People buy domain names before they do anything else online.
To keep identities uniform across websites and networks, most base their Twitter handles off of their domain name and/or their name. Domains, Gmail accounts, Twitter handles and Facebook URLs are quickly reserved as more and more people jump online.
Have you thought about reserving domains for your children?
Jenny Hooper, a pregnant business professional hadn’t planned on reserving domains for her daughter.
Personally, I find it odd. For me, creating my first email address and screen name was a big deal, something exciting and an expression of myself and my personality.
She has a good point. It’s a pretty cool milestone for a kid to create their online identity, but what about their professional future?
In junior high, I was thrilled to be BluGlitterChick on AOL and never thought about being ChelseaBradley, and hadn’t even thought about my future professional life.
Jason Falls, Founder of Social Media Explorer, thinks it’s smart to grab domains, social accounts, and email accounts for children.
At a minimum, you’re helping them ensure they can protect their identity and build a personal brand for themselves down the road.
Falls has domains for his children, as well as a few major social media accounts.
Letting children have their own identities when they’re of social media profile age is fine, but treat them to a digital gift for their future and secure domains and accounts for them. There is no need to create websites or post for them.
When my son was born, I reserved a domain for him, as well as Gmail, Facebook and Twitter accounts. His handles are LastNameFirstName because the standard FirstNameLastName handles for his name were already reserved.
By 2025, [email protected] or @SallySmith equivalents will definitely not be available, if they’re not taken already. Move fast and reserve those domains. They may not use them for 25 years, but they’ll be happy when they want to use them. It can’t hurt.
5 Domains to Reserve
- Domain Name
- Gmail
- Google+
I recommend FirstNameLastName or LastNameFirstName to be simple.
Visit Knowem.com to see which domains are available and to help you decide what name combination you can use universally.
When our children are old enough to create accounts, the way emails and social media accounts are reserved may be completely different than the way we are doing things now, but it doesn’t hurt to reserve them.
Have you, or do you plan to reserve domains for you children?
Suggested reading: Teenagers: Why You Should Care About Your Digital Footprint
Chelsea is a digital marketing strategist at Zuberance. Tweet her @ChelseaRhane.