We see so many home based businesses these days, running small ebay stores then graduating to having there own online store. A lot of home based business have blogs like this one as well.

We see a lot of them in the FBT forum and places like The Messy Desk

I noticed something interesting though. I noticed how many of them do not own their own domain. Instead they have names like “www.myserviceprovider.com.au/my_user_name”.

I think it is almost vital to have your own specific domain, and almost unforgivable these days to do anything different when there is such affordable web hosting so freely available.

I posed the question in the forum to see what others thought.

Gavin from Australian Business Directories said:

I know if you are a band, then having a myspace site can sometimes be a lot more beneficial.

As for owning your own domain, I think it looks a little more professional when customers come to your website.

Also having your own domain is like having real estate in cyberspace and depending on what your domain name is and business, it could be worth a lot of money in 5-10 years time

Great points Gav, we are not in a band, we are business owners, even if we do work out of a home garage like a band! We still need to portray a professional image, and a myspace page does not cut it. It may compliment what you do, and I am not saying social networking sites can’t help a business, but it cant be your only domain.

Online Real Estate! Yes, too true. There is a name out there right now that I would dearly like to own, but someone has it parked and wants more money for it than I can justify spending right now. Sad fact is, I probably will buy it in the end for what the seller wants.

Steve & Kelly mention brand image:

I think its vital, in the Brand Me Inc stakes I have to make a stand. - Steve

As well as a branding thing it’s much easier to remember. Word of mouth, radio advertising, anything printed people see, a simple “mybusiness.com.au” is so much easier than “members.serviceprovider.com.au/my_user_name” is to remember. - Kelly

I cringe when a business person gives me a hotmail, gmail, yahoo or similar email address. It says so much about your brand and what you care about. If you are too much of a skinflint to pay a minimal fee to have a proper email address, what do you skimp on in my dealings with you?

Craig summed it up nicely:

……why wouldn’t you?!

Stumble it!