The polls are now closed, your votes have been counted and verified, and the final result is: change my website address to www.lizgooster.com. 59% of you plumped for this option, while 32% voted for www.businessclasscoach.com and 9% for other (with a couple of people suggesting I use both urls). It seems that the concept of the personal brand is an increasingly popular one and I got several comments emphasising that in providing professional services in a one-to-one context such as coaching, you are your brand. I guess I’m also lucky in having an unusual surname, so it’s easy for me to have a web address that is (a) available and (b) unique. I was concerned about losing the ‘business’ and ‘coaching’ associations if I switched to my name at the top of the web page, but as the more technically-minded pointed out, visibility in searches and so on depends on the content of the page, how it’s tagged and so on. Others suggested keeping both domains and this is something I will be looking into. I’m extremely grateful to all of you who took the time to cast your vote and the discussions the polls have generated, both online and offline, have been really useful in helping me think how I might develop my brand and my online presence, both now and in the future. And since I always abide by the results of my polls, look out for www.lizgooster.com shortly!
Archive for 31/07/2011
Personal branding wins out
My website branding: I need your opinion
Time for a blog poll – I love them! I need to do some back-end technical work on my blog/website and am taking the opportunity to look again at my brand (see how I avoided saying ‘relook’ there!). I’m still defining my coaching niche, and who knows where my pretentious portfolio career will take me in the future, so should I stick with www.businessclasscoach.com or should I go for a more personal branding approach with www.lizgooster.com? Answers on the voting buttons below please! This poll will close at midnight on Friday 29 July, so please vote now. Many thanks in advance for sharing your opinion.
Review of Nancy Kline’s ‘Time to Think’
‘Create a particular environment and people will think for themselves. It is that simple.’ This statement encapsulates the underlying precepts of Nancy Kline’s Thinking Environment, elaborated in her marvellous book, Time to Think, which has become a classic of non-directive coaching. I make no apologies for beginning this review by saying I love this book. Nancy Kline’s work has made a deep impression on me. I am in awe of the powerful effect that concentrated, empathetic listening – what Kline terms ‘listening to ignite the human mind’ – can have in releasing ideas and insights from the person being listened to. As Kline says, ‘the quality of a person’s attention determines the quality of other people’s thinking’. It sounds beautifully simple. Read more