Now that my idiot-induced, thobbing vein of a rage at the stupidity of some internet thieves has boiled over, I can return to normal posting. I apologise to my non-drama-driven readers for that momentary outburst.
I was reading an entry over at Jeff Hendrickson Design about one of Google’s latest patent applications. It apparently covers how they rank sites on historical data and thus older domains having an advantage over newer ones. This got me thinking about domain names in general.. particularly as jemjabella.co.uk has only just been renewed (until 2008), making the 29th of last month the fourth anniversary of its existance.
Anyway, my ponderings aren’t about old domain names or Google’s patent, but rather those people who swap their domain names every few weeks. Ignoring the bonus of Google giving priority to older domain names, there are advantages to keeping a single domain:
- No broken links. Obviously this only works if you don’t go around deleting content here and there and don’t do a Jem and delete your entire WordPress database 2 years into blogging.
- Familiarity. Changing your layout and confusing somebody is one thing, but changing your entire domain name is a recipe for disaster (especially if you don’t have some sort of forwarder to tell people where you’ve gone).
- Higher search engine rank. Not because of older content, but rather because your domain will gradually build up content, therefore hopefully building a reputation and page rank. Bye bye domain = bye bye page rank.
- For lazy people. Yes damnit, I don’t want to have to update my links page because you couldn’t be bothered to keep your domain!
..and there are definitely going to be more. So why? I’d be interested to hear an opinion from those who have had more than 2 or 3 domain names in particular.
03 May at 3:35 pm
Those were most of the reasons (other was – “how are people going to find me?!) that I was debating when I bought Moosh. But then I decided to buy a new domain because there wasn’t any ‘bad strings’ attached to this one when I bought it, and there was a lot of bad business attached to Moodii. :s
03 May at 4:54 pm
This might get long… My first domain was deja-fu.org but when I came to renew it, I discovered my hosting company had some weird thing where they owned it, not me, and as I could no longer afford their prices, I couldn’t keep my domain. I learnt my lesson and began purchasing domains elsewhere (godaddy in fact). My second domain was…erm…damn. I can’t remember. I did have one I shared with a friend called king-weasley.net which we used for Harry Potter stuff though. After that, I had quasi-evil.net which I still own (and is paid up till 2008) and then onenine85.net. I got the latter because I’d hadn’t realised I still owned quasi-evil.net which I’d bought because Dreamhost had an offer running for a years hosting for $7.77. A little later, I received a renewal notice from Surpass hosting. Turns out I’d bought niuserre.net as my main domain for a reseller account without ever intending to use the domain itself. The reseller hosting ran out and I later transferred niuserre.net to my own hosting. When onenine85.net ran out, I decided I’d better centralise operations as it were and started using niuserre.net which I intend to use as my only domain for a long time to come. There’s a little bit of logic in all that, I hope. But mostly it stemmed from not knowing what I was doing. There’s also the fact that I’m a complete domain whore (I own niuserre.com as a redirect…). Oh…and I have hayleymarsden.com (my real name) in case I get famous or something ;) sad I know.
03 May at 5:03 pm
Too many changes aren’t good. Even for small or very specific projects. If you want some strong web identity I wouldn’t recommend changing domain names, droping database, writing in another language or changing the focus – like I did! :P
03 May at 5:17 pm
First domain: a free one. Stupid name, stupid host, yuk. Had it for four years though… Second domain (neonsparkle.net): Still have it. Going to be my design site when I can be bothered to redo it, for now it just redirects to my current domain. Why’d I change? Hated the name. Not enough to let it go entirely (my first proper domain! *Schniff*) but I registered it when I was about 15 and then regretted it. It just reeks of omgponiez!1!1-ness. The same stuff is still available over at not-noticeably.net, all the archives and stuff are all unchanged and the same. I’m not sure I’m happy with this name either, which is why I’ll probably get a new one as soon as I can think of something someone else hasn’t got. Until then… Well… It stays, I guess. As for why people change domains every few seconds… Probably for the same reasons as me – they get bored of the name and/or it just doesn’t suit them anymore. I wouldn’t get a new name “just because”, that’s just dumb. Anyway… I don’t care much about Google rankings, I block search engines from my site so there’d be no advantage in me having an older domain. :P
03 May at 7:01 pm
Although I have had two domains myself, one being my current, I have to agree with you. Rank isn’t all that important to me, but the annoyance of changing links and not being able to find people.
03 May at 7:20 pm
Can you blame those who realize that “Blinkety-Blink” was truly a stupid name and have gone over to “Twikling Stars”… which will of course suffer the same fate? Seriously now, I have no idea. It’s suh a hassle to e-mail everyone and notify them that you have changed your URL, and then worry they’re thinking you’re spamming…
03 May at 7:26 pm
Since most people on the Internet are known by single-word and probably duplicated handles, domain names are an important way of keeping track of who’s who – a more unique and distinctive part of someone’s online identity than their username tends to me. It’s sometimes hard to know whether X with domain name Y is the same person as X who had domain name Z. For me, anyway…
03 May at 7:48 pm
Sorry, that should say: ‘tends to *be*’.
03 May at 7:59 pm
Oh what? you turn off the comments now? You called me out on it.Deal with it.
03 May at 8:06 pm
I turned the comments off because I didn’t see the point in continuing the discussion with you. Every point I raised you ignored in favour of acting like a child and insulting anything you could think of. And now you’re posting on an unrelated post. Seriously, I say again.. childish much?
03 May at 8:08 pm
I was looking for the email-but then your little minions decided to get involved.So basically I’m just sinking to your level is all. You want to play.Then lets play Jem.
03 May at 8:12 pm
If you want to ‘play’ go and find a busy road.. I made my points, you made up some bollocks about being given the theme and when you had the chance to prove me wrong you decided instead to act like a big kid. Unless you have something constructive to say, the post remains closed. All further stupid comments will be deleted (much like the deleting you did on your blog when one of the commenters made you look like an idiot.)
03 May at 8:12 pm
Glad you brought this up. I’ve always wondered why some people go through domains so fast. I’ve had experiences where I clicked a link, I got a page that says “MOVED!” and the new URL, I clicked that, I got ANOTHER “moved” message, and so on. It’s obnoxious. And Gemma? I’m right there with you. I’ll stumble across someone’s site and realize it sounds oddly familiar, and it’s because I’ve been there before back when it was at another domain. And then I end up all confused.
03 May at 8:16 pm
I agree, a lot. My friend used to jump domains and it pissed me off. Other reasons: -People will think you died or something, only to find someone just like you at a different domain. -It’s cheaper because of one-time setup fees. -Less billing and financial stuff to look at. -People will keep coming back. You’ll lose visitors if they don’t know where to find that really cool script or whatever, but if you stay at one domain, they’ll keep coming back and tell their friends. -Less coding/setting up. That’s all I can think about. But my friend used to buy a domain and love it one day then sell it and buy another the next day. Ugh.
03 May at 8:21 pm
This one made me laugh out loud, could my current blog post come at a more, erm… “appropriate” time?! I agree with every point you made in your post and I really didn’t rejoice in “moving” my site, but it sort of had to be done. In my defense, I’d like to say that I’m not one of those that change her domain more frequently than her underwear, and there are reasons behind my most recent “move”. Basically, the site/domain that ClairePhipps.co.uk and ClairePhipps.com _originally_ pointed to was from back during a time that I blogged online under a pseudonym that no “offline” friends/family were aware of. Since I began putting my name to things, I thought it best that I start putting past personae behind me – and that meant moving the site and altering my account when it all came up for renewal. Putting my name to things, for me atleast, forces me to be more responsible about what I do/say/post online. My family now “read me” and I have an obligation to them to treat what I put “out there”, in regards to both them and myself, with a bit more weight and respect than I have done in the past. For me, ditching the old “host” domain ensures that what I said under an online persona doesn’t conflict with my “real life”. I bought both the dot-com and the dot-co-dot-uk names (that both point to my site) to try and prevent confusion – afterall, there are plenty of other “Claire Phipps” out there (one is a journalist for the Guardian :S ). But now that I have them and have moved my site away from my “online past”, I am more than happy to stick with what I’ve got and not make any further changes… I never started out wanting to be a domain whore, it just kinda looks that way :(
03 May at 8:40 pm
I bought omnivirtue to make a final fantasy VIII website. It fit perfectly. Then it became a presonal site / fan site. Then the fan site part died as I got older. So I needed something more me. I probably won’t change domains again… ever.
03 May at 9:31 pm
I’ve had the one domain name since I’ve gotten into paid hosting…but considering I’ve only been in this racket for a year and a bit, that’s not saying much. :P Anyway, I’ve renewed Obsidian Rhapsody for another two years, so it’s done until 2008…I really don’t have any plans to go anywhere else, or buy any more domain names anymore. Subdomains for new projects are more than fine by me now.
03 May at 9:43 pm
Haha… I just bought my new domain today, too.
03 May at 9:51 pm
Myself having been through many SITE names but not domain names… I think a lot of people don’t pick something they like well enough to have it mean anything. Because it sounds cool doesn’t make it worth while. I spent about 2 months trying to come up with a name I liked, and I’m going on 6 years with it now. (I didn’t want to be one of those quick changing people because I hate going through 4 or 5 “this site has moved to” to get to the actual site.) And I think also, as peoples ideas for their site change, so does the “appropraite” name. Those are my thoughs, anyways.
04 May at 12:49 pm
My domain name has been the same for about 3 years and I could never think of why I would need another. Un-Ordinary is what I am. Some people seem to think they need new domain names for their new forum or even a fan/hatelisting, when I’d settle for subdomains. ;o Makes me feel like I have some ownership. Haha. Also, on the subject of “domains for no reason” check this out: killfirefox.com (although you might’ve already)
04 May at 1:07 pm
Oh wow, speaking of time, I’ve also almost have had my domain for 4 years… TIME JUST FLIES!! I remembered a time (when domains just started to get really cheap) when I was so tempted to follow the trend to get lots of domains. I don’t know if you recall, but in the personal-sites scene, there was a period were people would give a new domain for their blog, their collective, for their fanlisting, for the dog etc. It was crazy! But eh, thankfully I never got around to it. I think maybe people change domains because their domain expires and they didn’t registers it in time. It’s also frustrating for return visitors who are just presented with this page of commercial links where the site used to be. =/
04 May at 2:06 pm
I’ve had my domain since November 2003 – it’s my first domain, and I’ll be sticking with it for some time. Besides the fact that I’ve just grown attached to my site, the name, and don’t want to deal with the hassle of chaning, I agree with all of your reasons. It’s just more convenient for everyone else. I don’t understand why people change their domain everytime they find a new favourite song or whatever. Put time into choosing the name and stick with it.
04 May at 4:27 pm
@Louise: That killfirefox site is a load of rubbish. IE, “a proper browser”? Yeah, ok, if it’s a proper browser why on earth does it let countless amounts of spy ware (it wouldn’t let me type it as one word!) get into people’s computers? Why does it make up its own standards regarding the web (chroma/alpha filters) and not listen to anyone else’s? That person has probably never used Firefox. Idiot. …Anyway, sorry about spamming your comments, Jem – just had to point out my disgust at that site… Grrr. (Oh and by the way, when resubmitting a comment after editing out a banned word, I get the JS error. You might want to add your JS snippet to the form that comes up there…)
04 May at 4:43 pm
Off-topic: hee! at Kill Firefox. I always suspected there was a correlation between bad coding practices and dislike of standards-compliant browsers, and that site – which uses an XHTML 1.0 Frameset doctype with HTML 4 Transitional code – is living proof.
04 May at 7:08 pm
I want to buy a new domain actually, not to add to the one I already have, but to replace the one I have…I feel like I would like a new name, nothing more nothing less. However, all the reasons you mentioned have been stopping me from doing it and just recently I’ve been thinking I should just stick with what I have to save the time and energy it would take to move everything…maybe that’s lazy but who wants the hassle :P My main concern is losing track of people…not that many people visit my blog, but you never know.
04 May at 7:20 pm
I’ve had furious-angel.com for two years, and only the one domain before that at s-c.net. I’ve no plans to move. :) V xx
05 May at 1:39 am
I had my first real domain for a year and a half and I didn’t renew it for personal reasons. Than I got another one, that got lost in translation when PinchPenny imploded. So I got FragmentsofSelf, and I’ve been there for a year and a half with no big plans to move.
05 May at 2:37 am
My current domain name is my second, and although that’s nothing compared to many, the reason I changed was because I was sick of the other domain name. Apparently it was a faze I was going through when I picked it, because I couldn’t stand it a year or so later. I think that’s the reason a lot of people have, or use, as the excuse for getting so many different domains. It does get irritating when a person does it so regularly. I have no intention of changing my domain name in the near future. I’m still good with it. :)
05 May at 5:57 am
I don’t know if I’ll actually ever get a domain. Or at least, one any time soon. But if I did get one, I’d think about it for ever… And I’d keep it for a while. I don’t like to change addresses very often. My hostess has an amazing amount of domains, though.
05 May at 9:02 am
I gave my first domain away after it got accidently renewed by my host, (so I didn’t have to pay for it) so the user of it gets the benifits, but my ex boyfriend kept coming along and posting, “Carly is a c*nt.” And it was the time I did the ‘build-a-blog’ & didn’t use wordpress, so I couldn’t moderate comments! I have my current domain for 2yrs and I dont intend on changing it until the next exboyfriend comes along and calls me nasty names!
05 May at 2:16 pm
I think that some people (myself included) change their domain names often because they are in the midst of some sort of internet identity crisis. I have occassionally looked at the content of my website and said “gee, this isn’t really who I am, or how I want people to see me,” and proceeded to up-and-change it. I think I have had about… six personal websites (two of them were hosted at others’ domains.) I recently went back and re-bought my first one, and intend to keep it for a good, long time. But you never know, right?
05 May at 2:53 pm
I’ve had divinest-sense.com for about six years now. That domain is quite special to me, both in meaning and in memories, and I’ve no plans to give it up anytime soon. Last year, I bought a few new domains and spread my site collective out among them, turning DS.com into a “portal” to the younger domains. It’s worked out remarkably well: I get to have my DS.com cake and eat my other domains, too. (Um… yeah.)
05 May at 3:49 pm
So far I have had two domains: hexi-decimal.com and a-splode.net. I kept both of them for a year and didn’t ditch them a month or two after buying them, but I still didn’t feel like they fit. With hexi-decimal.com, I didn’t realise it was misspelt until it was paid for, and despite my friends trying to convince me that it was better spelt my way, it never felt right. So when it came time for it to expire, I bought a-splode.net. I liked it for a while, but eventually decided that the joke was just too obscure for the vast majority of my visitors. I’m not interested in getting another domain right now. I was going to, but before Dad got his credit card back and could buy me one, Tuan at tunapuff.net offered to host me. I thought, what the heck, I’ll save Dad the cash. Sometime in the future I might get another domain, but not too soon. I’ll wait until I can pay for it myself, yes?
05 May at 5:37 pm
Many people with the personal website are at such a stage at life that who they are today won’t be who they are tomorrow and by 5 o’clock this evening they won’t be happy with the clothes they chose this morning so why be stuck with a domain name you’re already over with when it is so easy to change? As someone else mentioned, her identity “changed” and she wanted to be someone/thing else. And to add to another comment – about remembering nickanames – domains are like your nickname in a way. I remember when I chatted at a site and had a text file of 60+ nicknames I used.. in perhaps a 2 year time span, and that was -before- the comp crashed. ;) Sometimes domains just need to follow who we are today. Another person mentioned messy situations with hosts and registrars which also affects that. When you’re young, it’s easy to wind up with a shitty company and be stuck in a situation where it will be difficult, expensive or impossible to move yourself to a new company so you simply -have- to move on. As for me, I’ve only had 2 domains. I loved my first one and I’m thinking of registering it against just to redirect to my current one.. but it doesn’t fit me “completely” anymore. And I need that completion. My site was down for almost a year because I’m a lazy beast and I did lose those hits, that familiarity and it sucked.. but life goes on and perhaps some people just have bigger things to worry about?
05 May at 11:55 pm
It’s also frustrating to hostees. My personal website has been hosted on at least 4 different domains before going to the current one. All four of them are domains I left because the owner decided to change domains. It’s pretty much the same for my fanlistings.
06 May at 1:35 am
Once again you have given me a lot to think about Jem. My current domain: hoshidream.net is registared in my host’s name. In order to get it in my name I’ll have to pay extra and since I’m not working right now that’s not really an option for me. I was considering just switching hosts (I’m unhappy with mine anyways) and registaring a new domain name else were. The problem is I’m happy with the name I’ve got and am too lazy to come up with another. You have given me another reason to fight with my host to get my domain in my name.
06 May at 11:44 pm
Honestly, I think this is irrelevant to 99% of the people who post here. Most likely their sites are just personal blogging sites that might offer script or two that appeals to a small niche. So really, what would they need to be concerned with page rank for? If someone is looking for Jem Turner, I’m pretty sure they’re going to find you. If you were offering a service, however, then it would apply. Say you were an image host, then your page rank would actually mean something as you’d have competition.
08 May at 10:18 am
These were the main reasons why I stuck with my little-wonder.net for the past five years. And in addition to those, the sentimental value. Although I’ve gotten myself quite a few secondary domains (changed three times in the past three years), they were relatively traffic-free and just another spot for me to get all narcisstic with myself in addition to l-w.net. :P