What if Your Name Is Jenna Jameson? Personal Branding and Owning Your Online Space
May 6, 2008 by Kristen King
Filed under Business
I might be going out on a limb with this one, but I’m going to assume that it would not support your career goals for a potential employer to Google you and find lots of porn. It’s just a theory.
But what happens if you share a name with the so-called Queen of Porn, Jenna Jameson, or you’re Jenna Jamison, which is close enough for some seriously interesting search results? Or maybe, like a writer a met at a conference not too long ago, you’re a children’s book writer with the same name as someone who writes erotic fiction or explicitly graphic horror novels? Kind of a disconnect.
The thing is, this kind of stuff happens all the time. And not just on How I Met Your Mother.
I’m annoyed at a freshman college basketball player (this just in: she seems to play a sport in every flipping season) I’ve never met. Apparently the girl is very good, so there are all of these article about her popping up left and right. And she has my name, spelled the same way. I don’t want her to suck, and I certainly don’t want her to get injured (both because I wish her no ill will and, selfishly, because that would get her even more virtual ink) but it would really help me out if she could become mediocre and completely forgettable so people would just stop writing about her and stop ruining my pristine search engine rankings. (And NO, I am NOT going to link to her and give her more googlejuice, thankyouverymuch!)
If you have an unusual name, you’re in good shape — for now. You might even have a googlewhack with your name if you’re lucky. (Actually, on second though, you don’t want a googlewhack. But you DO want total domination.) Chances are, you have a nomenclature Doppelganger out there who’s screwing with your search results, most likely without even realizing it. So how to you make sure YOU’RE the first you people find when they go to Google? And how do you launch major damage control if a new player comes on the scene and edges you off the front page?
Here are my suggestions:
- Buy your domains. Go to GoDaddy.com or whatever domain name purchasing source you like and purchase yourname.com and all other variations, with and without a hyphen if possible. Maintain ownership.
- Reserve free domains. Hit Blogger, Wordpress, and other free blogging sites and get yourname.blogger.com and yourname.wordpress.com (use a hyphen if it’s already taken) so others can’t use them.
- Use your real name on forums and social networking sites. Join Twitter, StumbleUpon, Digg, Technorati, whatever tickles your fancy — and use the same username whenever possible. I use kristenking or kristen_king on everything unless they’re both taken (and then my backup is always the same).
- Write a blog. Use your name as one of the tags on every post.
- Write about yourself in the third person. Kristen King recommends that anyone interested in improving their search engine ranking on their own name use their name in their website content. That’s why Kristen King says “Kristen King” a lot on her freelance writing services about page. But you don’t have to be a freak about it. In fact, you shouldn’t — people will think you have some sort of narcissism thing going on. Use good judgment, not spam tactics.
If all else fails, or if your name really is Jenna Jameson and you don’t want to be confused with the world’s most famous porn star, here are some other ideas that may be a better choice:
- Use a middle initial. I used to see articles all the time written by a guy named “Chuck Norris,” and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t this guy. If he’d used the byline, for instance, “Chuck A. Norris,” problem solved.
- Use your full middle name. It worked for Mary Higgins Clark, right? Because seriously, how many Mary Clarks are out there? Even if your middle name isn’t particularly distinctive (mine was Elizabeth until I got married and dropped it for my maiden name, Skove, which I also use from time to time in tags), the combination is more unique than just your first and last name alone.
- Use a first initial and go by your middle name. The only example I can think of for this one is C. Everett Koop. That one’s kind of boring. Come up with a better one for me, will you?
- Use just your initials. Hey, it works for J.K. Rowling (whose first name is Joanne, if you’re interested — way less interesting and distinctive than “J.K.”)
Have you had problems with same-namers? Any funny examples of mistaken identity? Ideas of your own to share? Tell your story in the comments! I’ll recruit some brilliant social networking folks to offer suggestions for those who need a hand.
(hat tips: Rick Mahn for the conversation that inspired this post at SOBCon08, and David Bullock for giving me the phrase “own your space,” also at SOBCon. Thanks for being part of an amazing conference, guys! You are both rockstars.)
**Note: All links in this article are safe for work, but I can’t promise that the links contained in all of those pages will be! I’m only responsible for what’s in my own content.**
Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King
Tags: women in business, women and business, business advice for women, jenna jameson, jenna jamison, personal branding, online reputation, search engine optimization, SEO, getting on the front page of google, how to get your name on the front page of google, googlejuice, google juice, googlewhack, google whack, keeping other people from using your name, social networking, domain names, how i met your mother, ted mosby porn star, sobcon, sobcon08, rick mahn, david bullock, kristen king, biz chicks rule
You should have make this post much earlier and may be I will fare better in blogging :)
Anyway, good advice. Will see if I can apply those pointers to my blog.
Cheers.
Great post! I am lucky that even though my first name (Miranda) is becoming more popular (I blame Sex and the City), my last name, Marquit, is rather obscure. Indeed, my sister-in-law and my brother-in-law sometimes get annoyed because I come up first when they Google themselves. Due to the dearth of Marquits out there, I’m the most “famous” one…
Thanks for these great suggestions Kristen – hope your search traffic doesn’t get too weird!
Joanna
Unique last names are helpful… unless your brother-in-law marries a girl with your same first name! It happened to me… :) Great tips, Kristen!
This is a great post because it covers a topic you don’t read about every day (or in my case, ever).
@Asia’h – You poor thing. You must hate American Idol now. :)
@Miranda – Thanks for the comment! You’re definitely the first Marquit I’ve met. It’s annoying when other people mispronounce uncommon names, but they sure come in handy for stuff like this. :)
@Joanna – Hey, it’s amazing what kinds of hidden gems you find by accident. Maybe someone will stumble across this post and find a solution to a problem they’ve been struggling with for years in the Biz Chicks Archives. You never know. :)
@Sarah – Yes, I can see how that would be weird. ;) Thanks for visiting!
@Brad – Well, I am glad you came by! :)
Hi Kristen
There’s a BBC tv announcer/former beauty pageant winner who shares my name. I’ve had a few embarrassing/comic cases of mix-ups with my personal blog.
I’ve given some thought to the tips you describe – but haven’t yet come up with a satisfactory solution!!
(I keep hoping she’ll be the one to change!)
:)
Stephen Smith recommends that you not be named “Stephen Smith”. He has a Google alert, but the Aussie PM keeps turning up. And a sex offender out west. And some jerkwad sports announcer that lots of people seem to have a serious amount of contempt for.
Sigh. That is where the “@” comes in.
Kristen, When I first got on line there was a world class scrabble player from Texas with my name. He owned ChrisCree.com and used it to sell forklifts (I think he’s selling folk music there now) so I bought the .net domain for a personal blog. There was also a wine taster in NJ named Chris Cree & a composer named Chris Cree Brown.
Blogging is the key, I think. When I stared out I was on like page 40 for “Chris Cree” now I’m half the front page including spots 1-3. It doesn’t hurt that I join just about every social media site around as ChrisCree either.
In my case it is harmless. A porn name would be hard to overcome. But otherwise consistent blogging will get you to the top of the results over time.
Good post!
What does it say about me that I changed the spelling of my first name in 2nd grade to be more unique? I used to be Sandy…but that was too ordinary. So I switched it to Sandie. Now that I read this, I’m glad I did.
This is a great article, Kristen. There’s another Jennifer Hofmann (same odd spelling and everything) that gets mixed up with me in Google’s top 10. She teaches international courses about online learning in both English and German – making for some indecipherable hits.
I think I’m going to take your suggestion for using my full name in my blog post tags. And I’m also going to consider using my middle initial, which is also a boring E (same as yours).
In any event, there are only literally 2 million Jennifers, so we have to do something to set ourselves apart (tho you won’t see me taking up porn performances anytime soon).
Kristen, that thought you had Saturday evening really turned into one awesome & helpful post. Glad it came together so well, and thinks for the tip ‘o the hat – though you did the heavy lifting on the whole idea.
I knew two sentences into this post who was writing it. You just have that style, girl. ;))
I knew an accountant in my hometown who used his first initial and middle name. Uh, he shouldn’t have. His name, swear to God, was C. Doyle Steele. The accountant. No, he never did my taxes. I couldn’t determine whether he’d had a great sense of humor or he was sending out subliminal messages….
Years ago, I found that a “Barbara Ling” was a set designer for Batman and Robin. Seekers of that person must be rather surprised when they come on my site….
Enjoy,
Barbara
One more thing – I was listening to NPR a few weekends ago and Michael Feldman of Whad’ya Know interviewed another Michael Feldman.
http://www.notmuch.com/Show/Archive.pl?s_id=506
Turns out their families both originate from Kiev and they determined that they might actually be the same person. :)
Try sharing a name with a soap opera character!
Anyway, good article and good suggestions for a fairly common problem.
Wow, lots of great comments here!
@Liz – Well, at least she’s known for doing something pleasant instead of something sketchy. Like…
@Stephen Smith – Sex offender, huh? That’s way worse than porn star. Good call with the @.
@Chris Cree – Who knew it was such a popular name? I never would have guessed.
@Sandie Law – To me, it says you were thinking ahead!
@Jennifer Hofmann – I get a lot of hits from Denmark on my maiden name, so I feel you on the indecipherable pages thing. Do go with the middle initial, but yeah, stay away from the porn. Good call.
@Rick Mahn – I wasn’t sure how I was going to pull it off, but you really got me thinking! Thanks for letting me bounce the ideas off you. Huge help!
@Lori – Ut-oh, not sure that’s a good thing! Wow, that’s a great example of poor planning on a name change. Reminds me of that joke about the law firm Dewy, Cheatham, and Howe.
@Barbara Ling – Too funny!
@Jennifer Hoffman (again) – Thanks for the link! That’s hilarious.
@Laura Spencer – I thought your name sounded familiar. ;)
Phew, hope I didn’t miss anyone! Thanks for all of the great comments thus far. Keep ‘em coming!
Kristen,
Great post – “online identity protection”. Never though of it this way until reading you post.
If you are building your name in the marketplace. Protect it at all costs.
Also, you might consider bidding on your name on the PPC platforms just to make sure that folks are not using your hard earned market positioning for profit.
Take Care,
David Bullock
Hi Kristen
Thanks for the reminder about tags, plus lots of other great suggestions here.
well i can understand branding your name to make you stand out but having an unusual name isn’t all its cracked up to be. mine is Cinnamon and while i am past the food related jokes and will politely smile at references to exotic dancers, i can’t stand the mandatory 5 minute conversation that follows whenever i state my name. “yes, that is my real name…yes, that is what’s on my birth certificate…no, my father named me…no, i don’t have sister named sugar/spice/ginger.”if im at a social function it’s well and good. bt when i am out running errands, sometimes i want to get in and get out anonymously. at work i hide my badge because random people who do not work for the company like to start conversations-especially men. Keep in mind, i dress very conservatively at work. >:( I used to enjoy my name because it was unusual. now i am careful not to say it often especially if i answer the phone and a sales person is on the other line.