If you are looking to create a stable business and develop it, a site created on a free domain from a designer is not the solution. You can use this type of site as a marketing tool, not as an online representation of your business.

A business that wants to develop and looks to the future should have a full-fledged online representation on its own company domain, the address of which will become a business card on the network.

Why does a company need its own domain

Many entrepreneurs at the beginning of their activities have a misconception about how a website can and should help a business develop. Therefore, due to ignorance of what exactly a website is needed for and lack of funds at the start, they look for free solutions. Today, many services offer free domains and hosting. There is demand, there is a corresponding offer.

Probably, many of you have gone this way. No one is born with complete knowledge. We have to figure things out on our own.

You are looking for a solution to a specific problem – how to create a website for free. You find the first best service and build a website without any knowledge of website building. Not everyone likes that the domain name can only be www.mysite.constructor.com, for example, but some people are not afraid of it.

Problems begin at the stage of implementing your own ideas, which are often impossible to implement either on a subdomain or in the web environment offered by these services.

If a novice entrepreneur cannot get what he needs on such a web service (domain), then the large company that he plans to create will not be able to do so. A reliable and stable business will need much more functions and options. So, one of the main reasons for the need for your own company domain is the freedom to choose the design and functionality of the site.

Although this limitation is not always true, there are a number of other reasons to have your own domain on which you create your website.

You also need to be aware of the dangers of entrusting your business and online presence to a service with which you have no business relationship, and therefore the service has no obligations to you.

Below, we will summarize the reasons why a website should be hosted on a domain that you own.

Possibility to choose the design and functionality of the website

A site on a designer’s domain can be made using only the functionality and a limited number of layouts of this designer.

Such services have several free themes (templates) to choose from. But the use of most themes is included in paid packages. This means that if the package includes a feature you need (and you are lucky that they offer it), you will have to pay for the package every month to get it. There is no other way. No free add-ons or plugins.

And, even using them will lead you at some point in time to a situation where you need functionality that the service cannot provide.

Many of the paid builders offer the option to purchase your own selected domain name. However, the problems described above remain.

If you choose a free-source content management system (CMS) for a website with your own domain and hosting, and it no longer meets your needs, you can always replace it with another one. No additional fees. No worries about what will happen to your website. It will be truly yours to own, manage, and completely change. Freedom is not available when you do not have your own domain.

Trust

Today, quite often, people buy products such as clothes or cosmetics through business pages on Facebook or Instagram. Active work even allows you to promote the brand on social networks. Perhaps at some point the day will come when people will be ready to buy hosting, a car, a computer, or something similar there. And social media pages can turn into almost full-fledged websites where people will find everything they need.

But that day has not yet come. And it’s probably going to be a long time before that happens. And even though people are willing to buy clothes and other little things through Facebook pages these days, the level of trust in a specific Facebook page, in my opinion, is only a fraction of the trust in a well-known website.

Whatever the reason, the fact is that people will simply trust you or your organization more if it has its own website, and it’s not on any subdomain.

Having your own domain builds trust.

Brand development

Having your own domain helps you build your brand. It should live its own life. Don’t let it become dependent on any third-party brand or business model.

Your brand should be different, distinct from others, and a website on your own domain is one way to emphasize the individuality of your brand. It should become a channel for communicating with your customers and supporters.

And to gain customers and a loyal audience, your brand must assure everyone who comes into contact with it that they can trust it.

To achieve all this, you really need to take your online business development seriously from the very beginning.

Verified ownership

You have no control over the development and operation of services, that provide a free domain for creating a website. They can change their policy. Or simply decide that they will no longer provide such a service.

And, most importantly, by choosing a service, you agreed to the Terms and Conditions that exempt them from liability.

On the other hand, if the company owns the domain, only it will decide when, how, why and what will be changed or terminated.

Let’s summarize the advantages of your own domain

Easy to remember the website address. A potential client or future business partner will easily remember the short website address, seeing it on a business card, hearing it in a commercial, etc. In addition, each visitor to your website, if desired or necessary, can share information with their friends and colleagues by dictating its address by phone.
Quick search on the network. Any Internet user searching for your company will first try to type www.company.ua or www.company.com – so it is best if you register such a domain. If funds allow, it is better to register several domains with different most likely spellings of your company name, both full and abbreviated. Otherwise, such domains may be taken over by your competitors, which will harm your company.
Solidity of the company. The absence of its own domain name on the company’s website is perceived by Internet users as a lack of funds in the company to purchase it or its frivolous attitude to modern technologies. Customers will be reluctant to visit a site with a long, complex name, especially if it is registered on free hosting. Therefore, many companies purchase separate domain addresses for different divisions, trademarks, and in some cases for specific products.
Independence from the provider. The absence of the name of the Internet provider in the address of your site allows you to leave it unchanged when switching to another provider, and therefore keeps all links to your site from any other resources on the Internet unchanged. In addition, Internet users who have visited the site will easily find it in the same “place” in a week or a month.
Creating a company mail server. By registering a domain name, you can also order a virtual mail server and create a corporate mail address for each employee in the form of [email protected].