Whats Not In a Name

I changed my Facebook profile URL today as part of their new Vanity URL program. I changed it to www.facebook.com/dotchrisbrogan. There was a purpose behind what I did. I was interested in pointing out that the URL is not the gold.

Yes, search marketers and SEO professionals everywhere just wrote me off.

I get that there are some SEO benefits to having certain URLs. I get that people will naturally choose to search in the url bar by putting my name. I understand that people looking for me will find someone else if they put in facebook.com/chrisbrogan.

But the characters in a URL bar are not me. The map is not the territory. The ship isn’t what brings the treasure.

This might or might not bite me badly, but I’m testing a point. Everyone else who voiced concerns on Twitter this morning are banking that Facebook is that important to my online presence and success that by choosing a different name, my entire brand will come crashing down around me.

It’s never about the sites and services. Never forget that. YOU add value to them, not the other way around.