[02] Online Presence & Identity: My Namesake Domain and Other Thoughts

The Birth of My Online Presence and Identity

So, one of the early things I became aware of was my online identity. But before we get to that, there’s this “hobby” that emerged from being on the Internet.

It’s got something to do with names…

Domains, Domains, Domains! And What The Gurus Said…

Yup, domains are the key to the Internet — they spell out how your online presence is located and referenced by other people.

Specifically, a domain name equates to your online ID, much like your NRIC has your registered name; or a person’s driving licence, popularly used in many Western countries as a valid ID.

Which meant that getting a domain name which spelled your actual name, or something very close or related to it, was akin to a prized find, since at that time only a few preferred conventions were prescribed.

The conventions insisted by the ‘Net gurus of the time was this: the top-level domain (TLD) ideally should be “com”. Failing which a “net” or “org” is preferred.

Anything other than these three were highly scorned — it meant that you wouldn’t be found readily by people searching for your online properties. That was the prevailing wisdom.

For me, it would mean that “markheng.com” is the best, followed by either “markheng.net” or “markheng.org”, if I wanted a namesake domain name. More on that shortly…

Quickly, this idea of names in domains spread to other online entities, mostly websites I thought I would set up. So the “obsession” with good domain names began. And with a wild mind like mine, it wasn’t easy to stop dreaming up pretty names 🙂

Yeah, it really became sort of a hobby… and an expensive one if one isn’t careful. After all, it does cost about $10 a pop annually to keep each domain registered under your care. And for some special TLDs, the fee can run into tens or hundreds of dollars!

Wait… Someone Has Got My Namesake Domain!

Back to markheng.com.

What? It’s been taken! I couldn’t believe it — who else in the world would be named “Mark Heng”?

Of course I had to take a look!

The other Mark with the same family name turned out to be from Colorado, USA. He is an accomplished artist who draws great caricatures.

According to the website, Mark lived in Boston before settling down in Ireland.

Mark’s online presence goes back to June 2007, when his Blogger site had its first post. But it could have been earlier.

A quick WhoIs check revealed that markheng.com was registered on May 18th, 2004. It isn’t clear if Mark the caricaturist became known online back then or had acquired the domain name (from another party) some time later.

No matter what, there was no way I could have beaten him to it, being such a late comer to the Internet.

Ok, if it were any consolation, this artist Mark didn’t get his namesake Gmail account. That would indeed be tough by any measure, as free Email was way too hot!

Now, an Email address is another form of online presence — it would have your name in it. Having said that, it also meant that my Gmail address wasn’t ideal; indeed, I had to wrap numbers around my name.

But I did score a perfect Email address with Yahoo 🙂

There Goes My Online Presence?

With markheng.com already registered, did it mean I couldn’t have the best shot at getting myself present online?

Well, it wasn’t the end of the world. There were choices still…

(Incidentally, I managed to secure namesake “.com” domains for my family members without any problem. How nice!)

The Internet is Alive

It goes without saying the Internet is abuzz with activity. Everybody who’s connected to it is participating in what suits them, be it social interaction, searching for information, purchasing stuff, watching movies, listening to top hits, etc.

For the savvy, they have built and launched their Web properties, like websites, blogs, shopping sites, video channels, discussion rooms, etc, to provide content for the rest to consume online.

Yes, that’s like getting a strong foothold on the ‘Net; and such online presence can only gain weight with each passing day.

The key to all this is to stay on the other side of the equation: be a producer of content.

Write good articles; create and share useful videos; give visitors tips and tricks to do stuff better; engage your readers in discussions and contribute actively — these are but some activities content producers do… on a regular basis.

If you want to start simple, try tagging your Facebook posts which deal with a consistent topic or area of interest with a fixed hashtag, like I’d done so with #MarkHWords for musings that I share there.

Yes, it takes work to be established online. No magic overnight success, but constant effort which adds a bit each week to your growing presence. That can only go one way: more awareness of your online identity.