Bought My Own Domain — Here’s How I Turned It Into More Than Just a Portfolio

Shaurya Verma — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 18:42:47 +0000

Most developers treat a personal domain like a checkbox:

“Buy domain → deploy portfolio → done.”

I did the same.

I bought shaurya.online, hooked it up to my GitHub repo, deployed it on Vercel… and for a while, that was it.

But then I realized something:

A domain isn’t just a website. It’s your permanent identity layer on the internet.

Here’s how I started using mine beyond just a static portfolio—and how you can too.

1. Stop Thinking “Website”, Start Thinking “Platform”

Instead of one site, your domain can host multiple things:

shaurya.online → main portfolio
blog.shaurya.online → technical writing
api.shaurya.online → backend experiments
resume.shaurya.online → always-updated CV
lab.shaurya.online → random experiments

Each subdomain can point to a different service (Vercel, VPS, edge functions, etc.)

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2. Get a Personal Email That Actually Looks Professional

Switching from:

shauryaverma.tech@gmail.com

To:

hi@shaurya.online

…is a surprisingly big upgrade.

You can set this up using:

Google Workspace
Zoho Mail (free tier)
Proton Mail (privacy-focused)

It’s one of the easiest ways to look more legit instantly.

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3. Build Your Own URL Shortener

Instead of sharing messy links:

You can:

self-host a shortener (like YOURLS)
or build one as a side project

It’s simple, useful, and a great backend exercise.

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4. Turn It Into an SEO Engine (This Is the Big One)

Here’s the hard truth:

A portfolio alone won’t get traffic unless people already know your name.

So I started treating my domain like a content platform, not just a portfolio.

Instead of writing:

“My Project”

I write things people actually search for:

“How to run Gemma locally”
“Ollama vs LM Studio performance”
“Best way to host LLM APIs on Vercel”

Now each blog post becomes a traffic entry point.

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5. Use It as a Backend Playground

Since I work on backend systems, this became the most fun part:

api.shaurya.online → APIs
auth.shaurya.online → auth experiments
ai.shaurya.online → LLM experiments

You can test:

rate limiting
caching strategies
edge vs serverless
infra decisions

It’s basically a production-like sandbox.

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6. Own Your Analytics

Instead of relying completely on big platforms, you can:

use privacy-friendly analytics (like Plausible)
or self-host your own

You get cleaner insights and full control over your data.

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7. Learn Real Infrastructure (Not Just Tutorials)

Your domain is the perfect place to practice:

DNS records (A, CNAME, TXT, MX)
SSL/TLS setup
CDN + caching
bot protection
rate limiting

This is actual production knowledge—not just theory.

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8. Create Focused Landing Pages

Instead of one generic site:

hire.shaurya.online → for recruiters
open-source.shaurya.online → contributions
talks.shaurya.online → presentations

Each page has a clear goal.

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9. Add Personality

Some small but fun ideas:

custom 404 page
/changelog for updates
/secret easter egg
RSS feed for your blog

These don’t just look cool—they make your site memorable.

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Final Thought

Buying a domain is easy.

Using it well is where the leverage is.

Your domain can be:

your portfolio
your blog
your backend playground
your identity
your SEO engine

All in one place.

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What Are You Doing With Your Domain?

I’m curious—are you using your domain beyond a portfolio?

Drop your setup below 👇

DEV Community: Shaurya Verma

Bought My Own Domain — Here’s How I Turned It Into More Than Just a Portfolio