The importance of your own domain for promoting business

There are a variety of free methods of placing one’s business online, including free hosting accounts that feature “semi-custom” domains, social networking websites, and advertising options that will provide potential customers with your business’s location and contact information (but little else). Though these options are noted as “free,” they come with costs. They can detract from the professionalism of your business and possibly create a negative impression in the minds of potential clients who may view your operation as unprofessional. And this might ultimately cost your business in the long run.

With inexpensive domain registration and hosting options that are now available to the small business owner, there is no reason to continue utilising these so-called free tools as the sole means of promoting your business online. Rather, the savvy business owner who doesn’t already have a domain and website can take advantage of the simple yet powerful and inexpensive combination of a custom domain and shared virtual hosting account.

Here are some of the distinct advantages that this approach offers:

• True ownership and control of your domain – your site will be located at an easy-to-remember domain like www.yourcompany.ie or www.yourcompany.com rather than www.generic-site.com/yourcompany.
• Portability – You can take your domain with you to any hosting account, but when you use a free hosting provider without a custom domain, you’re stuck with keeping your site on their servers.
• Brand Building – customers will remember your domain and likely bookmark it or just type it into their browser to visit your site once they’ve been there once.
• Professionalism – having a site hosted by a free service provider, without a custom domain, appears amateurish by any standard and will impart a negative impression to your site’s visitors.
• Value – Companies have sold for much more than their financials would indicate, based solely on the value of their online company’s associated domain.
• Search Engine Optimisation – Search engines are the lifeblood of many online businesses, and engines like Google, Yahoo!, etc. give more credence to top level domains (TLDs) than to sub-directories and sub-domains (sites hosted on free accounts are typically provided as sub-directories or sub-domains).

With prices of only €19.99 + VAT for .ie domains, €5.95 for “.com” and other top level domains, and web hosting for as low as €3.95 per month, Lets Host is a low-priced, reliable provider of business services for those wishing to promote their businesses online. Visit LetsHost to register your domain today.