Is it absolutely essential to have a dot com for your Pattern shop

[AzVintageVariety]

I realize it's more professional, etc. but not knowing if I want to reactivate and keep a Pattern shop long term, if I use the patternbyetsy(dot)com, does that mean it will be less likely to get views / sales. My blogs were mostly storytelling tidbits with a bit of humor, and thought I would expand them to include a variety of topics that appear in my store sections (items for sale), and was hoping that might give my shop a boost for views. Also, I know you can put a link to your Pattern shop in the About section (Around the web) but can't remember if a live link will work in the announcement area. I do see several Pattern shops on Google that are only using the patternbyetsy versus a dot com so thought I'd ask here.

[funkydreamsmosaics]

I don't know if it is essential.  I had my dot com before I moved it to Pattern.  And my feeling is, someday, I may move it off of Pattern.  And it goes with the whole theory of "don't have all of your eggs in one basket".  If Etsy decides one day to stop offering Pattern, what would happen to your patternbyetsy site?  If you have a dot com of your own, if Etsy discontinues Pattern or if you decide you can do better than Pattern, you can move it to some other provider and still have the same website address.

Having said all of that, it appears you are most interested in the blogs feature.  Have you thought about opening a WordPress site instead?  I think they are still free to setup, and I know they've added many selling features, so you could do some selling from there, too.  That might be worth a look.

[AzVintageVariety]

Thank you once again for your insight and suggestions. Appreciate your responding.

[romaarellano]

Hi @AzVintageVariety I would chime in that the domain is essential if you are creating a brand. You would want to reserve a domain name for your brand, and then use that domain name to point to the main website for your brand. Like @funkydreamsmosaics I had my domain name long before I had a pattern site, and so once I got pattern, then it was clear that I could link my domain to that website. Hope that helps.

[AzVintageVariety]

Roma, thank you as well for your thoughts.