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There are many types of bloggers out there. Some do it for fun, some do it to contribute to a cause, some do it because they feel it’s the only way they can effectively express themselves, and others do it to help increase their visibility in the business world. For the majority of bloggers, it is not necessary that they have their own domain. It could actually decrease the effects of SEO data.
What is your goal?
If you are trying to increase your web and social media presence and link them all together, blogging through a sub-domain or a sub-folder is the best way to accomplish this. This gives you a certain amount of authority based on the domain or the host site; making it easier to increase your ranking in search engines.
Although subfolder and subdomain blogging may be best for boosting your ranking in search engines, it can also hurt you if it is not done correctly. When choosing a name for your blog make sure it is relevant to the actual domain it is hosted by. If you are a photographer hosting a blog off your business domain, the blog should probably have something to do with photography. Try to narrow your target audience and use descriptive words in the blog’s name to draw the right audience. If you photograph pets or animals that should be indicated in the blog name. Remember it is always easy to increase your audience at a later date by adding additional blogs, but you won’t see the results as quickly if you try to use a broad brush when targeting an audience.
Choosing to have your own domain for your blog could serve a couple different purposes. If you are trying to establish a brand and already have the contacts and reputation to give your blog its own domain, you may want to consider doing it. If you own or are a part of an established company but have a new product you are looking to brand and want to control backlinks, then your blog should have its own domain.
I would estimate that 9 times out of 10 it isn’t necessary to have a separate domain for your blog and probably does more harm than good. If you are blogging for fun, save yourself the cost of buying a domain and go to Blogger or Tumblr to create a free blog. This will also give you the freedom of having more than one blog linked to a specific account which is much more conducive to writing for fun and increasing your standing in search results than purchasing a separate domain.