Creating Your Online Identity

Posted by JS Chui on Jun 7, 2012 in Domain | 2 comments

Having a unique online identity distinguishes you from your family, friends, business partners, clients and acquaintances. While everyone has their email at @gmail.com, you could have yours at me@yourname.com. Wouldn’t that be cool?

Well, the way to do it is to register a domain name. Domain names are unique and nobody else can use yours, unless it’s expired, of course. Your online identity will become more prominent over time when people build a picture of who you are and what you do via your website. An example of this is when authors create their own brand via pseudonyms; remember the movie, Lemony Snicket? He has his own website at lemonysnicket.com.

Your online identity could be used for anything, really. Our very own Group Managing Director has his at thebackpackr.com; an inspiring writer and traveller, Chris Guillebeau at chrisguillebeau.com; and yours truly is based at FatNinjas.my.

Securing a domain name has never been this easy and affordable. Thousands of providers offer the same product but with differing levels of service and packages. Depending on what you need, you could secure an international domain name (gTLD) while only paying a minimal fee.

If you want to secure a domain name within your locality, such as those ending with .my for Malaysians, you need to contact your local domain name registrar and the process could be complicated as you have to prove your local presence. Not to worry, though, as a good provider should walk you through the process as if a walk in the park.

Once you’ve secured your domain names, you could also direct your domain to a website, create email accounts within your domain with a webhosting package. On choosing a good hosting package, read more here.

To learn more about domain names, here’s a fun infographic on Domains 101 by DomainNameSales.