Have You Seen The Lady Programmer’s New Domain
Oh! “The Lady Programmer” has a new URL!
Some of you noticed that new URL that my blog had. Some even made the URL changes in their blogrolls even without my request. Thanks so much and I am happy to see that.
I made a very careful research before I decided to make the move to my own custom domain. I wanted to make sure I do things right. The experts had always said that I would do the right thing if I do a 301 redirect so I don’t have to lose the search engine rankings. To do a 301 redirect I had to manipulate the domain manager in my GoDaddy account.
The Cost of a New Domain
It does not cost much to own a domain. Get your credit card or Paypal account funded with only about $10 and you can have a .COM domain with a free email account with the domain suffix (oh… you can now email me at gem [at] theladyprogrammer [dot] com). .INFO domains are the best buys on GoDaddy on sale: the domains only cost $1.49. If you want to save even more, use a coupon code from coupon sites and apply that before checking out (I was able to save a dollar!). UPDATE: A $10 .COM domain is good for one-year ownership.
In Blogger, it is also possible to own a custom domain but I have decided to go for the GoDaddy one because I wanted to have my own email account with the domain and do a little bit more tinkering with the email.
Why Did I Made the Move?
I think that it is now proper for me to have this blog sitting out on a new URL, after all this blog of mine is getting to be big little blog or a little big blog. It is finally getting noticed and I am very glad that I have a community of readers in this blog.
I made a careful research and the 301 redirect is the right thing to do for any website or blog with nice ratings on Google pagerank, Alexa rankings, Technorati rankings and other rating systems that bloggers are very much conscious of.
A new domain is a clean slate. At the beginning it would have no rankings and my blog would seem like a new blog that was just created. Check on any pagerank checker site and you’ll see that this new URL does not have any pagerank. My older domain http://theladyprogrammer.blogspot.com has a PR3 ranking as I am writing this. The 301 redirect would simply tell all search engine bots that I have moved to a new address, and a permanent one.
Image credit to Viajar24h.com
Losing the Precious Rankings
I would temporarily lose the rankings for the meantime. These experts say it would take me several weeks to a few months for the new domain to acquire the ranking of my old domain. Since the old domain still sits on a PR3 rank, any visitors who came to my site from Google would still see my site and information would still be ranked the same.
The Proper Way: The 301 Redirect
301 redirect also saves me time from running around to everyone then begging on my knees to change the old URLs in their blogrolls or blog post links. But to anyone who can spare the time, I would really appreciate if you take some time to take off the old URL and use this new one.
Of course, I would not have made this ultimate move without the support of my frequent readers – active commenters or not. You’re the ones whom I could thank for the growing success of this blog. Thanks to all!
Do you own a custom domain? Or are you considering one for your blog?
calvin
September 25th, 2008 at 1:32 pm #
congrats gem! napansin ko nga eh. sayang i just launched a domain give away contest to celebrate my blog’s 1st year. sali ka in case you have other blogs na wala pang sariling domain.
and good luck pala sa new domain mo. babagal ang pag-crawl ng google sa site mo at first.
Pastilan
September 25th, 2008 at 1:56 pm #
weee congratz Gem! I did not notice it because as usual I just type “T” in my address bar and I am in your site na. I did not notice that I was automatically redirected to your new doamin he he he. Anyways I’ll change your address in my blogroll
The $1.49 .info domain at godaddy is only available for those who have a non-domain purchase, am I right?
Gem
September 25th, 2008 at 2:08 pm #
@calvin
Thanks! It is still okay with me.
@Pastilan
Thanks for changing the link. $1.49 is a good deal. It can be appended as a domain name. Do you like having technotechniques.info?
Dan
September 25th, 2008 at 2:28 pm #
Congrats on your new domain. Cheers !!!
ckulit
September 25th, 2008 at 4:43 pm #
Hi Gem, you’re right about the ranking because when i had mine changed, i lost my low rank from alexa and went back to where i started which is very high.
OOT… Thanks for the EC info Gem, i did not know that.. pero bakit naman ganun? Anyweiz, i removed it already before its too late hehehe..
Congrats on your new domain sisterette!
Bobby
September 25th, 2008 at 6:33 pm #
Hi Gem
I noticed this the sudden change about your url but waited for you to post about it. I also read that having your custom domain would lose your rank. Would this affect your payperpost campaigns since you mentioned from your previous post (if I’m not mistaken, please correct me if I’m wrong) that payperpost offers depend on one’s PageRank.
Gem, is what you paid for to have a custom domain at GoDaddy is a one time payment only or do you have to pay for it monthly. I’m interested in having my .com site too but I don’t have any idea how.
Thanks Gem
Homemade perfume
Gem
September 26th, 2008 at 5:38 am #
@Dan
Thanks! The upgrade makes me feel good!
@ckulit
Thanks! Regaining Alexa rank is easier, but I’m deeply concerned about the Google page rank (which is difficult to get).
@Bobby
I got delayed because I lost internet access due to a problem in my computer. =(
I would not be having problems yet on PPP because I still had the previous domain listed with them, so I get offers at PR3.
The cost that I had stated above is a one-year domain ownership. Paypal and credit card payments are accepted (I’ve tried both). I’ve updated the post above. =)
Berryblitz
September 26th, 2008 at 6:52 pm #
congrats!!! i was thinking to have my own domain name. kaso ang prob ko, paano yung yearly na babayaran? hindi ako masyado marunong sa ganun. paano ba yun?
Gem
September 26th, 2008 at 10:38 pm #
@Berryblitz
I have an subscription agreement with GoDaddy. Before the domain expires it should remind me that I will be billed. I made the payment using both Paypal and credit card. Walang problem so far.
MikeC
September 26th, 2008 at 10:57 pm #
Ok… I was thinking about doing this. I mean.. My site is fairly new but never truly thought the domain fit me. What do you think? My domain name is good? Maybe I should have thought a little more about it. I may need some advice from you on the 301 if I do decide to change things.
Gem
September 26th, 2008 at 11:50 pm #
@MikeC
I think the domain is a good match to the topic of your blog. To search engines bots the match between the site name and the domain name is favorable to these bots.
You could read my latest post about the 301 redirect:
How to Setup Custom Domain in Blogger (and Avoid Losing PR)