I hear that “own domain” is a must when creating a website. It certainly looks good, but is it required? If so, why?
Nowadays, it is “normal” to have a website with an “own domain”.
If a company’s website is not under its own domain, for example, a provider’s URL or a rental server’s URL, it gives the impression that the company cannot be trusted.
If you have your own domain, you can also create an e-mail address with that domain. It is especially tough in B2B if the e-mail address on the business card is a provider or free e-mail address.
Domains are not as expensive as they used to be, and the cheapest .com or .biz domain will cost 1,000-2,000 yen per year. In this day and age, we recommend that you consider your website to be operated under your own domain name and invest in it.
Related FAQs
- Do I absolutely need my own domain name to create a website?
- It is essential nowadays in terms of company credibility and business risk management.
If a company does not have its own domain name, it tends to be seen as less reliable. Also, if the URL changes when the rental server needs to be relocated, the company may lose customers or suffer a major SEO hit. With your own domain, you can rest assured that the URL will remain the same. From a business risk management perspective, we recommend acquiring your own domain name. - When starting a new service, should I get a new domain?
- It is not necessarily necessary to separate them, but a prudent decision is recommended.
It is also possible to create pages for new services within an existing domain. Whether or not to separate domains should be decided on a case-by-case basis, as the optimal method will vary depending on various aspects such as SEO, advertising, and operational management. We recommend that you do not make an easy decision, but rather consult with a professional partner. - Is there anything I should be aware of when getting a domain name?
- We recommend that you investigate whether the domain you are trying to acquire has been used by someone else in the past.
If you reuse a domain that was used by a site that has been penalized in the past, your site may suffer negative effects such as difficulty in ranking higher in search results. Before acquiring a domain name, search the Internet or use the service “WayBackmachine” to check its past usage history.
For more information
I am Nakayama, representative of Roundup Web Consulting.
As for your own domain, consider it a “must” in this day and age.
If you do not use your own domain name, the URL of your website will be the URL of your provider or a rental server company. For e-mail, you will probably use a free e-mail address.
For example, in the case of Xserver, the rental server company I use and recommend, if you do not use your own domain, the URL will look like this
https://roundup.xsrv.jp
The following is the case with Sakura Internet, a well-known rental server company.
https://roundup.sakura.ne.jp
In contrast, for example, if you create a JP domain (annual maintenance cost around 4,000 yen), which is recommended for Japan
https://roundup.jp
It is. It would make quite an impression. You can also use your own email address with your own domain, such as nakayama@roundup.jp if you have your own domain.
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First impressions are important for business. Not having your own domain name, especially for B2B transactions, can be a negative, but not a positive.
Another benefit is the ability to change the rental server company as you wish.
Also, if you operate with your own domain, you will not have problems when you change rental server companies.
You may want to move your rental server company due to some problem. For example.
- When we talked to our partner company about adding functionality to our website, we found out that we couldn’t do it with that rental server.
- Poor server specs on the rental server are causing slow page display and missing customers.
- Rental servers stop or change their services and prices increase, forcing you to relocate
and so on are excepted.
However, if you are using the rental server company’s URL here instead of your own domain, that is no longer available, so the URL will be changed. People who once remembered or bookmarked your website will no longer be able to access your website if they are not aware of it. It is also a big SEO pain.
However, if you have your own domain, you can move your own domain to a new server and view your website with your own domain in exactly the same way.
This is because your own domain is yours and you are free to take it in and out between server companies.
In the first place, it is important in terms of risk management to own and control as much as possible the important parts of your business. Therefore, we recommend that you think of your own domain as the norm in this day and age.
Should I get separate domains for each service or department?
You can own as many domains as you like, with the exception of a few special ones (for which you will have to pay an administrative fee).
Therefore, some people get a separate one for each service and have many domains, but please be careful there. This is because it is possible to have multiple websites on the same domain.
And whether or not to separate domains depends on the recommendations on a case-by-case basis, including SEO, advertising aspects, and HP operation and management. We recommend that you consult with a professional partner regarding multiple ownership.
Note: It is recommended to check if the domain name has been used in the past.
Even if the domain is new, we do not know if it is really new.
New domains that can be acquired are not the first ones created in the world, but only because “no one is using them now”.
In other words, it could be that “someone used to use it, but they stopped using it, so they cancelled it instead of renewing it,” and you registered it as a new one.
And at this time, if the domain was previously used for a “search engine penalized site”, it could have a negative impact on your website.
Specifically, it may not improve its search ranking easily, or at worse, it may not appear in the search results. This is the result of a penalty that was applied to the site when it was previously used and left in place without being removed.
They are mainly used by affiliate sites and backlink sites that attempt to rig search rankings, and are often discarded as such.
To avoid picking up such things, please search once on the Internet for the domain you are trying to acquire. If there is nothing in the search results, it is no problem, as it may indeed be new.
If something comes up in the search results, or even better, if it is an affiliate or adult site, avoid that domain. It is not necessarily NG in all cases, but there is no need to take the risk.
I suggest adding a few letters or hyphens to find something else so you can find something else.
Also, some of them may not appear in the search results, in which case you may be able to find out by using a service called WayBackmachine to check if there has been a homepage with that URL in the past.
