Blog - Page 45 of 45 - Create If Writing

Your face is your brand.

Your website, blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkenIn, Pinterest, GoodReads, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram and your Google Plus (while it lasts) should ALL have the same photo. Of your face. Any platform that people MIGHT find you on and associate with your professional writings and actions should be consistent.

My exception to this is my personal, private Facebook profile. Exhibit A. On your left is my (2015) picture for all my platforms. On your right is my personal Facebook profile picture, complete with my Mom’s 1988 glasses and my half-crossed-eye trick.

Be professional. Be personable. But also be MEMORABLE. I love a quirky profile picture. Exhibit B: Eric T Tung, #33 Global Social Media Influencer. (Did you listen to the podcast episode where I talk to him about Twitter?)

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Are you going to forget that face? NOPE. The tie gives him a semblance of professionalism and the great expression shows his personality. This is very much his BRAND. He is smart, savvy, and FUN. Think about who YOU are and what you want people to see. Take THAT photo.

What’s your brand? What is your photo saying about YOU? Let’s talk like civilized people in the comments.

Some other lovely people have similar thoughts.

Do you own your name dot com? Here is my take on why you should own your own name as a domain.

But first: Stop reading and go buy your domain name. NOW.

{If you already own it, give yourself a high five & skip to the next post.}

What if your name isn’t available? Try with your middle initial. Or if you’re a writer, try YourNameWrites or YourNameWriter. Don’t be fancy or clever with a dot anythingelse. Get your dot com. Once you have YourName dot com, try to keep it consistent on social media. (More on that later.)

Why? For authors this makes the most sense because you will be known by your name. Say you become super famous and get speaking gigs. Unless you are The Bloggess, you will be introduced as your name. Plus? You AREN’T The Bloggess. Few of us are. One, to be exact. And she does also go by her real name. Just check her latest book.

Perhaps my favorite reason to own your own dot com is this: Owning your own name lets YOU control the narrative. You are the authority. You are YOU. As Dr. Seuss puts it in The Birthday Book, “Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” You are YOU. Own YOU. Be YOU.

There may be good reason for exceptions to this, like a giant platform under a blog name. Or you are an anonymous blogger. Or you write under a pen name. (But you should then own that pen name.) Even if you still choose to blog or write under your clever blog name, at least BUY your name. For a rainy day, perhaps. Like when it’s raining money and they need to know where to send the check. You can simply say, “Send it to MyName@MyName dot com, thankyouverymuch.”

Agree? Disagree? Let’s have a civilized discussion in the comments about why you should own your name dot com.

More People Who Say So:

Why You Should Own Your Name as a Domain from Amanda Formaro
Why It’s Worth It to Purchase Your Domain Name from Life Hacker
Why You Should Grab Your Domain Name Now from Gary Matthews
(and by “now,” he wrote this in 2013, so you REALLY better hurry)

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