I was asked recently by an online friend, how did I name my blog? And by the way, I would link to this friend IF she had a blog! This sweet lady is someone who shows many of us such support by her thoughtful blog comments. She just might start a blog soon. I’m hoping she does…..Sally, this post is dedicated to YOU! 🙂
Hmmm….how did I name my blog? It started back in 2007, in April to be exact! I didn’t realize I hit my 4-year blogaversary last week. Well this topic is perfect timing then. I was just starting my online jewelry business and talking about it with my kids, driving along in the car. I had 3 boys at the time, all ages 5 and under. Little did I realize the new journey that I was about to embark on…..one that would eventually lead me here where I am today. So thankful to have met so many of YOU both in person and online. When I asked the kids for ideas for my new shop, my oldest son called out, “how about Sweet Beads?” I liked it! I added “Studio”, and the rest is history!
The little guy who helped create my "brand"...
Now would I chose the same name today if I were to do it all over again? It’s true what they say that people and interests changing over time. I like that by including the word “bead”, it helps define a large portion of who I am (jewelry designer). But on the flip side, I have grown to include so much more here than just jewelry. This blog has become home to stories of my children, photographs, baking, antiquing, and travels to many local destinations. These things are not conveyed in the words “bead” or “studio”.
Tara Fray, author of “Blogging for Bliss”, discusses this very topic in her blog post, “Naming your baby”. She shares how she was able to change her blog name. It’s good to know it’s possible to make a change, but for now I like mine just fine. I am hoping to change the look of my blog in the near future. It’s been 2 years since I made a big change, hard to believe. I was rifling through some pictures I took in the last several months and found this one – sure captures a few of my favorite things – photography, old rhinestones and my favorite shade of blue….could make a nice blog banner.
If you are reading this, chances are you already have a blog. But if you’re out there contemplating starting your own blog, where do you begin? Your name is one of many considerations – but oh so important. In an old post on Blogging Startup, the author – Jim, shares 10 great tips for naming your blog:
1. Chose a name that can be used as a domain name.
2. Chose a memorable name.
3. Find a name that describes your blogging topic.
4. Keep made-up names short and easy to spell.
5. Keep the name to as few words as possible, preferably not more than 3.
6. Easy to spell – keep it short and simple
7. Chose a name that is easy to pronounce.
8. Consider using a name that is easily converted in to a logo.
9. Look at the names in Technorati’s Top 100 to see naming conventions.
10. If you have a short name and the name is taken, considering using a simple prefix or suffix.
Jim adds a few bonus tips: testing the name on friends, and adding a “keyword” in your blog name.
Additional blog-naming tips can be found here, here, and here. Blogging advice and tips are abundant on the Internet, thank goodness. But best of all, our blogging friends (you guys!) give the best advice of all – thank you for being my sounding board time and time again.
I would LOVE to hear how you came up with your blog name. Please leave a comment and share how you came up with your blog name. If you were to do it all over, would you chose the same name? If you are thinking of starting a blog, care to share some potential blog names?
Thanks so much for stopping by – I look forward to hearing your stories. 🙂
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Great question! I wanted to express with my name that is about this and that so I chose my name and the german expression for “this and that” and put it all together. I still like the idea but sometimes I think that maybe the name is to complicated. Thanks for rembering me:-)
hey gorgeous, fab post…..love it when it so personal to someone. Mine is just that too…..mum and dad always used to greet me with “hello gorgeous!” So it was a no brainer for me…..and now, more than ever with dad passing away a few weeks ago and mum about to start chemo for six months, seems like the right choice to have made.
Also, who doesn’t feel gorgeous when they put a piece of sparkle on, right???
Have a great weekend sweetie, I am getting ready to watch the Royal Wedding tomorrow….SOOOO excited! ;o)
hugs
hello gorgeous xxx
Great post, Cindy!
My blog/business name come from my love of alliteration and add with the fact that someone told me once that people who’s initials spell a word are likely to be more successful. SO… my initials (KAB) plus a little “c” sound alliteration (creative concepts) and there you have it. If I had to do it over, I would definitely go for something simplier, but oh well.
K
Back in 2007 when I started my online initiative, I struggled to come up with a name for my online presence and be unqiue. I live on a wildlife preserve in upstate New York, making jewelry, in my studio. Simple and to the point.
Good question! I’ve been rolling the idea of starting my own blog for a while now (the one I have now is a shared blog), and I’m just now trying out names. It’s more difficult than I thought. Thanks for the tips and links.
Well, ‘A Hot Piece of Glass’ was suggested by my husband, and I liked the bit of double entendre. At the time, it completely fit what I was doing and what I was about, but since then, my work has expanded enough that I don’t feel it really describes what I’m doing all that well anymore. I’m not sure about changing it completely, but am considering it. I don’t have any good ideas for what I would change it to, though! 🙂
Well, Cindy, I wish I had put a lot more thought into it, because the part about keeping the blog consistent with the selling site, business cards, etc won’t work with what I went with! 🙂 Oh well. I chose BeadsandBread cause that’s what I do. I guess the blog has morphed into more of beading, since I had someone comment the other day that I hadn’t posted anything about bread in a while. I still haven’t gotten the nerve up to start selling, so it’s a moot point for me right now. Thanks so much for sharing all the great info.
Hi CIndy, i just love that your son came up with that name just so cute. I worked as a volenteer at Jack’s school 40hrs a week so was treated as part of the staff teachers they would always ask me to bring jewelry in to look at. I really hadn’t starting selling much at the time i would just give it away so a name was the last thing on my mind, as my collection began to grow it was evident that if i didnt star to sell i was going to end up in the poor house. i was preparing for my first art N craft show and asking around if anyone had any ideas for names a few were throw around as the teachers were looking at a bunch of things i had made one teacher picked up a piece and said That’s really something unique and there it was they suggested the by Lana to make it more unique as it is not a commen name so there it was “Something Unique by Lana” i often think of changing it but for now with a large banner for my festivals,business cards etc.its staying for a while.What a great post i often wonder how people come up with such charming names ttfn L:)
I made up a business name. I had three to choose from:
Beadacious
Beadorable
and something else???
Beadorable was too cute.
Beadacious seemed to fit me; I like the idea of being audacious. Unfortunately, Beadacious, even though I made it up, was already taken on Etsy as well as a domain name. I tacked my name on front: KJ and added Beads on back, thus: KJ’s Beadacious Beads.
Not short, not to hard to spell. HOWEVER, more than a few people think I went with delicious instead of audacious and say Beadalicious. (Which isn’t too shabby either.)
i love the beach and love the sound of Spanish so I went with marbella jewelry. but i did not look to the future for branding my jewelry and starting a website. I’ve discovered that there is someone else out there that sells jewelry and has the marbella jewelry dot com. I been thinking of changing the name, but it would mean i would have to start a new blog, etc. still thinking about it.
Pfft – Well I am a walking nightmare of hot blogging mess – as I didn’t follow any rules. My blog was originally started out as a way to be humourous before I had my store and somewhat started as a bet – and as a way for this stay at home mom to feel sane again. I’ve done an entire post about my name because I get questions all the time. Basically my husband would call me during the day and ask ” Who threw you under the bus today?” you know when the kids tell the teacher you never give them lunch or take them to the doctor or tell you you look like Sponge Bob….hence “My Life Under the Bus'” it fit then and still fits ME so it is what it is – it’s me no matter what I am doing.
I am trying to get Sally to set up a blog too. She is awesome! I named my blog through Belinda Saville who said she would love to follow my “journey” to create a bracelet to match every t-shirt. I just love it and it is a “journey” that I hope will keep going.
Cindy, you pass along some of the most useful information. Thank you! My blog name came out of my business name. And that’s kind of a boring story. Summers is my husband’s surname. Mine is unpronouncable and spellable. Summers is easy to spell and say. Boring but true. I love the story of where Sweet Bead comes from.
great info..wish i’d thought of all that before i started the shop and the blog..
i’d been working in clay for decades and doing the spirit rattles..so when i set up the etsy shop, Spirited Earth seemed like a good general clay name and duh spiritrattles for the blog..but now..i’m stuck with that blog name that doesn’t really fit too well now that i’m more involved with jewelry and beadmaking..
I think that thinking about your reason for blogging and your creative biz if you have one is a perfect place to start. I spent a lot of time perusing blogs (yours was one of my firsts!) and checking them out. My blog is about more than just beading and jewelry, it is about inspiration and imagination and honoring that part of your soul that is destined to be creative (because I believe that this is locked within each of us). My company name went through different phases and I am now a d.b.a. (I don’t plan to reveal my original name – ugh!)… Tesori Trovati is Italian for Treasures Found. So that is where my name comes from. Tesori Trovati is a challenge for people to say and write, so the English equivalent was the best choice. There is a dash in there because ‘treasuresfound’ was already taken! And I think that Treasures Found sums up all that I do, am trying to do… and especially the people that come to follow me… they are all treasures to me whether they come for one post or stay for them all! Thanks for the resources!
Enjoy the day, Cindy!
Erin
hi Cindy 🙂 That’s a great question… The name of my blog completely sums up my life.. ‘Try, Try Again’ … I keep getting knocked down but i also keep getting back up!! :))) And this latest ‘getting back up’ is feeling wonderful 🙂 I am an artist that keeps being forced to change my venue… and I feel like the boxing clown when I was a kid… you kept smacking him down and he would bounce right back at you!! What a fun toy that was :)))
Great thoughts here! When my kids were very young my X and I lived in this really sleepy southern town of Summerville SC. To get to my parents house we would drive through the older homes part of the small town. There were all different small sweet homes with alot of big pines and gigantic oaks with moss in the trees. (it was really such a sleepy beautiful little town outside of Charleston SC) One house had this black wrought iron sign that swung in the wind up on a pole that said “Singingwoods”. I always loved that the people named their home that name and I never forgot it. Thus came my Blog name Singingwoods. Some things are never forgotten and are deeply plowed into our hearts! Cindy Ive always loved the name of your Studio and what better way of having it named then your beautiful children!
I’ve gone through a lot of blogs in my lifetime. This latest round started with a blog for my business. But as much as I love jewelry, I had a hard time blogging only about it. I ended up with Brandi Girl Blog because I wanted a more personal blog, one where I could still talk about the jewelry I was making, but also about anything that caught my fancy. Brandi Girl was a nickname growing up, so I went with that!
I am really enjoying hearing your stories, and how your blog names came to be! They are all so different. If you’re stopping by, please share how YOU named your blog – I’d love to hear it! 🙂
Thanks for sharing your story Cindy! I came up with songbeads as I sing and bead….not really too complex! But I really like it. It’s distinctive and I like the subtle reference to birds as they are one of my favourite images…and no one else has taken it! Apart from on yahoo randomly. Other than that it’s all mine! SHort and sweet.
Cindy, thank you from the bottom of my heart! It was so nice of you to take my question and run with it. All these comments are really helpful and the articles are great, too. (Thanks to Kristen, too!) Getting to know so many of you is great part of my life now and I love it. I am so grateful to you for this blog post (just for me!!!). Here’s one my daughter did for me yesterday that was also pretty nice: http://whimsyvalentine.com/. I am so lucky to have such amazing people in my life. I feel humbled and grateful beyond measure. I’ll let you know when I get this blog going (oops, did you see that, I said “when” instead of “if.” That’s progress!!!)
Oh my gosh I AGONIZED over picking a name and truthfully wonder if I had to do it all over again would I pick something different. “Hopemore” came from a Swedish Proverb, I try to keep the proverb in my banner as a reference but at times I forget. My interests vary from jewelry to mixed media art so I wanted to come up with something that didn’t tie me down to just one art form. So to Sally: I hope you find encouragement and sage advice to come out and play with us in the blogland..lol.
Hi Cindy ~ What a great idea to see how we all named our blog.
It all started with my wanting a vanity tag for my vehicle. One day the word Zen popped into my mind. Since I’ve studied comparative religions I thought this was perfect as it sounds like san, the end of many words. Many days later the light bulb went off and I thought of artisan. The beginning reminded me of being arty so Artyzen became my license plate. Then I added Studio for my business card and to my blog.
No I wouldn’t change mine. It feels right! Of course it’s not easy to spell since it’s a made up word.
On another note, I absolutely love, love, love reading the blogs out there. Everyone is so creative, lovely and fun. ~ Linda
Since my screen name and license plate name was taken Beadbug I needed something else that said what I did so CopperGlassAndRecycledTrash.blogspot.com Covered what I do in one big title 🙂
This has to be one of my favorite blog posts…and comment stream…ever! The comments are so fun and it’s wonderful to hear how we’ve all ended up with this part of our identity.
I was dating a guy named Paul a few years ago. He was in marketing and was really enthralled by my creativity so when I asked him for help in “branding” my jewelry. When we met, he had recently suffered a mild brain injury because he fell and hit his head. He was/is still a great guy and was eager to help so he led the brainstorming about the feelings, inspirations and materials that I like to use. I said “rocks” and he said, “Jen Judd Rocks!” (Judd was my name until I married my sweetie in 2009) and we both laughed for about two minutes straight when we realized that it would be the perfect URL! I went onto godaddy.com immediately and bought the address and that’s history.
Now that I’m married and I’m actually Jen Velasquez, I still like having the Jen Judd blog because that represents the beginning of my adventure and, like Kerry, keeps the cool alliteration going! haaaaaaaaaa
Bottom line: my blog was named by a brain damaged guy. 🙂
Jen
What a SWEET story! Your son(s) are so clever…like their Mother! I know that you know that I named my blog after my grandmother’s….little did they know just how much they’d be “talked” about (by me), and their names typed over & over, and their memories would live on way after they have been gone, alongside me….I hope they know just how much they have meant to me and my life =) ……*sigh*
I love that photo Cindy! It is sooooo precious….xo
Well, long before blogging came about I was doing craft shows and had to have a name….since I was a little girl I have been toting cats around…my school friends always said I would be the little old lady in the house with all the cats…..so kimmykats came about. I only have 5 right now…that’s not that many for living in the country is it???
I changed my blog name halfway through my blogging “career”, around the time when I started getting a few followers (and I mean, as in three). I knew I didn’t want to just promote jewelry so needed something else. It seemed kind of apt. I wish I’d been more creative. I see blogs with clever names like “Pickle Juice and Barley” (I’m totally making that up), but you know what I mean — blogs with clever names that make you WANT to click them just to see what they’re about. Alas, that is a gift I just don’t have!
Cindy, your blog name conjures such nice feelings! I like the word “studio” (there is such nice imagery with that!), and beads sometimes seem edible they’re so gorgeous, so “sweet” seems very appropriate! When I started my blog I thought it would be my personal ramblings about anything and everything (like the contents of my private journals), so I named it after what I thought were my two defining qualities–I tend to live in my head and intellectualize things (hence “cerebral”) and I tend to dally, serially, with all manner of hobbies but never sticking with anything (“dilettante”). Et voila. I exhausted my deep thoughts early on, and got tired of pawing through the same set of neuroses again and again, so now it’s mostly just about jewelry. (Unfortunately it looks like I struck out on almost all the blog-naming guidelines above. Oh well). Can’t wait to see your new look!
I named my blog feedingthebeadbeast because that’s what I do 🙂
It’s about jewelry making and all the beads I buy!
When you just HAVE to buy some beads, thats called ‘feeding the beast’ lol
It’s so funny that you should post about this because I’ve recently decided to start a new blog and am having issues naming it! LOL Those tips help a lot though, so thank you 🙂
With my business name, I knew that I wanted something that would encompass not only me as a person and what I did jewelry design wise, but I also wanted it to be expandable in the future if I chose to get into something else arts or crafts wise-One night when I had horrible insomnia, I took out a piece of paper and just started writing random words that described me, my jewelry, what I did, words I just liked, etc, and just started pairing them together.
Once I paired ‘The Eclectic Element’ together, I knew I had my name 🙂
Good luck to your friend who wants to start a blog! It’s really such a rewarding experience.
I don’t have a blog…yet.. but I just wanted to congratulate you on being the “Featured Designer” in this month’s Bead Trends! Your work, as always, is beautiful!
Hello! My daughter’s name is Madelyn Margaret……Mad Maggie when she is in her alter ego phase….being naughty usually! Mad Maggie Designs was a no brainer for me! 🙂
What a great post Cindy!!I called it ITLOTM because it was based on a journal entry at the time,having to do with with ..a moment of clarity,a moment of Grace,a moment of fear,and a moment of truth..all of which happened one night,as I …yup..gazed up at the moon.
Thank you for sharing this post with us,I think its so wonderful to see how others came up with thier names and to read about how you came up with yours..with a help from such a cutie.Hugs,Cat
My blog was named after my business to keep the link between the two. My business was named about 14 years ago when I was selling jewellery in a local gallery who liked to put business names when labelling items rather than the designer’s name. They put me on the spot and as many of my pieces had a daisy in them (not much has changed in that!) the only thing I could think of was Daisychain Designs! I had to go for daisychainjewellery for my domain name as daisychaindesigns was taken by a quilting shop! I wouldn’t choose that name now as to me it sounds a bit too twee, but people know the name so if I changed it I’d lose a lot of recognition, especially when it comes to the shows I do.
I’ve no idea what I’d choose if I was starting up now though!
Well I did a lot of research on blog platforms at the time and visited a few blogs and knew I wanted to use Typepad. Then one day I was on the Internet and went to typepad to see what it took to start a blog and decided right then to start it. I had no names even in my mind and I had filled out all of the info and then I needed to make a decision about the name. Since I love all things vintage and knew the blog would be about my antique business as well as art and life, I used the word vintage in the title. Then it was just about coming up with something different. A few of the things I thought of were taken and then the word sweets just popped into my head and there you have it “Vintage Sweets”
I work with a lot of amazing, talented artists. I have heard/read a lot about what makes someone an Artist and how many of us struggle with using that word to describe what we do. I didn’t go to art school. I like what I make, but it’s not like a lot of the art I see every day. Some people call themselves “makers” some have a “craft” but no one wants to be a crafter. I chose my blog name because I think there is nothing wrong with what I call “artful crafts.” My blog is mostly jewelry, but I like to put in a fun craft project now and then. A bonus was having a name that starts with A. I didn’t realize it would put me at the top of lists and directories. I did a thorough search before I started my blog and there was nothing like it out there. Since then, I’ve seen a similarly-named blog but that’s ok — the more the merrier. Fun to read about everyone’s journey. Thanks!
This is great, thank you to all who have stopped by and shared their stories! If you are new here, please do tell us how your blog was named (inquiring minds want to know!). 🙂
Well, my grandmother was a great storyteller and when my sis and I stayed overnight at her house on occasional weekends I used to get up early so I could sit in her kitchen and listen to her tell me about when she was a girl growing up in Pennsylvania. As many of my ideas originate, Stories They Tell just popped into my head one day a long time ago (yes and off in a faraway galaxy too) and I was smart enough to write it down. That little piece of paper sat in a file until one day I found it and I guess it was the right time in my life for it to become the name of my business. Or maybe I was now old enough to have some stories to tell myself. The End.
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