Sep05

Setting Up a Home 2: Names Are the Most Important Words

View Comments

Choosing a name for a new corporate blog is an adventure. Hopefully it’s one that grows out of the active listening that has been taking place through the corporate roadtrip that got us here.

Many folks inside and outside of the enterprise should contribute ideas about what the blog might be called, BUT the final word and decision should remain in the realm of those who have listened and participated in the blogosphere, interacting with customers. They understand how readers will hear and respond. They know this customer’s sense of humor. The folks who have been listening and learning now understand their future readers’ sensibilities, and are beginning to see readers’ reasons for visiting a corporate blog.

A Few Words about Names

Names are the most important words that we know. They are the first words we learn — the first words we say and write. They are how we know things and how we tell others about them. They are what we call ourselves and how we call the people we love.

It feels strange when someone misspells our name or calls us by the wrong one. We don’t like it when someone calls a friend by a nickname that doesn’t fit or isn’t nice. Names matter to us, more than we think about.

I give you my name when we meet, and I hope you remember it when we meet again. For me, your name is a picture, a symbol, one more piece in the puzzle of the person I’m learning about.

Most folks agree that a Michael, a Mike, a Mickey, a Miccah, a Mick, and other versions of that same name all represent people who are not like the others. They say each name conveys a unique personality, a different image altogether. I think so too.

I tell you this so that you will know . . .

Choosing the name for a blog is worth thinking about from the visitors’ point of view — not for how clever or cool it might sound, but for the personality, the atmosphere, the image it brings to mind.

Does the name make me see somewhere I want to go?

We’ll talk about how to do that in the next post.

Liz Strauss

 

  • http://www.techzonline.net TechZ

    The name I choose for my blog was basically my domain name, I felt it was right as it reflected my online presence, and I prefer .net domains to .coms ;)

    Name’s are the first thing I remember about people, be it on a forum or a blog or on IRC. Although with things like gravatars & avatars so common these days, an image tends to remain in your mind longer as compared to text.

  • http://www.lettingmebe.blogspot.com Liz Strauss

    Names are still powerful identifiers and they are the easiest ways to share information about others. So you did well to make your name important to you when making a choice, I think.

    Gravatas are nice, but they also change with a whim.

blog comments powered by Disqus