An important way to brand yourself

A simple way I would recommend everyone is to do like what I do, go buy yourself a domain name! It's much more memorable when I tell people my email address is bert@bertlim.net or iam@bertlim.com! It makes you easily remembered and greatly helps in your own self marketing. You don't have to get a blog if you don't want to but it doesn't hurt to get your domain name first.

And the best part is that it's not expensive at all! Its not going to cost you hundreds a year, there are so many free options available these days and its easy for you to get it done!

Here are some tips from me

1. You can get domain hosting from GoDaddy.com or bluehost.com or any other site you like. Most importantly is to ensure that you have a DNS for it once you are registered.
   
2. Many local Malaysian registrars do not have free DNS. You only can get it once you have a hosting account. So unless you get a .my domain, just go for the international ones.
3. On what domain name to buy, its up to you. You can go like me and get your own name. If you use your chinese name more often, you can go for that and put your surname as your email address so it becomes lim@bert.com. 
4. For free email, I use outlook.com. Just go to domains.live.com and register for it. You can have up to 50 free email accounts so if you are able to get your surname as your domain, that will be great for family use. However lim.com is taken. :(
5. Google used to be free for emails but they have changed it. So now you have to pay for it else you could also use it as an email hosting service. 
6. If you want a blog like this, there are many sites you can use. Blogspot, wordpress are the common ones. However I use Weebly.com as I find the interface to edit and modify my page much simpler and not waste so much of my time writing HTML code for pictures and anything else.I can also choose my own themes whenever I want and they look great!

Anyway, do start thinking of self-branding yourself. Even if you don't want to use it yet, buy the domain now!

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