Why You Should Get a Custom Domain
…and what it can do for you
It doesn’t matter if you’re a job-seeker, a professional with a full-time job, a marketer, a writer, a content creator — if you don’t already have a custom domain, you should strongly consider getting one.
If you don’t have a blog or a website hosted somewhere (e.g. at WordPress, Blogspot, Wix, Squarespace, et cetera), you probably are thinking, “What ever can I do with a custom domain without a page?”
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Professional-looking links
With a custom domain, you can have pretty links like ig.natashapetrus.com
They’re short and sweet, they look professional, making them perfect to use anywhere! Put them in your resume — you can have project links like myproject.myname.com instead of http://projecthost.com/username/really-long-project-name. Put them on the bio section of your social media pages — they’re guaranteed to impress.
They’re extremely easy to setup, too. I use Google Domains and if you do want to get one from them, here’s how you beautify your links:
- Go to your DNS configuration page from your domains list

2. Navigate to the Synthetic Records section and type away!

As you can see, it’s as easy as specifying your subdomain and the destination URL. I have my resume hosted on Google Drive and if recruiters ever ask me for a copy, I can just give them this link: dlresume.natashapetrus.com — isn’t it convenient?
Now, what if you want your domain to point somewhere too? You may not have a personal website but yes, you can forward your domain to any page your heart desires.

You can have your domain point to your LinkedIn profile, or your embarassing MySpace page (if it still exists, that is). The possibilities are endless!
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E-mail address with your custom domain (for free!)
— Yes, you read that right. You pay nothing. Zero. Zilch.
Have you ever came across at e-mail addresses like hello@name.com? If you have, you probably wanted to have a personalized address like that. And if you actually searched for email hosting services, by now you know that they’re not free (although they are usually equipped with powerful tools — for example, check out GSuite and what it can do for you for $5/month per user, if it tickles your fancy).
However, with a custom domain, you can pay nothing for a customized e-mail address and here’s how:
- Go to your email configuration page from your domains list

2. Navigate to the Email Forwarding section and have fun!

You can add up to 100 email aliases, pointing to your already existing email addresses. You can even use a wildcard (*) if you wish to. Since I have *@natashapetrus.com, anyone can send an email to info@natashapetrus.com, or contact@natashapetrus.com, although I didn’t explicity add those two aliases.
Yes, this method does not give you a free, separate inbox, but it does look nice and professional. And yes, you can just use email addresses like myname@gmail.com, but you and I both know it isn’t on the same level of professionalism a personalized one is.
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The best part is, you can get all of these for as little as less than $10 per year — that’s like 2 cups of coffee at Starbucks.
No matter who you are and what you do, we can always afford to present ourselves a little better and this is one step forward in the right direction. It’s cheap, it barely requires any effort, and it gives you major advantages.
Now go claim a domain before you have to settle for yournamebutwithnumbers123.com
