wordpress.org, Movable Type), and you create your account, a default URL is created using the domain of the hosting site. For example the default URL for my blogs on TypePad is: http://nextlevelpartner.typepad.com.

But you don't see that URL because I have each blog "mapped" to a unique domain that I've registered so I can brand each with a separate name: http://www.biztipsblog.com, http://www.buildabetterblog.com, to name a couple.

Here's my answer:

Great question. My questions back to you are: what is the subject of the blog and what is the purpose?

If the blog is solely about the DVD program, then the name (blog URL) should reflect that. If it's to establish your client's authority and credibility, then it (blog URL) should be her name.

But that is just for the underlying wordpress.com domain URL. I ALWAYS recommend that if you're going to use a 3rd party blog platform, like Typepad.com or wordpress.com then you need to map a unique domain name over the default url.

You don't want to brand her blog with wordpress.com but with clientname.com or whatever's appropriate.

I don't work with wordpress.com so I cannot tell you how to map a domain on that service, but I'm sure there are tutorials somewhere for that. If you want to see how it's done with a TypePad blog, then you can review this blog post.

I'll probably get an earful because I talk about using TypePad and wordpress.com, but frankly, self-hosted blogs are not for everyone and TypePad in particular is an excellent option for non-techies who want to create and manage their own business blog. I've had plenty of conversations with people who started with wordpress.org and were so confused and frustrated that they moved over to TypePad.

Personally, I have blogs on many different platforms and I do know what I'm talking about. When it comes to managing a blog, it's got to work for the author so they don't give up just because the mechanics are frustrating.

I digress.

The point is that even with a hosted blog, you can control your online brand by making sure the domain for your blog is unique to your business and/or product. Depending on your platform, find out how to map your own domain to your blog.

Related Posts:
TypePad vs Wordpress vs Blogger
TypePad Domain Mapping: A Tutorial

Comments

[roundstone]

I started with my host's subdomain and I now want to get a domain. My quandary is how not to throw away all promotional efforts I had then (and the backlinks).

Pardon the innocence. Does domain mapping solve my problem? Will it allow previous links to still work/ access my old subdomain name and yet create stronger branding through the new domain name?

[Michael]

Almost everyone who begins with a hosted service regrets it later, after a frustrating and technically-challenging move to their own server. If you're not careful and don't have good help/knowhow, you will disappear from search results or at least drop like a stone.

If you're going to be in the game, be in it to win it.

There's your "earfull" Denise! :-)

[business]

Thank you for this

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