How do you get a great domain name for your mommy blog?
You’d think all the good ones are taken. Seriously. If not by a real website (that may or may not have been visited or updated since 2006) then by a parking service that is using the domain name to direct traffic to other advertiser’s sites, or by (gasp!) a porn site.
By the way, how many these sites about moms can there BE?
I. mean. really?
Is it the same people behind all the mom sites I’ve looked into using?! Or are there literally that many moms taking their clothes off? (I’m certainly not!)
And how does a naked model look like a mom anyway? I mean, she cannot showcase baby food stained clothing, for starters…
(Maybe we should just move on.)
I’ve spent the last couple of months logging some serious Internet time trying to find the perfect domain name with GoDaddy. He tells me my “session is expired” and I am not deterred. I keep pestering him:
How about this one? “Taken.”
This one? “Taken.”
This one? “Available. Starting bid $3,065 U.S. Dollars.”
Half the times GoDaddy says a website name is not available I open a new tab in my web browser and check for myself. Just to be sure. (This is not a relationship built on trust; how am I going to feel safe about giving him my credit card information when he does finally woo me with the perfect domain name?)
Honestly, this is a game of hard-to-get. I’ve wanted to keep hush-hush about my blog until it gets as many hits as Oprah and Martha and I start guest blogging on their sites and, well, then it doesn’t matter if a neighbor or acquaintance notices that I blog and makes fun of me. Strangers aren’t so terrifying. They aren’t so near. (Not that I have bad neighbors, just bad fears.)
So, I’ve been holding off discussing my all my writing hopes and dreams with friends and family…and the checkout lady, my facebook audience, our daughter’s pediatrician, the other moms at story time….you, know the people I want to blurt out something intelligible to, on a daily basis…
So since I’m not ready, I always run my GoDaddy approved ideas by my BabyDaddy – possibly on a daily basis (ahem).
I’ve explained to BabyDaddy (laboriously) that I want my domain name to be “awesome.” In addition, it has to be easy to spell and read. Pertinent. Searchable as a mommy blog. Available as a “.com” not just “.net” or “.org.” Something that possibly references my faith.
Not self-deprecating (like psychomom, manicmom, frazzledmom, dumbmom – though these are all available, and possible applicable).
I need a domain that I can “grow” and evolve with. One that also gives a hearty nod to who I am now. My strengths. Talents. Travels, education, and life experiences. Mommy/Homemaker/Wife Extraordinaire.
BabyDaddy said: “Try barefootandpregnant.com”
Me (typing it in): Nope, sorry honey, it’s taken.
BabyDaddy: “What about barefootandpregnantinthekitchen.com?”
Me: AVAILABLE!!
Yes, surprisingly, this gem of a domain name hasn’t been snatched up – be sure to check though if you’re interested in it for your own blog because availability is changing constantly.
Anyway, back to this ongoing productive, helpful and useful idea-fest with BabyDaddy: It came to a head this morning. After shouting out only a “reasonable” number of new domain name ideas across the house from my office to his, I got the following suggestion:
BabyDaddy: “Uh, I need some alone time.”
Me (typing): Honey, that’s actually available! What made you think of it?!
(It’s thrilling that my husband has recognized my hours of long, hard work and need for “alone time” and how that would translate into a very effective domain name for a blog that represents hard-working mamas everywhere. Bless him. And GoDaddy has, in fact, most charmingly agreed to offer www.ineedsomealonetime.com for only $12.99 a year!)
Me (pausing): I’m not ready to commit.
BabyDaddy: “No, I’m telling you, I need some alone time!”
(Oh.)
That’s when I typed in “rainonmyparadwhydoncha.com” and got and instant response! Everyone else in the world must have just decided on their domain names and logged off because my previously sluggish GoDaddy kicked right into a much higher gear and compelled me forward, rejections and all.
And. I. Was. Determined.
And that’s how it happened! That’s how I pushed on and was approved for the most PERFECT mommy blog domain name ever!
And I needed to share it.
But BabyDaddy had (forrealznotjoking.com) completely shut himself out of the glorious process…leaving me to fly solo on this thing, so I was going to have to brave a tell-all facebook post or call my mom for immediate confirmation of all my blogging hopes and dreams.
But, it would be rude to leave BabyDaddy in the cold like that.
Er, uhm, I mean, it would be scary to speak of my domain outside our domestic little nest!
So I snatched a piece of paper from my printer and wrote it out my latest GoDaddy approved domain name suggestion in bold black marker.
I crept across the creaky wood floor and stood proudly, confidently, silently (so as not to intrude on “alone time”) in BabyDaddy’s office doorway like a chauffeur at the airport.
And like a chauffeur at the airport – it took a while to get spotted.
BabyDaddy had a one word blog-hopes-dreams shattering response: “No.”
Me: No?!?! But it’s a great name! What’s WRONG with it?!?!
BabyDaddy: “Don’t be sad. I just don’t want you to look bad is all.”
And there you have it. I can’t be a blogger. Not because I’m not an excellent writer with a lot to share and offer. Not because reader moms wouldn’t neglect their children and let food burn on the stove while they laughed and cried at my hilarious and insightful posts.
It’s just that I can’t possibly guest blog for Oprah and Martha if I don’t have a decent domain name for my byline!
And I’ll never get one unless GoDaddy eases up on the rejections or BabyDaddy lays down the cash to take over a porn domain.
I’ll just have to reflect on this.
-RM
