Being A Newbie Blogger - All Your Domain / Hosting Questions Answered

In my first post Newbie Blogger, I asked several questions. Ones that I think most people who are just as computer or should I say internet inept as I am are asking as well.

Well breathe a sigh of relief my friends ... here are some of the answers !

The other night specifically I had a wonderfully informational conversation with Amanda from My Four Littles. We talked about domains, hosting, switching over and random other helpful tips . Most of what I mention in this post will reference to this conversation.

• What does owning your domain mean ? 
• Well first off a domain is just a fancy word for saying your sites web address. 
• Owning your domain means you drop the sub-domain in your URL such as having it say blogspot.com or wordpress.com. Owning your blog/businesses name also gives your readers the impression and sense of establishment. 
• Owning your name makes it easier for readers to remember your blogs name and web address. 

• What is 'parking' your domain mean?
• This is when you have purchased a domain name but don't have a site ready for it to point to just yet. AKA unused domain names. What you do then is park it to a dummy site until you have a website ready for that domain name.  

• When you became a dot com do you lose your Alexa rank and Page rank?
• This depends. If you are going from a sub-domain (such as having blogspot.com or wordpress.com in your URL) and you purchase a domain for that site yes, all of that resets.
• However, if you own your domain and then move from Blogger to WordPress you keep your Alexa and PR ranks. < Learn how to do this part on your own HERE.  

• Do you have to pay to own your domain every year or is it a one time cost? 
• You pay to own your domain yearly. It's not much though which is good. Expect it to cost around $10/year.
• Some great site to purchase your domain on : 

• The ever popular GoDaddy- They have sales all the time right now their going rate is $3.99.  (see banner below) - Sparkle Me Pink's domain is held by Go Daddy :-) 
• 1 and 1 First year is $7.99  

• Why switch from Blogger to Wordpress?
• WordPress has a lot more features-gadgets 
• Being self hosted means Google can not shut down your blog 
• WordPress can be made to look more professional 

• Do you have to pay for Wordpress ?
• Not for WordPress it self - that is free, open source software.  You DO have to pay for site hosting though. You can use someone's referral link to get for only $10/year though !! (Site Ground) This is Amanda's referral link :-) 

• What is site hosting and why would I want it/ need it ? 
• Is a service through sites like GoDaddy,  Blue Host and Site Ground that provide space on the Internet for websites.
• This too is a yearly fee type of thing
• As I said above you will need to be self hosted to have a WordPress site, but this also mean you own all of your content!!

• Why I am staying on Blogger - At least for now 
• For now I am happy with my Blogger layout and gadgets 
• I have made the step in the right direction recently by purchasing my name (sparklemepink.com) not only to have a more aesthetic looking URL but also to give myself peace of mind that no one else can own my name - because I truly love it <3  and if someone else had it I would have to kick their avatar butt. 
• I don't have to pay for hosting - Blogger is hosting my content for me for FREE right now and since I am a relatively small blog at the moment I find moving might be too bog of a step for me right now. 
• Will I ever move ? Possibly, if there are more issues/rumors with Blogger, yes. I personally have not had any issues with Blogger to date "crossing fingers" .

I will add to this post and update as I too learn more about Hosting and Domains and Blogging 

Let me know in the comments below if you have any more questions you would like answered about being a newbie blogger or just blogging in general I will do my best to answer them all :-) 

**All info in this post refers to the conversation between Amanda and I, wpbeginner.com and the lovely and ever insightful wikipedia. 

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