For over two decades, the internet has been my professional canvas, my laboratory, and my primary connection to the global digital landscape. This journey, which officially began on 24 March 2005, when I registered miroslavglavic.com and miroslavglavic.ca, has been a fascinating exploration of personal branding, strategic communication, and the intricate world of domain names. Like many digital producers, my online presence has evolved through various iterations, but one constant has remained: the foundational importance of owning my digital space.
Today, miroslavglavic.com serves as the professional home of Miroslav Glavić, a Croatian-Peruvian Digital Media Producer, Podcaster, and Storytelling & Communications specialist based in Canada. This site is where I showcase my work in storytelling, communications, and media production – a hub for articles, project updates, and insights into the ever-evolving digital landscape. It is a space crafted to be both a comprehensive portfolio and a valuable resource for anyone interested in content creation, strategy, and the intersection of technology and communication. This iteration is a culmination, built on years of experience and strategic domain management.
The Long Game: My Personal Domain Journey
When I first dipped my toes into establishing a serious online presence, securing both my .com and my country’s TLD, .ca, was a top priority. Initially, miroslavglavic.ca housed my primary content, with miroslavglavic.com redirecting visitors there. Over time, as .com solidified its global dominance as the de facto standard for professional and commercial entities, I made the strategic switch: miroslavglavic.com became the main content hub, and miroslavglavic.ca began redirecting its visitors to the .com address. This decision reflected a practical understanding of how most people instinctively search for websites.
My approach to domain registration was not just about my primary sites; it quickly expanded into a broader strategy of brand protection. On 28 December 2011, I took the proactive step of registering miroslavglavic.net and miroslavglavic.org. These were not intended to host separate content. Instead, their sole purpose was, and remains, to redirect to miroslavglavic.com. In the digital realm, a brand’s name is its most valuable asset. Acquiring these common extensions ensures that potential visitors who might absentmindedly type .net or .org instead of .com still land exactly where I want them: on my main professional site. This seemingly small detail is a critical layer in safeguarding my online identity and ensuring brand consistency.
The Accent Conundrum: A Pronunciation Predicament
Perhaps one of the most interesting and personally significant chapters in my domain story revolves around the pronunciation of my surname. In my native Croatian, “Glavić” features a ‘ć’ with an accent mark, which produces a soft “ch” sound, much like the “ch” in “church.” However, outside of regions familiar with Slavic languages, people predominantly encounter my name as “Glavic” written without the accent (or unable to type it), leading them to pronounce it phonetically as “Glavic.”
For years, I found myself in the somewhat awkward position of introducing myself as Miroslav Glavić (pronounced ‘Gla-vich’) and then, almost immediately, having to clarify my online presence. Back then, domain names could not accommodate accented letters like ‘ć’, meaning my website had to be spelled with a ‘c’. This resulted in a common mispronunciation as ‘Glavic’ and created a subtle disconnect between my spoken identity and my digital address.
The solution came on 20 October 2015, when I finally registered miroslavglavich.com. This was a game-changer. By redirecting miroslavglavich.com to miroslavglavic.com, I could at last confidently declare, “My name is Miroslav Glavić, and my website is Miroslav Glavić dot com!” This simple addition closed the loop, aligning my phonetic name with an accessible domain. It was a strategic investment in user experience and personal branding clarity.
Following this success, on 11 February 2022, I further solidified this phonetic branding by registering miroslavglavich.ca, miroslavglavich.net, and miroslavglavich.org. All three of these also now gracefully redirect to miroslavglavic.com, providing a comprehensive safety net for anyone typing my name phonetically or trying common domain extensions.
Domain Hacks: Creative and Risky Business
This leads me to a broader point about creative domain strategies, particularly domain hacks. A domain hack is a domain name that combines the domain name itself and a TLD to spell out a word or phrase. Think of examples like del.icio.us, goo.gl, or bit.ly. They are clever, memorable, and often shorter, making them appealing for brand identities or URL shorteners. While these can be incredibly effective for branding and memorability, they come with a crucial caveat: they should never be your sole primary domain.
Let’s use the example getacool.date. This is a fantastic, creative domain hack. It is unique, and it perfectly conveys a concept. However, relying only on getacool.date would be a mistake for any serious venture. Why? Because the vast majority of internet users are still conditioned to type or expect a .com address. If they remember “getacool.date” but automatically append .com in their mind or browser, they’ll end up nowhere, or worse, on a competitor’s site, or an undeveloped domain.
Therefore, my strong recommendation is: if you use a domain hack like getacool.date, you absolutely must also register its conventional .com equivalent, getacooldate.com. Furthermore, following best practices for comprehensive brand protection, you should also acquire:
- Your country-code TLD (ccTLD): For Canadian entities, this would be getacooldate.ca.
- The common alternative TLDs: getacooldate.net and getacooldate.org.
All of these conventional domains (getacooldate.com, getacooldate.ca, getacooldate.net, getacooldate.org) should then redirect seamlessly to your clever domain hack, getacool.date. This strategy ensures that:
- Accessibility: Anyone who instinctively types the .com or .ca version still reaches your site.
- Brand Protection: You prevent others from registering getacooldate.com and potentially confusing your audience or even siphoning off traffic.
- Future-Proofing: While domain hacks are trendy, the .com remains the bedrock of the internet. Owning it provides stability.
- SEO Benefits: While the primary focus of domain names for SEO has shifted, having consistent redirection helps consolidate authority.
My own journey with miroslavglavich.com echoes this principle: while miroslavglavic.com is my core site, owning the phonetic glavich domains ensures that every possible pathway to my professional home is covered.
The Takeaway
My experience over two decades has taught me that a robust online presence is built not just on great content, but on a well-thought-out domain strategy. It’s about more than just finding an available name; it’s about anticipation – anticipating how people will type your name, how they’ll search, and how you can best protect your digital identity.
Whether you’re a seasoned professional, a burgeoning artist, or a new business, my advice is clear: secure your .com and your country’s TLD first. Then, consider the common .net and .org as brand protection. If you opt for a creative domain hack, always ensure its traditional counterparts are registered and redirect appropriately. Your domain names are the literal address of your digital reputation. Treat them with the strategic foresight they deserve.
