Keeping personal and professional domains separate involves being careful with domain registration. People who use their name for both their private and occupational web pages run the risk of crossing work communication with private communication. Business owners need to protect their privacy and maintain their reputations by keeping private domains separate from occupational domains on the web and in social media.
Separate domain registration for personal and professional websites are crucial. If a business name and a person’s name are too similar, then people who search for a business online could be redirected to private photographs of the business owner’s children, for instance. To ensure that clients do not see information that is not relevant to the product or service, business owners should register distinctive and separate domain names.
Many business owners blog for both business and private audiences. These bloggers must be absolutely sure that their professional and personal blog addresses are completely different. For example, if WordPress hosts both blogs, the web addresses must be different enough that clients will not find the business owner’s personal blog. While clients welcome valuable content about services and products, they probably do not want to know about the business owner’s private interests.
People must place boundaries between occupational and private social media uses. Clients may enjoy receiving news about a promotion on Facebook, but they may have no interest in the latest YouTube video that the business owner posted for his friends. Creating different social media domains or even differentiating which social media websites are used for which purposes will help to ensure that a business owner’s image remains polished.
Registering unique private and occupational domain names is a must. If owners choose “yourname.net” for their professional website and “yourname.com” for their personal website, then clients may be accidentally directed to the business owner’s personal web address. For this reason, owners should create very different private and business website addresses. If users have purchased inactive domains for the business, then they must ensure that those domains do not redirect to a private website.
Some people take the precaution of using one social media outlet for business and one for private communication. Some people, for instance, use Facebook for private contacts and Twitter for their professional contacts. Another idea is to use Facebook for private use and LinkedIn for public use. Either way, business owners are choosing completely distinct services so that public and private contacts do not interact.
Facebook, in particular, should be used with care. To guarantee freedom and reputation, business owners should create different private and occupational domains. A private domain for the business and a separate page for personal use will guarantee that the line between friend and client does not blur. For example, instead of friending clients, business owners should suggest that clients “like” their occupational Facebook site.
In today’s interconnected world, keeping private and work-related communication separate is increasingly difficult. However, to ensure both freedom and a solid reputation, website owners should take great care with domain registration. Crossing the professional and the personal could alienate valuable clients and cost website owners valuable sales dollars.
