Have you put your name on your site? Simple, right?

I have my name on my About page. I don't have it on the main, landing, front page. Not anywhere. I hadn't even thought about adding it in there. Now it is. Stuck at the bottom, but it exists.

I will work on adding it elsewhere.

Part of the problem is my use of ThatGrrl instead of my name, Laura Brown. When I started online (doing the early form of social media which was more like a dating zoo than anything social) women did not want to broadcast their name, age or location. Men were forever posting "asl?" Well, lets not label all men, it was the horny net geeks who were disguised as men, trolling for women desperately lonely enough to grab their worm... I mean bait. (Yes, that kind of humour was popular then - and it was kind of fun).

Anyway, that is how my name never became my Internet profile name. Instead I used ThatGrrl, most recently. I've started using my name, Laura Brown. But, I admit I still feel funny about having it out there.

I do see the sense of it now that I've had it pointed out to me. What about you?

I looked at my place on the AllTop Writing list today. It was a nice spot, close enough to the top to keep my toes from getting chilly and yet not so close that I feel intimidated by myself or stressed out about having to perform.

Performance anxiety, the stress you get when you realize someone is actually watching and expects you to do something worth watching.

I know myself. I know I will never believe in myself enough to give myself credit for what I accomplish. It will never be enough. The crazy critic inside my head keeps my feet firmly planted on the ground. I know any success I have is due to some fluke, something that happened by chance and isn't likely to be repeated. Like reporting an error on a website, they ask you to tell them how it happened by repeating the steps you took to get there. Like we all keep notes. Well, some of you probably do, I don't.

Any success I have will be immediately discounted as luck or random chance.

I don't look like someone who could be famous. I don't act like someone who could be famous. In a room of famous people I would be asked to serve the cocktails and someone would fire me when I tried to hold too many cocktails on my tray and spilled them all over - smashed glasses and all.

Someone famous is thin, or at least trim and fit looking. I'm not.

Someone famous spends time on their clothes and cosmetics. I'm not even wearing lipstick. I've even let myself run out of Blistex so my lips are not silky and soft today.

Someone famous would be making better use of their day. I've been sitting here most of the day, researching, writing and publishing.

Someone famous would have been having social chitchats with other famous people. I took a break and played cards with my Mother.

Someone famous has themselves set up in the perfect setting with no clutter and a lot of glamour. I'm surrounded by paper clutter, Ubuntu DVDs I burned and games I will procrastinate with later. There are pens and markers on my desk, getting in the way of my computer mouse. My coffee cup is empty - usually it's here too. Hairbrush, hair clips, a flower shaped cookie cutter, vitamins, a jingle bell from Christmas, a red ribbon from the new underwear I bought a month ago, hand sanitizer, a Swiss Chalet survey, paperwork to fill out for my volunteering job and assorted other clutter that someone famous would have staff to handle for them.

Someone famous isn't making their own lunch, or skipping it cause in another hour it will be time to start making dinner anyway.

Someone famous doesn't have a shelf (more than one shelf) with self-help, creative writing inspiration, freelance writing and web development type of books which they have not actually done more than skim yet.

Someone famous doesn't get swollen feet from sitting here too long.

Someone famous would only spend an hour (at most!) on writing and then they would be off for their TV interview, lunch with Keanu Reeves and a public appearance for the reporters and adoring crowds.

Someone famous would never feel like I do.

Yet, the odd thing is... some of them do!

The really, really, really odd thing is; there are people who will look at this site and the other sites I write for and think I'm a somebody. (Not after they read this of course. Illusions of my grandeur are shot now. But, you get the idea).

Today when you talk about personal websites what do you first think about?

Not so long ago people would think a personal website was a page (or a full site) they built on a free web host service like Geocities, Tripod, AOL or their own space on the ISP (Internet Service Provider) they were paying to connect to the Internet. Geocities was one of the best places to have a personal site then. There were good options and features and you could be part of a large community or the bigger community of all of Geocities too.

Not much point in talking about it now. Geocities is gone. Bought by Yahoo and later closed down. As for the rest, they are mostly full of abandoned personal websites. If you search you can find them. But, it's like wandering around the ruins of a ghost town now.

Your personal website can be anything: a blog, an online journal, a photo blog, a podcast, a wiki community or your own hand-made HTML site. Once you have an idea for the site, the next thing is to choose your media - the method to your madness. Build your web empire, but decide on how it will be constructed and where.

What's Your Online Experience?

Have you ever run your own site? Yes, a personal blog. Yes, an online journal. Yes, a photo blog Yes, a podcast. Yes, a microblog. Yes, a wiki community. No, but I'd like to. No. I don't want a personal site. No, I don't want a web presence.

Build Your Own Personal Site (with HTML)

Of course, you can build your own site, from scratch using HTML, without using a service like Geocities to give you a start and some basic elements to cut and paste. Most people rush into starting a blog, rather than working with the nuts and bolts of HTML and creating a site. But, it is a great experience. You will learn a lot and feel pretty good about having built something. Your personal site can be as simple or complicated as you want to make it.

Pick up a book about HTML, CSS and PHP code, or something simpler for the personal web site creator. Once you get the hang of it, creating a personal site is really empowering and you really do get the feeling of being active and a real part of the online community - not quite an expert geek but for sure qualified to be among the geeky realm.

Of course, you aren't alone among the code with nothing but a blank Notepad in front of you. There is very good software which can get you started and help you figure out what goes where. Most of the site building software will show you a version of your site as you work on it. Microsoft has recently made their Web Expressions software free. Pick up the Design software too so you can create your own images/ graphics for your site too.

I know almost no one will go this route when creating their personal web presence. It has lost popularity due to the quick and easy methods of just putting up a blog, but there really is nothing else like it.

A personal site doesn't have to be extravagant. This is my personal domain, thatgrrl.ca. I used to have more on this site, but now it is an index to my other sites as my mighty web empire grew.

Online Journal

LiveJournal has done a better job of hanging on than most of the other old personal web places. It began as a site for online journals/ diaries (back before people were calling them blogs). You can still create a site there, free. Or buy more features, options and space for your site if you want them. LiveJournal has a good community, a good taxonomy if you want to find people by their interests, hobbies, careers, etc. Even after all these years, I would still suggest LiveJournal as a good place to begin your personal site and start dipping into social media.

I don't use LiveJournal a lot, but I have a personal account which you can see as an example.

Personal Weblogs

Blogger was one of the first and simplest places to run a personal blog site from. Google bought it at one point. For awhile it seemed to be sink or swim, but someone took notice of it again and began updating it, giving it new features and allowing people to use the Blogger software as a CMS to run their site on their own domain even. You might find yourself on a Blogger site and not even know it. They have broken out of the original restricted design. But, you can still see traces of it, especially when you comment on a Blogger site (if you don't have a Blogger/ Google account yourself).

Blogger is still free and you can do a lot with creating a site and using social media. I would suggest Blogger first to someone who wants to start their first personal site. The instructions for getting started are very good. The service is well supported by the company and the community. You can easily find WordPress fanatics who will put Blogger down (taking it too far) but the fact is, you can run Blogger and it is still fairly simple to make custom changes to your template (theme) and the code itself if you want to add features or change the look and workings of your site.Don't rush into being an elisties snob about Blogger, it is a really good starting place for a personal website. A free Blogger.com site will give you more flexibility than a free WordPress.com site.

Note: If you pay someone for a custom blog (Blogger) template, make sure you are paying for more than just a background and header image. A lot of people offer services as a blog designer for Blogger. Not all of them are selling original creations you couldn't just do yourself, for no cost at all. However, if you really don't want to DIY, try Etsy as a starting place to find blog designers.

Community Sites

Another option for creating your own personal website, is a wiki. A lot of people have not heard of wikis, but they will know Wikipedia. Did you ever wonder about the name? Wikipedia is intended as an online encyclopaedia But, a personal wiki is about your own topic focus and the resources you can bring or find. However, you do not work and maintain a wiki alone, it's a community effort.

A wiki is like creating a mega site about a chosen topic. Often a personal hobby, interest or something you know a lot about and want to share your knowledge and resources with the online community. The idea is to gather others to add their own content, resources and knowledge too. If you want to get deep into a topic and find others who share your interest, starting a wiki is a good choice. A wiki has many branches of information stemming from an index - it will also be searchable.

However, you will have to use social media and online promotion to bring people in to find your wiki site. (Not so different from any other site, but people seem to think once they build it other people will just come, show up magically). it can happen, but that takes a lot of time and you could get feeling pretty lonesome and discouraged before they find you.

WikiWikiWeb - Where the wiki originated.

Microblogs/ Social Media Sites

Then there are the tumblog sort of sites. Tumblog is another word for microblogs. These are not meant to be full service sites. Instead the focus is on short entries to the site and using social media to share your entries, photos, text, quotes, etc. I like Tumblr and Twitter, but there are a lot of them out there. If you choose Tumblr the only downside I have ever found is the change they made to commenting on Tumblr sites.

Whatever their reasoning you can't comment without using extra, outside software. The site owner (that would be you) sets it up. Not a tricky thing to do, but I've never understood why it was changed. Anyway, the focus of a microblog is shortness, brevity and sharing content. If you don't want a personal diary sort of site - just quick updates and keeping up with friends, consider a microblog.

You may not think of Twitter as a blog or personal site. It's become very fast paced, more like a forum than a site. But, Twitter is a microblog. A very successful microblogging and social media site. You can find me on Twitter.

Get started Using Twitter.

Photo Blogs/ Sites

Next up, photo sharing. You may not want to write much at all. If so, take a look at Flickr. You can post your photos, illustrations and videos too. Free, up to a set limit, or get a paid account and post as many photos as you like. I use Flickr because I like the groups. You can upload your own photos, add descriptions, give them a title beyond the one the camera spits out with them - then look for people on Flickr.

It is amazing how many communities/ groups there are on Flickr. You can find a group started for anything you can imagine. If you can't find a group, you may just need to search again with a different phrase, because everything under the sun is at Flickr. However, Yahoo took over Flickr, made changes people didn't like and a lot of people abandoned their accounts. Some are back, some are not as active, some have left groups started and not maintained. But, Flickr is not a ghost town. I'm there myself.

Another clever and creative way to use a photo site, like Flickr, is to make and show off an art journal. All your own art can be scanned (or take a photograph of it) to create an image file. Then the image can be loaded to your photo blog. You can create your own art gallery with your personal creations and a commentary about each of them.

Get started using Flickr.

Podcasting

Podcasting is another way to create your personal presence online. Instead of images, podcasting is all about sound. You may have some images loaded for eye candy, but the focus is on sharing your music or giving your own web radio show. You can create a podcast and have a live show, or store the files online and let people run them in whatever order (chronological or subject) they choose. BlogTalkRadio is one site which offers the set up for running your own live podcast.

I haven't done much podcasting. I listened to a friend who was a professional DJ and put on her own live radio show through a site for an online game, Kingdom of Loathing. Also, I assisted Bev Walton-Porter with finding guests for her live show. I was a guest on one show too.

If you are interested in creating a live show, the world is your oyster. Get out there and do it.

Social Interaction

Content Curation Something a little new still is a merge between photo sharing and social media, content curation. The important thing with using content curation is to remember you want to keep the links you share looking like something someone else will read. Don't shortcut and leave extra text, use an image which doesn't match the content and don't scrimp on writing a little description or note of some kind.

A content curation site, like Scoop.it, gives you a lot of social media focus. If this is really what you want, to build yourself up in Twitter, Facebook and the other social communities, content curation is the highway on your path. Don't forget, content curation is very visual - often it is the image which people will 'read', even before the headline. Once you create your quick post to the link you have chosen send notice to Twitter (my favourite) and the other social media sites where you will be building up followers due to your great links through content curation and you own personal ideas, thoughts, suggestions, research and knowledge on the topic you are focusing on.

Originally published on HubPages. Laura has been writing online since 1996. Her first content was sold to a print zine. She is a solo publisher of her own sites.

Publishing online can be lonely. There should be some kind of cute name for it. Like cabin fever for when you have been indoors too long and desperately must get outside, break free of the inside space. It became known as cabin fever for the pioneers who were trapped inside their small farm houses most of the winter, snowed in or just too cold to leave. Publishing online is like that too. You keep posting, hoping to hear something besides the echo of silence all around you. No doubt that's why we tend to write with the radio or TV on in the background.

Still there is the urge to be that pioneer, to try something, to start something and try to make it grow. We still do it. Independently or joining up other sites and networks as a smaller part of something big. But, there are days when you can feel overwhelmed by the to-do list you build up for yourself. There are days when the cabin fever of online publishing gets too much. We might go a whole day and realize we have not spoken a single word out loud to anyone but had typed thousands of them that day.

Writing is so very quiet. The only sound is the TV or the radio, the tapping of the keyboard. Blog comments that come in from others in their own quiet writing worlds are like life rafts of communication. You're not just talking to yourself after all! There really are still people in the world.

Being inside too much also narrows your focus too much. Get out there, people watch or even talk to someone. Blow up your world again, remember what it's like to be really social, face to face. It may be a bit scarier than talking online but we all need that interaction too. A breath of life in our quiet publishing world.

When you get back online comment in a few blogs, randomly. Spread that breath of life around. Yes, it's good for your blog stats but more importantly, it's really good for the blogging community too. Remind someone else that, just because it's quiet, doesn't mean there isn't anyone out there, reading, listening, maybe laughing at the right parts too.

How do you battle that cabin fever of being a web writer, an online publisher?

This was originally posted to The Awful Silence of Writing - Toronto Writing | Examiner.com  - But I decided I'm not a good fit to write there and I've closed my account.

I'm not unlinking from 9Rules. My feed still goes through on the Writing section of their network, so for that, I am keeping the link up. But, I have in every way that matters, given up on 9Rules. I feel really let down, disappointed and somewhat stupid for ever believing in it.

If I had my blog in 9Rules in the beginning, when the site still had passion behind it, I would have felt very much differently. Instead, I was accepted in the one and only batch of blogs after 9Rules was bought out. Since then we had a few empty promises and then... nothing much at all. Someone logged in for awhile to update the blog, token updates. My links appeared there until someone must have protested that my links were appearing too often. I update daily so there are a lot of posts to choose from when someone updated the 9Rules blog. But, someone must have been jealous and protested about the amount of times Word Grrls was linked to. I never bothered to ask about it, I understand pettiness and jealousy. It was just one little thing that began to bother me.

I've been a member of 9Rules since 2009. When the site went down recently, without explanation, I thought that would likely be the end of it. Like a sudden sinking of a ship. Just gone beneath the waves, leaving nothing but a kerplunk. But, they brought it up.  Of course, it's been unchanged since then. It would have been a nice sign of life if there were a post about the down time, or an email sent out to the members. This unchanged, non-communication, took away the last trace of hope I had for the site. I'm just waiting for it's final disappearance now.

But, as I wrote above, I'm keeping the link up as long as my feed still gets published on the network. It used to be important, part of the agreement to having membership. Now I can find many sites still part of the network, but no longer giving the link back to 9Rules. No one cares. I don't mean the individual bloggers, I mean the people behind 9Rules. They just don't care or have an interest in the network. It serves them by merely existing as  a domain to stick up Google Adsense. A shame, but it happens all too often when someone sells a site to someone else.

RIP 9Rules.