If you own your own domain names is it your best route?

Domains are virtual real estate. If your virtual real estate is in a good neighborhood then it has value. Such is the nature of real estate.

So the "value" of owning your own domain depends on the name itself and what you can do with it.

If you build on property you do not own you risk putting your investment in the hands of others.

For example if you were to write 1,000 hubs and tomorrow the owners sold to another company and deleted all your hubs what would you have?

If you build on your own property you control you own destiny. But back to the neighborhood scenario. If your building is in a bad neighborhood you have created little value.

Hubpages is a Good Neighborhood with risks.

You have not mentioned best route for "what". Are you asking for the route to make money or to get published?.

Actually its always good if you have your own domain name. You should also need to have some basic knowledge about optimizing your site, to make it beneficial.

Next thing, you should do real hard work to publicize your site. I think hubpages cut all these hurdles short.

Hope that'll help.

If there is a specific domain you want, like your name or the name of your business, it's a good idea to register it before someone else gets it. You can register most domain names for less than 10 dollars per year. In my opinion, it's well worth the investment.