I am a college student looking to improve my writing through a blog. My idea is to write 1-2 "articles" per week and use the blog to post them. This will not be the traditional "personal journal" or link blog. Rather it is a collection of writings. The blog is not so much to earn money from ads but rather feature my writings and improve my writing ability. The problem I am having is deciding between using MyName.com or Keyword.com for the domain. I have heard people say I should use MyName.com to get "personal branding" which could lead to better things (which would be my end goal). Others suggest I should use Keyword.com so I can become an "expert" in a subject. In my dreams the blog would lead to me getting noticed by a publisher and could be a springboard to "real" publishing jobs. Does anyone have suggestions? I cannot decide!
Buy Both. Domain names are under $10/each YourName.com is a good one to own no matter what you do with it... it's nice to secure it just in case you want to do something with it one day. Be safe, buy both, maybe even the .info
If you shop around and be patient you can register both these names for much less. Dotster just had a coupon for $2 for 2 domain names, for example.
i rather get a cool name that's easy to remember, just like shoemoney... myname.com might be hard to remember(depend on ur name)
Hi Sam, I agree that you should register both. As for which you should develop, I'd say it depends on what your ultimate goal in writing is. (I just ended a sentence with a preposition - please don't hate me.) If you're looking to become a novelist, then I'd say it's important to develop some "name recognition" with your name. If you're looking to become an expert in medical literature, the a keyword-based domain may be the way to go. And, for the record, I like your name. HTH, Sam
I'd do the blog with keyword.com, but also register yourname.com. Write for sites other than your blog, and use yourname.com as a professional / portfolio sites to show potential clients. The blog should build your reputation in the specific field you're writing about. The personal page should build your rep as a writer. Jenn
what if your last name is something like Wasiniskiy (just an example, not my actual name), that's probably not something you want to promote because it's so easy to mispronounce and mistype....
I think that despite of the fact that keyword names have an advantage from the viewpoint of SEO, developing a brand that contains just some original seeminly unattractive words may bring even better results. I would choose for that type of name, the more so, considering the fact that most keyword name are already taken. By the way, when I may post threads at domain marketplace at this site, I will offer two of such original domains that some people may be interested in
If your very very confident in your abilities then pick your own name. Otherwise pick a pen name and shadow write the articles. Picking a pen name will allow you to become an expert in different fields of interest and brand your name in that area. You can become SamSEO.com for ten years and then when that market dies you can become SamWeb2-O.com or VOIPsam.com once that is popular.