It is 23:14 hrs. Almost midnight. The generators are out and PHCN is on leave. I couldn't sleep so I Nairaland on my phone. I see the various interesting things young Nigerians are up to and I admire how our spirit finds a way even when the situation says no. Weldone to everyone.

But I didn't jump up, grab my laptop and run it on my precious laptop so I can say 'goodjob'; I jumped up to contribute a little to the beauty of your next project whether it be a new business, website, or blog. This is because a professional project always has to do with the branding. Part of the branding includes the name, the logo, the tone etc etc. I am concerned about the name.

When I see a Nigerian blog, I instantly know. The giveaway signs are all around. From the headlines, to the content, the layout to the logos, the ad placements, and the features, everything scream Nigerian. That is not bad, but nevertheless, but more can be achieved as we grow up and mature in the online space.

Let's talk about the name. Checkout the names of some random lifestyle blogs from Phillipines.


TheFeed
www.thefeedph.com

EarthlingGeorgeous
www.earthlinggeorgeous.com

Annanlyn
www.annalyn.net

When In Manila
www.wheninmanila.com

Lifestyle Bucket
www.lifestylebucket.com

Artsy Fartsy Ava
www.artsyfartsyava.com

Juan Manila Express
www.juanmanilaexpress.com

Swirling Over Coffee
www.swirlingovercoffee.com

Mix of Everything
www.mixofeverything.net

LionhearTV
www.lionheartv.net


Some of these names are average, but all of them are ok. They sound interesting and they are not localised even though they are local to their country.

I won't start with a list of names of Nigeria blogs. Some a-list blogs caught up to the fact that a blog can't just be named by whima and have rebranded. We have some nice names now and that is great.

How you should name your project
Let's reason this together. You want your project to grow, to become famous, to earn you money, and maybe to morph into something else with time. The question is this, does the current name you want to call it allow for that?

You should therefore select a name that is appealing, not too streamlined, and for the sake of G, have some bearing with what you want to talk about (keyworded).

Creating names is difficult in most instances. But to name your blog shouldn't cause much stress or cost you $70,000 as it cost to create the name Pentium.

So how do you name your project?

Here are ideas to use.

1. A nice noun. It may be a place, a person, an object, a plant, a flower. You should try to pick a noun that can serve as a metaphor for your project. Let's say my project is on teenage love. So I can select flowers, and then I pick hibiscus (sorry that's a popular flower I know. Can be any flower).

2. An adjective. Now is the chance for you to introduce the core of your project. The project is teenage love, and with the theme around the hurts, especially abortion, breakups etc.
I can add bleeding, broken, dropped, crying, etc.

Contrast that with a teenage love project that is focused on being strong even though you are abused, in that instance words such as steel, strong, etc will be my choice.

For hurts then I have bleedinghibiscus, brokenhibiscus, cryinghibiscus etc.

I can name the project The Broken Hibiscus and the blog or website will be www.brokenhibiscus.com

Now that is average a bit. Let's find out what the tenderest flower in the world is.

It is Chamomile (thanks to uaflowers / Google). I can have Steel Chamomile - www.steelchamomile.com for the second project which will be to encourage teenage girls not to let abuse weigh them.

Why the effort is needed.

I have names that have meaning. And not only do they have meaning, I have a story behind the names I am choosing. I am gradually building a brand. I can go on to write a book called Steel Chamomile. Print TShirts, start Steel Chamomile clubs etc.

In a Nairaland thread titled Dollars & Nigerians, the versatility and smartness of Americans was mentioned. Branding, focused and coherent presentation was noted as one of the beauties of entrepreneurs from that side of the world.

So fellowrians, let's quit naming our businesses, websites, and blogs in the laziest way possible. That is why I love Nigerian hiphop artistes, even though their lyrics may be flat, they have some nice names plastered to their persons.

Best Wishes*

Some Nigerian blogs or sites actually have good names. E.g notjustok.com, naijastories.com, nairaland.com, bellanaija.com etc.

As for me, I pick names carefully both for myself and for my clients.

If you want a simple and memorable domain name, call or whatsapp me on +2349095000603. My consultation's not free o! Lol. You'll pay at least N3,000 or $6 (three thousand naira or six dollars)