A great tip I learned a couple years ago was to save my name and family members names in a domain registry such as Namecheap. This is a simple, yet extremely valuable concept I learned from one of my business fraternity Brothers, Adam Carroll. We live in an age where everyone is trying to build their business and personal brands and you want to make sure you will always have access to “yourname.com” or “companyname.com” anytime you need it. Your brand is the most valuable asset you own.
I saved my name, adrianchilders.com with a domain registry the very same day Adam suggested this. You can also save your first name only, last name only, both, and even nickname if they are available. Saving a domain only costs around $10 a year. At this nominal price you don’t want to risk someone else getting the domains you want.
Once you have the domain you want saved then you are ready for hosting. Hosting is what allows you to show your site to the world. My favorite hosting company that I have been using for over a year now is HostGator. They provide excellent service at a very competitive price. You can get started for as little as $5 a month (less than the price of lunch!)
Once you have hosting then you can upload the wordpress blogging platform to get started on your blog. A blog is a great way to express yourself to your readers. You can define what you believe in and write about something you enjoy. A good blog with interesting content can set you apart from others and help you build your personal brand. As previously mentioned, I purchased some video tutorials that helped me get my blog running within one day. If you want to learn several useful tips and get your blog up and running quickly I recommend checking out the following video tutorials at WordPress Wizard.
Even if you don’t currently have any content to place on your website, I would still suggest to get hosting so you can have your own personal email instead of using hotmail, gmail or some other generic email service. You can build your own brand by having an email such as firstname@lastname.com or firstname@firstandlastname.com or even firstname@companyname.com. This will always help you look more professional when giving out your contact information. Then once you decide you want to create a blog or website you could do so at any time at no additional cost.
I hope you take action after reading this article and CLAIM WHAT IS YOURS. Below are steps you can take if you want to start building YOUR brand:
1) Go to Namecheap to see if the domain names you want are available. If so you can save them for just under $10 a year.
2) Go to HostGator and purchase hosting for about $5 a month. If you click on the gator below you will be redirected to HostGator and you can enter the coupon code “wordpress” upon checkout and get your first month for only 1 penny. This is the best discount they offer. They also have a 45 day money back guarantee, so if you are not happy with them you can get your money back.
If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment or send me an email at adrian@adrianchilders.com.