Writers, and other folks too, sometimes wonder if they should create their “online presence” and “develop their brand” using a service like GeoCities, MySpace, etc., or should they instead get their own domain?
The first way allows you to easily test the waters–kind of like blogging with training wheels. No problem with that as a temporary measure–everyone has to start somewhere.
But if you want something more permanent, more professional, that you control, and that is much more flexible, hands down I’d say get your own domain.
And if you don’t want to take my advice, then maybe you’ll listen to John Scalzi:
So, let’s go back to 1998. You’re a new writer and you want to establish a permanent residency online. Which would be wiser: Having your own site at your own domain, or putting up a site at GeoCities?
…
And now it’s 2011 and the choice is one’s own domain or a page on Facebook. Guess which I think you should do.