Hi again. So I mentioned in my first post that it has taken me a while to start a blog. I want to clarify that: I had made up my mind to start a blog, but the choice of a domain name and blogging platform were weighing me down. Luckily, I finally adopted the notion: just do it and fix it later. But let me walk you through this fun game and what I learned.

The blogging platform
From doing research and reading a bunch of posts about blogging platforms, it seemed like WordPress was coming out on top. A webby friend of mine was happier with the flexibility of Tumblr. From a career/learning perspective, I was thinking I needed to learn Drupal and build a framework to host my blog, but finally the voice of reason rang out: “You will never do this unless you pick the easiest one!” For once, I listened, took the easier route, and went for WordPress. But what ultimately sold me was the Freshly Pressed section. If you’re unfamiliar with it, I suggest you check it out. WordPress picks about 10 blog posts a week to be featured on their homepage, which enables bloggers to receive tons of traffic and exposure. What it said to me: WordPress is a company that values its customers and is doing its best to highlight its users’ best work. Also, Freshly Pressed provides a slice of the best of the blogging community and reading all of these bloggers’ posts inspired me to get writing. And so, my money went to WordPress and so far it’s been working out.

The domain name
I’ve owned a domain name in the past so I knew how the whole domain thing goes. I’m glad to say now that godaddy.com has cleaned up its site (if flashing web banners are the equivalent of wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube men, then this site was the equivalent of a used cars lot), but 1and1.com still looks pretty wacko. Luckily, those aren’t the only ways to go. WordPress offers an easy way to purchase domains through their site (by purchasing a domain through WordPress, the package also allows you to have more flexibility with your blog and edit the CSS) as do other sites like FatCow.com (though their CMS needs some work). Since I had already decided to go for WordPress, I was going all the way and buying the upgrade package (may not have been the most economical choice though), so all that was left was coming up with the actual domain name.

From reading posts about starting a blog (this one in particular) and from my previous SEO knowledge, picking one topic was going to be the best for promotion and targeting an audience. To determine that topic, I started recording the things that I would like to write about most, which ended up being food, techie stuff, outdoor sports, Trader Joe’s, and random thoughts on “why the world is the way it is.” And despite your immediate reaction, “that’s not one topic!”, I tried to make it be. Domain name ideas that ensued:

• embrace it
• go easy
• poised
• topple (just a fun word)
• seeking stride
• poised thoughts
• feta in my hair (this happened to me. I may have eaten it.)
• skinny fat kid (sadly, this one is already used for several blogs)
• Sourpatched (I love Sour Patch Kids, or as the cool kids say, SPKs)
• Sour Patch Adults (vetoed: sounds gross)
• take note (vetoed: competes with too many note-taking apps)
• peripheral vision (love that line in an Ani Difranco song, “I’m beyond your peripheral vision so you might want to turn your head”)
• in the details (vetoed: every graphic design/interior design boutique has this name)
• eye for detail and design
• healthie.techie.foodie. (vetoed: techie-foodie is already the name of a husband & wife blogging duo. too cute to compete with)
• detailie. organizie. planie. (vetoed: just weird.)
• malleable me (vetoed: too emotional)
• let’s roll
• full steam ahead
• let’s roll and eat
• let’s rock and paper
• let’s rock and run
• let’s lock and loll

I hope you understood that all of the suggestions without veto explanations were just that bad. If you didn’t, well, let’s not talk.

Then, I came across an alternate definition for caper (my favorite edible flower buds)–specifically, “to cut a caper”–which means to frolic, to play a prank, or to engage in frantic, ridiculous dances. That seemed liked the golden ticket! And more mediocre brainstorming ensued:

• CAPERS!!!
• capering about
• capering around
• cooking caperingly
• the salty caper (vetoed: a popular restaurant chain exists in North Carolina with the same name)
• to cut a caper
• the funny caper
• The Great Muppet Caper (obviously taken. just wanted it on the list)
• caper foods
• to cut a caper
• i love capers and you should too (vetoed: a moment of desperation)
• salty capers
• tangy capers
• little capers of goodness
• never regret a caper
• caper enhancement
• the tangy caper
• caper conviction (based on the idea that if capers are included in a menu item, there is a strong chance I will order that item for the capers alone)
• capricious caper

I thought “to cut a caper” was the winner, but when I bounced the idea off some pals, they didn’t know what I was talking about. Furthermore, you don’t cut capers (the flower buds) so the hope for a play on words was mostly lost. [You can cut a caper bush, though.]

And then? I gave up for a while. It’s difficult to come up with domain name. It’s like trying to title a book before you’ve written it. Finding the right amount of uniqueness was key: different from the rest, but not so quirky that it doesn’t include any popular search keywords. Searchable and clickable were the goals. Knowing all of these things was a detriment for a while. Absolutely no progress. Until last week when I had an A HA! moment right before bed (I have notebooks on my nightstand for these such occasions) and I thought of a play on words that captured my strong appetite: eat it up. And, the competition for Google PageRank isn’t too steep. So I hope you like it. Or at least, I hope you’ll keep your mouth shut because I can’t obsess about this any longer. Srsly.

Let’s lock and loll…