I’ve been blogging off and on since 2005 (a relative late comer to the party).
There were some stages of development for beginning to blog: First the free accounts at Blogger, WordPress.com, now defunct BlogCharm and a couple other places. Then the cult appeared and I joined to begin working with TypePad, WordPress.org and Joomla. I’ve broken up with Joomla and seldom date TypePad any more, saving all my ‘luv’ for WordPress. Blogs using Wordpress.com become subdirectories on Wordpress.com removing any issues about how to name the blog file on a domain. Particularly Virtual, our sister blog at Wordpress.com, can promote the brand without demanding code management from Bar JD.
WordPress.org frequently has upgrades which offer more tools. I have been using the upgrade tasks to change the file name for older blogs that I have self-hosted, along with a plan to use a very uncomplicated file name for new ones. That uncomplicated file name, “/blog”, is not just another four letter word, it is IMO, a BETTER 4 Letter Word.
In an effort to be unique, I made what I consider to be a poetic mis-choice. I would try to make the blog file on my domain MEMORABLE by calling it more than blog. Myblog, yourblog, anybodysblog, weblog and the one I’m stuck with on this big, long blog: virtualblog. The internet and hosts don’t care; there are links from my website to the blog, so what’s the problem? What made this become, for me, a mis-choice and risky decision?
Why? Because it occurs to me that readers may not follow my poetic naming pattern which has to come to most of them through telepathy paths. Sometimes the readers might have the right key words in Google Blog search. Sometimes, they will bookmark my blog page. However, I suspect there are other times when they will remember the domain name and the four letter word, but be confused about the blog name. They may not want to go ‘clickity, clickity’ through my website, but desire to go directly to the blog. I’m trying, by dropping the poetry to get them to the blog at Bar JD Communications as easily as possible. Readers will have to suffer awhile on this blog which has a /virtualblog file name until I learn what happens to the links, etc. that I’ve made with all the many posts. I’m so glad, that after a bit of work, I was able to get WP updated to the newest version, change the file name and salvage my posts.
In another direction, I was fortunate to be able to add another domain name that is my BRAND, BarJD.com so if the client or reader can only remember Bar JD, the solution is swift.
Now to publish my rant, then carry it to other virtual assistants at VA forums such as VAnetworking.com. And be ready to advise clients as they prepare to set themselves up for this four letter word exercise: BLOG!
You are getting only my opinion, but it impacts my blogs, so I get to have it. You can choose to do as you please with your weblogs.
