Creative Domain Extensions for Personal Brands

## Creative Domain Extensions for Personal Brands Personal branding has fundamentally changed how we think about domain extensions. Where a business domain demands trust and memorability at scale, a personal brand domain can be clever, expressive, and personality-forward. The rules are different — and the range of viable options is much wider. This guide covers every meaningful option for personal websites, portfolios, creator pages, and professional profiles. ## Why Personal Brand Domains Are Different A business domain needs to work for a cold audience that has no prior relationship with the brand. A personal domain primarily serves: 1. **Warm contacts** — People who already know you and are looking you up 2. **Referrals** — People who heard about you and want to verify your work 3. **Professional contexts** — Business cards, email signatures, LinkedIn profiles, speaker bios In all three cases, the person already has context. They're not trusting the domain; they're using it as a lookup tool. This reduces the TLD Trust Signal burden significantly and opens creative options. ## The Established Personal Brand Extensions ### .me — The Personal Standard Montenegro's ccTLD (Country-Code Top-Level Domain) has been marketed globally as the personal domain extension since 2008. "It's the web address for me" is the clearest value proposition of any extension. Used by: Prominent journalists, speakers, developers, designers, and creators worldwide. - Registration: $15-25/year - [[Memorability]]: Excellent — firstname.me or lastname.me are elegant - Use case: Primary personal website, professional portfolio - Recognition: High — most internet users understand .me as personal Examples: about.me (a platform built on the concept), john.me, sarahdesigns.me ### .name — The Intended Option .name was specifically created for personal use in 2001. Unlike .me (which was a marketing-repositioned ccTLD), .name was designed as a personal gTLD (Generic Top-Level Domain) by ICANN. Despite its perfect-for-humans concept, .name never gained mainstream traction. It works fine technically but lacks the cultural cachet of .me. - Registration: $10-15/year - Recognition: Low — most users unfamiliar - Best for: Supplementary domain, email address, defensive registration ### .page — Google's Personal Extension .page is a New gTLD controlled by Google Registry, positioned for personal pages, link-in-bio sites, and simple web presences. HTTPS required (HSTS preloaded). - Registration: $15-20/year - Use case: Simple personal pages, link-in-bio style sites - Clean, minimal appearance ### .bio — For Creators and Speakers .bio positions itself as the extension for "your story" — appropriate for authors, speakers, thought leaders, and creators. Less common but distinctive. - Registration: $30-50/year (relatively expensive) - Niche recognition in creator economy ## Domain Hack Options for Personal Brands The most creative personal brand domains use country codes that complete a name or word. See Domain Hacks Explained: bit.ly, youtu.be, and More for the full methodology. Personal name examples: - **first.name** + [.me] → james.me, maria.me - **first + last.co** → johns.co, mariaj.co - **firstname + last** using ccTLD → sarahs.on (.on = Ontario, Canada) - **name.is** (.is = Iceland) → creative for "I am" positioning - **name.to** (.to = Tonga) → natural preposition - **name.so** (.so = Somalia — used by notion.so!) → "so" as continuative The SLD (Second-Level Domain) + ccTLD (Country-Code Top-Level Domain) combination that spells your name or something meaningful about you is the holy grail of personal domains. ## Professional Context Domains For specific professional contexts, purpose-built extensions can add credibility: **.design** — Graphic designers, UX designers, design studios - portfolioname.design - Clean, descriptive, growing recognition in design community **.dev** — Software developers, open-source contributors - username.dev - Strong recognition in tech; Google-operated, HTTPS required **.photography** — Photographers - yourname.photography - Long, but descriptive; recognized in creative industries **.studio** — Creative studios, independent creators - name.studio - Growing recognition; works for artists, designers, filmmakers **.work** — General professional use - firstname.work - Generic but functional **.pro** — Professionals of all types - name.pro - Legacy extension (2002) with restricted registration in some jurisdictions ## The Portfolio Use Case For designers, developers, and creative professionals, the portfolio domain has specific requirements: 1. **Short and shareable** — Goes on resumes, business cards, LinkedIn 2. **Professional appearance** — Not clever at the expense of credibility 3. **Email-compatible** — You may use [email protected] professionally Best choices for portfolio domains: **Tier 1:** firstname.me, lastname.design, firstnamelastname.com **Tier 2:** name.dev (for developers), name.photography (for photographers) **Tier 3:** Creative domain hacks that are memorable and on-brand Avoid: Long new gTLD names that are hard to say aloud (john.photography takes 7 syllables to recite) ## The Email Consideration Many personal brand sites double as professional email addresses. If you'll use [email protected] professionally, consider: - **.com** email addresses carry strongest professional trust - **.me** email addresses are universally accepted and recognized - **.design, .dev** email addresses may face occasional filtering, but much less than spam-associated extensions - Avoid .xyz, .online, .site etc for professional email ## Social Media vs Domain For personal brands, the domain often serves as the "canonical" presence while social media drives traffic. The domain strategy should complement your social presence: | Social Platform | Domain Strategy | |-----------------|----------------| | Heavy Twitter/X | Short domain for bio link | | Heavy LinkedIn | Professional, credential-signaling extension | | Heavy Instagram | Visual brand — .me or .page | | YouTube creator | Creator-economy extension (.tv, .me) | | Newsletter/Substack | Often Substack handles domain; personal .me for authority | | Podcast host | .fm or .audio for audio-first brands | ## Name Availability Strategies The challenge for personal brand domains: your name is likely taken on .com. Options: 1. **firstname-lastname.com** — Hyphenation is slightly awkward but works 2. **firstnamelastname.me** — Usually available, clean 3. **firstlastname.io** — Tech-credible for technical professionals 4. **hi.firstname.com** — Subdomain trick if you own the first name as a subdomain 5. **Domain hack** — Spell your name across SLD and ccTLD Use Domain Name Generator to generate creative combinations for your name. ## Budget-Conscious Personal Branding Personal sites are often personal projects — budget matters more than for businesses. | Extension | Annual Cost | Recommendation | |-----------|-------------|----------------| | .com | $10-15 | Buy if name available | | .me | $15-25 | Primary personal alternative | | .page | $15-20 | Clean, Google-backed | | .dev | $12-18 | Developer-specific | | .design | $25-40 | Designer-specific | | .photography | $20-30 | Photographer-specific | | .studio | $20-35 | Creative professional | | .bio | $30-50 | Speaker/author focused | Total portfolio recommendation: Register your primary domain + defensive .com if available. Skip elaborate defensive registration for personal brands — the cost-benefit math doesn't support it. For the decision framework that applies across all use cases, see TLD Decision Framework: A Step-by-Step Guide. For domain hacks specifically, see Domain Hacks Explained: bit.ly, youtu.be, and More.