Within a short period of time that changed and I started seeing other commenters with the name Barbara.

By that time I knew I wanted to build my online presence so I added my last name.

Today’s Lesson

When I travel through blogosphere, I see many bloggers who only use their first name as their online identity.

It’s not that there’s anything wrong with that, however, it can be confusing, and can be a detriment.

Example: Let’s say your name is Clifford AND you don’t use an avatar*. You comment on blogs, build your online presence and soon become well known in your area of expertise. All is good in your world.

Than along comes another avatar-less Clifford, who begins to comment on the same blogs as you do, AND his blog is in the same niche as yours.

Those of us who follow links, may assume Clifford #1 and Clifford #2 are the same person.

They’re not. but we don’t know that because there’s little or no information to differentiate between the two.

The work Clifford #1 has put into developing his online presence could take a hit while Clifford # 2 could have just gotten an unexpected boost to his readership and reputation.

That said, I realize many bloggers choose not to use their real last names, nor do you have to.

Some choices are:

1. Choose a very unique log in name

This can work well for those who blog anonymously, however if the day comes when you want to “come out”, it may be necessary to do a large “media” blitz to notify those who know you by your pen name so they continue to follow you.

2. Make up a fictitious last name.

Keep in mind, if you do this and you want to build an online presence, be consistent and use the same pseudonym on all blogs and social media sites you frequent.

3. Use your first name and the name of your blog

Something like “Barbara @ BWAB” (Blogging Without A Blog) is something I had considered, however at that time I already had two blogs and wanted the option of linking to either one without changing my log in name.

4. Use only the name of your blog

This can work well, except it may appear impersonal to some.

5. Use keywords

Many bloggers like to use keywords to describe themselves and their sites, however depending on the keywords, your login name can appear spammy.

For anyone trying to build their online presence, the name we use becomes crucial as it can follow us forever on the world wide web.

What say you?

Today’s Assignment

How did you choose the name you use online?

Have you ever encountered confusion because two or more bloggers have the same name?

Care to share?

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This post was inspired by part of what Kelvin Kao said in his comment on the *Who’s Who In Blogosphere post,

I am someone that needs a last name to attach to a person since a common first name, like, say, Jennifer can be anyone. Also I have a habit of changing the names of rss feeds in my feed reader to the blogger’s name, so I tend to have better recognition for blogger names than blog names.

Me

Sometimes you’ll hear them called gravatars (globally recognized avatars), but many just say “avatars”.

I like to call them ADvatars since they “ad”vertise who we are.

In some ways they are like our calling card.

Since they brand us in blogosphere, it’s suggested we use the same image on all sites we frequent and that they represent how we want to be known, whether by our photo, our logo or an image which best represents us.

Today’s Lesson

Recognition online is very important.

So the questions become, “What is the best way to brand ourselves?”, and “How will others recognize us?” .

By our name? By the name of our blog? By our avatar? Or, all three?

To test what brands us the best in blogosphere, I’ve created a little game.

Listed below are three columns with the names of 20 random blog authors, the name of their blog, and their avatars.

I then scrambled each category.

To play, take time to study each list and see if you can match the author to their avatar and to the name of their blog.

Don’t cheat. Honest answers will help all of us to gain better recognition in blogosphere.

Ready to match them up?

Good Luck!

AUTHOR . . . 1) George . . . . 2) Keith Davis . . . . 3) Kelvin . . . . 4) Mandy . . . . 5) Hilary . . . . 6) Tess . . . . 7) Raul . . . . 8.) Lisa . . . . 9) Tony . . . . 10) Joella . . . . 11) Heather . . . . . 12) Linda . . . . 13) Chania Girl . . . . 14) Julie . . . . 15) Wendi . . . . . 16) John Hoff . . . . . 17) Evelyn . . . . 18) Friar . . . . 19) J.D. Meier . . . . 20) Lori Hoeck

BLOG NAME . . . Practically Intuitive . . . . Alien Ghost . . . . Heather Villa . . . . WP Blog Host/Blog . . . . Trottersville . . . . Blogs With Wings . . . . Positive Letters . . . . Mandy Allen.com . . . . Sources Of Insight . . . . Tumblemoose . . . . Puppet Kaos . . . . . Easy Public Speaking . . . Living Happiness . . . . jbulie’s blog . . . . Think Like A Blackbelt . . . . Life’s Little Inspirations . . . . Abundance Tapestry . . . The Bold Life . . . . Roses 2 Rainbows . . . . Deep Friar

AVATAR

Today’s Assignment

How did you do?

How do you recognize  fellow bloggers? Is it by their name? The name of their blog? Or their avatar?

Care to share?

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P.S. To repeat what I mentioned in an earlier post, for those of you who haven’t added an avatar/gravatar to your profile; it’s very easy. Refer to my post titled, “How To Get and/or Add A Gravatar to Your Post Comments”. If you have any questions of need help setting up your avatar, please feel free to ask.

Want more of the game? See: How Branding Works In Blogosphere and Are Domain Names Overrated?; earlier posts in which we matched other bloggers to their avatars.

A lot of good things have been written about Twitter. It helps to get your blog found, aids in social networking, expands your branding power, etc.

It’s also written that Twitter is another time consuming social networking tool.

Today’s Lesson

I haven’t joined Twitter yet. In fact, I’m rather hesitant about joining.

Here’s my thoughts. I join Twitter and start following a few bloggers and they follow me. Soon, my Twitter community starts to expand. My followers are going to be tweeting me (forgive me if I get the language wrong), maybe asking questions, etc.

If I didn’t answer a person’s question in a timely fashion, would they stop following me?

Would a lack of participation on Twitter affect my reputation in blogosphere?

Although my online presence might increase, would the time spent on Twitter be better spent on my blog, or visiting other blogs?

What if I were to get addicted to Twitter?

What do you think?

Today’s Assignment

If you’re on Twitter, what are its advantages and disadvantages?

When you sign onto to Twitter, it asks “What are you doing?” Do you really care what other bloggers are doing? Or is Twitter another numbers game?

Do you find you’re becoming addicted to Twitter?

If you haven’t joined Twitter yet, what’s stopping you?

I’m looking forward to your answers on this one. They’ll determine whether I join Twitter, or not.

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