Who Are You?
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You probably put a lot of time and thought into choosing a name for your organizing business. Perhaps you even invested in registering a trademark to ensure that no one else could use that same name. It’s no wonder then that you take great pride in that name and are pleased to display it on your business card and other printed and online marketing materials.
What about your personal name? Is it on your website as well? It should be! Maybe not on the home page, unless you’re a well-known personality or it’s part of your business name, but it should definitely be on your About page. After all, whether you organize for individuals and families or for large corporations, you’re providing a service, and prospective clients will usually be more comfortable inviting you into their homes or places of business if they have a sense of who you are as a person. If you’re concerned that focusing on you rather than your company will make your business look small, consider describing yourself as the Owner, Founder, CEO, or Chief Organizer.
It’s even more important to put your name on your social media profiles. Even if you choose a Twitter user name such as @goodorganizer, be sure to enter your real name in the name field of your profile. After all, you wouldn’t introduce yourself at a live networking event with just your business name! Social media is mainly about forming relationships, and most people want to network with other people, not with companies.
When you think about it, using your real name is one way of being authentic, and is therefore a great way to build trust.
For the same reason, many people would recommend that you use a headshot rather than your logo on your social media profiles. I would agree, unless you have several people posting on behalf of your business. In that case, to make it seem as though you were doing it yourself would be inauthentic.
How do you represent yourself online – as yourself, or as your business? What reason(s) led you to that decision?
© Jaimie Duplass / PhotoXpress
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I don’t know how many organizers’ websites I’ve been to and I have no idea who they are. I can’t find their names anywhere on their site. Their contact email is either an online form or “info@website.com”
As a potential customer, I would think that if I’m going to let someone organize my underwear drawer I at LEAST want to know their name.
Seeing their face helps too. Many organizers have stock photos of people on their websites. I don’t know who is the actual organizer!
Besides letting your clients get to know you, having your name strategically placed on your website also makes you “Googleable” – great for search engines!
Search engine optimization is another good reason for using your name, Jacki. Thanks for mentioning that.
People who have met you, especially those who know you well (friends and family members) will remember your name, but not necessarily your business name, so when they tell others about you, how are those people supposed to find you?
I use my profile picture and my name on twitter. It’s my business name on Facebook with a newer picture of me. I understand what you’re saying here. For people to engage with you they need to know and trust with whom they are engaging. Good advice!
This is such an important message. I agree with you 100% that it’s essential to let people know who you are. Especially in the organizing or other service businesses, they want to know who they are doing business with. It matters. A while ago, didn’t you rebrand to the janetbarclay.com site?
Yes, I did, but for different reasons. I blogged about the transition in It’s all about Clarity.
I went “all in” on this one! I decided to use my name because I knew it would be available (my name isn’t very common, especially the way it is spelled), and I figured it left room for me to evolve my offerings in whatever way I chose. I admit it isn’t easy to get me to come up on search results for organizing, since I don’t have this word in the name of my business, but I’ve been happy to be able to brand my name easily, and maybe even teach a few people how to pronounce it LOL!
That was actually pretty brave to use your name, knowing people would struggle with pronouncing it. And there’s something about having “The” at the beginning that really makes you sound like an expert!
When online presence became a priority for my business, I wanted to always feel familiar and friendly with my potential clients online. Sharing my name was part of my strategy to do just that. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the topic. POs need to be friendly then knowledgeable. Even if you know your practice, you need to be approachable to potential clients to get their business. An About Me page (which you mentioned in past posts) can also help make your website more friendly.
Thank you for mentioning that, Sabrina. Here’s a link to Creating an About Page that Clicks for anyone that missed it or would like a refresher.
Excellent suggestions, advice and help for us organizers and anyone who is in business for them selves! Thank you Janet I will need to go and check to make sure my business has face and a name to it!!!
A name behind the business! You are spot on. People would much rather buy from a real person who they can relate to, than just a company.
Although I love the name of my blog, my business has always been known by my name. I liked it that way. It wasn’t creative, it was direct.
Good advice. I usually look for an about page on a website and I want to see some personal information about the owner and/or other people who work for the company. I guess I want to connect on a more personal level.
Me too! I’m always disappointed if the About page only has generic info about the company. And I love going to the website of a business I deal with and seeing the people I’ve communicated with on there!
I am less likely to do business with someone if I can’t figure out who they are. And I’m also less likely if it’s not obvious and I have to figure it out!
For sure – especially if you have other businesses to check out.
My business name is a little bit of a cheat. Most people who haven’t heard me say it aloud don’t even get that my business name is a play on my actual name, as Bestry is pronounced like the first part of Best Re…sults Organizing. 😉 (I’ve had colleagues who’ve known me more than 15 years suddenly do the wow-I-coulda-had-a-V8 thing when they realized it. My URL is my name, because it predates the business name, but bestresultsorganizing.com will route to it, too. I had my name front-and-center from the beginning, but didn’t add my photo until a couple of years ago! My Facebook business page is my business name (but my face). LinkedIn is my own name, because that’s how LI works; and my Twitter is @ProfOrganizer because it pre-dates names long enough to be @ProfessionalOrganizer, but it has my actual name (and not a silly or ever-changing name) right next to it, so both are visible on each tweet.
I don’t need to know what someone looks like to do business with them, but if it’s a person or only a few people, I won’t engage with someone for a personal service if I don’t know who they are.
I was one of the people who knew you for a very long time before I made the connection. 😀
My business is VERY intentionally a face brand. I have a work-related bio on my website and all my social media presence (usually) contains an element of conversation with my audience. Organization can be a very personal experience and I want clients to know exactly who I am so we can determine if the relationship is the right one. Great post! Super important stuff.