What are the advantages of upgrading to my own domain?

Thank you Lee, I found your reply very helpful'

Fabian ( Delete or Edit)

im glad Fabian - if you decide to get a domain post it here so we can check out your site -
You can get a domain form anywhere but (& i dont work for Yola) when you get it from Yola you get that extra bit of support and they make the change over from subdomain to domain very slick and hassle free.
Yola dont offer email with the domain but Google do the best domain email and you can add this to your Yola domain - I dont know why any domain sellers add email these days because the service Google offer is by far the best.

If you have any other questions about domains or email@yourdomain.com just ask.

Lee. ( Delete or Edit)

Thanks again for your very useful input Lee, I appreciate it. I made the decision to upgrade. I haven't been with Yola for very long, but I've been impressed by it. I think you're right when you say that having your own domain does give that added professional touch. I'm now the proud owner of www.fabianblackromance.com I'm a writer of gay romance fiction, so my site won't be to everyone's taste.

Regards,

Fabian. ( Delete or Edit)

Fabian it looks really good -
Now you have a domain its important people can find it;
1. add your domain to google webmasters and verify it (if you did this for your subdoamin it will need updating) your site map is now http://fabianblackromance.com/sitemap...
2. NOTICE how i excluded the www. from your site link, its best to use this as your primary address in linking and web tools.
3. set up free domain email ex. fabian@fabianblackromance.com -- get started here http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/gr...
4. i would also add google anaylitics get started here - http://www.google.com/analytics/

Sounds like a lot but its all really easy to set up - if you need any help just ask.

PS on a different matter - the image on your home page is larger than it needs to be (the file size) -- when you make a image smaller on the screen it doesnt actually make the file smaller it just displays a smaller version of it --
Go to your file manager > select the image > click edit image > then in Picnik resize the image and save it back to yola. When you republish your site you will notice the image loads instantly. :)

Good luck with everything, i'll keep an eye on this thread. Lee. ( Delete or Edit)

RE 1. webmasters is at http://google.com/webmasters

Lee. ( Delete or Edit)

Lee, you're a diamond. :) I've resized the image on my home page. I'm having a bit of bother trying to verify my site with google, but maybe that's because Yola seems to be having some server problems at the moment so I'll re-try later. Again, many thanks for all the great info.

Have a good day,

Fabian ( Delete or Edit)

Shaq, thank you for your helpful input.

Fabian ( Delete or Edit)