Comments on: Getting your brand strategy right

By: E.Umana

E.Umana — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 04:15:39 +0000

I’m surprised that the term mixed martial arts, would have a hard time catching on, however I still feel that you should have put created a different blog for your name and kept the traffic/subscribers that you already have to more effectively monetize that targeted traffic.

Also keep in mind that branding takes time.

By: Kevin Muldoon

Kevin Muldoon — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:21:54 +0000

A good story and one which I think will help a lot of bloggers.

I think one thing you could have done is sell the blog and start afresh with your own domain name. Obviously this means that you would lose the traffic you established but if you got a good price that money could have been spent on advertising your new blog with some money left over.

Also, I have actually seen a few blogs which were using a personal domain name sell on sitepoint – crazy!

By: Quitting The Day Job

Quitting The Day Job — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:03:45 +0000

That was my problem – selling the blog. I always had it in the back of my mind that if I got the right price, I would sell the blog, and who wants to buy a blog with my name as the domain?

By: Collin LaHay

Collin LaHay — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:19:53 +0000

This is true, however your chances of selling a blog go down if it is personally catered to you. A well established name that is well branded loses part of its equity if it is redirected to a fresh domain, as it will take that domain time to build up to the brand of the older one.

By: TheWebpreneur.ca

TheWebpreneur.ca — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:45:41 +0000

@Collin Actually there are people that woud buy a blog with someone elses name as the domain if the blog is successful and has readership, they could also just do a re-direct of the domain name as well if they are going to stick with the same topics

By: Collin LaHay

Collin LaHay — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:38:04 +0000

One of the main reasons I used my personal name is because I have no intentions of selling my blog. I had a half dozen readers ask me if I was ever going to sell Mixed Market Arts (as well as dozens more when I announced the URL change). If you ever plan to sell your blog, do not use your actual name as nobody in their right mind would buy collinlahay.com if their name isn’t Collin LaHay.

By: Armand

Armand — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:00:34 +0000

Yap, I also prefer to use my own name in my blog. The first consideration is it will be more personal. So, I can write my own post in a simple language. Meanwhile, the reader will give us feedback as they talk to us directly. This helps us to get closer with our readers.

By: TheWebpreneur.ca

TheWebpreneur.ca — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:59:41 +0000

I initially wanted to use my name, but my last name is too damn long and people would have a hard time pronouncing it right. I came up with and registered 5 other domains before finally settling with my current one.