The other option is to purchase your own domains and have your very own website. You can have your own .com or .org piece of online real estate.

You can purchase your own domain names through places like GoDaddy and NameCheap. If you wish to use the hosting provided here at Wealthy Affiliate you'll have to point the nameservers for your domain here. The name servers for WA Hosting are:

Primary: NS1.MYWAHOSTING.COM
Secondary: NS2.MYWAHOSTING.COM

Why purchase your own domain name? Here are some Pros and Cons again:

Pros:

• A Professional Look - This is the main reason. Having your own domain looks more professional to visitors which will make what you have to say seem more credible. This also means you get your own email address too which helps add towards the professional look of your Internet business.

• Sites Rank Better - You would rank better if you have your own domain rather than using you free sub-domain on another site. You would still rank in the search engines with free sites, but just not as well. Just like any site, the more you become an authority in the niche (more and more quality content) the better your site will rank.

• Your Own Piece of Web Real Estate - This is something you own. You can sell this on websites like Flippa if you wanted and cash out on your hard work. You can even look at domain flipping itself.

• More Memorable for Visitors and Branding - People are more likely to remember ThatHelpfulDude.com than ThatHelpfulDude.SiteRubix.com. This will help with branding your company/websites if they are easily recognizable and easy to remember. The shorter the domain name, the easier it is for people to remember.

Cons:

• Can Be a Pain To Set Up for Newbies - Setting up site details and pointing them to nameservers can be a little difficult for newcomers, it was something I had trouble with when I first started. But once you've done one, it's easy from then on.

• Extra Costs - A lot of domain registrars try up selling you with things you don't need. Make sure you're not suckered into these. All you really need is the domain itself. Don't be tempted to buying all the extras... GoDaddy are notorious for force feeding the up sells!

• Hosting At Wealthy Affiliate Only Available For Premium Members - If you are a free member, you don't have access to the hosting offered here. You'll have to provide your own hosting if you wish to use your own domains under the free membership plan.

Ultimately, having your own domains is the goal. These look more professional and you can brand these. If you are going to purchase a domain make sure you go with a .com or .org as these seem to rank better. This doesn't mean you can't go with other domain extensions though. You can still get good rankings with .net's but don't purchase .info's, these are a lot harder to indexed by the search engines.

Either option, you'll have your own website! Now, some resources you might want to take note of and maybe bookmark for later use...