What kind of domain should I reserve for myself?

March 6, 2011 3:01 PM

PERSONAL BRANDING QUESTION: do I get a .me domain or .com domain?

I have a question for all the personal branding gurus out there. Should I get a .me domain or a .com domain? Does it even matter?

Here's why I'm asking:

I've been using the flavors.me service for a while as a personal social media hub/online business card. I work in the business as a social media strategist for a Fortune 300 company, so I've been thinking that I should finally get on the stick and register my own domain.

My name is Michael E. Rubin, and my elevator statement is "Seasoned Social Media & Word of Mouth Marketing professional - and a Jolly Good Fellow to boot." With that in mind, here are some options I'm considering:

michaelerubin.com

michaelerubin.me

jollygoodfellowtoboot.com

jollygoodfellowtoboot.me

socialmediapro.me

Thoughts? All opininos are welcome. No flames, please.

posted by zooropa to computers & internet (22 answers total)

The first one. You want your domain name to be as easy as possible to remember, spell, and repeat.
posted by decathecting at 3:05 PM on March 6, 2011

You want to get the first one.

You might even want a mod to anonymize the domain names, in case someone snatches it before you can.
posted by yaymukund at 3:08 PM on March 6, 2011 [2 favorites]

Register ALL of the names you think you might possibly want RIGHT NOW. There are reports that shady registrars take the results of people's searches and pre-emptively register them so that they can profit by selling the names back to the searcher at inflated prices. Domain names are cheap - register them now and then make up your mind.

This page has coupons that apparently let you register names at Godaddy for $7.49. If you don't like Godaddy, register them there and change the registrar later. Oh, and I think .com domains are better than anything else - they're the mental default, which makes them easier to remember than cute ones like michaelrub.in or whatever.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:10 PM on March 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

I like the first one because you can even use it if other factors change. If .me becomes popular with Maine businesses and you aren't in Maine, or if you decide that "boot.me" is not great, or that you don't want to be known as the jolly good fellow, or even if you move out of social media, you've still got a good one (unless you change your name, but that's unlikely).
posted by Houstonian at 3:11 PM on March 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

All of them, then install redirects after you've decided.
posted by Triton at 3:13 PM on March 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

Even though e is your middle initial, drop it from the domain. If I met you somewhere, and you gave me your web address, chances are I wouldn't remember to add an e in there by the time I got home.
posted by dougrayrankin at 3:16 PM on March 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

use the .com as canonical. what if Montenegro comes up with some odd policy for .me TLDs?
posted by the mad poster! at 3:25 PM on March 6, 2011

.com and the second person who is named Michael Rubin has to use a middle initial. You should not.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 3:32 PM on March 6, 2011

All great answers, folks! Thank you so much.

My problem is that michaelrubin.com is taken. There are also a few other Michael Rubins out there that I'd rather not be mistaken for. One is a well-known political columnist who publishes rather inflammatory stuff about the Middle East. The other is a rock star journalist which sounds great, but is not exactly the image I'd like to get mistaken for as well.

I tend to use my middle initial in all personal and professional communications, which is why I thought it would work for the domain. But the consensus appears to be that I should lose it. Hmmm.
posted by zooropa at 3:36 PM on March 6, 2011

maybe your full middle name?
posted by the mad poster! at 3:38 PM on March 6, 2011

[removed the link, you need to be able to ask a question about branding without it seeming like the post is, itself, branding. Feel free to put it in your profile, people can see it there.]
posted by jessamyn at 3:39 PM on March 6, 2011

What about mrubin.com, mikerubin.com, michaelrubinmarketing.com? I'm not sure which combo might work for you, but I would go with a .com (I'm not even familiar with what a .me represents). With the "e" initial in there I accidentally read it as michaelarubin.com.
posted by sprezzy at 3:43 PM on March 6, 2011

All I know is that if I were a sleazy domain squatter I'd go and register those out from under you right now and sell 'em back. But I'm not. So, yeah, go get at least the first one right now.
posted by carlh at 3:45 PM on March 6, 2011

Domains are cheap. No reason not to buy a couple and see what works for you.
posted by auto-correct at 3:47 PM on March 6, 2011

.com. The answer is, for all intents and purposes, always .com.
posted by stoneweaver at 3:51 PM on March 6, 2011 [3 favorites]

Register ALL of the names you think you might possibly want RIGHT NOW. There are reports that shady registrars take the results of people's searches and pre-emptively register them so that they can profit by selling the names back to the searcher at inflated prices.

You can use instant domain search to look for domains. It's all ajaxy and doesn't record what you search for. Only searches com/net/org as well as .biz and mobi.

.coms are always better.
posted by delmoi at 4:05 PM on March 6, 2011

First of all it's a very bad idea to publicizes the domain names you want in a forum. Someone could easily register them before you.
.com is the most popular option and in 99% of the cases it will work. But since .com is for businesses and if later someone who has a business registration by that name challenges you in the court you MIGHT loose it.

Another good option is .net
posted by WizKid at 4:32 PM on March 6, 2011

.me is hard for the average person to remember.
posted by kenliu at 5:37 PM on March 6, 2011

.com, for sure. I'm used to typing a domain name in the url field and hitting ctrl-enter.
posted by starscream at 6:35 PM on March 6, 2011

I've had addresses that end in .org, .ca, .net, etc. Nothing but trouble.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 7:06 PM on March 6, 2011

Always get a .com if you can.

michael-rubin.com is available. I'm generally not big on hyphens (and they add hassle when spelling your email address over the phone) but all those E's in the middle of your proposed domain confuse the eye and would make it tricky to remember.

If it were me, I would get both michael-rubin.com and michaelerubin.com and direct the latter to the former.
posted by Georgina at 7:08 PM on March 6, 2011

If you use your middle initial on all your correspondence, I think it's fine to include it.

I know someone who has a middle initial in all his correspondence, including his .net website. Admittedly, he's been at that website for years and years, but if you google his first and last name, his website comes up first. If it weren't for this question, I probably would have included his middle initial in the search, because I know it's used as part of his name.
posted by aniola at 10:01 AM on March 7, 2011