Portfolio Domain Name HELP!

[ENNEX]

Not sure what section exactly this belongs in, but I could use some help from everyone.

I've finally got the finances to set-up a website for my portfolio, but the problem is I'm having a hell of a time decided on a domain name. I know it's classic and professional to just go with a firstnamelastname.com domain, but I really hate my last name and plan on changing it immediately when I get married.

I guess I wanna know if it seems unprofessional to use a screen name in the domain/title of artist's portfolio?

Or should I just use my first name combined with something like artworks, creative, conceptual, art, illustrations, etc.

Although my first name is Emily, which I'm afraid might be too common. =\

Any ideas would really be appreciated. I wasted hours last night dwelling on this. >_<;;

Thanks for your time

[Dave_]

I don't have much experience in this area, but any name should do, the easyer to remember the better.

[SR-5]

First of all, congratulations on setting up the website.

I agree with what Dave_ said. The easier the name is, the better people will remember it.

But that's not all I wanted to say. At first, it doesn't matter how professionally your domain name sounds because what matters most is how professionally your site is designed and how professionally you approach with your artwork on it enough to catch people's attention in order to be impressed. If people are impressed with your professionally creative approaches with your artworks, they'll be likely to remember the name behind it by just connecting it with your artworks.

I see choosing a name as a very personal thing to do because it holds many meanings behind the name for the chooser. As for choosing names, there's so many names to choose but how do you know which one is right for you?

- Many artists use fictional names and you could use one with firstnamelastname.com with your first name and some fictional last name you like. Or just create a new identity.
- Pick a name that you feel very confident in and reflects on the image of yourself and your goals. A name that you feel very connected to.
- Make sure it's not a copyrighted name or most common name so people can mistaken it for another thing which could hurt your image.
- You always can pick a part of the name and combine it with other names or just play it around. For example, ENNEX Illustrations? ENNEX ART? Etc.

Hope it helped you in some way.



5000.

[ZsMann]

go with internethandle.com You are working on branding yourself for life, ennex sounds cool and is short enough to remember. put it one some business cards and see where it takes you. hmm... aparently ennex.com already exists, and looks pretty bad. I'd go stick with the last bit of what 5000 said then.

[DeadlyFreeze]

Take a page from Ben Mathis, poopinmymouth.com is unforgettable.

[Ian Barker]

You're creating an entity that people are going to see you by, so there's so certainly no need to use your last name is you hate it. EmilyArt or something like that is kind of hard to take seriously. I would go with a made up name.

[OmenSpirits]

When my skills are of a professional level I'm going to use the one I established for my writing, which is the same as my name here except for the .com part.

Do a search on OmenSpirits, you'll find it the only one online, and it's mine.

I went the unique route because I wanted any search to come back to me.

[Ian Barker]

When my skills are of a professional level I'm going to use the one I established for my writing, which is the same as my name here except for the .com part.

Do a search on OmenSpirits, you'll find it the only one online, and it's mine.

I went the unique route because I wanted any search to come back to me.

This is a good point. I could never use "Liffey" because it's a major river. If you google my old username though, "TheoryC", it'll bring a bunch of my profiles around the net straight up, because it was a more original name. There are already several established "Ennex"s it would seem, but no "Ennex art", so that could work.

[ENNEX]

Thankyou! This has really helped a lot. And that's a great point about the search engines and creating a memorable brand.

Still got a little thinking to do, but at least now I've got a better idea of what I'm going for.

Interesting sidenote: Since posting this morning, when "ennex art" is searched for in google, this thread actually comes up as the first result with the second being ennex.com
When just "ennex" is searched, it shows up on the page 8 (not great but not bad).