Monday, November 7, 2011

A Private Domain Name for your Blog?

Artwork from Office
A number of genealogy bloggers have their blogs on their own domain as opposed to, say, Blogger or Word Press. I have been considering doing the same thing. J. Craig Anderson's article in Sunday's Arizona Republic (page 1 of the Business section, if you are a subscriber), titled "Private domain names multiply" got me to thinking.

Basically the article was about domain registrar GoDaddy.com and how they invented "private" domain registration through their affiliate company, Domains By Proxy. Apparently registering your domain through a company like this keeps your name and contact information out of the searchable "Whois" directory. If you are concerned about privacy or stalkers this would be a good way to go. So my question is this:

If you have your own domain, or are considering getting one for your blog or genealogy business, do you think it is better to go with a "regular" domain registration or a "private" domain registration and why?
Please respond in the comments. This inquiring mind really wants to know!

© 2011, copyright Michelle Goodrum

3 comments:

  1. I have one, via Blogger. Have one concern tho, it is not expensive, $10.00 a year, but it has been pointed out to me, what happens to that body of work when I pass and no one is around to pay the bill?? I am actually considering going back to a blogspot URL. Still contemplating what to do, maybe someone who comes along and reads this will help us out by addressing that situation as well.

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  2. There is no guarantee on how long Blogspot.com or Wordpress.com blogs will last after the blogger's death. Either could develop a policy if a blog isn't updated in X amount of months, it will be deleted. Either could go the way of Geocities. (Admittedly, less likely for Blogger since it is owned by Google, but Google is deleting all Buzz accounts. Will they at some point delete all Blogger accounts?)

    If you're concerned with what happens to the posts after your demise, what you should be doing is exporting all your blog posts to a saved file on a regular basis. (Annually? Every six months?) And leave instructions for someone on how to download one last time after your death. That way family can have a record of your posts.

    Both Wordpress and Blogger allow for very easy export, whether you're using their free sites, or a personal domain.

    Also...there is a chance...whether at blogspot, wordpress, or on a personal domain...your blog is being archived at archive.org

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  3. Regarding Private vs Public registration -- all the domain names I have registered in the past decade have been public. I have never had any problems with my contact information being public.

    However, I realize men have less fear of stalkers, in general, than women do.

    This might be a simple rule of thumb: If you have an unlisted phone number, you should have a private domain registry.

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