I wrote a post back in April titled Claim Your Name that explained why it is important for you to claim your name on the web’s numerous social sites and even domain URL’s. I listed a group of nine recommended sites that you should grab right away and show them here for reference:
- .Com domain name
- LinkedIn®
- WordPress.com
- Gmail
- Yahoo
- YouTube
- Flicker
I argue that if you are engaged in business activity of any kind that these are strategic sites. As a result of that post from almost six months ago and additional sites I suggested in the Fill the Funnel newsletter, I started searching for a more effective and efficient way to accomplish this task. I simply didn’t have the time to go create accounts with new sites. This resulted in missing a few key new sites with my preferred online name or company name.
My challenge, and I hope yours is now over. I came across a Webtool that does exactly what I was recommending. Check your username availability across 120 different social media sites. This service is provided by Knowem LLC and checks the availability of your brand name, user name or vanity URL on 120 popular Social Networking and Social Media websites. They add 5-10 sites a month on average and you know this explosive growth is not slowing down.
Knowem? offers several service levels. Click the logo on the left and enter your name or company name into the form, and watch while it graphically checks the 120 sites and shows you if your name is available or not. Hopefully for those that are not available it is because you already own them.
I seldom recommend that my readers subscribe to one of the premium services when they first learn of the Webtool. I suggest that you try them out and then move up to a paid level if you find that you receive the value that you had hoped. With Knowem?, I am recommending that you register for one of the two premium services they offer right away. It will be worth the time you will save immediately, and for years into the future. Here is a brief review of the two premium services offered:
Premium Automated Username Signup-Don’t have time to register for all 120 sites? Let their team do it for you! For $64.95 (about .50 cents a name) they will fill out the registration on all these popular social media sites with your Username and information in about 1 to 5 business days.
Monthly Username Subscription Service-Knowem can save you the time of needing to hunt out niche sites for your profile. Each month as new social media websites launch (always a minimum of 10, up to 16) they will secure your identity on them for $19.95 per month. Just simply check your signup email and see what great new sites they’ve registered you with. Also be sure to watch for some of the great beta invites they get!
These services pay for themselves in the first wave. As a company owner, this is one of those no-brainers.
A side benefit of clicking one of the links above to go to the site, the home page shows the 120 site logos that you can check for free. When you put your mouse on any one of the logos, a short popup displays a brief description of what the site is about. I’ll bet you will find one or two that will be of interest.
Claiming your name and controlling your online presence for your company and/or you personally should never be an issue again. Unless you are the owner of Acme Plumbing in Seattle and the owner of Acme Plumbing in another city reads this post before you do! What are you waiting for? Leave a comment and let us know what you discover when you check your names.
