23 Comments to “Blogging Life Question 4: Blog Names”

1. December 11th, 2005 at 8:33 pm
   Jordan said

   Regarding the second question, I think the biggest issue is just having people find you. I suppose the real question is, would you be unwilling to register 2 domains year-after-year?

   If you’re okay with paying for two domains, then you just keep your original domain registered and have it forwarded to your new domain. That way, even if you change your name/branding/domain name, people can still find you.

2. December 11th, 2005 at 8:40 pm
   ME Strauss said

   Hi Jordan,
   Welcome to Successful Blog!
   I’m not sure I made the question right. There are folks who have the domain name successful-blog, but call their site. The BEST Blog Ever.

   I’m going in to fix the post now. There now that should make more sense to everyone.
   Smiles,
   Liz

3. December 12th, 2005 at 12:38 am
   Mike said

   Blog, site, webpage.

   They are all the same to the millions of average surfers out there and will be for a long time.

   Blog has come to mean a site that’s frequently updated.

   It’s no longer a weblog, a diary, yada yada.

   It’s just a site that’s updated very often and often allows interaction.

   All that led to this….having blog in the name might be in vogue now, but may not be in 18 months. It may be a lens or a canyon or a diablog ( that’s a diary that logs my thoughts ) or who knows what the next buzzword will be.

4. December 12th, 2005 at 12:52 am
   ME Strauss said

   Hi Mike,
   That’s kind of what I figured it meant.
   I see so many these days where the domain name and the site name don’t even come close to matching. I worried at first that my personal site name would be hard to remember or find, but people get there if they want to.
   How was the paper today?
   Liz

5. December 12th, 2005 at 1:17 am
   Mike said

   Paper was actually online. I’ve been reading the NYTimes for as long as I can remember. Paper and now pixels. Kind of a dream for a small town country boy to think of getting to NYNY and just walking the streets that Joe Namath once walked…course he was in pantyhose when he did it, or at least a commercial.

   Survivor rocked ! Best one yet. Sad to see it’s over, but it’ll be back soon.

   Football was okay. Never did get a nap, but had a pile-o-pizza.

6. December 12th, 2005 at 1:37 am
   ME Strauss said

   Hey Mike,
   Sounds like you packed in quite a Sunday. Not to worry I got in a nap for ya! Least I could to keep you going.
   Liz

7. December 12th, 2005 at 2:37 am
   HART (1-800-HART) said

   I used to worry about that.. alot actually. Then I figured the worst thing to have in your name was a “blogspot” or other hosted place (for reasons of no control over your data, etc). After I moved to my own domains, I was always worried because all my blogs have the format http://domain/blog/ when in reality, only 2 of the sites that format made sense. The other ones are strictly blogs so could have been in the root.

   But with RSS feeds and bookmarks, I firmly believe that it does not make any sense whatsoever to worry about what’s in your domain name. Very few times people will try to guess your site name and in these cases, I prefer not to have silly abbreviations and feel it’s okay to have long domain names within reason.

   Will the word “blog” be around in 18 months? I just started a new blog called Curling Blog .. and I did pause before I registered it, but thought to myself “Geeez I’ve got better things to worry about”

8. December 12th, 2005 at 2:38 am
   HART (1-800-HART) said

   Grrr .. Moderation again.. ‘test’ with this email address

9. December 12th, 2005 at 7:51 am
   ME Strauss said

   Hi Hart,
   Did you change something? Because by the time I got here both comments were up and out of moderation.

   I agree the problem, especially with blogspot is getting to be serious. I read again yesterday how their overzealous clean-up of splogs is causing real hand-made blogs to be deleted from the system at an alarming rate.

   On having blog in my name I look a this this way: hardly anyone had website, yet so many have blog. I get the blog blogs confused sometimes. Is it Blogernity or Blogebrity I want? That kind of this is starting to become a problem I think. I could be wrong.

   The issue of how you used it . . . I think that’s like whether to use shop or store.

   Liz

10. December 12th, 2005 at 8:09 am
    Sabine said

    Well — I guess I’m biased about using the word “blog” in your blog’s name I think it’s ok until it gets too contrived.

    As for the issue with domain names, the main thing that matters is that you pick something you can live with (that is, something that you can control). If it’s blog.lizrules.com or http://www.blogname.com is less important. I think fewer people actually type in URLs these days, except maybe once or twice, initially. As long as people know how to get there, and links don’t get broken if there’s a move, that’s fine.

11. December 12th, 2005 at 8:44 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Sabine,
    Good to see you. Happy Monday!

    I’m still biased toward having a blog I’m just not sure I’d start my blog name with one Liz’s Blog yes. House o’ Blog yes. Bloghouse no, no, never, never, not anymore.

    I agree completely with what you’re saying in your second paragraph. I think we’re getting to “speed dial” on the Internet.
    Liz

12. December 12th, 2005 at 9:07 am
    Martin said

    I guess it all comes down to the type of blog and what you want to get out of it.

    If you’re blogging about your business - then there’s nothing wrong with http://www.yourbusiness.com/blog/

    If your blog is your business - then I would go for the branding effect of the same name/domain - it’ll be good if you ever get mentioned in a mainstream media article. Or say you get mentioned in a podcast. I have been mentioned in a couple and they always give out link love - “you can visit Home Office Voice at … http://www.homeofficevoice.com” much easier than saying “you can visit Home Office Voice at http://www.completely-different-name.com backslash your blog”

    About the “blog” term - I have mixed feelings. Who really knows if in a years time it will go out of fashion or not.

    When I first started I used the domain SmallOfficeBlog.com but then I had this cringe feeling about having the term blog so I changed it to HomeOfficeVoice.com - probably means nothing but I could already sense a sort of backlash against anyting with blog in it from the mainstream.

    But I’m coming from the point of view where I want to develop a brand for my blog.

    BTW, anybody want to buy the SmallOfficeBlog.com domain off me

13. December 12th, 2005 at 9:22 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Martin,
    That last sentence reminds me of a friend who used to say, (and I agree) “Never miss a chance to push your agenda.” Well done.

    So many people talk of branding, but so few know how to do it. I think maybe I’ll do a series on it. You’ve made so many great points about it in just this little comment and I wonder if only the choir hears them.

    The point about business branding and podcasts being a reason to have your domain name match your blog name is a subtle one that I wouldn’t have thought of. Thanks for that.

    Liz

14. December 12th, 2005 at 9:35 am
    Martin said

    Yeah, about the podcast thing I would never had thought of it as well til I heard myself being mentioned and I was pleased to realise each time he said my blog name it would have branded it more deeply into people’s mind - and without writing it down folks would be able to get to my site in a breeze.

    Branding: you do your series and I’ll do my one big resource post that I’m almost finished with on … branding (been building the resource since late November - got a 150 useful links, now I’m culling them and sorting them into order)

    One thing I’m amazed about branding. So many people equate branding with one thing: a logo.

15. December 12th, 2005 at 9:49 am
    ME Strauss said

    I hear you, Martin,
    That’s how I would have found out, by listening to the podcast and realizing what was happening myself. So much of business–life in general–is just paying attention to how things happen and how I react.

    I’ll be interested in seeing how you organize those links. Talk about a way to see inside womeone’s head.

    When it comes to most concepts, branding being one, most folks stop at the skin of the pudding. The world has become fast-food thinkers, I’m afraid. I guess that makes folks who think a second longer, like us at SB here, look smart.
    Liz

16. December 12th, 2005 at 10:33 am
    Martin said

    Talk about a way to see inside womeone’s head - if I had that skill heck, I’d be Mel Gibson getting it on with Helen Hunt Although I do have a thing for Angelina Jolie so …

    Okay, it’s 1.30am and I’m outta here (and now because one A. Jolie is on my mind - you know who I’ll be dreaming about) :-)

17. December 12th, 2005 at 11:04 am
    ME Strauss said

    Good night, Martin.
    Sleepy Swell.
    Liz

18. December 12th, 2005 at 6:32 pm
    Cas said

    Well that will teach me for not posting a comment when I first have an idea. Here’s me, working on a well thought out and rounded comment for most of the day (ok, so I was only working on it on-and-off, but still), then I come to post it…

    And Martin’s said pretty much exactly what I wanted to say in Comment number 12. Yup. Nothing to add.

    Personal preference though? I’d steer clear of having the word “blog” in your domain (and title if possible). We probably won’t even be using blogs in a year or so given the current pace of change, not to mention it’s a word that is as ugly as sin, and makes me cringe every time I have to say it.

    Cas

19. December 12th, 2005 at 6:36 pm
    Jennifer Grucza said

    I think it’s best to have the site name and the domain name match. And in general, unless it’s still very new, I’d avoid changing a site’s name. People don’t like change. For example, I still call the girl scout cookies Samoas even though they’ve changed their name.

20. December 12th, 2005 at 6:42 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Cas,
    How nice to think that this question was on and off your radar for a good part of the day. Darn that Martin anyway.

    I find I’m beginning to like the word “blog” better than website, if only because I don’t like extra syllables.
    Liz

21. December 12th, 2005 at 6:45 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Jennifer,
    You are right about change. FedExKinkos hasn’t been Federal Express for how many years? In an ideal world I’d keep them the same too, but if my business plan forced me to change the name of my business, I don’t think I’d change my domain and lose all of my domain links etc. just because of it.
    Much as I like things to match. I’d have to with practical there.
    Liz

22. December 13th, 2005 at 12:04 pm
    Jennifer Grucza said

    Well, with HTTP redirects, you could move everything to a whole new domain without actually losing any visitors. Gradually people would update their links to the new domain.

23. December 13th, 2005 at 12:33 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Yeah, Jennifer that’s what I’m thinking. I’m at this very moment doing a move to bet my personal blog out from under the .blogspot scary “kill my domain” threat. A redirect is the plan. My hope is thaat I don’t lose too much as far as my PR5 and 173 links to, but better now than when it’s dead or when I have a higher PR or a higher link count.

    There you have it.
    LIz