Here’s a quick tip for aviation personal branding for sales and marketing professionals (or anyone in a public role, no matter how small or specific.)

Buy a URL that includes your domain name.

The less common your name, the easier this will be.  Unfortunately, PaulaWilliams.com has been bought by a speculator who wants a ridiculous amount of money for it. So, if you’re lucky enough to have a name like CaileChamberlain.com, you can get it for as little as ten dollars a year and set it up on autorenew.

(We’ve done this for all of our kids, just in case they ever want to use it.)

Reasons you want your own name as a domain name:

• You control what shows up when people search your name on Google.  As As Sundar Pinchai had to embarrassingly explain to Congress, search engines function based what people have written about.  So if nothing (or very little) has been written about you on the internet, one embarrassing or negative or irrelevant thing happens, you get mentioned in “AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com or a negative review about your business.  That one thing will be what people see when they search for you. Much better to control it.
• It’s easier for people to find you.  If people don’t remember your company name and just remember your own name, it’s nice to make that connection.  If you change jobs or employers, you can change where your domain points to.

Things you can do with your domain name:

• Point it to your LinkedIn profile.
• Point it to your bio page on your company website.
• Create a website, or even a simple page, with whatever you want on it.
• Point it to a portfolio of your work on Instagram or Pinterest.
• Set up an email  or shortcut using it – (I could use [email protected] if I’d been smart enough to buy the name years ago) or use it as a shortcut to a gmail or outlook account, then if I switch email providers, it will always work!
• Review your list of Authority, Credibility and Expertise (ACE Markers) for more ideas to use your domain!

This is probably the easiest and least expensive aviation personal branding tip we’ve ever offered.

Even if you don’t know precisely what you’re going to do with it at this moment I highly recommend taking a moment to purchase your domain name.

If you’re an ABCI client, shoot me an email and let’s talk about the options!