What's in a name right? I'm sitting here writing this guest post and while you read it I want you to ask yourself, What's in a name, more importantly what's in your name. If you can take a pen and write down the first 10 things that come into your head when saying your name.
Our name represents who we are and what we stand for. If you mention my name to many bloggers online some words that come to mind are, social media marketer, entrepreneur, nice guy, Blog Engage owner, and perhaps others I don't like to admit. (lol) The point is our name is important and in fact there's a lot in a name.
Branding
When people start to know us by name we start to build an online brand. Everything we do is going to affect this brand, what it represents and what others think about it. It's up to us to build the brand we want and to influence the opinion of others about ourselves. This is nothing new we do this every day of our lives except some forget to apply it online and specifically with blogging.
The Message
What is our message, what do people that meet us take from our activity together.
Do they pass on the message we are trying to relay to others?
It's very important for people you meet to fully understand what your intentions are or what your message is. This is going to be the determining factor to whether or not a relationship will be created. It will also reflect the idea others have of us so it's very important to get our message across fast and clearly.
We are in control
We create these feelings and have the power to be whatever we want to be online. You can be the nice guy, smart a$$, techno geek, Mr. Know-it-all, my point is it's up to you with regards to what you want to be, the sky's the limit. Take control of your online identity and make it everything you want it to be. Just be sure to get the right message across in the beginning as it will have a major affect on your success or potentially create more work for you in the end.
Change is good
Change, under normal circumstances is a good thing. When you bring change you have one thing to remember, you must be consistent. If your changing your blog profile information, change it on all your guest blogging sites, if your adding a new picture make sure to update it on all your social networks, if your changing our message make sure all your visitors receive it and more importantly understand it. Change is good, if it's consistent!
So if you ask me what's in name, I would say everything you are, everything you work towards and stand for online is in a name. How important in your name? Do you work hard at creating your message or building your online identity? Tell me in a comment below, if someone was to say your name, what would they say about you?
Hello Brian! An online identity is definitely important if you have an online business. Better yet I always thought that its even better to use your real name. This way you can show people you are serious and professional.
Hi Cristian, You know for the longest time I use to market and promote blog engage with my own personal account. Now I don’t do that. I only use the blog engage account and it’s finally close to 3000 followers.
Hey Brian,
Nice article the name play major role for branding and get famous and make unique identity among your competitors. By the way I just read about blog engage affiliate program in Stacy blog.Hope it get same popularity like blog engage community.
I try my hardest to maintain a good name but let’s face it, we have good days and we have bad days. This is apart of being human and we must accept that we will forever make mistakes.
Hello Brian,
I fully agree with you. Our names carries everything about us like what we do, who we are, where we live, our attitude, everything from head to toe about us.
Shakespeare says “What’s in your name.”
here’s the answer of that question Shakespeare dude.
“Everything resides in our name.”
Romy Singh I loved that, thanks so much for sharing. If I paid more attention in school I may had mentioned that reference. Everything we are online is in a name because it’s all we have.
I get what you are saying, I think a name is very important, the name of this blog for example is good because it uses the ‘power of 3’ rule – three short simple words that go together and that the reader can recognise.
Hi Harriet interesting point, so your saying keep the name short so ti’s easy to remember making it easy to brand! Nice advice.
Hi Brian,
Name is have more impotence in life even more when you are dealing with online business.I always reads blog engage article and i found that your name and blog engage name both are highly famous in blogging area.
Hello Bhupendra, thank you for your kind words it’s such a faltering compliment. I’ve worked hard and built many great relationships while I went along. Thanks for the comment. I’m going to connect with you now!
Thanks for reply Brian, It’s true that you have great relationships with lot of blogger and due to that and your hard work today you are a successful blogger.Again thanks for connect with me.
Hi Brian,
Yes you are right that name plays vital role for branding anything. I am agree with Cristian we should use our real name for online presence. Thanks for sharing this.
~ Amit Shaw
Hello Amit Shaw thank you so much for the comment. I have gone to connect with you and I’m now following you on Twitter and Google plus! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Your name is the most important thing in business. Especially keeping it clean and keeping a good reputation. A bad rep can kill a business overnight.
Hi Austin nice to connect with you here. I replied to you comment on blog engage. We would love to have you joining us your blog is a great example of a professional good quality real estate blog.
Great Post Brian,
I just recently changed my name on Social Media because I wasnt happy with it. Now that I made the change to a carefully thought out name using the a lot of the tips here, Things are going a lot more smoothly. Great Post! thanks!
Well Nikki , I have to say, your still missing some key elements, For example right now I want to comment with you but I can’t. Your Twitter link is broke, no comment luv and no blog url. How are we supposed to build on our relationship?
So true Brian. I was in such a rush to comment that I must have made a typo or two. Thanks for letting me know and it’s all fixed on this one. Chat soon!
Yes I saw that, I’m glad you came back to fix it! Now we can connect and build on our relationship. Thanks for engaging on the blog article with me.
Your identity is the most important part of your brand. Your name is your identify. If possible, you want to have a name that is simple to remember and evokes your theme.
Hi Richard! Thanks so much for connecting and visiting my article here. Your a perfect example of how important a name is how long have we known one another now? years right?
Hey Brian,
Time flies. In the blink of an eye, it’s been a couple of years already!
i definately agree with you, an online identity is important if you have an online business. youre real name is unique to you, people relate to (and remember) real names
Brian, great post. Branding (of which our name is a part) is very important. For me, a person’s character is the biggest aspect of this. If I perceive someone as an upstanding citizen or net citizen then I have respect for that person and their brand.
But there are names out there that are well known – and I have a direct experience with one or two that tells me they are not upright / good people. When that happens, others may be swayed by their ‘brand’ but I steer clear of them!
Being a good person is very important to me and I don’t like to interact with those who I perceive not to be .
Protecting our name / brand in this way very important – as you know.
Hi David, thanks so much for reading my guest post and leaving your own thoughts. It seems we are both on the same page. I value a good brand name, with this we see integrity, honestly, reliability and trust. Everything is in a name and a name is a brand. You must find your name and brand to be very important as you are a well know author with self published books. How do you maintain such a good name and online brand? Do you have some sort of method to control your online brand and it’s integrity?
That I’m down to earth. When I started working on my branding last year, I misunderstood the point; but today, thanks to several great reads and some crowd sourcing, I get it.
I’m my brand! So I started collecting the comments that were used to describe me and my blogs and the common description is “down to earth.” I want people to learn something from me, to feel that they can ask me anything, and to see me as a peer. I want to connect!
Hi Kimberly, thanks for the little story! I was very happy when I first meet you and was also very happy to see you join blog engage so fast. I love having you around the community and was also happy to see you join the rss services. Your right however your name is your brand, this is what people will come to know and trust.
Until my visit at Blogging While Brown last year, I never fully understood the FULL value of a name online. I did an informal survey and asked people what comes to mind when they think of me. For the most part, it was consistent but there were sooooo many things. I had to buckle down and narrow it down to writing and blogging. I finally got it!
It’s true that the name branding is very important on the web but you also have to well communicate about your branding nowadays. E-reputation will be a factor of success in the future.
Yea brand communication is important, people have to understand your message clearly.
I am actually lucky that my name is lovely and feminine, matches my wares!
I couldn’t think of 10 things I would associate with my name.
My name? Well… I was known by most blogger as “The Bad Blogger” and seriously I like that 🙂 If you want me to think of ten 10 things right know… here’s what I got: “Bad, $hit, Raw, Sexy, Dirty, No Bull$hit, Doesn’t Give a Damn, Strange Dude, Cool Blogger and finally Kick A$$.”
I could have said more then 10… I mean my pen name “The Bad Blogger” seems to associate to a lot of bad stuff and is almost infinity.
Wong you have done an amazing job building your online brand. Everyone inn the blogosphere knows you and enjoys your blog content. I’ve been a big fan now for a few years and am thankful we have such a great relatsionhsip.
Hi Brian,
Your post made for a great read. Name spells everything in the online world. Your identity is based on name itself. I just had one query though. I often use the pen name ‘Shree’ in the blog comments and communities but in my blog I use my original name. Will that cause a problem?
Yes it will be an issue when people online, blog commenting and forums try to associate your name “Share” with what ever name you use bloggers. Once questions do both names use the same picture?
Yes the same picture is used in both the names. As the mail is same. Even in blogengage the pic is there. Will that help in anyway. If not I have to change the name.
I’m so sorry for spelling your name wrong, I was just leaving a comment on your blog and noticed I had spelled it wrong I hate when that happens. My apologies! Also I noticed your name isn’t very different so at least you have part of the name in there.
Hey Brian,
Everything is in a name 😉
Yes, having a unique brand identity is really important (it can help us a lot with building recognition and trust within our [potential] customers).
I don’t clearly have a brand identity right now (neither a clear USP for my blog). I am planning to go for “Break the Rules” (Still looking for a good domain name :D).
Thanks for the post, Brian 🙂
Jeevan Jacob John
Jeevan your dedication to blogging right now blows my mind. are you doing this for a living? I hope so because your going fantastic. You know an online identity the funny thing at the end of the day you really have no control. You have to work each day be positive and try to build 1 on 1 connections with people.
Yes brand recognition is important when a name is said, in fact it’s a must.
A name goes along and branding is very important. I build my blog based on my name. You actually have nothing else to stand behind.
Hi Michael, you know your comment here, it’s the main reason I stopped promoting the blog engage brand with my account @bbrian017 now people follow @blogengage and now it’s the brand image. Which is great it allows me a little more room to breathe lol
Brian, one’s name should be memorable, but even more important, it should be associated with courteous and hopefully relevant interaction. Every utterance online contributes to a reputation. I hope people know me for a sincere intent to discuss topics, genuine thanks for help, and just a little bit of joking around. 🙂
Astro my main alien! I know what you mean. But let me say, no matter what people say about you, just be who you are and will will always prevail.
Hi Brian,
You made real clear how important an online identity is in any business. People are always captivated about the promotions given online however they would ignore you of your name resounds nothing in the marketing world. This is why, when starting building up authority in the niche is particularly important.
Spatch
Yeah Spatch if your going to be blogging in any niche gaining authority is a must. Guest blogging will help you do this you know? You should try it.
Mostly peoples knows you from your name. Most of the time only name can define our identity. So it is compulsory to keep it clean.
Some great points that you would think are common sense but it’s amazing how many people don’t consider naming enough or properly.
Everything is in the name. Whether it is on-line OR off-line business. Identity is most important part of brand, if you are using your name as brand name. Your name is your identity.
Thanks for this insightful post.