1. 1 Leonid Shalimov July 12, 2007

   Really good in-depth article. I haven’t even thought about that until I read this. That’s really a good point. I think that branding is important but also using keywords. Something combined.

   Ah, I need more thought on the subject, anyway, great content. Will be back for more.
2. 2 Jay July 12, 2007

   It’s an interesting dilemma. If you’re in for the long-term, branding yourself is a great thing. But you’re right, it makes selling the site nearly impossible. I’ve seen people do a combination, keyword sites combined with a name site to tie them all together.
3. 3 Verne July 13, 2007

   I was recently in that very same position! I moved from my self-named domain to my current one in hopes of generating a stronger tie between what I was writing about and the name of the blog. I guess I thought it’d be easier to attract an audience to my blog using a name that was relevant to the content, rather than trying to build equity for my own name and working at associating it with the topic of my blog.

   I’m still not sure if the right decision was made, but I’ve since shifted my efforts to writing quality content rather than worry about how much I could sell my self-named blog for vs. my relevantly-named blog.
4. 4 Erik Karey July 13, 2007

   I’ve decided for myself that I don’t have any plans to sell so I’m keeping my name as the domain. If I can start earning money from this blog then I think I would keep it for myself anyways. Although the possibility of getting offered $20k is tempting.
5. 5 shaun July 13, 2007

   Thats a good point, if you have no itention of selling your blog then you might as well keep your real name for your domain name. If you were to change your domain name would you keep the same design of the site or would you change it up?
6. 6 Verne July 13, 2007

   I suppose that all falls into how you’re branding your new site/domain. When I made the move I changed things up a bit, but still kept to my theme of simplicity. I may opt to do a makeover soon though…
7. 7 Paypal2u Bloggers July 15, 2007

   My domain that I handle right now gives me much traffic flow which in turn conver to earning. Up until now, I didn’t have any domain name related to my personal name as I think that all my domain should reflect what I’m doing at that time.

   I’ve got hold more than 25 domain and managed it all by myself. Up until now, no domain has ever been sold by me.
8. 8 zaki July 15, 2007

   Glad that you’ll keep this domain name. Who know you can become the next JohnChow.com in future (in terms of earning only)
9. 9 Lewis Empire July 16, 2007

   T. Harv Ecker suggested that you should never brand a business around yourself. In blogging, where the readers want to know more about you, the best way to go is to have your name in the title. I chose LewisEmpire.com for the best of both worlds.
10. 10 Lars Koudal July 16, 2007

    I think that the best scenario is to register several names, especially because of domain squatters (love the comic by the way!

    If you are stuck trying to find a new domain, try using this tool:

    http://www.bustaname.com/

    It is quite cool actually. It finds new names automatically based on keywords you enter, and finds synonyms, and everything. It produces some really stupid suggestions, but you might get lucky!
11. 11 Erik Karey July 16, 2007

    I think at this point for me, I believe it’s better to keep what I have than start new and have to re-brand my blog and content.

    Btw, that bustaname script is quite cool. Thanks for sharing Lars!
12. 12 Ben July 19, 2007

    I had no choice but to use a keyword rich domain as I couldnt even get my own name!

    I still feel abit bummed about that :/
13. 13 Erik Karey August 1, 2007

    That’s a shame Ben that you couldn’t get your own name. Sorry to hear that. Just make the most of the domain you did get!
14. 14 Adidas August 30, 2007

    Its simple, if you have a personal blog, then your name is good for it. If you have a blog specific to a category like yours, then I think its better idea to get a keyword rich domain. It will help in SEO
15. 15 Stephen Cronin September 10, 2007

    If you were to change your domain, how would you go about it to minimise impact on traffic, PageRank, etc. Would you move all the content to the new domain, but leave the old domain turned on and set up 401 redirects to point to the new domain. Is there a better way than this?

    I hadn’t though about this, but it seems a lot of work, especially after fighting for traffic, links, PR, etc with the current domain.
16. 16 Better Blog Branding With Generalized Domains by Erik Karey: Internet Entrepreneur November 20, 2007

    [...] some of you may recall, a few months back I wrote about how changing your blog’s domain could increase its value and it seems to be a statement proven true over the past few months. When CashQuests originally [...]

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