I advocate that everyone has their own domain name for their name.
It is nice to own your own ‘name domain name’ (as I like to call it). It makes you feel somewhat special. Owning your name on the net, is like owning your rightful part of the internet. I can imagine owning a bit of ground on the moon generates a somewhat similar feeling!
HarryFear.co.uk has been an enormously useful possession, in allowing for the separation of work and personal digital lives, allowing for my personal email to be completely contained from my work email accounts. When you have your own domain name you can setup, often at no additional cost, your own email address attached to this domain name. For instance, I use mail@harryfear.co.uk.
Also, having your own email address under your own name domain name impresses though who receive an email from you, or who are presented with your email address. It is somewhat more elegant than a “@hotmail.com” or “@yahoo.com” email address. When applying to university, one has to state their email address, and if you have your own name domain name, you can proudly do so, without having to worry about writing down some ridiculous email address like “harry_met_sally899@hotmail.co.uk” on your UCAS application form. Indeed, in sending ones CV to a potential employer, having your own domain name makes a difference.
In my industry, that of internet marketing and website design, I subconsciously find it hard to take anyone seriously who doesn’t even own their own name domain name!
Indeed, the benefit of having your own name domain name may be small, outside of the novelty benefit, yet the cost is also small, and increasingly small - a few dollars or pounds a year.
If you live in the UK and are after a “.co.uk” name domain, I recommend buying your domain name from http://www.1and1.co.uk. When buying a domain name from this company, you get a whole load of features (including 100 free email accounts free of charge - (e.g. “mail1@your.co.uk”, “mail2@you.co.uk”, etc..). I use 1and1 for my email and domain name. At time or writing, having your own “.co.uk” domain and email account will cost you about £2.50 per year. If you ask me, the benefits definitely outweigh the cost! Moreover, setup with 1and1 is as close to intuitive and easy as you will probably find on the net.
If I have, or have not, persuaded you let me know accordingly!
