I can't use my name

[TraceyHill3]

I googled myself, and found out that a woman in the UK is using Tracey Hill Photography already. She's everywhere! How do you know what to name your photography business? I've got to decide on something before building a better website.

[BigFuzzy]

In my opinion, you have two options (and keep in mind, I'm not pro):
1. use your name (seems like it's not much of an option
2. Find another catchy name

You can always edit your name a bit tracyhillstudios.com is available. That allows you to use your name still.
Or, find something that stands out.. rollinghillsphoto.com is available. Or better yet.. (and I should charge you for this).... hillography.com is available.. run, get it or I might!

[TraceyHill3]

Originally Posted by BigFuzzy

In my opinion, you have two options (and keep in mind, I'm not pro):
1. use your name (seems like it's not much of an option
2. Find another catchy name

You can always edit your name a bit tracyhillstudios.com is available. That allows you to use your name still.
Or, find something that stands out.. rollinghillsphoto.com is available. Or better yet.. (and I should charge you for this).... hillography.com is available.. run, get it or I might!

They are all great! Thanks! I think the best one was to edit my name a bit.

[BuddhaPi]

Originally Posted by TraceyHill3

I googled myself, and found out that a woman in the UK is using Tracey Hill Photography already. She's everywhere! How do you know what to name your photography business? I've got to decide on something before building a better website.

If you want to be found in google, why would you want to use your name?? Potential searchers are not going to use your name to search for, if they know your name they already know how to find you! choose a domain name that is geographically specific...most people are apt to type something like "photogrpaher + west palm beach"
or something along those lines..you could also have a secondary domain pointed to the search friendly name, that would be your actual name, which you could use on print material ect....best of both worlds..

[BigFuzzy]

you're welcome..
Don't get me started on all those ^($&$ $%(&#$%(&#$ers who buy up good domains just to camp on them and sell 'em. They're up there with spammers in my mind of people on the 'net who deserve some swift and painful judgement! So many good ideas I've had that are just sitting there with BS ads.. grrrr. They ought to regulate that sort of thing.

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by BuddhaPi

If you want to be found in google, why would you want to use your name?? Potential searchers are not going to use your name to search for, if they know your name they already know how to find you! choose a domain name that is geographically specific...most people are apt to type something like "photogrpaher + west palm beach"
or something along those lines..you could also have a secondary domain pointed to the search friendly name, that would be your actual name, which you could use on print material ect....best of both worlds..

Yo buddhalicious, isn't that what keywords are for embedded in your site? Can't you have both? I use alborrelli.com but when people search for "photographer + city I am in" I come up 8th. Which I'm ok with. Or am I missing something, does the actual words in your url really change things for the better?

[BuddhaPi]

Originally Posted by BigFuzzy

Yo buddhalicious, isn't that what keywords are for embedded in your site? Can't you have both? I use alborrelli.com but when people search for "photographer + city I am in" I come up 8th. Which I'm ok with. Or am I missing something, does the actual words in your url really change things for the better?

yes you can and should have both! althought the keyword meta-tag itself is mostly ignored by all search engines / indexes these days.. the thing with the domain for example if you type in palm beach web design, you just used 4 words that are in my domain name, so it's a great help, the first thing google sees when visiting your site is the domain..hence using the search example above my site sits @ #1 out of 2.6 million results.. 8th is a great ranking however..

[dakwegmo]

Are you in the UK as well? I just checked and traceyhillphotography.com is available. If you're not in the UK, then you shouldn't have any problem using that domain as google's personalized search results will ensure that someone in your home town searching for you, will be more likely to find your site than hers.

[Biomech]

Don't get me started on all those ^($&$ $%(&#$%(&#$ers who buy up good domains just to camp on them and sell 'em. They're up there with spammers in my mind of people on the 'net who deserve some swift and painful judgement! So many good ideas I've had that are just sitting there with BS ads.. grrrr. They ought to regulate that sort of thing.

Rage Mode : ON

The last thing you want to do is choose something that is already listed, for example, I could have gone with "TheSnapBox" for my product, but trying to rise it up through google and beat all the other "snapbox" entries would have taken alot of work and time. So I'd say try and get something unique. And lately, as far as SEO goes, having keywords IN the url seems to help.

[Hsquared]

Funny you posted this. I was just coming over to seek advice because I have the same problem! I tried first name last name, first name middle name, and H squared (my initials are HH) and they're all taken!