Confession:
I have had thoughts about changing my blog’s name. I’m not yet sure if I’m taking these thoughts seriously, but they’re there in the back of my head.
I do like BookNook. It’s short, it’s sweet, it’s fun to say.. but it’s not exactly original. It’s one of those scenarios where you decide to make a blog, you come up with a name, you love it, but you’re so excited that you forget to search around to see if anyone else had the same idea for a name that you had. When I stumble upon another BookNook, it hurts my soul a little. NOT because I think they copied me because I know they didn’t, but just because I feel like my blog is that much less original, and that much less memorable.
But changing a blog name is scary. Redirecting your old name to your new name is super easy and seamless. But the scary part comes with rebranding yourself. I’ve had my blog almost a year now and people know me as BookNook. Publishers know me as BookNook. I would lose that online identity. In the long run, rebranding myself might be beneficial because I might come out with a stronger and more original brand, but in the short term, I feel like people will forget who I am. I would also have to create a new Facebook page and start over with all my followers there.
Being the dork that I am, I will probably end up creating an entire new logo and blog design under a new name on a test site and carefully think about whether it “fits” or not. If it feels right, maybe I’ll make the change. If not, then I won’t.
Pros of Changing
- In the long run I might be able to create a better brand out of my blog. After a couple months or a year, I will be more universally recognized as a blogger since I will be able to pick a more unique name that only I have.
- I will feel better about my blog and won’t get that sinking feeling every time I see a new BookNook.
I’ll be able to have a new Bloglovin’ entry, which is awesome because BookNook is currently “stuck” on there and won’t update with new posts (and Bloglovin’ is the most UNRESPONSIVE website ever and won’t properly help me *grumbles*).It seems that Bloglovin’ finally fixed it and BookNook is no longer “stuck”. Maybe they saw this post LOL!
Cons of Changing
- People might forget who I am right after I change. They might not remember that BookNook is now someone else. So if they see me on Twitter, they might not recognize me. Or if they visit my blog, they won’t think, “Oh I’m on BookNook!” They might think they’ve stumbled across a whole new blog!
- I will lose some followers, especially because I will have to create a new Facebook page.
My Questions to You:
Have you ever changed your blog’s name?
If so, did you re-create your social media accounts (especially Facebook, where you can’t change the page URL)? Do you feel like you lost any followers because of the change? Overall, how was the process?
As a blog reader, do you get confused when a blog you follow changes its name? Does it bother you?
Do you “forget” who the blogger is if they start using a new name? Or do you remember the change easily?
Have you ever thought about changing your blog’s name?
If you have thought about it but haven’t done it, what is holding you back?
When I first started, my blog was called Auntie Spinelli’s Thought Corner, and that’s what my Facebook URL is, sadly. But I use it anyway! I don’t see any problem with keeping the old Facebook, then they’ll know you changed it.
As far as blogs I follow changing, I haven’t really noticed many…the one I can really think of MTG is now Jenna Does Books. It’s one of the ones I stalk, so I’m perfectly fine with the change because I know the content will still be the same (and that’s how I’d feel about yours, too!). If it’s a blog that I’ve only been to a couple times though, I probably won’t remember unless I see their facebook page/twitter account with a different blog name.
I’ve thought about changing Auntie Spinelli Reads to something else, too…maybe to something cooler and more original, I guess. Because it is kind of weird, haha. But it’s short enough and it works, so I’m stuck with it for now.
If you want to change, I say go for it!
Thanks so much for giving your input, Jessi!! I think your Facebook URL totally works even though your name is different. Maybe it’s because you have “Auntie Spinelli” in both names so it doesn’t seem like a complete change? I guess if the two are similar then it doesn’t matter as much. But if you go in a completely different direction then it might be a bit strange!
Maybe we should both take the plunge!
True. I still think it would work, though! Then you wouldn’t lose your likes.
Maybe! I’ve tossed around a few undersea-type names so I could stick with the ocean theme of my starfish ratings. But nothing is original enough yet! I’d love to think of something awesome and catchy like Parajunkee and Fiktshun, but I’m not very creative >.>
Gosh I know exactly what you mean! I want something that’s awesome and really sticks in my mind. I was thinking of using “Nose Graze” because that was the name of a blog I had before and I LOVED it. I still have the domain name and I want to use it for something. Is it too weird though? LOL!
I think something under the sea would be awesome! And I freaking adore your starfish ratings. They always make me smile when I see them! And in general I have a thing for ocean-esque things. I made like a million ocean website themes for fun once, haha.
It’s different, but it stands out! Where did the name come from?
Same here! I loooove ocean themes. *sigh* I need a creativity pill, baha.
Yeah Nose Graze doesn’t really scream “YA Book Blog” to me but I kind of like that about it. I originally got the idea from the TV show The OC. A Nose Graze is where two people are about to kiss and their noses lightly touch. 😀 Maybe I could argue that it’s a YA contemporary romance thing?? LOL!
Sounds good to me! I think it’s cute and unique, if you love it then you should go for it 🙂
This is probably a minor detail in the grand scheme of things… but, I think the followers you have on FB stay with you even if you change the name. 🙂
Well you can change the name of your page (what it says as the actual title), but once you get more than 200 followers you’re no longer allowed to change the URL. So my blog name might be something totally different, but the URL would have to still be http://www.facebook.com/booknookblog And in terms of branding, it’s a good idea to keep everything consistent. People might not associate “booknookblog” with whatever the new name would be. So it’s a good idea to create a new page so that the URL can be in line with your name, if that makes sense. But if you do that, then you can’t transfer over all the followers. 🙁 Grrr Facebook!!
On Twitter you can change your name no problem though (and the URL changes too).
To tell you the truth, I don’t know anyone who has changed their blog name. I don’t think your core followers will mind but it might confused the occasional readers.
I have thought about changing my blog name a lot. I actually like it because it tells you exactly what to expect from my blog, but it is also too constrictive. I read mostly UF and PNR but I have found a love for cotemporary now. Plus, it’s long, which I mind sometimes but other times I like that it’s long. It always sticks out among other blog names when lined up, but I know it’s probably annoying to write out.
I am not sure if I will ever change it though. I hate having to redo a whole bunch of stuff.
Yeah you make some awesome points Jennifer! Your name definitely has pros and cons. It describes exactly what your blog is, which is great. It’s keyword intensive, which is good for search engines finding your blog. It does stand out in a list, which is good. But on the downside, it is a bit of a mouthful as well! It might be harder for people to remember.
And I can see how things would be a lot trickier on a blogger blog. With WordPress it’s really easy to go into the database and just be like “replace all “booknook with ____” or “change all http://booknook.me URLs with this other URL”. But on Blogger you can’t really do anything like that. I can understand why you wouldn’t want to do that manually!
I am so so so glad you addressed this!
Every single day when I visit my blog I mentally curse my younger self for choosing such a bland, generic, boring, dumb blog name. YA Booklover Blog? I HATE it. It’s not even grammatically correct if you think about it!
I have so many great ideas but I just can’t bring myself to change it. I’ve had this blog name for 2.5 years – that’s a long time for people to get used to and familiar with it. I feel like changing it now would be a big hassle and would confuse my readers. I so badly wish that I had changed it even a year ago, because now I’m stuck with it.
I think if you’ve only had the name BookNook for less than a year, you can totally change it. In fact, I strongly urge you to change it if you’re not happy! Otherwise, you’ll end up like me, hating your blog name but too far in to do anything about it.
Thank you SO much for commenting Chloe! It’s great to get your perspective. I’m hesitant about changing after a year so I can only imagine how you feel after 2.5! That is definitely a long time. I would be scared out of my pants to change it after that long. You’ve just spent so long establishing yourself in the community that it’s hard to know how you would be affected by the change.
Exactly! Everyone knows me by YA Booklover Blog, so no matter how unoriginal, I’m stuck with it. I think if you’re positive about changing your name then now is the time to do it, but honestly I don’t think BookNook is bad at all!
I have def thought about changing mine because it is weird, but I probably will stick with it.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Yours is definitely original though, so that’s a plus! I don’t think there’s anyone else with a name quite like it, and I think good names all come down to originality!
Like I said, I thought a lot about it actually, and even considered changing my name when I moved severs/domains, and had a new design done. Ultimately I decided against it, because of my overwhelming fear that people wouldn’t pay attention, and wouldn’t notice my blog with the new name. I publicized my move A LOT and I know I still lost a LOT of followers.
But I think you should do what YOU feel is right for you, Ashley!
I’m sorry that you lost a lot of followers. 🙁 I guess if you were ever going to change your name then during the server/domain move would have been the best time since you were changing domains anyway. It’s better to package up all the changes in one event rather than moving servers/domains and then changing names months later!
But I think the possibility of losing followers is definitely the worst part. Why must it be so difficult!! Lol!
I’ve thought about it a lot since I turned my blog into a book blog. I mean, Infected Loser doesn’t really scream book blog, does it?
However, I’ve had this site for seven years and I’ve changed it a few times but I think book blog is going to stay and it IS a unique name. So, when I had that thought it got quickly pushed away. 😉
I think people know you for your BBB posts. I love them because they’re very helpful, and you gained some very loyal followers because of it.
Personally, I think it’s the content that matters. So, if you feel like changing your name, then do so as long as you improve your content. But of course, you risk losing followers in the process…
For me, blogging is a hobby, and it should make me happy. I do what I want with it, not the other way around. If I want to change something, I will. I would just inform my followers that I will be doing some changes, and that I hope they will continue supporting my blog.
Change or not, I will continue following your BBB posts! 😀
Thank you so much JoAnn! 🙂
I really like your philosophy about this—how you do what you want! I think I’m probably a little too caught up in the idea of branding and whatnot. It must be the web designer in me! 😛
I think there is the inevitable loss of some followers, but overall, I think it’s a good idea to rebrand yourself, especially if it is something you feel strongly about. I say go for it!
Thank you! 🙂 I’m glad that I made this post, it’s making me feel so much better about the idea of changing the name!
First of all…great article.
Me personally: changing my blog name is just not an option at this point. I have been a book blogger for 4 years now and I am very heavily branded. Between all the social networks, publishing houses and author contacts it would just be too much work to change. When KO was 2 years old I lost my associates status with Amazon because of my name. They gave me an ultimatum “change the name of your blog or you will lose your sales status” Obviously I took the loss. (And believe me..it was significant.) and even though I still get angry thinking about the irrationality of the entire situation…I don’t regret sticking with what I had. Everyone knows me as this brand. I have worked YEARS to build it.
That said…I am the ONLY KindleObsessed blog out there. I may feel differently if I had the same name as several other blogs. Also important…you are only a year into it. If you are going to change, now would be the best time to do it. Your dedicated readers will follow. I promise.
If you decide to change, do your research. Make sure you are in love with the name and then make sure it’s not already plastered all over the Internet. If its not…WINNER!!! Take it and run with it.
Hope my rambling helps a little. 🙂
Misty
Thank you Misty!! You really gave some fabulous input!
And you make a GREAT point about doing research. I definitely know that now and will be encouraging new bloggers to do just that! These days, some good things to do include Googling the name, and even sticking it into Bloglovin’ to see if that name already exists on a blog somewhere!
For the record, I do like your name. 🙂 You’re right: I have never seen another KindleObsessed. And as soon as I see the name, I always think of you!
I did change my blog name. My blog used to be called All I Ever Read and then I changed it to be Nicole About Town.
All I Ever Read was never intended to be my final blog name. It was more of a stop gap measure for me really. While I did start off my blog as a book blog, I knew that eventually, I wanted it to be so much more than that and I knew the name would need to reflect it.
Luckily for me, right from the beginning all of my branding has said Nicole About Town. Right down from my domain name, twitter name, facebook name and so on. Every now and then, I rund into someone who still has my blog listed by it’s old name, but not very often.
Thanks for sharing Nicole! I think it definitely helps that all your branding started off as Nicole About Town. And you make a great point about not wanting to limit yourself to only book posts by having “books”/”reading” in the title!
Oh my gosh. This is post is exactly what has been in my brain for SO long. I mean my name is in the same boat as Book Nook! “Book Haven” is a pretty cliched title, and sure, mine has an Extraordinaire on the end, but it doesn’t really change the fact that it’s not hard at all to find an “Emily’s Book Haven” or something like around the blogoverse.
So I’m totally in the same boat of changing my name. Especially since I have this genius title [at least to me] that has been bouncing in my head for a while now. But to go with that, it would be the whole make-over thing again. But for me, it’s also the cons. My URL IS my title so if I was changing the face of the blog…it wouldn’t fit, you know? Darn Pros and Cons. And yes, the followers business. So nasty. Especially since it’s taken me about two years to build up my blog status with the world and publishers and GAH. So much work. IT’d be like a fresh start. And while it’s appealing…at the same time I’d rather keep to the norm, you know?
But then again…
It’s that whole dilemma. Like in Tangled.I dunno. The only experience I’ve had with bloggers I read changing, would as Jessi said, be Making the Grade. It wasn’t a crazy change though so it’s not something I’m freaking out about. And seriously girl, whatever comes of your rants and rambles in your head, I’m gonna follow you. Hehe. How can I not when your psychic mind power blogged what I was thinking?!
OY. I’ve let myself spew everything. I’m done. Hehe. And seriously, I think that the change is so appealing that I’m going to do it at some point, the question is WHEN.
*slaps hand over mouth* Shut up Inky. Baha.
Be quite conscious…
***Inky OUT***
INKYYY!! OHMYGOD! You totally have to DM me the genius title that’s in your head. And I’ll tweet you mine! 😀 I have two possibilities in mind..
But yes I know exactly what you mean. And I’m not even sure how the whole name thing works on Blogger? If you want to change your name do you have to create an ENTIRE new blog for the new name? Or can you keep your blog but only change the name somewhere? I don’t know how it works!
And yeah I saw that Making the Grade just changed her name! I had been thinking about this for a few months now but I think her changing her name kind of reminded me that I was thinking about it!
If you do change your name, I personally think it would be best to do it around the time if you ever decide to move to WordPress. That would just be the perfect opportunity because you would have to buy a domain name anyway, and that way you could throw all the big changes on your followers all at once instead of in small, scattered doses LOL!
I freaking love you girl!
Hehe. We both have awesome names for our possible changes.
As for blogger, it’s REALLY easy to change the name. It’s the domain that I’m not sure about. I think you can change the domain as well, but then it’s the whole issue of people finding the blog and you know..all that crap.
Haha same! Yay for Jenna making the plunge!
Ah yes, the WP issue. I really want to change, but I don’t have money to get a really good blog. And from all your posts about it, I don’t think I’d want to get one of the free domains, you know? But I’m planning to redo my design anyway, so I’m not really sure.. Ack. Darn my brain for overthinking! :DD
I freaking love you more!
Hmm yeah I think the problem with blogger is that you can easily change the domain name, but there’s no way to redirect the old one to the new one. So you will literally have to give huge advanced notice so people know your new URL. Because then when they try to go to bookhavenextraordinaire.blogspot.com it will no longer exist. Crazy!!!
Bah Humbuggeryness. Blogger is a bit Problematic. O.O
Yeah 🙁 I guess you could always change the name but not the URL but then things might get confusing!
That’s my main problem….So It’ll probably have to wait. Hmmph.
Ironic that you touch upon this subject now, Ashley! I just recently went under a blog name change. But my change was made for me, to help me focus on my own personal goals in life. In my case, Making the Grade was definitely a “book reviewer’s” blog. My new name, Jenna Does Books, encompasses the fact that I read books, and yes I still review books, but I also WRITE books. It gives me a separation from just the “reviewer” category. In the end, the change was necessary, because at this point I really needed to make it public, to refocus, to give myself some accountability, to allow the blog evolve with me…
Eventually I will be making a new Facebook page, but I am not in too much of a hurry with that, as it is not my highest source of followers or referrals. Twitter, I retained because I have too many followers there. But thank goodness it’s less confusing there, since I can change my name easily.
I didn’t exactly “rebrand” either, since I like my current “look” and “feel” of the site. Guess that also helps me keep the “recognizability factor”…
In the end, whatever you do should be for YOU. The followers will come back, especially since your content is highly beneficial to readers and bloggers alike. It is easy to redirect them to your new site, FB, etc. Numbers are nice, but do what you need to do. You’ll feel better knowing you made the right decision.
Thank you so much Jenna! I saw your name change so it’s super awesome to hear your thoughts. I think that since you were refocusing your blog, renaming was a great step.
And you’re right, the fact that your site mostly still looks the same helps people remember who you are. It certainly makes the transition easier.
Although, I think that if I change my name I will rebrand. But that’s only because I’m a web designer and I always look for reasons to redesign things. I get the web designer itch LOL!
Haha! Yes, the web designer in me was itching to try a totally new design, too. But then I figured that while I may have made the name change for necessary reasons, I already liked the “look” so what would have been the purpose of changing that, too? My case was unique, though. I can see how your name change would also involve a total brand change.
If you do decide to make the change, I look forward to whatever you come up with. I am sure it will be amazing!
That is a really good point. I guess it’s good that you managed to hold yourself back from doing “unnecessary” changes just for the sake of it. Sometimes it’s hard to step back and realize that because we get so caught up in the prettiness of changing things up “Just for fun” lol!
When my friend and I first started our blog, it was called Caught in a SnyderWebb. After about a couple of months we decided we didn’t like the name and changed it. I think it might have taken a day or two to change our name. We would send names back and forth until there was only one left. LOL But we only had about 40 followers at the time and we didn’t lose any followers. With you having as many followers as you do IDK. I still think that most of your followers will stay. I’ve seen another blog recently change their blog name and they are doing fine. So, if you you want to change your name, I say change it, although I like BookNook. 😀
Thank you Tiffany! I did see that Making the Grade went through the change (if that’s who you’re talking about) and yeah, she seems to be doing great!
Picking a new name is definitely tricky business though! I’m not surprised it took you and your friend a while to pick a new one. I feel like once you decide to change your name, that’s it. You should pick one you love and not change it again. So it better be a good one!
Ash…
Ok, after reading the other comments I have a suggestion.
If you decide to change your name, I suggest you leave the blog design the same for at least a month. The familiar look will help your followers assimilate. “Ok…same blog, new name! Awesome.” After the month post an informational snippet about a “new look coming soon” and then swap it out. That way your followers aren’t having to digest everything at once. BUT after a month you are brand spanking new.
Thank you for the suggestion Misty! That is a very good point… And honestly, it might even fit into my schedule better LOL! At least I could change my name and then spend that month working on the design. Maybe it would encourage me to put more effort into it than normal.
I really like this idea. It’s a good step by step way of getting your followers ready and excited for whatever changes are in store, too.
I tweeted out to you that yes, I definitely have thought about changing my blog name and it was due to the fact that I had a similar blog name to another, it was only the difference of an additional word. I actually had googled my potential blog name before I started and nothing came up so one day, I was curious and googled my blog name but added a ‘book’ to it because just googling my blog name was too generic and a bunch of other unrelated stuff popped up and then alas! I found there was a book blog with an almost identical name to mine. I actually got mistaken for her once by an author who had worked with her previously so it was a little embarrassing but it was understandable since the two names were really similar.
But by the time I found out, I had already purchased my domain and although I was just starting, it was going to be too much of a hassle to rehaul everything about my blog and all the social networking sites, plus that was going to be $10 down the drain.
I think for other blogs, if they ever change their name, they have to make the announcement big enough so everyone knows because I’m really bad with names so if a blog has changed their name and I have no idea because I missed the announcement, I would really have absolutely no idea who they were. If you do change, there will definitely be a loss of followers because some people either don’t really follow (just did it for giveaways) or forgot you changed your name and didn’t follow back. It is hard for blogs with a big readership already but it does help you tell apart who are the ones that really follow and pay attention. So like you said, there are pros and cons but it all really comes down to what you’re willing to go through. If you’re okay with them, go ahead and make the change!
(Sorry this is so long, boy do I ramble a lot haha)
Fabulous thoughts Charlotte! I really appreciate your input and you made some great points.
It’s a bummer about your name. 🙁 It kind of sucks how you actually took the time to search your name beforehand, but then later something did come up. I do think you have a good name though and you’ve definitely done a good job of making it recognizable (with your logo and everything). So props for that!
And I will definitely try to do a big announcement if I make the change. 🙂 And I think I will take Misty’s advice and not change the blog design for at least a few weeks, so at least it *looks* like the same blog for a while.
I haven’t thought about changing my name but only because I have no new grand ideas. It would be hard since you have made such a name for yourself. My thoughts, your pros out do your cons because it seems it would make you happy. your faithful followers won’t have as hard of a time as you think remembering who you are. a name is just a name (when it comes to the blog) we know who you are and connect you to your blog, not the other way around. So if you feel it would make you happier than do it. The blog is yours and is there for your happiness… I say go for it!
Coming up with the name itself is definitely the hardest part! Especially because I can imagine changing a blog name once, but you don’t want to change it any more than that really… so if you’re going to change it, you have to REALLY pick a good one because it’s harder to get away with changing it *again* after that. People might start to get annoyed or confused!
But thank you so much, I really appreciate your comment! I think you’re right. Ultimately it’s the blog that matters the most—not the name!
OMG! I love this post so much, thanks for sharing Ashley!! I don’t think I’ll change my blog name just yet as its only just begun to stick in my head but I’ll be most likely changing it one day is I can NEVER have to same thing going on for YEARS. Like you said, I’ll probably go crazy and want a new design and EVERYTHING which will make me go practically nuts and try to find a web designer AGAIN. *sighs* this is too much work :/
Hi Melanie! I get what you mean about never being able to stick to something. That happens to me all the time, especially with web designs. I’ll LOVE a design, but then get tired of it and want a new one. It is a lot of work!
Whoa. I am always thinking of changing my blog’s name! Oh, Chrys! is such a silly name that I made at the spur of the moment. I am considering a BIG change to my blog in the upcoming months – getting a self-hosted blog via WordPress (You’re to blame for that lol jk).
But I don’t want to invest in WP with a crappy name. The only con I can think of is Facebook. I have 2,000+ followers, and it would be sad to lose them. However, I then consider just how counter-productive Facebook pages are becoming. Only a small percentage of fans get to see my posts, and I REFUSE to pay a cent for promotion. So with Facebook being a sore thumb, I do not think making a new page would greatly affect me.
I recently discovered a blog that underwent a name change (Oh Damn Books –> Effortlessly Reading) and WordPress transition at the same time. Kelly’s makeover was very inspirational to me, and I was not annoyed as a reader or anything with her decision. I think it was for the best, and nothing is better than reading posts from a blogger who is comfortable and confident in their blog.
Thanks for sharing, and good luck! I think you should go with the change so you can have the feeling of exclusivity! It will make you happier, even if you lose Facebook fans. 🙂
Great comment, Christine!
I agree that Facebook is getting pretty annoying… I just don’t like so many of the changes that they’re making! I mean, Twitter is LOADS more important than Facebook for a blogger. My stats tell me that I’ve gotten this many referrals:
Twitter: 4,300+
Facebook: 675
So you can see just how few Facebook referrals I get compared to Twitter! I guess starting over on Facebook isn’t the end of the world.. It’s still a bit frustrating though!
I do think that if you move to WordPress then that would be the best time to change your name! Because that’s when you move everything, usually get a new design, and a domain name and all that. So it seems like the best time to make the change if you’re going to do it!
Great topic! I changed my name before. I started out as Novel Utopia and had that for a while before I decided to change to something else.I currently go by Avanti’s Place. It’s a more general name since I now as blog about food, crafts & fashion. I’m happy with it because I can branch off and create my business using my name and it’ll all be similar so people will know it’s coming from the same person.
I think if you want to change your name go ahead and do it. It’s your blog and you have to be happy with it. Things will fall into place for you.
Thanks Avanti! I do like the idea of having a non-book related name so that you don’t feel pressured to ALWAYS blog about books, and that way you can turn your blog into whatever you want!
Just what I told you on Twitter, I changed my blog name once. I used to be Confessions of a Bookaholic (kisskitkatey24.blogspot). Just like you, I didn’t really research on it. I just went ahead and made a book blog which turned out to be a huge mistake.
After six months or so, I gained several followers when it hit me: I want to change my URL to kisskitkatey.blogspot and use the name The Bookaholic Blurbs. Well, I did. It erased all my followers and I was really sad about it but I just needed the change. After a while, I became happy with it.
Now, I wanted to change my URL again to thebookaholicblurbs.blogspot. But I can’t afford to lose all my followers at this moment. If by any chance I decide to go for it, I might prolly go to wordpress and start all over.
So my point is, make sure that whatever name you choose would be something that best suits you.
We’ll follow you again! 🙂
Thank you so much Kate! I’m freaking out over changing my name once, so I imagine going through it multiple times is a nightmare! It sucks that you lose all your followers when you change the blogspot URL. 🙁
What a good post! Naming a blog is so hard. When I first thought of my blog name, people gave me weird looks. But…its me. I wish I had a cooler name, but honestly I can’t think of one 🙂 Books: A true story has grown on me even though I get self-conscious about it sometimes. Oh well. 🙂
I personally think it would be awesome to change your blog name. TBH I had a hard time finding your blog at first because I could never remember the URL. It’s better to change the name now then in 2 years when it would be harder. And if you want to change it now, you will in 2 years.
Nose Graze is AWESOME. I would totally remember that 🙂 And it doesn’t have to do with books – The Onion doesn’t have anything to do with food…and it’s a huge news blog. Whatever new name you come up with I will totally re-follow on Facebook and RSS 🙂
Yeah thinking of a name is super hard! I’m really glad that you’re (mostly) happy about your name, or at least that it suits you! 🙂
And you’re right, it is better to change it now than later!
I have thought about this a lot, especially since my blog started out as a personal blog. I wanted to concentrated on selective niches, but my domain/brand didn’t fit. I wanted to to change, and had a new brand name all figured out and ready… until I remembered about the auto-renew. In the end I got stuck with my current name because of one tiny box selection I forgot, but I’m glad. I just took that time to revamp my current blog and just gave it a new title, announcing that it was my old brand’s production. However, if you were to rebrand, you could maintain your current domain until it ran out, but still retitle your blog as well as have a second domain forwarded to the existing one. It will give followers to assimilate to the new title, but not a new domain and by the time that your current domain expires, hopefully, followers will already associate with the new brand to check that domain instead.
Thanks Patricia! That is a good idea. 🙂
Man, I sometimes wish I had come up with something more creative than “Jessie’s Book Place” for a blog name. Sometimes, I try to think of names but nothing ever comes to me. I would probably change it if I could think of something. I guess, I never really think about if I would lose followers or something. Then again, I’m usually still surprised when I realize I do actually have followers. XD
Coming up with an actual name is definitely the hardest part. And you have to choose carefully because once you decide to change you ideally don’t want to change it again after that!
I’ve thought about it, and because my blog is fairly new, it wouldn’t be that hard to change it (plus WordPress.com is still hosting my blog). The only thing holding me back is that I’m too lazy to rebrand myself, or at least redesign my blog 😛 I need a week to do it so that I can get all my graphics replaced and come up with a cool header. Plus I’d need to change all IDs on other platforms like NetGalley, Bloglovin’, Feedburner, etc. It’s a LOT of work!
Yeah it is a lot of work! I guess once you come up with a name you’re excited about then the process can be fun though! It’s kind of exciting to start making new things. But it’s coming up with the actual name that’s tough!
Personally I have never thought about changing my Blog name. But I am still super happy with it and see no reason to change.
BUT… If I was unhappy with it I might go and change it. It might be confusing for people in the first few days but… those are all smart people who will figure it out – I’m sure of that.
Are you entirely sure you have to change facebook? I think the only thing that wouldn’t be able to change would be the URL.
Other than this, it’s your blog and you have to do what you feel like doing and if y name change is something that makes you feel better Go girl1
Well I know that for Facebook you can’t change the URL and I’m pretty sure that having a page where the name and URL are different would bug me to no end! 🙁 *sigh* So technically I wouldn’t *have* to, but it would annoy me if the URL didn’t match the name.
I changed my blog name and URL. It was a mess! But I’m on blogger so it probably won’t be to you. I started my blog on a kind of maybe type of thing. I just wanted to talk about books and didn’t know what the hell I was doing but I wanted to give it a shot. I had no idea what to name it so I just called it Book Obsessed. Yeah, very original, I know. Any URL variation of that was taken so picked something dumb like BooksSparkles.Blogspot.com. About 6-7 months later I wanted to change my name and URL. When I did I lost all my email subscribers. I went from about 1000 page views a day to 15! I wanted to cry! Eventually like 2-3 months later people started finiding me again and I love that my URL is the same as my blog name. My blog name might be boring but it describes it perfectly. I wanted people to know right away that it was more than a YA blog. Although it was a pain in the ass, I’m glad I did it. I say go for it!
BTW, when you left that comment on my review of Captive in the Dark, it took me FOREVER to find your blog. I typed in Book Nook and a bunch of other blogs came up. I almost gave up but I eventually found your blog and I’ve been hooked ever since 🙂
Thanks for sharing your experience Nereyda! I’m SO sorry that you lost all your e-mail subscribers! That’s awful. 🙁 I would want to cry too if that happened to me.
I guess in the long run you made the right decision though. Months later and your block is totally kicking again and everyone knows who you are! So even though the process sucked I think it was a great thing to do for the long-term.
And thanks for telling me that it took you ages to find my blog. That’s EXACTLY why I want to change the name! I really want people to just be able to search for my blog name and find my blog (and hopefully no others!) at the top instantly!
I actually changed my blog name somewhere this year! I believe it was a couple of days before I celebrated my one year blogoversary. My URL has always been The Daily Prophecy, but the name on my blog was “Life of a bookworm” I decided to change it to the name from my URL, because I love it. It’s a reference to my love for Harry Potter (The Daily Prophet) and I don’t think I will get tired of it 🙂 I don’t think a lot of people noticed it, but that’s perhaps because I switched to my URL name.
I think you should go for it. Yes, it might be scary, but I think you will feel better when you change the name to something you truly love! If you introduce the change again before you make it, your followers will know and they will get used to it 🙂
Yeah I think the process is definitely a lot smoother if you keep the same URL but only change the name! I would definitely have to change the URL though, because like you, I want them to match!
Thanks for your thoughts. 🙂
I changed my blog name from “D’s Book Blog” — which is as un-original as it gets — to The Book Rogue, but it was only a few months after I started blogging at all, so I didn’t have a lot of followers yet (I don’t have that many now, either, but that’s mostly my fault), and neither did I have any social media accounts then. AND the change of name came along with the change of platform – from Blogger to WP.org. When I decided to change platforms, I also made up my mind about my new, then permanent identity. It took me a while to figure everything out, and then I went through with it, creating social media accounts, etc.
I think that you should go with the name change if you have a new concept all figured out, and if you want it to be really special. I don’t like people changing names (of anything, like on Facbook) all the time because they think “oh, this sounds awesome”, but they can’t really make up their minds about something that actually represents them permanently. But I think you should do it if it will help you in the long run.
I have experienced two people changing their blog names, and they all made the best out of it. I didn’t mind them changing names or urls, as long as the old place is hinting to the new for a while and not just suddenly gone. Sending out a big “spam” mail to your followers saying there is a new url should help with that, too.
Thank you so much Caro! It sounds like when you changed your name you were in a great place. It’s definitely easier to follow through with it if you don’t have any social media accounts yet, or if you’re also changing platforms (since a URL change usually comes with that anyway).
But I do agree with you about people who change names CONSTANTLY. I think the unspoken rule in the web world is that everyone gets one “free” name change. But if you change your name more than that, people might start to get annoyed or confused!
I think you should continue to go with what is good for you! And don’t you think most of your followers also follow you on Twitter? Announcing it there, plus on your blog (with RSS, e-mail, Bloglovin’ and everything else) would make your followers aware, and it’s so easy to bookmark with Bloglovin’!
I’m not going to change my name, though, I guess I was pretty lucky when I picked my name, because I haven’t really seen any blogs with a too similar name so far. And I didn’t google anything at all – I was so naive (even if that’s less than a year ago, too).
That is a good point Lexxie! Also it looks like Bloglovin might be able to “merge” my BookNook blog entry with whatever my new one is. At least, that’s what they claim on their website, but I have had HORRIBLE experience with contacting their customer support (they almost never reply…)
And yeah, your name is pretty original! I definitely haven’t seen any other blogs out there with that name!
I’m glad you went with your gut and changed the name! How is it now, it doesn’t seem (to me at least) as if you’ve lost any followers. I think most people also know you as Ashley, not only the girl whose blog is named…
I love the new name, btw! and the layout is excellent as well 🙂
Thank you so much Lexxie! I’m glad I went through with it too. 🙂 *hugs*
Yeah, I think you’ve got the pros and cons pretty straight there. I didn’t change my blog name, but I did change from a wordpress.com blog to my own domain, and even in that shift I lost some followers. It’s just going to happen.
Is it possible to maintain both blogs/names for a while, and keep reminding the people following BookNook that it will be going away soon, so they should start following your new name? At least that way it would get people accustomed to associating your new blog name with BookNook, so people will recognize you and know who you are. Just a thought. And I know I’m really late to this party, so who knows what solutions you’ve come up with already anyway! 🙂
Yeah I will keep BookNook for at least a few months and I will have it redirect to my new name, whatever that is! So if you were to go to http://booknook.me/requiem-by-lauren-oliver then you would be redirected to http://newname.com/requiem-by-lauren-oliver
So ultimately I’m not worried about people finding my blog. I think the bigger concern is just having a new name and it taking people a while to mentally associate that new name with my blog.. if that makes sense!
But you bring up a good point. This idea is very similar to changing from wordpress.com to self hosted or blogger.com to WordPress! It’s scary, things change, and it’s hard to predict exactly what will happen!
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve thought about it in the past 2 years. I didn’t do any research when I decided to name my blog (bad mistake on my part). I would definitely change it in a heartbeat, but I’m a little scared. All of the social media websites tied to my blog are under Ruby’s Books (smacks self). And I have some author contacts that know my by that name. Not many, but enough. And don’t get me started on exactly how I decided to name my book blogger identity (don’t get me wrong, Ruby is a great name, but when I chose it I wasn’t thinking about the beautiful precious stones. Think red hair *is embarrassed*)
I think that if you decide to change your blog name you could add a “formerly known as booknook” in the banner right under the blog title. That way even if you change your design people will know it’s you even though it doesn’t look like it. Also, you could write about the fact that you changed your blog name on your “about me” page.
Hi Ruby! Thanks for sharing! I know exactly what you mean. It’s a pretty scary and daunting process, especially with any author/publisher contacts and the social media sites.
You have some great suggestions though! I’ll definitely add something on the About Page. And a few people suggested that I keep the design the same for a few weeks after I change the title to help ease people into the change!
I started my blog on a whim and my name was generic. About 4 months after I started I decided I wanted a blog design and decided to come up with a new name and buy a url at the same time. Picking out my new name took FOREVER because everything I thought of was already taken.
I am so glad I changed my name when I did because it didn’t really put my blog at risk because I didn’t have a ton of followers. I can’t even imagine doing something like that now.
Good luck with your decision!
I’ve wondered if I should have picked a different name for my blog. A lot of bloggers use their name and some other phrase with books, but I went with just my name, ‘Leeanna,’ because I liked the thought of having ‘Leeanna.me.’ I get the same problems I do with it in real life – people misspell it ;(
It doesn’t really scream book blog, but it does relate to the site being about my thoughts on books, since it’s under my name.
Yeah that’s a good point. You want to ensure that when people hear your blog name they know exactly how to spell it (and thus how to find it!). I do like your URL though—leeanna.me. It looks very nice! And I don’t necessarily think that blog names have to scream “this is about books.” And then if you ever want to blog about non-book related things, that’s perfectly fine because the title doesn’t restrict you!
I’ve seriously been considering changing my blog name for the last few months– mostly because, while it’s unique and recognizable (I think?), it ALSO seems to say that either I’m birdbrained or the books I read are birdbrained. Either way, it’s like I’m saying me and the books I read are stupid!
BUT I’ve been blogging for about five years now and a name change would be a HUGE CHANGE. I’m a little scared to do it! Plus I have no idea what I’d change it to, anyway. Ugh.
Update for those wanting to know: I did it! I changed my blog name and my domain. It was fairly easy– especially since I had Ashley’s awesome post to help me! Thanks, Ashley! I’m so happy now with my new blog name. 😀 It’s definitely worth changing if you’re thinking about it!
Congratulations on the name change! 😀 I’m SO happy for you! I know what it feels like to finally feel content and ‘complete’ with your blog! It’s a great feeling. 🙂