Scrambling to Save My Free Domain Names

As I mentioned previously, I've been having fun setting up simple websites for myself and a few others. I wanted to use custom domains for these simply because they look better and are easier to remember than the free subdomains that come with free blogs. I mean, which would you prefer, riadess.com or riadess.blogspot.com?

The thing is, buying domain names can be an expensive undertaking. I bought the domain for this blog, but I wasn't willing to shell out money for a domain that might not even be used much by the person I would give it to. That is why I searched for free domain names. I acquired a few and mapped them to the websites I set up. I also reserved some to be used for future projects.

This past week, I received a few messages from the free registrar.

It turns out that if you don't use the domains immediately, they can and will be cancelled. Caveat emptor. I lost a few and had to set up temporary websites for the ones that were left.

Now I have three new websites:

• my nameplate site (A nameplate site is like an online business card.)
• a bucket list
• a blog that I will use for Project 365 (a photo a day for an entire year). 

The first two are hosted on Blogger (just like this one) and the last one is hosted on Tumblr. Why Blogger and Tumblr? Both of these services allow users to map domains for free. You can also tweak the HTML code a bit. I would have loved to go with Wordpress, but the fully-hosted version charges $13 a year just for domain mapping. The self-hosted version is free, but obviously, I would need to set up a hosting account somewhere. There are a lot of free web hosting services out there, but most of them charge a fee for domain mapping or have minimum use requirements (a certain number of views over a certain period of time) or both.

If you would like to recommend a free web host that lets you customize the HTML code and map domains for free, please let me know.

Why, you may I ask, am I setting up new blogs when I can barely handle this one? I enjoy the learning process, and I love tinkering. Then again, perhaps I'm a glutton for punishment, ha ha.