The Real Blogger Status

One hot Internet topic, these days, involves specialised ("vanity") domains. The hot names seem to change, by the week. This week, enom is hyping ".family", ".live", ".rocks", and ".social" . Other registrars may have other recommendations. The blog Address (Name) is a key blog identity element , in a well designed blog. It's visible both to people, and to search engine crawlers. The requirement that addresses must be unique is a supposed benefit of vanity top level domains - but vanity TLDs, alone, will not provide blog uniqueness. There will always be competition for some names, in any useful Top Level Domain.

We see occasional signs of naivete, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? , about custom domain publishing. Can I publish to a custom domain - and still use the Blogger dashboard? and Can I publish to a custom domain - and keep my comments and posts? and Can I publish to a custom domain - and avoid TOS restrictions? Some blog owners seem to see custom domain publishing as more than it actually is.

We see the question, about relative value of a custom domain, periodically in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? . Does a custom URL actually have value, over a BlogSpot URL? Some people wonder if a custom URL isn't similar to a custom ("vanity") license plate, for your car. Personally, I can think of a few reasons why a custom domain might be more valuable, for your Blogger blog. Some people believe that having your own domain makes your blog more individual and interesting - and they may be more likely to visit your blog when presented to them, in a search list. It may be easier for you to get the relevant domain of your choice, than the relevant BlogSpot subdomain. A properly chosen domain URL may be easier for people to remember, than a BlogSpot URL. A domain is yours, to control - better than sharing the "blogspot.com" with millions of other blogs.

Every week, at least one BHG forum thread, in which I provide advice about a custom domain setup, includes the question Why are custom domains so complicated? And the short answer is They are not at all complicated; they are elegantly simple - when you understand their simplicity, and follow the instructions . The long answer, which justifies the simplicity, is not so simple.

I'm not a fan of Search Engine Optimization ("SEO") in general. Too much "SEO" advice nowadays seems to consist of abusing the search engines, using dubious content in a web site. If you're interested in the needs of your readers , you should focus upon relevant content in, and traffic into, your blog or web site.