Domain Decisions: Start the Year by Claiming Your Online Identity

Welcome back to the Author's Edge with your host, Allison Lane. In this episode, we tackle the common paralysis many face at the start of the year by focusing on one critical, manageable action: securing your website domain. Learn the importance of grabbing your domain name early, even if you're not ready to launch your website yet. Allison shares valuable tips, including focusing on your name, considering alternative domain extensions, and avoiding the trap of buying unnecessary domains. Tune in to take this crucial first step and set yourself up for success!

00:39 The Importance of Securing Your Domain
01:35 Tips for Choosing the Right Domain
03:04 Avoiding Common Domain Mistakes
05:20 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

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Transcript

0:06

Welcome back to the Author's Edge. I am your host, Allison Lane, and I'm thinking bigger for you. One of the things that gets people stuck and paralyzed, especially at the start of the year, is to try and tackle the entire year all in one sitting, and instead of that,'cause that sounds bonkers and doesn't work, instead of that, let's start with the tiniest of actions that you could do today. One of the things that people trip up on is not grabbing the URL that they need for their website, even the website that they might not even have be planning quite yet, but you need to grab the domain for your future website now while it's available. Now a website domain should cost about 12 or$14 a year, and that makes it worth it. Even if you are not going to build your website for three years, at least you will grab your preferred domain. Maybe you want a.io versus a.com. You need to grab those now. So here are a couple things to think about when you're grabbing your Domain. Number one, you've gotta have your name, your name. If you are a PhD or an md, please also by doctor your name, not just your name. So if I were a PhD, which I'm not, I would get Dr. Allison Lane, not Allison Lane, PhD. You know why? Because the lay person looking for you isn't thinking, oh, well she's just a PhD. Um, you have a doctorate, you're a doctor. Welcome to you. So you wanna get your name, Allison lane.com and Dr. Allison Lane. Which I'm not, so I'm sure that someone else has that. I should say too, I don't have Allison lane.com because it was already taken by the time I needed a website. That's why my website is lane lit.com, because you know you've gotta have something. I also have purchased my kids names.com. You don't have to go with.com, you can do.co.io.net. Any one of those is fine, but get your name. Here's what you don't have to do, and don't make this mistake. You don't have to go by all of the domains related to the newsletter you want to start, or the book you want to write, or the program you have. You don't really need those if you want you to buy them, but I would resist that because I'm talking about taking a bite-size, very manageable step today and don't go down the rabbit hole of buying everything. Your job is to buy your name.com. Spend$14. It'll be the best thing you do today, and you will be able to put a check mark next to the action. Did I take this action? Yes. Is it complete? Yes. Congratulations to you. Once a year I go to squarespace.com, which is where I get my domains. And I do a domain search and I, I learned that a year prior I bought a domain that I thought I was going to use that I don't, or I didn't, or I don't think I'm gonna use anymore. So I relinquish that one. I don't put it on renew. So even if you think I checked last year and somebody owns that, they might have relinquished the domain that you actually wanted. So you've gotta check. Once or twice a year, just go take a peek. Is it available? Beware of the expensive domain. You don't need a domain that is exactly what you were shooting for. If your name is Allison Lane and somebody else owns it, you could go with the Allison Lane. You know, or author or writer or like my friend Sam Bennett has the domain, the real sam bennett.com, which is genius'cause she is for reels. I Anyway. This is just to get you in motion and stop you from trying to tackle your entire year on the first workday of the year. Don't do that to yourself. Take this tiny action. Go get the domain that you know that you are going to need and do not fall for all the clickbait. You don't need the.net, the.io, the.co, and the.com. Pick one. Do it and be done.