For me I built this blog up over the past 18 months on a dot blogspot domain. Right now (for what it's worth) this blog is a PR4 in the eyes of Google. This obviously illustrates that a custom domain isn't necessary to build a quality site.
Nevertheless, I have succumbed. If you haven't noticed Residual Income with Chezfat is now on a custom domain. I imagine that if this blog was geared towards search my rankings would tale a temporary hit but since I don't really rank for much on this blog nothing bad will happen.
One day I may actually try ranking a page or two on this site but for now I'll take the referral traffic and those direct traffic users and be satisfied. :) When that day comes this site should do just fine... and the new readers may actually think more highly of me just because of my shiny new domain. :0
Anyway, if you happen to link to any of my pages may I ask you to update your links to my new domain http://www.chezfat.com... and if you don't link to me yet may I ask that you do so now. Hey, why not? :)
...just wanted to add that you should also 301 redirect your old links to this new domain if you haven't already done so.
ReplyDeleteThanks for bringing this up Yolanda – I may be wrong on this (I’m not an expert in DNS) but I believe that Blogger does the 301 redirect for me automatically.
ReplyDeleteIn my DNS settings over on GoDaddy I have the site pointing to the Google servers: 216.239.32.21, 216.239.34.21, 216.239.36.21, 216.239.38.21 – and then in the Blogger dashboard publishing setting I have added the new domain as a custom domain. Blogger will redirect xxxxx.com traffic to www.xxxxx.com and will automatically redirect xxxxx.blogspot.com traffic to xxxxx.com.
This is a perfectly fine redirect (someone correct me if I’m wrong) which should transfer from the blogspot version to the custom domain version seamlessly. This means all links out there pointing to my old chezfat.blogspot .com domain should redirect to chezfat.com even if the links aren’t updated.
I found this "redirect checker tool" which confirms that the 301 Permanent redirect is in place for my site: Check it out: http://www.internetofficer.com/seo-tool/redirect-check/
ReplyDeleteInterestingly the redirect between chezfat.com to www.chezfat.com is a 302 redirect – it would be nice if this was a 301 but I’m not sure if there’s anything I can do about that.
BTW - thanks for stopping by Yolanda. :)
Hey Brian,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your new custom domain! I'm so happy for you. This blog is taking such an admirable turn, and I look forward to the amazing surprises you have in store for us in the months to come.
On a side note, I noticed that you had changed your domain name right away actually (even before you told me and before reading this post). So, it's definitely noticeable, and it can do nothing but help you and your business grow. :)
Christina
Thanks for the positive comment Christina! Yeah, I'm excited to see where this goes too. Most of my business revolves around organic traffic to commercial websites and pages but in the long run building a brand and relationships probably is smart. Funny thing is I'm taking myself for a ride just like I'm taking you - I don't know where this is going either so it is exciting. :)
ReplyDelete