Is having a domain alias a good thing for your blog/site/business? Well, here’s my take on it.
Domain Alias: Yay or Nay?
Since I learned that “Facebook.com” could be visited through “fb.com” I got envious. Honestly, not all people could remember how quixotic is spelled so visiting my blog could be quite tricky. So, I have been studying what shortened links or domains could do to my blog. Luckily, I’ve discovered a way on how to create a domain alias for my blog.
What is a domain alias?
Domain aliasing is creating additional domain names that would point to the IP of a different domain. For example, if your domain name is example.com, you can register another domain name, for instance, example.net and have it point to the location of example.com. This means, every Internet user who goes to example.net will land in example.com. (Source)
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An alias can have:
- its own DNS zone
- custom DNS records
- separate mail service (which I have tried with my newly acquired domain names btw)
I seized the moment when Pangalan.com had their sale last year! I got three (3) new domain names for Php 150 so each domain name only cost Php 50. Isn’t that great?
The names I got were for my Tumblr blog (www.mariaisquixotic.xyz), Maarteng Letra portfolio (www.maartengletra.xyz), and the other one is for my alias (www.mariaq.xyz) for this blog. What I loved about it is that it’s so affordable! My only wish is that for the renewal, it would also be that affordable. 😄 I learned about the .xyz when I attended an event hosted by Pangalan.com at their office in Makati. They shared to us that they have new domain names an affiliate program as well.
I learned about the .xyz name when I attended an event hosted by Pangalan.com at their office in Makati. They shared to us that they have new domains an affiliate program as well.
Going back to having a domain alias, I have discovered some pros and also some cons along the way. To enumerate some, here’s the list.
Pros
- It’s easier to remember. Some may have a hard time remembering quixotic so I decided to cut it short and just use q. Hence, mariaq.xyz
- For my Tumblr blog, it just received its new URL! I actually never thought that I would be doing that for my Tumblr blog but hey, change is nice as well. For it, I bought mariaisquixotic.xyz (Quixotic is really the ultimate description for myself, I guess.)
- Since Maarteng Letra has been active on social media, I decided to give its own space on the web. A portfolio wherein we could post our works and showcase our talents. It also would help for the marketing.
- Not only that it’ll be easier to remember, but it may also be quicker to type.
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Cons
- Others may get confused where to go when they will look for you. It may create curiosity whether you moved to a different site or not. So you must be also careful just in case you are planning to have one for yourself.
- To those who monitor their DA (domain authority), this may get tricky. You might think that your alias might also get authority just like your original web address. I may have to further study about it.
- It may be more expensive. Just think about the renewal cost if you have web hosting then the registration for your original web address.
Conclusion
It’s a yay! Having an alias for my web address has really been beneficial for me. It has made my life easier whenever there are sign-ups for events or invites or other opportunities. Not only that, but it may also make my readers happy just in case they might get confused with spelling quixotic. Moreover, purchasing during a sale is always one of the best things ever!
So, what do you think about domain aliases?
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For me, unless the site is enterprise scale, there is no reason for getting domain alias. And yes, it will cost. Regardless of how an entity sold the first year, virtually giving it free, two things come to mind.
1. Is the administrative contact under your name?
2. How much is the renewal cost after one year?
For the first one, unless you own the administrative contact for the domain name, then it is not yours. And the second one, that is what matters. How much is the renewal cost with the current domain name registrar. And furthermore, how much time will it take should you decide to move the domain name to another domain name registrar?
So these are the long term things one needs to think about as part of long term planning for a site.
Difficult question! Well, I’ve always been told that the more domains you own (.net, .com, .org, etc) the best is it for you to ensure all your traffic is directed to the right place (in case you are super popular). However, since I mainly blog for personal purposes at the moment, I’m not too focused on that. For my business and services, I might consider it. However, I know that for businesses, if you have registered the business name, then you can easily take down someone else’s domain if they’ve purchased a copyrighted business name.
Hello!!! First of all, we should definitely meet up some time and get better acquainted (saw your comment on my blog)! 😀 I much prefer getting subdomains instead, as they bring no extra cost to my current plan. I got a few subdomains under my main one (www.theindymiss.com), one for my portfolio (design.theindymiss.com) and for my daily shenanigans (dailies.theindymiss.com). I have one ready for my shop page (shop.theindymiss.com) but I haven’t applied it yet. I don’t know how different subdomains are compared to getting domain aliases though. What’ve you found out so far?
For domain alias, you really have to spend some money to acquire another domain. For me, it was okay since the domain I bought was on sale. I just hope for the renewal, it would still be on sale! 🙂
I agree with getting confused on where to look but since your page is straight forward it’s good. May domain ako dati but adter one year hindi ko na narenew so sayang. I’m surprised na 150 lang yung domain price! Baka I’ll go back on that 🙂
Domain alias are useful for a lot of reason, fb is one cos facebook may come of too long. And did you know since so many misspell google as googel… google bought googel so it redirects to google. Go figure haha. Mariaq is a better domain name in my opinion! 🙂
As for me, I didn’t have domain aliases. My domains are all easy to remember.
I agree with you with the cons. The cost will be too big especially when the renewal comes, you need to pay the regular price. I bought a lot of domains before, earlier in my blogging days. But when renewal time comes, the cost is so humongous that I need to give up on several of them.
Yeah, the renewal cost is always much much higher than the registration cost. So, no. I don’t think I’m gonna go for it.
I didn’t know there is such a thing as domain alias until this post. I even tried typing fb.com on my browser and it works hahaha… Anyway, I think in your case it is helpful indeed. For me though, my blog name is very simple and short that I won’t have a need for an alias. I also don’t want to maintain many domains or blog for that matter. I used to maintain 3 blogs in the past when I was just starting because I have too many interests and I wanted to write all of them. In the long run, it has become tedious and I just it it easier to just focus on one blog.
I have a friend though who has a blog with a very long name so I’d suggest that she check out domain alias. Might be useful for her.
Good to hear that having a domain alias works for you! Actually, I’m not a techie, and this is the first time I heard about “domain alias.” I’m enlightened quite a bit after reading your post, thanks! In my case, I don’t think it’s practical to have domain aliases for my two blogs right now for financial reasons.
I know what it is but didn’t know it was called domain alias. This gives you a wider range for sure. The question is if it’s necessary. I’m a bit intimidated by the technicalities of my website.
I still have to acquaint myself more about SEOs but that was one of the first questions that popped in my mind while reading through your article. Personally, I don’t think mine would be necessary but I do get your point about misspells and people not getting your site correctly. Yes, it might also cause confusion, especially if you have established your site already. I think domain aliases might work for some while it might not be necessary for others. 🙂
I guess domain alias would be helpful if you’re planning to go big. If I’ll think of my blog (a personal blog), I wouldn’t mind not having a domain alias. My reasons would be because it will be costly t pay for 2 domains, good job on getting the first year for just 50.00! Although I know this is helpful if you have started a great audience and your domain is quite difficult to remember then an alias can solve the problem. 🙂
This post piqued me to revisit my domain name issues. I have one, btw but I try not to get bothered by it coz reading a lot from the net now makes me dizzy. I have to figure it out sometime, though. For a domain alias, it’s something new. You get yours at a really low price so it seems a yay for me also. But renewal cost are usually high priced.
since i am reading your blogs since last year, i quite got curious why you have a different domain when i see your links on the comments. however when i opened it, that’s the time i knew you have alias. it works for you well. because, yeah, quixotic is a little hard. uhm. i am hearing and seeing alot about pangalan.com. i might check them soon. meantime, i am still happy with Coffeemags’ services. 🙂
It’s nice if it’s a yay for you! Well for me, unless I go commercialized and all out, I will still stick with what I have. I don’t want to spend too much on stuff that won’t generate income for me. That’s why I also chose I simpler domain name than when I got the chance to customize it.
I can totally see the advantages. Especially also for bigger companies. People try out urls when they are not sure what your enlarge is. It’s nice to point them in the good direction by using an alias. I like the advantages. I don’t have one yet. I haven’t come across any aliasses that would suit my website.
Most of the aliases thay I could think of, have already gone and are taken… wondering if Pixellicious would be that difficult to remember? Well for me now that the grapes are out of reach I must feel satisfied by the thought that “the grapes are sour” 🙁
If you’re trying to established a big brand, Aliasing is such a factor to consider.
If it would be free this would be definitely yay. However for a blogger or small business it might not be money very well spent. For big businesses this is though an excellent thing. Maybe one day my blog is big enough that I can consider domain alias! 🙂
The .xyz seems fun to attach to your domain name,though not too common for most. But I have to agree that you got them real cheap. Let us just wish that come renewal, they are still priced at p50 each.
That is why you need to create a big and great, easy to remember domain name to avoid this kind of domain aliasing. HAHA!
Well for me, http://thejerny.com is not bad, easy to remember, the only problem is when they hear about jerny, the first that comes to mind is the word “journey”. Do you think I need an alias for this? Jerny is a cool name, but when spelled by people not familiar with it, it becomes difficult. Maybe i’ll try domain aliasing on my other websites. hihi
well, I don’t know how much 50php is, I guess it is not expensive? I actually really never thought of that at all, but as you mentioned, it does make sense to have a ‘short’ alias if the name is a bit tricky to spell. Otherwise, what advantage does that bring? However, it does look ‘posh’ 🙂 and professional
Oh. I forgot to include the conversion. Php 50 is almost $1 or it’s already $1. 🙂
Lloyd went to the Pangalan affiliate night and he didn’t mention to me about this. If only I knew that it’s just PHP 50 per year, I would have bought 4 domains. I wish they’ll have another sale again. I’ll open this up to Lloyd later. Can’t beleive he didn’t tell me. HAHAHA!
HAHAHA! Uh oh. Is this going to be an LQ? Kidding! Yup, I think Pangalan has a sale almost every month? 😀