Soooo… Sunday I had a big scare from one of my Google Alerts.  The one that got me was one for my own name.

Yes,  I have an alert setup for me and my name as well as my business name.  I’m not egotistical or anything, I actually recommend everyone have these types of alerts setup in order to keep tabs on when and where your name comes up in the online world. An alert, for those new to this term, is an email update of the latest Google results (web, news, etc.) based upon the search parameter you setup. It’s an effective way to keep on top of mentions out on the Web of you, or even your company or clients.

Anyhow, Sunday I open the Alert for “Kathy Colaiacovo” and come to find it is a link to a website under construction.  I click on it and the fear sets in! Why?  The website was www.kathycolaiacovo.com !!  It was me!  And I didn’t own it! Crap!  That’s all I could think was “Crap!”, and how dumb I had been because I had not bothered to take the time and $10 to book the darn domain name – my name.

I was so mad!  And there I was looking at the screen and reading the message that said how this website was the home of a future website. I was fuming at my desk and my stupidity – sorry no better word could describe what I was calling myself at that moment!

I decided I had to see who owned the domain name, I knew there could be another Kathy Colaiacovo out there but, OH!  I was so mad at myself.  I head over to the Whois registry website to lookup the owner of this fine domain name – only so I could yell at them in my mind.  They had every right to buy it, since I dropped the ball. 

I plugged in the domain and entered the captcha numbers to see who owns this beast.  I was really mad at this point, and if anyone knows me – just picture me sitting at my computer, clenching my jaw, grinding my teeth and mad. The registrant info pops up – and what a shock!  I was totally dumbfounded at the name of the owner… but at least the jaw-clenching stopped.  The owner was me!

Oh for Pete’s Sake! I had in fact heeded the advice of others and bought my own domain name.  The thing is, I apparently wiped that action from my mind! I had bought it and forgot about it until I saw this Google Alert. It was sitting there, waiting for it’s owner to do something with it. The owner being me! Even worse I will confess… was that I had bought it on Tuesday, this was Sunday! 5 Days and my memory was gone!  Go ahead laugh – it is funny, but a good lesson for others.

My tip today is to get out and buy your domain name before someone else does and try not to forget about it.  Point it to your main website until you are ready to do something wild and great with it. Many people are using their domain name to create fabulous “About” pages.

If you have you set yours up already?  If so, pop your url in the comments here so others can see how they can be used very effectively.

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