I have my domain name! Now What?
J. Kevin Tumlinson

You've been convinced. That domain name was dangled in front of you and the appeal of www.yourname.com was just too great to resist. Now you have your place on the World Wide Web etched in stone and an easy to remember e-mail address for you and everyone in your family. That's great! That's terrific! Now what?

Owning the domain name is only the first step. Once you have it, and a server on which to keep it, you have to use it for something. Wouldn't it be great if you and your family could use it to actually improve the quality of your life? That's exactly what it can be used for, and it all starts with your personal web site. Here are a few tips to make that site into a powerful tool for your family.

It's all in the planning-The first step in creating that great site is to plan (I hear the sighs. Don't worry, we'll make this fun!). Here's what you do: sit down with your family, a few pens and a notepad. Give everyone a sheet of paper and have them write down their hobbies, interests, jobs, you name it. This will be the biographical information that you'll include on your site for each member of the family.

Once you have that, you can take this time to talk to each member of the family and ask them what they'd like to see on the site. Talk about color schemes, about fonts (there are millions of them!), and about content. Discuss what you may have seen done with other sites, and what you liked or disliked. Write down all of the good ideas and keep that sheet of paper for future reference.

Also, at this stage you can start planning how many pages are going to be included on this site. If you're a family of four, then it's probably reasonable to assume that there should be at least four pages (probably more, though. We'll get to that in a moment). You can also talk about customizing the look of each page for each family member. In other words, if your son or daughter is into sports, maybe you could find some sports related pictures to include on their page.

Kid stuff-Let's take a look at the kid's portion real quick. No matter what age your children may be, this is a great opportunity for them to express themselves in a fun way and also contribute to their futures.

This is a terrific forum for listing awards and honors that the child has earned; brag about all those "A's" on their report card; toot their own horn over being on the Honor Roll. In other words, this is a great place to brag. As the child nears the age when they may want a job, they'll also have a list of accomplishments at the ready to just hand over to a prospective employer. Plus, it gives them something positive as an incentive for doing great things.

Grownup stuff-- All this fun has an adult equivalent. Your personal site is a great place for you to list your own accomplishments, in the form of a resume.

This is where you might consider adding more pages. Your personal site, conveniently labeled with your name, gives you the perfect place to keep an updated resume. You and your spouse should consider having a page for each of you that is totally dedicated to that purpose.

This goes for the older kids as well. It's an extremely easy and even impressive thing to hand that future boss a business card with all of your contact information and a nice, easy web address that leads to your resume. It also gives that employer a chance to learn more about you as far as interests, family values, and personal attitudes. Employers like people who can get along well and communicate with others. Here's your chance to show him or her just how congenial you can be.

Extra! Extra!-- Just about every family has relatives spread out around the country or even the world. One idea that could bring those long-distance relatives closer together would be to use your site for a family newsletter. You could post the new baby's pictures for Grandma in Sacramento to see, or put up that poem that little Bobby wrote in his first grade class. Wedding announcements, birth announcements, even family reunions could be whole pages by themselves, or included on one nice, clean newsletter page on the site.

Your site could also lead to the discovery of family you never knew you had. Many people are now becoming interested in researching their genealogy utilizing the World Wide Web. Maybe you have cousins or other relatives living in Alaska that you never knew existed! By including a family newsletter or family history on your site, you may give these absent relatives the chance to know you.

The important thing is to remember to have fun with it. The domain name is yours-you own it, so make it reflect you and your family in a way that's healthy and helpful. Be imaginative and creative. Look at it as a blank canvas that you can paint any way you want. Check out those other sites on the Web and see what works, what doesn't, and what looks like it's the most fun.

J. Kevin Tumlinson is a writer and editor living in the Houston area. He has a background in Engineering, as well as degrees in Communications and English from Houston Baptist University. He is also the Editor of ViewOnline. You may contact him at kevin@viewonline.com.