Project: Staking Your Domain

We all desire a sense of acceptance: A sense of home, a sense of inclusion and connection. And so we seek for places of like-mindedness, never realizing that we can be the ones who model these places of welcome.

We have the power to create a niche, to decide what it is that people need and how we can serve them, then offer it to them.

We have the power to facilitate them and lead them from one ladder ring to the next. We can give them the sense of acceptance and encourages them to build a stronger sense of home within themselves and create a stronger outreach.

We have the power to stake our own domain and invite others to be a part of it. And we don’t even have to take issue with zoning regulations.

Creating a safe online presence where people can land 24/7 is vital in a generation where the Internet is over saturated with misleading information.

The best and most important way to do this is staking your domain. Your domain name, that is. It’s your online address, so make it easy to memorize and worth memorizing.

You are competing with innumerable domain names and websites so it’s rare you have opportunity to imagine, pick and purchase the web address you desire, but that shouldn’t deter you from fulfilling your purpose:

• Don’t Be Too Clever

Now is not the time to be creative. Now is the time to be competitive and succinct. Try to stay as close to your company name as possible and keep it short. Make it memorable, remember!

• Consider Your Brand

As The Green Couch Project we were fortunate enough to secure the domain name thegreencouchproject.com. However, in the event it wasn’t, it would be a great disservice and disconnect for us to have used purplecouchpotatoes.com

• Consider SEO

The only way this is effective is if there is a direct association between the SEO keyword in your domain name and the chosen SEO keyword in your website text (which should be used repeatedly). 

• Avoid The Shift Key

If those searching for you are required to use the shift key, you can count on them forgetting it. In other words, if possible try not to use symbols; e.g., dashes, etc.

• Save Room For Misspellings

If your business name is something that is often is interpreted differently in spelling, considering purchasing all common misspelling for your domain. That way, no matter how people search your company, you will not lose traffic.

•  Build Upon It

Now that you have it [your domain], don’t let it lie dormant. Hire someone to build a website around your domain so that you can attract the right community. 

•  Flaunt It

Share the domain name. Invite people to interact. Upload pictures. Stay connected. You have online presence; you have power. What will you do with it? Let us know! We’re always eager to hear from our readers and fellow risk-takers. You’ve spilled your gutsy online and built a domain. It’s time to spill your gutsy with us!

-The Green Couch

Project: The Character Count

Say what you need to say in 140 Characters or less.

For those who can disregard grammar and the fine art of English or their language, this is easy.

For those who are born in the texting era, this is easy.

For those who have little to say and to a few people, this is easy.

But for those who have a vision, those who have a big dream, those who just have BIG, how do you break it down and feed it to the masses?

How do you take your business plan and make it digestible, believable, enjoyable, attainable and credible for those who have deemed your character count worth reading?

How do you wow

How to you capture

How do you keep it

How do you inspire

How do you excite

How do you create movement

How do you say what you need to say in 140 characters or less?

And how do you make those few words have a huge impact? How do you stand out and step it up?

If everyone has the same character count, it can too easily and too soon sound cliché.

So how do you character count and make it count?

Speak from the heart, write from the mind

Stay authentic, but be smart. Study who you are and who your target is. Since you cannot reach everyone, you cannot write for everyone. Do not just post for the sake of posting. Post for interaction. There is always a chance they will be hit or miss, but empty threats – posts that are either emotionally or mentally dry – are always a miss.

Be creative, stay classy

It is like Dr. Suess said, “Today you are you. That is truer than true.” Take advantage of that. Discover your tone, find what people retweet and talk about most and throw everything out the window. Just because you think it is funny does not mean it is.

Polish your punctuation

In the effort to preserve character count try not to compromise punctuation so you can add more letters. You may get to say more that way, but what you say may not mean the same.

Hashtag, you’re it

The entire purpose of those 140 characters is to create this chain link of connecting someone or something - turning breadcrumbs into bread pudding. But too much of anything is bad. And not enough can starve the reader. So learn: which ones will best fit your brand, your message and the ultimate goal? Hash it out mentally before you tag it.

Give credit where credit is due

You have the power to dedicate 140 to whoever deserves it most. And you have the power to do it without a microphone. It is all in the @ symbol. Shift + 2 goes a long way when you are making your characters count.

Brand your Bio

Do not copy and paste just because you can and because it will attract more followers.

One of the hardest things to do is maintain your brand in 140 characters. You would think it is easier to do considering you have less to mess up. But the tendency to unintentionally copy and paste becomes prevalent, and so we end up losing sight of who we are, as we try to write what people want to hear. We have a section where we get to explain who we are. Use it wisely and use every 140 character post write-up to back it up.

So the next time you are on Twitter, make sure you do not just count your characters, make your characters count.

-The Green Couch