Blogger: Michelle Ule
Location: Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.
A writer I know has a distinctive author byline that incorporates her first, maiden and married name. Her books are loved by young folks, and she has a heavily-trafficked website. Unfortunately, back in the dark ages when she purchased her domain name, she missed one of the elements. Her website uses two names instead of three and the person who snatched up all three of her names doesn’t want to give it to her. Indeed, he’d be happy to sell back her own full name for a substantial sum of money–think five digits. Oh, and by the way, he’ll post anything he wants in the meantime. Including pornography.
The author’s webmaster couldn’t negotiate a reasonable price, but was able to convince the domain owner to take down the pornography.
The Walt Disney Company has battled a similar problem–though in their case it has to do with easy typos to their distinctive name and where that can take an unsuspecting child or adult. It’s an ugly world out there, and it can be expensive to try to protect your good name and your readers’ sensibilities.
So, for those who are not yet famous–and that does not mean infamous–how can you protect yourself?
By securing your domain name.
Your domain name is what people look for when they search for you on the Internet. Your website will be linked to it, and your blog may as well. It’s important to nail all the permutations of your name. For most of us, domain names can be purchased for a very reasonable price through web hosting sites. You might want to consider close misspellings of your name or of your business just to make sure.
And while you’re at it, if your site is called something other than your name, make sure it’s spelled correctly before you swipe your credit card!
But what if you’re like our author? What can you do? The Domain Sherpa has six suggestions found here: 6 Ways to Recover a Domain Infringement.
In addition to website problems, you also could run into trouble if your good name, your brand, gets hijacked. How you respond to attacks on your character via social media or even in the press can make a difference in your professional life. While some folks argue all publicity is good publicity, there’s a way to handle it that works better than others. Read about it here: 5 Ways to Avoid Sabotaging Your Brand Online.
What steps have you taken to ensure your public persona is safe? Have you ever had your good name impugned? How did you deal with that? (Don’t name the offender, please!)
This is great advice. Thanks for the links. They were insightful. I have a blog, but I didn’t think I needed a website just yet. Now I’m thinking I should go ahead and at least purchase a domain.
I purchased my domain and locked it up for three years. I’m not ready to publish content yet, but at least I have it.
Of course, it’s not foolproof just to purchase your domain name since others can concoct many variants (e.g. johndoe.com, john_doe.com, john-doe.com).
In the end, I have to rely on people paying attention to the information I publish and not confuse me with someone else. In this global Internet age, you’d think people would start to understand there may be more than one person of the same name and not get so confused.
Along with my personal website (which is just my name), I also co-write a blog called Girls With Pens. We didn’t know at the time to check where typos in the name might lead. So while http://www.girlswithpens.com takes you to a safe site about writing for the faith-based market, typos in the last word take our readers to some very dirty content. When we hand out cards, we find ourselves warning people to type carefully. It’s frustrating.
So my advice is that, if you’re going to give your blog a title, you also need to check out potential typos. Unlike a name, you can always chose a different blog title and save yourself the headache.
Michelle,
Great information here…thanks so much for the references to the other sites. The Mashable link was extremely helpful.
I have a website for my tea shop and blog, and thankfully so far, have had no issues other than spammers replying to the blog. That problem has been taken care of now.
I am wondering if I need to add a tab on my current website or create another separate site for “book” related subjects? I wouldn’t know what domain to purchase if I did add another site. Do you recommend an author purchase a site using their own name? Although I haven’t published yet, I am hopeful. However, I don’t want to spread myself too thin and make my life more complicated.
Kate–I’d recommend buying variation on your name. It’s not that expensive, maybe $10-$12 a year, and you’ve got it if you ever decide to put together a website. Like Lance, I purchased my domain name several years ago and while I’ve got my blog up and running, I’m still behind on the website.
Great post, Michelle. It reminds me that I should buy variations of my domain name too. I have ccmalandrinos.com, but there is .net and .info, plus I think there’s a woman with the last name of malandrino.
One thing that happened to me, which was a horrible experience, and one I admit I responded badly to, was when I mistakenly used someone else’s domain name in starting a blog.
WordPress allows you a free site, and you can choose a URL, but because the URL will appear like this-URLname.wordpress.com–it won’t tell you that there is someone out there with a similiar paid for domain name. So, using my brand I started a new blog for kids that tied into my current blog for an older audience and went along my merry way. The woman emailed me in a huff, claiming I stole her domain name that she had paid good money for.
It was an error, but she wouldn’t believe me and I got a bit testy. She complained to WordPress and my blog got suspended, so I had to start all over again.
My bit of advice would be to check a URL even if it’s for a free site. You can visit GoDaddy and search for available URLs. It will save you time and frustration.
That’s good advice Cheryl, to check the name before you get started. It’s also valuable advice when writing a book–while the publisher may change the title, you’ll have better luck if yours is a unique title. So, Gone With The Wind, while perhaps an excellent description of a story about a tornado devastating your possessions, doesn’t work well for a new title, given Margaret Mitchell’s novel.
Good idea, David, to google your name and consider a pen name to differentiate yourself. A pen name can be a good tool for anonymity if you want to preserve your family’s privacy. I’ve thought of using my grandmother’s old fashioned, distinctive name for that reason, though, obviously Michelle Ule is unique enough–there’s only the Imposter out there . . .
I don’t know, my name is way too common. A search for David Todd brings up a general practice lawyer, a divorce attorney, a dentist, an engineer in Oklahoma City, an engineering professor (so 3 engineers named David Todd, all different middle initials), a seller of various things, and even someone incarcerated in Pennsylvania. Because of that, I’ve considered using a pen name. One of the Internet handles I use is Norman D Gutter. That’s very distinctive, and memorable. What do you all think of that as a pen name?
DAT, er, NDG
Michelle, your advice is extremely helpful. Thank you for posting it.
Michelle,
Thanks for your response and your suggestion. I’ll go ahead and purchase a name domain and several variations. At least I’ll have it….I’m sure I could link any future blog to my current website.
Thank you for tackling these tricky situations this week, Michelle. And, I’d like to say thank you to everyone sharing their experiences the past two days. What you’ve learned is helping others, too!
I think it’s easy to get mighty fearful considering the dangers lurking around the internet. My natural earthly reaction is to worry. I’m thankful we have a God who looks over all, protects all, and provides peace.
Grab your kids’ and grandkids’ domain names now, while they’re available. If you think your daughter might marry and change last names, forget it.
David, Norman Gutter is indeed memorable, different and cool… and very likely available! 🙂 Sounds masculine, perhaps a bit retro. For a middle initial, D might sound a bit like “the” rendering Norman “the” Gutter to your immature junior high friends. Go for something bold and intriguing; Q… Norman Q. Gutter.