Use Parasite Hosting or Buy a Domain Name?
So how many internet users that have a blog or website have actually taken the steps to buy a domain name of their own? My guess is the percentage is really quite low. The abundance of “parasite” hosts makes owning a domain irrelevant to the average user.
A parasite host provides everyone the ability to create their own website, automatically generating a subdomain url. Examples are Blogger and Wordpress.com and Myspace. It is unbelievably easy with any of these services to create a blog or page to share who you are with the world and anything else you may want to write about, and they allow this for free.
The url of my blog on Blogger might look something like: myhobby.blogspot.com. That is actually a subdomain, but one that I did not have to search out and pay for. I just receive it automatically.
So what’s the big deal? Who cares? Well, if you’re a serious webmaster, you really have to buy a domain name of your own. You need this for credibility. But herein lies the dilema.
Despite all the millions of blogs and pages created on the free parasite hosts, many internet users still believe that all the good domains are already taken. It is estimated that over 30 million .com, .org, and .net names have been registered. That’s a lot. And it is clear if you access to a prominent registrar like GoDaddy looking for a simple little .com, you will likely learn it has already been reserved. But the internet is not as crowded as it may seem.
What is true is that thousands of previously registered domains — premium names — are allowed to expire and are made available again every single day. Anybody can purchase a domain name from an expired list. The magic is discovering where to find these names and avoid paying bloated market values.
After searching on GoDaddy for a new domain name these days, in addition to learning the name you want is already taken, you are provided with a list of related premium names for premium prices. They’re fun to look at but rather pricey. There must be someplace in cyberspace to find great names at great prices. But where?
