How to name your blog... Don't take it personal.
I wonder how Sam Jackson came to change his name to Samuel L. Jackson. I think I remember saying the name Sam Jackson. I'd love to know when the change happened. How is a no brainer. He's famous.
Eight-ish years since my blog inception - I'm not the famous Kenya G. Johnson.
I am not a Taraji P. Henson, a Susan B. Anthony, a John F. Kennedy, a Samuel L. Jackson, a Michael J. Fox, a Mary J. Blige or a Pearl S. Buck. The G just didn't stick and I don't think I'd walk around at blog conference, shake hands and introduce myself as Kenya G. Johnson.
I'm Kenya Johnson and I'm Sporadically Yours.
Choosing a name for your website is a hard, personal decision. In naming your website, you may solicit opinions or you might make the decision on your own and then opinions are given. It'll bother you for years if it turns out the people with opinions were right and you were hard headed.
I'll just eat my crow here.
Someone asked me after the fact about my "G". They asked if kenyajohnson(dot)com was available as opposed to my chosen kenyaGjohnson.com. Whether is was or wasn't, it's not now. Someone is holding it hostage at a price I refuse to pay.
I wanted the G. I'm attached to the G. The G is part of who I am. But you can't take the naming of your URL personal if you aren't famous. Oh yes you can, but I don't think you should.
Is your name hard to spell? You'll always have to spell it. I say KenyaGJohnson.com - I'm asked, is there a space, a hyphen, an underscore, is it case sensitive, is it GEE or is it just the letter?
It's just the freaking letter G, that's my middle initial. "It's just like I said it, IDIOT."
I've taken it personal. And that's mostly an imaginary conversation. I'm just telling you what your imagination is in for once you've accepted your mistake.
I bought SporadicallyYours.com last year. Got it cheap like the normal price. No questions. "Oh that's easy enough to remember", says imaginary conversation. Sigh. Of course it is.
I'm entering my 8th year of blogging and Google is sweet enough to continue redirecting my original blogspot after all these years. I'm not going to bother them again. It would be a heap load of google mess and broken links if I completely changed over my URL now.
KenyaGJohnson.com is a keeper but no one has to remember it. SporadicallyYours.com will direct you where you need to go if you know how to spell.
If it's feasible I think bloggers should own two URLs, your real name or alias first name last name, no deprived middle initials, and your blog and/or tagline name. Lucky you, if they are one in the same but I rarely see that. I've changed my blog name so many times over the years and once had a logo that was just KenyaGJohnson.com. It didn't stick.
I've come full circle with Sporadically Yours; it's how I signed off my blog posts back in the day when my website URL was sporadicpublication.blogspot.com.
Bottom line, you want to be easily found if someone can't remember your real name or alias or if your real name is all they know OR if they can't spell.
Otherwise, it takes some really good blogging years for google to connect all the dots. Go see for yourself. Clean sweep all the history, cookies, cache's and crap and try finding a fellow blogger off the top of your head. Did you find them by real name/alias or blog/tagline name?
Now think about them finding you.
I'm going to give TheJackB.com a shout out. I don't even know if Jack is his real name, but he's TheJackB everywhere and I think he made an excellent choice in choosing a blog name.