Owning your own domain name isBrill.com

I think everyone should have their own domain name and website. Not just because I signed up to be a TuCows reseller all those years ago, but because your domain gives you freedoms and web participation like nothing else does.

Owning a domain name builds immediate credibility and, in doing so, creates trust. It shows future business partners or employers that you take your online presence seriously.

Your own domain name gives true ownership

Your domain name is a digital asset you own. It gives you a degree of online stability and security. You control everything on your site – your content, your design, and your user experience.

You will be free from arbitrary platform rules, random policy changes, and an algorithm that sees you only as a product. All these things can restrict your visibility.

10 Things you can do with your domain name

1. Create custom email addresses
2. Host a blog
3. Host an RSS feed – here’s ours
4. Set up your one Fediverse (ActivityPub) instance (WordPress is great with this).
5. Host a professional portfolio or CV
6. Share your photographs
7. Run an independent shop to sell things you make
8. Host a forum
9. Promote a cause you care about
10. Make a QR code and add it to your business card

The social media trap

These days, you would have a hard time finding a company that isn’t on social media. You should not have to look too hard to find a business that is only on social media. That’s the trap.

For all the effort you make building a following on YouTube, Instagram, or wherever, you don’t own the space, and you don’t retain your audience. Unless you have a website to bring them back to, you are working for the social media company, and they can close the doors any time they want.

Today, you might have a million followers, but if they take exception to you, tomorrow you will have nothing.

That’s why owning a domain name and having something for your fans to register with that you own is vital.

A personal domain is the IndieWeb starter idea

Have you heard of The IndieWeb or the Smol Web? It is the opposite of a corporate-controlled Internet. While the two are not quite the same, they both work best with your own domain name.

IndieWeb is about being independent and still connected, while Smol Web is about being small-scale and not bloated.

A personal domain is a domain name (or web address) that you personally own, control, and use to represent yourself on the internet. Getting a personal domain is the first step towards getting on the indieweb, and is therefore a requirement for IndieMark Level 0.

personal-domain, IndieWeb wiki

No, a subdomain on someone else’s system is not the same. That’s the social media trap again. IdeieWeb explains:

A subdomain (like example.wordpress.com or example.github.io) is not something you own, rather you are at the mercy of the corporation that owns the actual domain name, who thus has ownership and control of all subdomains as well.

personal-domain, IndieWeb wiki

10 More things you can do with your website on your domain

This list is the first ten things from James’ blog post “100 (more) things you can do with your personal website“

1. Add a profile image to your site that changes at different times of the day.
2. Post your Wordle scores on your personal website.
3. Change the highlight colour of your cursor.
4. Add a skip link for accessibility.
5. Join a fanlisting.
6. Start a fanlisting for something you love. Make a button for members.
7. Use an abbr HTML tag to show an abbreviation on your website.
8. Make a list of projects you have worked on: art, poetry, blog posts, websites — anything you have made!
9. Create a glossary of words you like to use, or words you use a lot on your website. You can link to the glossary whenever you use those words in your blog posts, if you want.
10. Make a page that, when clicked, takes you to a random page on your website.

Point your domain at your stuff

A domain name and a website are not the same thing. Your domain name is how people find your stuff, while your hosting is where you store your stuff.

• Read more about hosting your stuff here.

What is Domain Privacy, and do I need it?

For some domains (like .com and .org), domain privacy is something extra you pay for. Without it, your contact details are attached to your domain and can be seen by anyone who knows what they are doing.

That’s great for a business, not so much for personal websites.

For other domain types (.uk and .co.uk), privacy comes as standard. That’s better for personal use.

On the whole, I’d say most people should opt in to domain privacy where it is an option. If you buy from me, you will get domain privacy baked in where available, or for three quid a year for all other domains, which is pocket change for peace of mind.

Here’s the Ts and Cs if you are interested.

10 things you can do with subdomains from your domain name

Domain names can carry unlimited subdomains. For example, isbrill.com has all of the sites somethinglikethis.isbrill.com.

1. Create a blog that is hosted separately from the main site, like your-own-domain.isbrill.com
2. Go further – use WordPress to create a whole network of blogs (like isBrill does).
3. Make a one-page site about something you want to say – here’s one I made for folks who don’t want to use LinkedIn but have to put something in the application field i-do-not-use.linkedin.lordmatt.co.uk
4. Host a (mostly) static page about yourself – here’s mine: me.lordmatt.co.uk
5. Create limit use email addresses to make a statement like [email protected]. (dnnotvotereform.uk is available for whoever feels strongly enough to grab it: [link])
6. Experiment with and learn web development with your own personal sandbox.
7. Run a testing or staging environment to test changes before you make them live on your main website.
8. Create a members-only gated site
9. Create landing pages for each of your books, products, services, projects, or events
10. Host phpList and run an opt-in email list

Better-looking email addresses

With your own domain name, you get to make fully customised and professional-looking email addresses.

Stand out in job applications with an email that is not 75% the same as everyone else’s. Here’s a cheeky idea that is first-come, first-served. No one has registered The World’s Best Employee yet. That would stand out, don’t you think?

Plus: If your host ever shuts down, you can be back up and running somewhere else the same day.

Another 10 things you can do with your website and domain name

This list is the first ten things from James’ blog post “100 things you can do on your personal website“, which he wrote before the other one I showed you 10 from.

1. Make a blogroll that links to personal websites you like.
2. If you publish academic works on your website, add a section that shows how people should cite your work.
3. Create a shrine about something that makes you happy (a band, a television show, or anything else).
4. Make an image map that lets someone click on parts of an image to learn more. Perhaps you could make an image map of your desk where someone can click on each object to learn more about it.
5. Share a list of your favourite books.
6. Make a movie recommendations page.
7. Add a dark mode that readers can enable.
8. Make an 88×31 button for your website.
9. Create a now page.
10. Create a scavenger hunt where people need to hunt through pages to find clues.

A Domain of One’s Own (DoOO)

One University project DoOO, exists to encourage everyone to get their own personal domain name. Not only because your own name isBrill but also because running your own domain name and site allows you the greatest possible freedom and participation in the Internet, not just on social media.

A Domain of One’s Own (or DoOO) is a practice/movement (primarily within academia) encouraging people to have their own domain, post their content on their own website, and have greater control over their digital infrastructure.

A Domain of One’s Own, IndieWeb Wiki

Future-proof your digital life

Control of your own personal domain name is an investment in your digital future. A personal domain name can be part of your wider digital identity and, once you have it, no matter where life takes you or what passion projects you undertake, your digital identity remains professional, consistent, and under your control.