The Web Worker Daily article (http://webworkerdaily.com/2009/06/30/what-to-do-when-the-dot-com-you-want-isnt-available/ ) about what to do when the “.com” name you want isn’t available offers a series of good suggestions for thinking of different ways to create your online domain identity.
Top level domains (“TLDs”) are often the first stop for people as they set up their websites or explore options for establishing a primary, or multi-site, destination for their online activities. When you think of how you can search for domains, the simple form and the drop-down box with different domain suffixes defaults to “.com” rather than any other options.
If you are looking to set up a local presence in an international market, finding a local domain name, meaning a name with the local country domain attached, can be a challenge. In some cases the domain names are not open for purchase through domain name registrars. Peru, for example, has a domain name registration option that can be completed by non-Peruvian individuals and companies, but doesn’t make it easy. You need to be comfortable navigating their website in Spanish and then finding, and completing the registration form. Once it has been submitted, you then need to submit your registration payment through a bank transfer. Online payment isn’t an option.
Thinking about mobile users
The internet is increasingly relied upon by people with mobile devices – smart phones, iPhones, multimedia devices (e.g., iPod touch) and netbooks. They are reading websites on smaller screens and sometimes as text only. If you are using a standard .com domain then there are ways to alter your website, if you are using a content management system (such as WordPress) to make it more friendly to mobile devices. An alternative is to set up a .mobi domain with a simpler website design and navigation plan that is more readable on smaller screens.
Localizing your content
If you are providing content to users in multiple locations, you might need to make it easier for visitors to access your websites using country-specific domain names. In some cases, you might be able to create domain names that use a local language (e.g., Spanish, French, Russian, etc.) rather than an English word, which might not be as well-known.
From a marketing perspective, your use of international TLDs (Top Level Domains) can make it easier to tailor a promotion or country-specific content to a unique domain name. Plus, the links between your other websites (if you have multiple domains for your business or organization) can help to improve your ranking in search engines as you add content across the various websites.
Learn more about domain names
You can see all of the domain name options that currently exist by looking through our domain name glossary. If you are interested in registering a new domain name you can do that too.
US President Barack Obama gained (and maintains) a huge number of “followers” through his dedication to the ideas of communication, transparency and participation throughout his political campaign in 2007-2008.
In fact, his media team is looking continue the practice of being directly engaged with the people who support his ideas and have a vested interest in seeing the impact of President Obama’s decisions. The objectives of engaging with citizens and keeping them informed through something more than a press conference has a parallel lesson for anyone who is building an online identity, especially a global identity.
Communication
When you establish a blog, an e-newsletter, an online forum or a website with all of this things you are looking to communicate more effectively with your clients or readership. There are increasing opportunities to use video and audio content as part of your communications tool kit as well. YouTube, Vimeo, Metacafe and Viddler, just to name a few.
If you are looking to use video on your website or blog, you can create accounts on the services mentioned above then embed links or small video players on your website. Many blogging services allow you to embed these links and make it easy for you to share video content you have created and stored elsewhere on the Internet.
Transparency
If you have a business or operate as an independent professional (e.g., freelancer, consultant or advisor), your reputation and the value of your services is a key to maintaining and growing your client base. Building a reputation takes time and, for a business, is founded on the feedback of clients. How can you make potential customers aware of the value of your services? Having a means to publish and comment on the feedback from existing clients and colleagues.
Success in a business, especially for global professionals, increasingly relies upon partnering with other organizations. Your online identity can be an online record of your work and enable potential partners to find you and understand how your expertise can help them be successful too.
If you are an established professional and are looking to increase your reputation and presence in your field, having an online identity is an increasingly valuable tool to differentiate your work and achievements. When you set up a blog or professional profile site (essentially an online resume and portfolio), you make it easier for potential employers and colleagues to find you and understand what you can offer an organization.
Participation
Simply pushing information out to a mailing list doesn’t enable people to give feedback or truly engage with you or your organization. While it might seem like a chaos-inducing idea to make easy for visitors to your website to suggest services or propose ways to make your organization more useful, that is exactly what can make your online presence stand out.
Forums and sites with interactive tools (Facebook, InterNations, Google Groups, Yahoo! Groups, Ning, PBWiki and others) can make it easy for people with specific interests to gather together and comment on services (being provided or ones that are needed) and find people who can help. There are plenty of “solutions” represented on the Internet, the goal is to create the opportunities to connect the people who need products and services with those who can deliver them. If your website can make this process easier for people you are interacting with, then you create not only an advantage for yourself but can help others as well.
More perspective
If you want to read more about what people are thinking of how the US President will use the internet there is a related blog post at O’Reilly Radar.
Tools to create your own global identity
if you are looking to get a “quick start” to developing your online identity, you might consider using the Quick Blogcast service to begin creating and publishing content immediately. This service also has the option of using your own domain name to build more awareness in search engines and other blogs.
If you are looking to establish a clear name for your organization, business or simply for a personal (professional or social) website, having your own domain name is an important first step. And, finally, if you are setting up an online community – either large or small – you can use a variety of open source tools that integrate into your website.
Expat Internet Services
