There was a time when personal branding was a concept relevant and reserved only for famous personalities, celebrities, CEO’s, and sports stars. Today, building a personal brand is a crucial skill every employee and working professional must diligently invest in. A personal brand enables professionals to differentiate themselves and position themselves as thought leaders in a niche.

Whether you’re starting a new business, looking for a promotion, switching careers, hunting for a better job, or growing your network, building a personal brand can take your career to a whole new level. As a marketeer, it is essential to brand and market yourself with the same passion and intensity as your products and services.

What Is Personal Branding?

Personal branding is the process of developing a brand around your personality by consistently and effectively promoting yourself. Done well, you can tie your personal brand in with your business or career to achieve unparalleled success.

Building a personal brand can be an overwhelming and somewhat daunting task. This is because it’s easy to lose focus on what you wish to achieve and where to begin. Oprah Winfrey went through multiple style iterations before defining her voice as one of the most influential personal brands in the world.

However, building a personal brand in the digital world is a lot easier than you think. All you need is the right domain name! Now you may wonder what does a domain name have to do with building a personal brand? As it turns out, a whole lot!

5 Creative Ways To Use A .icu Domain Name To Build A Strong Personal Brand

Here are five creative ways to use your .icu domain name to build and augment your personal brand online:

1. Build A Brandable Virtual Portfolio 

A smart way to establish a strong personal brand online is to create a website that showcases your work portfolio complete with relevant links. Include your gamut of skills, projects undertaken, awards and accolades, social media handles, contact information, and testimonials from previous clients or colleagues.

For instance, if you are a marketing professional, using your first or full name with a short and distinctive .icu domain extension (www.ethanbrown.icu or www.ethan.icu) to host your body of work is a wise decision. A one-word or full name website address is easy to remember and even easier to build a personal brand with.

A domain name like www.firstname.icu goes a long way in building your personal brand. Whether you share your website address with potential employers or prospective clients, a short, meaningful, and smart domain gives people positive connotations about your work while establishing you as a highly professional and sophisticated individual. Using the right domain name is a great way to make a lasting first impression.

2. Start A Blog 

Starting a blog website is a great way to build authority in your niche and establish yourself as a thought leader. Having a blog also helps recruiters and employers get a more in-depth insight into your capabilities and skills. It’s the same with prospective clients or partners who want to learn about what drives you.

Include all relevant links to your social media handles and links to blogs that have been published on other reputable websites. If you already have a blog website, then it’s advisable to add more pages to it and build your personal brand website around it. Starting a blog aims to give employers or customers a better sense of who you are and help you establish yourself as an influential personality in a given industry.

If you are a chef, you can start a blog about healthy food habits, new recipes, baking hacks, etc. Be sure to include links to your LinkedIn and Twitter profile or your YouTube channel (if you have one). A smart, slick, and meaningful domain name like www.catherinebakes.icu or www.chefscorner.icu is a great way to write and share your blogs.

3. Convert Your LinkedIn Or YouTube Profile Into A Personal Brand Channel

Whether you’re a marketing guru, finance expert, nutritionist, medical professional, or a CEO, your LinkedIn profile is one of the most important social media channels to share as a reference with employers or clients. In case you don’t have a website or a blog site, your professional social media handle becomes the next most vital avenue to build your personal brand.

By sharing a link to your LinkedIn profile, you can give recruiters, clients, or partners an insight into your professional accomplishments, work experience, awards, endorsements, blogs, and more. Towards this, it’s better to share a personalized and memorable domain name like www.alan.icu as a smart forwarding address to Alan’s LinkedIn profile as compared to a rather long and hard to remember URL.

The same can be done for your YouTube channel too. If you are a real estate broker who also runs a property tours channel on YouTube, then a clean, crisp domain name like www.micahelsproperty.icu or www.channelname.icu makes for a smart forwarding address that will bolster personal brand in the minds of your audience.

Using a smart, short domain name as a redirect or forwarding link to your LinkedIn profile or YouTube channel will help you stand out from others and comes across as an innovative individual.

4. Rebrand Your Existing Website

If you’ve already created a website or a blog site, it’s wise to tweak that instead of creating a new website or online presence. If your website has a weird or awkward domain name that is hard to spell and harder to type, then replacing your domain name with an edgy .icu domain extension is a sensible way to rebrand your website.

For instance, if you’re using www.eric-theonline-marketingprofessional.com as your current website address, why not use www.ericmarketing.icu? Or www.eric.icu? Or www.onlinemarketing.icu?

Promote your new domain name via emails, newsletters, and social media posts to get people to remember your domain name and visit your newly revamped online presence. With a .icu domain name, you have a chance to rebuild your personal brand with a touch of flair and flamboyance – key ingredients to win mass appeal and credibility in the market.

5. Use A Professional Email Address

Your email address plays a massive role in establishing your personal brand as it speaks volumes about how professional you are. A branded professional email address is a must if you want to create a striking first impression and trust in the eyes of the people you deal with. A branded email address separates the professionals from the amateurs.

Any professional who is serious about their work and brand should invest in a professional email address. With a .icu domain name, you can register a custom-branded email address that adds character to your personal brand. For instance, if your website address is www.onlinemarketing.icu, you can choose eric@onlinemarketing.icu as your email address.

Choosing a branded email address will make you come across as a seasoned professional compared to someone who uses free email services for their business.

Final Thoughts

Building a strong personal brand is in today’s digital age can be a game-changer for your professional growth. By pairing a meaningful word or name with a short, snappy, and brandable .icu domain extension, you can create a formidable and authentic personal brand online.