According to unofficial statistics, there are more that 350,000 bloggers in Indonesia. That’s a big number. As a matter of fact, while the local mainstream media still fondly pursue their off-line business model, it is the bloggers who fill the vacuum. Just do a random search using your favorite search engine, most of the results in Bahasa are invariably from blogs. A few of them are good, but many are just amateurish, low quality personal ramblings. But, it’s better than nothing. We forever thank them for volunteering valuable information and knowledge.
What bothers me is the overwhelming majority of them don’t have their own domain names, cozily staying under popular free blog platforms such us blogspot, wordpress and multiply. That’s a common, yet terrible, mistake a blogger can make. If you are serious about blogging and want people to take you seriously, having your own domain name is a must. Having a domain name will make you look credible, boost your search rankings (Google gives lower credit for sub-domains), and have full control over the design, content and ownership of your blog. I don’t want to repeat the long list of benefits one may get from owning a domain name, as it’s already explained by many. You can read it here, here, and here.
I know that many bloggers from the rest of the world don’t have their own domain names, too. But the proportion is much smaller. We are probably among the lowest in the world with respect to registered domain names per capita. With population of more than 230 million, of whom 20 million are internet users, the number of indonesian domains registered is a mere 43,000. That’s equivalent to 1 domain for every 6000 citizens! What a HUGE CONTRAST with the Dutch’s or Germany’s 1 domain per 5 citizens.
Domain name is cheap, you can have it for less than Rp80,000 per year. Your name is the VERY THING you are trying to develop online. It’s your identity. As Dale Carnegie once put it, nothing sounds more beautifully in your ears than your own name. Grab it!