.TelYourself

Ed runs a local concrete & landscape business. He has a couple of trucks that have the name of his business, his telephone number, and his web address.

Jim just bought a new house in the next town and has big plans for sculpting his yard. He stops at a light next to one of Ed’s trucks, but just as Jim notices the information on the adjacent door, the light turns green and Ed’s contractor speeds off.

“555…” Jim tries to visualize the number but can only recall the 3 digit prefix. He finally catches up with the truck to get a better look. At that moment Jim sees another truck passing the other way. On the door of this truck is a big sticker that simply reads “GreatYards.tel”. By the time Jim looks back for the number on Ed’s truck, the driver has sped away once again.

When Jim pulls up in front of his house he takes out his phone and types “GreatYards.tel” into the address box of his mobile browser. His phone instantly returns a page with the headline “Great Yards Landscaping” that contains a phone number, email address, a link to a Flickr account with samples of the company’s work, and even an Instant Messaging account for asking quick questions to an online representative.

Jim taps the phone number and is instantly put in touch with the front desk of Great Yards Landscaping. Jim schedules an estimate, signs a contract, and Great Yards wins the job!

When I first got on board with Twitter a couple of years ago, I recognized the value the username would have in that particular application. I spent hours registering accounts with generic and trademarked names, thinking I could capitalize on my early adoption by selling the names at a future time or by running services on the accounts that would generate a high amount of organic traffic simply by recognition. This is not a post about copyright law, but let me start by saying that when you register your Facebook username, stay away from trademarks!

Also, don’t believe that you can sell your username, even if it’s generic. My guess is that Facebook has included a similar policy to Twitter that prohibits this activity and will result in the loss of your account if a sale or intent to sell is discovered.

That being said, when you go to pick your username tomorrow (or whenever), pick something that is appropriate and personal to you. The whole point is to make it easier for friends to find your profile. If you’re promoting and want to get a lot of views on your page, pick something that is generic, short and descriptive. Basically apply the same rules you would to registering a domain name - if you already have a domain, obviously try to get that as your username for brand consistency.

And if you don’t get the name you want - see if it’s available as a .tel domain. Then you can just add your Facebook page to your .tel along with your Twitter, LinkedIn, blog, etc.!

Lots of folks have asked me why they should buy a .tel when they can list their information in many public online directories for free. This is an excellent question so I’ll do my best to provide a thorough response as to why I still think it’s a good idea to purchase your .tel.

Simplified Listings
First of all, just because you can list in a variety of free online directories doesn’t mean that people know to look for you there. Of course you already know this, which is why you have listed your business with several of the top listings, both general and specific to your industry. But as your business changes and you add new staff, new departments, maybe even change locations or add a new main line, how do you keep all of these directories current?

This is where .tel becomes a highly useful tool. When you list with these directories, it’ll be much simpler to provide them a simple .tel address that is the one place where you manage all of the information. That way, when a customer looks you up in any number of directories they get a link to your .tel that has the most up-to-date phone, fax, web site, address, etc. And if any of this information changes, you don’t have to rush out and notify the whole world or worry about forgetting somebody. Simply update your .tel and all your listing partners are current as well!

Consolidate and Manage Different Communication Channels
Most businesses are now working hard to establish brands and build relationships via popular social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter. As a business owner, you likely have more than one Web 2.0 account in addition to your company website and even targeted micro-sites for customers, marketing campaigns, etc. As you’ve probably discovered, each of these channels serve a unique purpose and are better for connecting you to customers and partners in different ways. With .tel you can easily consolidate and manage these different branding and communication initiatives in a central location that serves as the entry point to your already vast and growing online existence.

Easy-to-remember URL
If you missed the boat on getting your one-word or descriptive .com this is your opportunity to snatch that value back. And it will likely prove to be more valuable than a .com in the long run. Unlike .com, .tel uses a standardized presentation for sharing contact info, including your .com address. Why is this good? Because it’s a consistency that can be relied upon for anyone sharing or looking up .tel information. How many times have you gone to website looking for a phone number and didn’t have any clue how to find it once you got there? By focusing specifically on contact information, .tel will eventually serve as the starting point for locating, online or offline, any business or individual.

Online Business Card(s)
Finally, if you don’t use it for anything else - .tel a great way to manage your personal, staff and/or company information. No need to cram the phone, fax, address and various web pages on your business card. Simply include your .tel and everything becomes a click away for prospective clients and partners! The best part is that .tel information is easily accessible across devices, both online and mobile. It’s easy to remember and it’s easy to carry.

For starters, .tel is not just another social networking application. Unlike signing up on social networks, like Facebook and Twitter, when you register a .tel you are actually claiming a legitimate stake in your online presence. You own your .tel domain. The same cannot be said of your Facebook, LinkedIn or any other third-party networking accounts where you are merely a user of the system that those companies created and own. What does this mean?

Think of it like this: Facebook is just like any bar, club or social gathering spot where people get together with friends, are introduced to new people and interact with one another. Under the current online social structure, however, Facebook also represents your primary residence - the place where people know they can go to find you or learn how to get a hold of you. So in the offline world, this is essentially synonymous with you being a homeless regular at the local bar…

Unlike in the scenario described above, when you register your .tel it’s like buying a house. You own it and it’s where you live! It serves as the logical starting point for anyone trying to reach you. (And if you want to sell it and move somewhere else, you can do that too.)

The point is that social networks have thrived not necessarily because they are dedicated to delivering the absolute best service imaginable, but also because they have monopolized your entire online existence. If you come across a social application that you like better than Facebook, how do you let your friends know? Right now only through your continued use of Facebook, which emphasizes the fact that Facebook is in a lot more control of your (online) social experience than you are.

And what if your favorite networking application fails, goes out of business, or disappears? All those contacts you have built within the app go with it and you have no convenient means of getting them back.

Using the bar example again, if you find a better place to hangout or the bar burns down you don’t have to go to that bar or start digging through the damage in order to get in touch with your friends. Instead you contact them directly, through the agreed upon method-of-choice (which might be Facebook) dictated by your unique relationships with those people.

And this is exactly what .tel provides. It logically merges your online and offline identity. It’s your contact methods, owned by you, managed by you and shared at your discretion. The .tel empowers you to hold and manage online relationships with individuals rather than with exclusive, proprietary applications.

With Twitter and Facebook dominating the headlines lately, few have noticed (or perhaps had the time or patience to care about) a new internet movement that is laying the groundwork for the biggest online mind-shift since .com. In December of 2008, .tel domains hit the market. Since March 24th, 2009 the domains have been available to the general public and, as of this posting, registrations have topped 200,000.

So why would anyone care about another domain? After all, you’ve already got a LinkedIn profile, a Facebook page, a Flickr account and you’re just now understanding what the Twitter hype is all about. Not to mention all the other social media/Web 2.0 initiatives you’re slightly aware of but haven’t checked out yet. And of course, if you’re a business owner especially, you’re probably thinking, “I can’t even keep my company web site up-to-date!”

Odd as it may sound, these are exactly the reasons why you should be very interested in the .tel domain. Simply put, .tel will make managing all this new media much easier for you as well as for your customers, readers, friends, etc.

Not Like Other Domains

.tel functions much differently than other Top Level Domains (TLDs) such as .com, .net and .mobi. Unlike other TLDs, .tel does not require you to point your domain name to a web site (IP address). Instead, .tel uses a standard interface for both online and mobile browsers which displays the information you store under your .tel domain. This means no web-hosting, no design and development and no special technical knowledge to benefit from the service.

Contact Us or Just Me

The information you store with your .tel is primarily contact details, and this is by design. The whole concept of .tel is to make contact information readily available online for both individuals and businesses alike. So while .tel does not necessarily replace your company web site, it may replace your “contact” page. In fact, the .tel system has appropriately been dubbed the “First Real-time Online Directory”.

What makes .tel a more desirable alternative to your company contact page is that it can be managed in real-time and does not require the expert help of your development team. Perhaps more importantly, .tel can ensure your contact details aren’t hidden in the shadows and ambiguity of your site design.

If you don’t have a web site, but you have accounts on social media applications like Facebook and Twitter, your .tel is a great starting place for friends to figure out how to reach you.

In short, .tel is the most logical and accessible starting point to learn more about you or your business. And after all, don’t all relationships, personal or professional, start with contact?