Your own domain name: is it worth it for a personal page?

For many personal pages, a free address like yourname.vibitely.com works perfectly well. Your own domain, like yourname.com, is worth it when you'll share the address often, want it to be easy to remember, or want a page that feels permanent and fully yours. It usually costs a modest yearly fee, and you have to renew it every year to keep it.

What a domain is

A domain is the address people type to reach a website, like example.com. You don't buy it forever. You rent it, usually one year at a time, from a company called a registrar. As long as you renew it, nobody else can use it.

When a free address is enough

• You're trying things out and may change the page a lot.
• You'll mostly share the page by link, so nobody types the address.
• The page is for a short time, such as a single event.
• Cost matters more than looks.

When your own domain is worth it

You'll say it out loud or print it. "anapetrauskaite.com" is easy to put on a business card, a CV or a funeral notice. A long address with extra parts is harder.

It's a page people will return to for years. A memorial page is a good example. Families often like an address with the person's name, like marythompson.com, that they can share at the funeral and on anniversaries.

You want to look established. For a freelancer or a job seeker, your own domain looks more serious than a free one.

You might move your site later. If you own the domain, you can point it at a different website in the future and keep the same address.

Choosing a good domain

• Use your name if you can. Add a middle initial or your profession if the plain name is taken.
• Keep it short and easy to spell.
• Avoid hyphens and numbers, which people forget or mistype.
• .com is the most familiar ending. Country endings like .lt or .pl work well for local pages.

The catch: renewals

Domains must be renewed every year. If a renewal fails, for example because a card expired, the domain can be lost and someone else can register it. If you register one yourself, turn on automatic renewal and keep your card details up to date.

The easy way

Some services register the domain, connect it and renew it for you as part of a yearly price. On Vibitely, the paid Personal Site plans include a domain, and memorials, life stories and resumes can each have their own address for a yearly fee, with registration and renewal handled for you. You can see the prices on the pricing page.