What’s In A Name?
December 7, 2008 by BloggerNewbie
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“What’s In A Name?”
In my daily visits around the blogosphere I came across a post from Rachel @ Averagegal.com with some advice on choosing the domain name for your blog. 5 Blog Domain Name Tips is a useful post to read if you are considering buying a new domain name for any business. It got me thinking (which is what a great post is supposed to do) about what thoughts I went through to choose a business name.
I had to choose a name for both a brick and mortar business as well as an internet business. They each had separate and distinctive steps to make that decision. How and why did I arrive at the choices I made? I had a list of criteria I used in brainstorming for my name.
I thought about how I chose my brick and mortar business name.
- I wanted to be listed first or as close to first as possible in the phone book pages. My thinking behind that brilliant idea was from my own personal routine when I am looking for a business. I usually look at the first ten names or so and if they sound good, pick a few to call and compare. I chose Affordable Choice Insurance.
- The name needed to be memorable and self-explanatory. What will people easily remember? Will they choose my business just by the name? Will they know what my business is about?
- I looked for a name that would be manageable as far as advertising and logo design. I didn’t want my competitors to use my name against me. I wanted to be able to design a logo that would stand on its own. You could look at the logo without the name and know who and what it was about.
- The name had to be timeless. I didn’t want the name to be tied to any year or decade or passing phase. I planned on being around for awhile.
- This is an important decision. You are committing to a name that will (hopefully) last for years and years. I narrowed my options to ten then to five and finally to the name I accepted as mine forever and ever. I never understood why some businesses change their name or logo that they spent countless hours and dollars to become recognized.
There is obviously a difference in choosing your domain name.
- Being listed first in Google pages takes a little more than choosing your name alphabetically. Discussing how to be listed first in Google is another post. Actually an e-Book!
- Choosing a name that is memorable and self explanatory is crucial on the internet. There could be more than a few pages to go through to get to your name by searching a topic!
- I still haven’t chosen or created a logo for my blog. Very important. The more popular the blog becomes, the more important brand becomes.
- BloggerNewbie – a timeless name? Does the name indicate that the blog or blogger is new? Or does the name indicate the blog is for new bloggers.
- I thought of about 40 names before I made my selection. I sent the names to my three daughters and told them to pick a few of them and tell me why they picked them. I don’t think any of them picked BloggerNewbie. So much for asking for help.
One of of Rachel’s suggestions for a successful blog name was to choose a dot com name. I totally agree. Yet, against the norm – look at ProBlogger.net – guru of blogging. Another tip, do not use dashes in your name. Again, totally agree. Okay, now we have to look at Entrepreneurs-Journey.com – another guru.
Now what? These are not necessarily easy names to remember. Is everything we ever learned just something to throw out the window. Anything goes? How many blogs do you search for by the name? Is the name really that important? So what’s in a name?
Now I don’t know what to think! In the comments section of Rachel’s post I found some exceptional advice.
Debo Hobo says
“What’s in a name. umm everything.
Everyone should own there own personal name as well.”
So on Debo Hobo’s advice, I bought the domain name – www.deelangdon.com. Of course I should own my own name! What was I thinking? What if I didn’t buy my name first and then when I became rich and famous someone else tried to sell my own name to me for stupid money? I would be mad. Thank you Debo Hobo. You probably saved me a bunch of money.
So what’s in a name? Now after all this, what do you think?
Toodles – Blog Happy!
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Hey Dee,
Good points on naming. Sometimes I think I goofed up by using Tumblemoose. On the other hand, part of the name choosing should be in anticipation of branding. Chances are folks are going to remember a goofy, kinda out there name like Tumblemoose. Successful branding is about being unique and branding is so important to the longevity and success of the site.
A logo is important as well, although not so much early on. A distinctive look and feel to the website trumps a logo initially.
Good food for thought.
George
Tumblemoose´s last blog post..Are writing partnerships a good idea?
Good article. I have not bought a domain yet, but will definitely use my own name if I do.
Beth´s last blog post..Green is the color of my Christmas Tree
George,
I like the name I chose and I think it has the elements of being timeless. I think a unique name is a great marketing idea. I haven’t designed my logo yet because I can’t decide at this point and I don’t want to change it once I design it. My site is relatively new so I have time.
Beth,
Like I said in the post, I actually just bought my name and eventually I will use it for something. But for this blog, I wanted a name so that people would know what the site is about. When I’m rich and famous they will all just flock to my name site!
Grin, to this day I have to type “Yaro” into the search engine because I can never remember how to spell entrepreneur.
I’ve picked some loser urls myself (at least as far as search engine optimization goes) and I’ve managed to make them profitable anyway, but when I’ve gotten it right keywordinformation.com (yes!), it’s made rising to the top of the SERPs a lot easier.
P.S. I think Tumblemoose is a cool name, George. There’s something to be said for building a brand.
Lindsay´s last blog post..Problogger Book by Darren Rowse & Chris Garret–for Experienced Bloggers or Not?
Hi Lindsay,
Sometimes I think part of it is luck of the draw and then sometimes it is often insight & planning, you know, the hard work stuff!
@Lindsay, Thanks! I’ll tell ya another thing, it makes choosing usernames and email addresses easy-peasy!
George
Tumblemoose´s last blog post..Are writing partnerships a good idea?
George,
You probably don’t run across the name already used!
That’s interesting – I’ve owned my domain name for a long time but never did much with it. It didn’t occur to me until after I started the blog that the name and domain didn’t match. If I were to start over, at least with that site, I would have done things differently.
Kim Woodbridge´s last blog post..How to Get Freelance Work with Twitter
Kim,
I don’t think I ever really noticed! Hmmm, what does that mean? I have a post pending for publishing tomorrow about things you would have done differently when first starting your blog. This comment is too surreal…you should have saved it for tomorrow!
Can I just copy and paste the response then?
Kim Woodbridge´s last blog post..Stuff This in Your RSS – 12/9/08 – Freelance Folder
Kim,
he, he. first Darren now you! Must be bloggers think too much alike..