Is your Business, Domain and Social Media Name the Same?

May 10, 2019 By Janice Hurlburt Leave a Comment

Updated: May 12, 2019

Is Your Business Name AVAILABLE as a Domain Name?

Do you have a business idea or thinking about starting a business? One of the first things you may think about… “What name do I use for my business?” Domain Name?

This is where the fun begins…. Have FUN, but be serious about choosing your business name. Consult with friends and family and choose more than one name. Invite your friends over for a “NAME my BUSINESS” Party! Yep, have a BBQ/Dinner Party! Most people love any excuse for a get-together and be a part of something NEW!

Something Clever?
Something Cute?
Catchy and Rhymes?

Have you noticed, A NEW Trend…. A website with your birth NAME! Yep, think about it… Good idea!

There are lots of websites out there with their personal names that are doing great! Check it out!

If you do go “ALL out” with your very own birth name, you should seek out a branding identity consultant! I highly recommend Rachel Durham with “Your Brand Therapy” if looking for a top notch branding consultant. Click here to visit her website. She did an amazing job with my client, JacquelineMKane.com website branding. We will be launching her website soon!
I used Meilani MacDonald as my branding consultant 8 years ago, her rates are reasonable! You can message her on her Facebook page.

While you’re out there researching your business domain name, why not check if your child’s domain name is available?

In a world where your online identity is becoming as important as your physical one (maybe even more so), registering your child’s domain name is a very good idea. The trend of registering your child’s firstnamelastname.com is continuing to grow with tech-savvy parents; it’s not uncommon for parents in Silicon Valley to pick names for their children only if the corresponding domain is available. Sure, little Laura Rose can barely pronounce “Internet” let alone use it, but we’ve compiled a list of reasons why buying your kid a domain may be worthwhile.

A domain name is an asset

There’s a reason that Angelina Jolie bought all of her kids’ names when they were born. You may not think your child will become famous enough to warrant their own website, but whether or not your child is the next Adele, everyone can utilize their own domain name. Whether your child uses the domain to display a professional portfolio, resume or even a blog, the value will be much more than the $15/yr to maintain keeping the domain. You can even pay in advance $15 x 10 years, which I believe is the limit!

Protect their (future) identity

With the domain industry expanding at a phenomenal rate (tens of thousands of domains being registered every day), it’s important to secure your child’s online identity now before somebody else grabs it… and does whatever they want with it. It may even be worthwhile to also purchase your TLD (Top Level Domain .ca, .us, .fr, .asia, etc.) alongside the .com domain. I personally don’t think it is necessary to go to that extreme. Registering nicknames are also an option. A website will allow your child to build a personal and/or professional identity.

Whether you’ve got kids or are expecting, snatching up some web real estate is a valuable investment that will pay off in the long-run. The low cost of a Hover domain means that you can secure your child’s online future affordable.

Register Your Domain sooner than later

Entrepreneurs today have it much harder. With more than 220 million domain names already registered, you’d be really lucky if the dot-com URL that matches your new business name is readily available. (Not to mention exact matches for your social media names.)
Update: As December 2018, 342.4 million Domains registered (verified by verisign.com) since 2013 when this blog post was first written.

Should you use your real name or a business name for Freelancing? There are definitely benefits of using your actual name for your business name. It is great for personal branding, easy to remember and you can have several products or services to offer under one name. You can always buy a domain specific to the product name and promote it or link it back to the main website. To read more on domain name to use with your freelancing business. Click here.

So what should be the priority? Do you pick a company name based on whether there’s an exact-match domain name available? Or do you get creative with the URL to fit the business name of your dreams? Here are my two cents.

If your business model revolves around the Web, or if you’re planning to spend a lot of money on online marketing, then an exact-match domain name should be a top priority. Think Netflix, Yelp, Spotify or, yes, even Google. People are going to automatically default to your company name as your URL, and if that URL directs them to someone else’s site, you’re losing out on valuable business prospects. Plus, an exact-match domain name helps you get found by search engines, instead of someone else.

Also, if your customers are everyday consumers, an exact-match URL is more important than if you’re in the business-to-business industry. Why? B2B companies tend to sell to niche categories; their pool of customers is smaller, which means less noise online. With B2C companies, consumers are less likely to spend the time to find you, which means more chances for your competition to attract their attention.

Is your Domain Name Available on Social Media?

And finally, make sure to check whether matching social media handles are available. Ideally, they should all be the same as your domain name. If something’s already taken, a small change to your brand name or adding an industry or location specific modifier that’s consistent across all your social media networks might be the way to go.

The excerpt of this post was referenced from an article at INC.com, written by Janine Povick, CEO and founder of Vertical Response. “Is your Business Name Web Friendly” and from “Do you own your kid’s domain name from hover blog, by Sarah Georges.

Hope you enjoyed this post and learn a little about picking out a domain name for your business.

What the top social media marketing influencers say about 2018

June 8, 2018 By Janice Hurlburt Leave a Comment

A few hints on what’s coming up for 2018 from the top social media marketing influencers.

Encourage anyone looking for ways to improve their social media strategy with ONE simple action. Start requesting reviews on your Facebook Business page.
It’s 2018 – no more excuses! It’s time to implement a solid social media strategy. This means doing videos or Facebook LIVE.
Attention spans are becoming shorter and people are blindly scrolling past more content then ever before. Video (live stream or recorded) consistently proves to be an opportunity to stand out from the crowd.
Have you mastered the “stories” feature on Instagram? This is going to be big in 2018 as more Instagram’s users jump on board.
Messenger for business will be adding new features to create a closer connection with your audience.
Have you set up your automated messaging yet? Not many have, be the first in your target market to do so!
YouTube is a low cost method for generating leads! Imagine your ideal customers finding your video when searching for a solution to their problem.

Custom Design Sales Page

June 8, 2018 By Janice Hurlburt

Creating custom Sales Page using Beaver Builder just got BETTER!

Marylee Pangman

June 8, 2018 By Janice Hurlburt Leave a Comment

Marylee Pangman was looking for a Parallax design website. We are using a combination of Beaver Builder Pro, Genesis and a child theme infinity a very popular StudioPress child theme.

The tropical branding matches the owner, who can often be found walking on the beach talking with her clients from all over the world. She is a sought after coach. Helping women entrepreneurs find balance with being a successful entrepreneur and semi-retired. Now that’s the best of both world lifestyle!

Product Launch for Neurocertification system program

May 23, 2016 By Janice Hurlburt Leave a Comment

Coming Soon

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Well Women Network – An Every Day Resource

April 7, 2016 By Janice Hurlburt Leave a Comment

Project Overview: Michelle Broad is a Certified Nurse Practitioner who wanted to utilize the branding and customize graphic design by Linda Carlberg. We used Genesis and Lifestyle Pro as the child theme to showcase her practice “Well Women Network” – Empower and teach women how to maximize their health, prosperity, beauty and personal enrichment.

Dr. Pat Allen

April 7, 2016 By Janice Hurlburt Leave a Comment

Dr Pat Allen was looking for a refresh to her current theme. Her website was built 7 years ago using the Genesis Lifestyle Child Theme. It was not mobile responsive and she wanted to keep the same content. It is the same child theme with a new look. This was in 2016.

Go to DrPatAllen.com

Muffin Toppled

April 7, 2016 By Janice Hurlburt Leave a Comment

Laura Clancy wanted a simple single page website. We used Genesis and the child theme is Modern Blogger.

The bright color and cheery look matches the owner! She is super funny and a pleasure working with Laura.

Laura Bush, Ph.D

April 7, 2016 By Janice Hurlburt Leave a Comment

7 Simple Time Management Tips to Ease Stress

January 24, 2014 By Janice Hurlburt Leave a Comment

Recently I came across Brian Tracy’s blog while researching time management for clients and how one can save time and money by hiring a Virtual Assistant. Brian Tracy, an author of multiple books on time management and personal productivity, is a firm believer in “delegate to others.” Brian stated that one of the greatest time management tools is for you to get someone else to do the task. Your ability to delegate lower-value tasks to others (such as a Virtual Assistant!) is one of the vital skills of modern management. Delegate everything you possibly can to others who can do the tasks as well as or better than you, so that you can focus on the income-generating aspects of your business.

Recommended by Bizy Biz Virtual Assistant as Book of the Month: Brian Tracy’s new book was released on January 20, 2014, and is titled “Time Management (The Brian Tracy Success Library).” Pick up your Kindle Edition through Amazon for only $3.79.

Time management skills are essential for anyone who wants to breed success.

How you manage your time will determine how fast you will succeed in your endeavor. After reading Brian Tracy’s blog, the following are my favorite time management tips, and I think you’ll find them useful too.

1. If you have two frogs, eat the ugliest one first.

Eating a frog is analogous of doing your most important tasks as the first thing when you wake up. Brian Tracy got it from the saying: “If the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long!” By doing your most important task first you will less likely procrastinate on the other tasks later in the day and will set the tone for the rest of the day for getting work done.

2. One of the most important rules of personal effectiveness is the 10/90 rule.

The first 10% of time that you spend planning and organizing your work before you begin will save you as much as 90% of the time spent in getting the job done once you get started. This is not to be confused with the 80/20 rule which is about determining your most valuable tasks. The 10/90 rule is about planning when and how you do your work. Not having a game plan for how you are going to tackle the tasks at hand, or when you will do them, will make you more likely to procrastinate. Whenever you start a new task or project, think about the 10/90 rule. Plan first, and then start.

3. Do more important things

You may think you should do the easy ones first, that way you can cross it off your list and focus on the important tasks the rest of the day. Nope!

The best time management tip is to use the 80/20 rule; 20% of what you do accounts for 80% of your results. If you have a list of ten things to do, two of those items will be worth more than all the others put together. Discipline yourself to work on those items that are most important first. The goal is to choose the tasks that will produce 5 to 10 times more results then the average task.

4. The fact is that you can’t do everything that you have to do. You have to procrastinate on something. Therefore, procrastinate on small tasks.

Let’s be realistic here – everyone procrastinates. If you have to do it, you might as well procrastinate on things that aren’t so important. It’s a good idea to make a separate list of tasks that are not important but have to get done at some point. For example, organizing your digital files could be delegated to your Virtual Assistant. Cleaning out your file cabinet in preparation for 2014 may not be most important, but it has to get done at some point. Whenever you feel like procrastinating, look over this list and see what you can knock off without much effort. You still get work done even when you feel like you are procrastinating.

5. Visualize your time management skills

This technique is one that I’ve used whenever I start a new project or even when I am going to do an activity that I haven’t done in while, like snow skiing!

You can use visualization to program your subconscious mind. Mental pictures most immediately influence your subconscious mind. In self-image psychology, the person you see is the person you will be through positive affirmation. Begin to see yourself as well organized, efficient and effective in time management. Recall and recreate memories and pictures of yourself when you were performing at your best.

Think of a time when you were working efficiently and effectively, and getting through an enormous amount of work. Replay this in your mind the night before, and you will wake up fresh and ready to start your project.

6. There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing.

Today we are overwhelmed with information and things we need to do. You often hear people say “I wish I had more time” when they feel overwhelmed. If that task is really important, you will get creative and find time for it, or delegate to someone else, such as a Virtual Assistant. Sure, you might really have too many things to do but that is not the core problem. Instead, you want to ask yourself “what is the most valuable use of my time, right now?” and work on that right away. Anything else in comparison is relatively unimportant.

7. The purpose of time management and getting more done in less time is to enable you to spend more face time with the people you care about and doing the things that give you the greatest amount of joy in life.

The three biggest factors for determining your happiness are your health, wealth and relationships. With the right time management skills, you can feel happier, by freeing up your time and enabling yourself to actively spend time doing things that make you happy. Relationships with friends, family and your significant other are important for feeling and being happy, so make sure you spend time with them.

Is Your Business Name AVAILABLE as a Domain Name?

Something Clever?

Something Cute?

Catchy and Rhymes?

A domain name is an asset

Protect their (future) identity

Register Your Domain sooner than later

Is your Domain Name Available on Social Media?

Hope you enjoyed this post and learn a little about picking out a domain name for your business.

A few hints on what’s coming up for 2018 from the top social media marketing influencers.

Creating custom Sales Page using Beaver Builder just got BETTER!

1. If you have two frogs, eat the ugliest one first.

2. One of the most important rules of personal effectiveness is the 10/90 rule.

3. Do more important things

4. The fact is that you can’t do everything that you have to do. You have to procrastinate on something. Therefore, procrastinate on small tasks.

5. Visualize your time management skills

6. There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing.

7. The purpose of time management and getting more done in less time is to enable you to spend more face time with the people you care about and doing the things that give you the greatest amount of joy in life.