Does having a custom domain really improve traffic?

[Runninground]

If I purchased a domain that was simply .co.uk or .net etc, would I notice a slight increase in traffic?

I also have to make a sale on fiverr before I can buy one, so look here if your interested in advertising to 7000 people ;D

[DirectoryMan]

Sure it would. Most serious bloggers don't host their blog on a free service. I am less likely to take visit a free blog.

[CallibLCarver]

I own custom domains. But custom domains if nothing else come off more professional, and it does tend to show that the blogger cares more about their blog. Not that if you dont have a custom domain you don't care. But I hope you get my point.

[adbox]

exact match keyword domains do have a positive affect on rank performance.

[ChickenFreak]

Originally Posted by DirectoryMan

Sure it would. Most serious bloggers don't host their blog on a free service. I am less likely to take visit a free blog.

I tend to have the opposite view. Bloggers who use a free service are generally not blogging purely to make money. Therefore, the odds that they're a "real" blog, a blog driven by the blogger's interest and enthusiasms rather than one driven by, "Wait, you mean that to get people to click on my ads I have to _write content_? What a drag!" may be higher.

Yes, I realize that lots of genuinely good bloggers have paid sites. But I don't think that a paid site increases the odds of quality.

[AgentHomes]

Your best way to increase traffic is provide quality content.

Some of my blogs have their own domain name because I use them professionally and need that appearance and control, others I run with Googles Blogger. The hosting doesn't impact the level of traffic at all.

[QuirkyJessi]

It won't increase your traffic by default, but it will look more professional and hold a different weight for some people, which could increase your traffic at some point.

And am I the only one that doesn't really look at whether a person has a custom domain or not? The only time I notice is sometimes when I'm subscribing to them and it puts the url right in my face to confirm. It really makes no difference to me one way or another.

[lily1020]

I think the content is most important. I am using a free platform and get a ton of hits. Either way, it takes work to market it.

CRACK YOU WHIP

[ChickenFreak]

Originally Posted by QuirkyJessi

And am I the only one that doesn't really look at whether a person has a custom domain or not?

No, I don't look either. It's usually fairly obvious when I'm on a Blogger blog, and at the other extreme sometimes a site looks so extraordinarily bad that I know it's a paid site, because none of the free sites have templates that look that dreadful. But when these debates about free versus paid sites come up, I've more than once gone to look at my favorite sites, because I can't remember which they are.

[Techmaker]

Originally Posted by jackdalson

Having a custom domain gives you the same search engine accessibility
as native BlogSpot. There's no primary relationship between custom
domain setup and improved search engine relationship

Yes absolutely correct. I used both type of domains. The traffic depends on your hard work on promotion, not on the domain. Sorry for bad english.