I was just featured by BBC in an article “Standing out when your name is John Smith” addressing the challenge of building a personal brand online if you have a common name. A starting point in this regard is claiming a proper domain name where you can build a platform for your personal brand.
While I personally don’t have many namesakes and didn’t have any problems registering niklasmyhr.com, I am often asked this question and in this post, I will share my perspectives on this issue. I usually suggest that if you cannot become the John Doe, at least you should try to become a John Doe amongst the others.
If your name is very common, a Google searcher will likely recognize that they have to ascertain which John Doe is the one they are looking for. However, if you are not even one of the top ten John Does out there, there is a risk that a recruiter mistakenly could believe that you are one of the other ones.
Alternatively, a company noting that you are not even competitive in your own name brand space could start wondering how you would be capable of helping them build their brand? In the following, I will outline a few domain name strategies that you may want to consider if your name is something like Mary Miller or James Johnson.
Build your personal brand platform on a different top level domain
While the .com top-level domain remains the preferable gold standard, you should consider alternative top-level domains if the .com version with your name is already taken. You could even consider registering your name with the alternative top-level domains even if you already own the .com version as this could further protect your personal brand. It depends on how collegial you want to be toward your namesakes… At least companies customarily claim variations of their brand names, including common misspellings, for defensive purposes as it makes it more difficult for others to hijack traffic intended for the brand in question.
The main alternatives to the .com version remains the .net and the .org options. For a personal brand, the .net top level domain is a perfectly acceptable alternative while the .org extension is somewhat of a misfit given that it is primarily meant for non-profit organizations. Some other top-level domains that could be considered are: .info, .me, .pro., .co, or even country-specific top-level domains such as .se for Sweden if your activities are primarily focused on that country market.
Modify your name to find an available domain
If the ideal domain name as in FirstnameLastname.com is not available, you can choose to register a variation of your name. To find and purchase a suitable domain name under this circumstance, you may want to consider one of the following name modification approaches, some of which were also addressed by personal branding expert Dan Schawbel in the BBC article:
- Insert a middle initial such as in FirstnameMiddleinitialLastname.com.
- Spell out your middle name to make it FirstnameMiddlenameLastname.com.
- Add a prefix like the word “the” in front of your name to make you stand out like TheJohnDoe.com.
- Use a suffix such as Jr., III, Ph.D. after your name JohnDoeJr.com.
- Insert a number after your name like in JohnDoe7.com but just as an email address like coolguy57@aol.com is looking unprofessional to many (especially if you are still using AOL as your email service provider), it is advisable to avoid numbers in your personal domain name. Perhaps the exception to this “rule” would be if you are John Doe III where the addition of the number three at the end actually does make sense to make it JohnDoe3.com.
- Go with your nickname, especially if that name is what you are known by anyway so you would use NicknameLastname.com. This option would be more effective if it is also likely that any references to you made by others would also be using that nickname instead of your legal name.
Change your name for personal branding purposes
A more radical approach to personal branding would be to legally change your name. Admittedly, this could be taking it a bit too far if it is done solely for the purpose of finding an appropriate domain name but it is a strategy that could help you stand out in real life as well. For example, if your “name competitor” is a celebrity filling up Google searches with numerous stories, you may face difficulties or even ridicule going by that same name depending on who it is.
Granted that some namesakes may be able to put a positive spin on it by referring to themselves as “Not THAT John Doe but another great guy” or the like. Still, if your name is Brad Pitt and you are not THAT Brad Pitt, you have probably already considered changing your name.
Other reasons for changing your name for personal branding reasons could be if you have a name that is simply too common, too bland, or too difficult to spell. For better or worse, immigrants have Americanized their names for generations. The potential downside of this strategy is that you then would give up the potential benefit of having a unique foreign name that could help you stand out.
Strengthen your personal brand with your institutional affiliation
Another way of approaching the dilemma of having a common name is to associate yourself more clearly with your institutional affiliation or belonging so that you, with your organization’s approval, would establish your online home at say ibm.com/JohnDoe. If you work for a strong brand, this could elevate the status of your online brand as well and could be a wise strategy, especially if you expect your employment to be for the long haul.
That being said, I caution my students about the risks of only being associated with their current employer given that people in their twenties change jobs every 18 months or so. That is, if their current employment were to be terminated, they would need to rebuild their online presence basically from scratch. I would rather see them maintain some personal online platforms that are not directly associated with their current employer.
Conversely, I advise executives that they need to embrace the need of their employees to maintain some degree of personal online presence even during their employment. Ideally, the personal networks of the employees would feed into the companies’ networks to some extent so this arrangement could actually be beneficial to both parties.
A good example in this regard is the one of Scott Monty who has successfully led Ford Motor Company’s social media initiatives since 2008. In parallel with being personally associated with numerous high-profile social media campaigns by Ford, he has also maintained a personal blog at ScottMonty.com, his personal Twitter account at @ScottMonty, and even a hobby blog about his obsession with Sherlock Holmes. Now, after six years with Ford, when he has announced that he is taking on a new position as Executive VP of Strategy at SHIFT Communications, these personal platforms are easily portable for his continued use.
Brand yourself with a slogan, tagline or a catchphrase
If you find that you have difficulties breaking through the clutter using your name alone, you could consider attaching yourself to a branded term you develop or a tagline that you consistently use whenever you can. The downside is that you may not want to be married to that slogan for the long haul. Regardless, if you become known as John Doe The Indomitable or whatever catchphrase you choose, it could help differentiate yourself from your namesakes.
The tagline, slogan or catchphrase you choose could be industry-specific or highlight certain attributes of your personality. One example I like in this regard is by content marketing ninja Marcus Sheridan, aka “The Sales Lion” whom I frequently cite in my teaching and he has built a strong brand using TheSalesLion.com as his platform.
Blame your parents or help your kids?
Perhaps you were born before the Internet but in these times, registering a domain name even before you name your children certainly makes sense to me as I wrote about in “Good Domain Parenting” and discussed in another BBC article. Yes, it is possible that the Internet will have changed by the time today’s children grow up. The way we find brands and people today on websites could become an obsolete practice.
Still, the relative affordability (e.g., at Namecheap.com) of owning domain names for about $10 a year makes it an attractive alternative when compared to the potential value of building a strong personal brand for career success. Note that you do not necessarily have to do anything with the domain name until your child is ready to take advantage of it. Instead, you can simply own and protect their right to use it when the time is right.
If your parents missed the train by not claiming your name online, you can at least ensure that the mistake is not repeated for the next generation. Registering domain names for the children of yours or of your relatives is both easy and affordable and the domain name registrar that I currently recommend for its straightforward interface and low cost is Namecheap.com.
Conclusion
So, these were some strategies that you can consider if you have to deal with the challenge of building a personal brand with a common name. Please let me know if you have any reactions to these strategies or if you suggest any other alternatives.
Hej Niklas !
Agree My name is Juan Carlos ( very latin name ) but here in US , I changed to “JC ” more easy for many reasons, the pronunciation is difficult and long for those who do not speak Spanish is more hard, and I thought about them and not in myself.. probably there are many Juan Carlos Giraldo ( i saw some of them ).
For example My web page is comming soon as jcgiraldo.com.
And you know me as JC right? all people call me here JC…
Is true this little things in the end are so important !
Have a great Day
JC
Hi JC, thanks for providing a good example and even if I personally don’t find your native name too difficult, I can also see why jcgiraldo is both short and sweet, good luck!
When I first started my website I went with ribeezie(d0t)com. It was a nick-name given to me by one of my students with I was an under-graduate TA. Around the same time I also scooped up my personal name ricardobueno(d0t)com. And it wasn’t until 2012 that I came across a soccer player with the same name. Needless to say I picked up all other variations of that domain as well.
Bottom line, claim all variations of your domain name if you can 🙂
Hello,
I am a web designer. My full name is Bishal Mishra. The domain name bishalmishra.com is still available but I don’t wanna use my last name in my domain name.(bishal.com/.co/.net are not available) I am trying to find out a domain name for myself since two months. Please help me out to find a short and suitable domain name.
I will be glad to receive your reply.
Thanks
Hi Bishal! Congrats if your first name + last name dot com is still available and even if you are not currently planning to use it, I would grab it anyway in case you change your mind plus you can do a redirect from there to wherever you’d like to be. If you don’t want to use your last name, you could go by designerbishal or bishaldesign or the like? Good luck!
Thanks for the interesting post! I have thought multiple times about grabbing my name, but have not brought myself to do it.
Any suggestions on the cheapest/easiest way to buy and hold your name if you are not planning on using it in the immediate future?
Thank you for the kind words, Chris, appreciate it! Yes, I would strongly encourage you to go and grab the best-matched domain you can per the guidelines above so that you will at least have the opportunity to develop your online presence with relevant domain. If you are not planning to use it, or even if you are, I recommend buying your domain for a multi-year contract, say 5 or 10 years to avoid losing it by forgetting to renew it every year. You can often get a better deal per year as well if you do so. Plus, I would add privacy protection so that your phone, email, and address don’t have to show up online. The name registrar that I recommend is Namecheap (affiliate link). Thanks again! Niklas
Thanks for the advice Niklas, I appreciate you taking time to reply! I also have been following your tweets recently – thanks for the great information!
My pleasure, Chris, and glad to hear you got something out of my tweets, appreciate it!
This is the exact article I’ve been looking for, thanks Niklas. I have considered all of this option for quite some time. But choosing one option and committing to build my brand around it, that’s where I’m still stuck! My name is Jodie Taylor and it is taken, very common and unavailable in many spaces. Thoughts on FirstNameMiddleName.com ? = Jodie Shae? Or does it sound too feminine? I’ve even considered changing the spelling of my last name… but I’m also happy to part with it for good. But then, with a name change, would it still be me?
Thank you for your comment, Jodie, and I am glad to hear that you found it useful! I understand that it can take some time to settle on an alternative as you need to be comfortable with it long term as well so you do want to future-proof this choice as much as possible. Just using FirstnameMiddlename.com feels like it would mainly make sense for celebrities who become know only by their first or possible first and middle name and the last name becomes superfluous but for most professionals, I think including your last name somehow makes more sense. In your case, I see that you have some good options of going FirstnameLastname.net or .me, both good options even when .com is the ideal top-level domain name. I would look into TheFirstnameLastname.com in your case as well as it seems to be available. The downside of that is that people may forget to use the “the” part and can by mistake end up on the FirstnameLastname.com version that you don’t own and unfortunately, without daring to go to the actual domain, judging by some google searches, that domain name seems to be tainted by an “adult personality” that you likely do not want to be associated with. A general googling of “Jodie Taylor” presents another challenge in that the search results are completely dominated by an apparently very good women’s football player at Arsenal and the England national team which could make it challenging for you to be found. Name change? For sure, it could make sense if you are serious about building a personal brand online and you encounter difficulties based on the “brand” you’ve got. Many go through this exercise every year as they get married and give up on the maiden names. Of course, the cost of doing so could be high if you have already established a strong presence on and offline around your name and you may also have family connections you want to stay true to in terms of a common last name. Not easy but good luck and let me know how it goes! Perhaps, I’ll include your story in a follow-up blog post to this blog post that remains my most popular one 🙂 Thanks / Niklas