Thursday, May 29, 2008

Phone a Friend...

Okay, so here's the deal. When I went to buy a domain name for my photography business, davisonphotography.com was taken. (BOOOOO...). And I thought about maybe doing a variation like davisonfotography or something, but I didn't want people accidentally going to the other one because it isn't very good.

SO... after much consideration and ridiculously over analyzing everything, I decided on the domain davisonphotos.com. Short, sweet, but still professional sounding.

(I have to admit, I had to give it a while to grow on me. It was Kirby's first suggestion when we found out I couldn't have davisonphotography, but I just didn't feel it was what I wanted to go for. Well, it was. And I'm giving Kirby credit for knowing so.)

Now that I have climbed that mountain of a dilemma, I have another one! For all of you who have visited my photography blog, davisonphoto.blogspot.com, you have seen my current watermark.

I like it.

A lot.

BUT--Kirby and I both felt that it makes more sense if the domain name is the same as the business name. That would mean I am now DavisonPhotos, as opposed to Davison Photography. Therefore, I would need a new watermark.

So I doodled one up, scanned it in, and extracted it in Photoshop and it's ready to go! And I really like the way it looks!



So what is my problem then? I'll tell you.

A really good friend of ours, John Baxter, is building my website. Just recently he added the design elements and I LOVE it. It's like he read my mind. I love the green, and I love the top bar, how the image blends in to the graphics. If you want to see it, go to davisonphotos.com/index.php. But please recognize it is very much under construction. I still have to send him all the written stuff, and the pictures in the "portfolio" section are not mine. :)

So here is the problem--I LOVE the way that "davison photography" looks at the top of the screen. (And by the way, it will probably end up being "capturing memories one photo at a time" underneath. But that's not important here.) So. Here's the deal. I love my new watermark, and I want the consistency between my domain name and my business name. BUT--I love the way "davison photography" looks!

Comments? Opinions? I'm just curious what y'all think. :)

3 comments:

Kristin Hanson said...

Hmmmmm, I think you should keep Davison Photography. I love your watermark and the way it looks. Did you try ldavisonphotography or laurendavisonphotography? I'll keep thinking of others, but for now, I say keep the name the same and keep the photos url.

Meridith said...

I think you'll be fine having a different url and a different header. Just make sure that both make sense and stick in their purpose. There are lots of companies that have to be creative in their url but then keep their original company name. Just make sure that they know that davisonphotos.com is YOURS and they don't remember the other guy. ;)

Keep your watermark, enjoy your lovely header, and keep your new simple, lovely url.

Those are my two cents. :)

Nat said...

I kind of agree with Kristin - I know you love your new watermark, but it seems like it would make the most sense if it matches either the name of the business (and the name on the top of your website), or the actual website itself. So you could keep the business name as Davison Photography, and then the watermark can be like davisonphotos.com. That way anyone who sees your work somewhere will know exactly where to go to find you. I don't think you need to change the business name just because the domain was taken - there are PLENTY of businesses who have domain names that are slightly different than the official business name, for the exact same reason as yours - the one they wanted was taken! Sorry for the long entry, I'm sure whatever you decide will look great!

 

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