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I know I’ve got some explanations to make, I owe you a detailed explanation and I promise to clarify everything. I moved doncaprio.com to geek.ng about 24 hours ago and I have reasons. It may seem crazy, stupid and completely outrageous but by the time I’m done explaining why I made the move, you should be less mad at me.
How can you suddenly decide to rename a site that’s gonna be four years old soon? How can a well-thinking person change a domain that’s gathered loads of backlinks over the years? What about all that domain authority? PageRank?
You’re probably asking these questions and I’ll clarify the issue.
Back in 2009…
It’s already five years I’ve been blogging now and I’m definitely not the same person I was when I started this journey. The way I think now is very different from what it was like 5 years ago, my dreams may not have changed but they’ve certainly gone through some form of metamorphosis, I’m five years older and as a matter of fact, I now have five years experience in blogging that I never had then.
Basically, I’m a changed man.
Why the domain name changed
I wanted to put my name on everything then and that was why my first blog then was named Capriofiles.com (2009), and my second blog (2010) was fully personalized and named Doncaprio.com.
Well, Don Caprio may already look like a brand on its own but there are a few issues with the name:
#Reason 1: The domain name is mouthful
Believe me, I always have trouble trying to spell out my domain name for people when we meet for the first time. I have to spell out the letters in most cases and this ain’t good. I was at a Social Media Week recently to deliver a presentation on SEO and after the event, a lot of people were asking for my website.
They didn’t get it right.
I had to spell out the letters before they could make any sense of what I was saying. That wasn’t the first time. Geek.ng is a lot more shorter and pretty easy to remember. I know you can’t dispute that.
#Reason 2: No keyword in the domain name
Doncaprio.com is just my name and I’m not sure Don Caprio is a valuable keyword for a tech blog. There’s this never-ending SEO debate on whether it’s important to have a keyword in your domain name or not. Well, I don’t think it’s necessary but then, a domain name with a keyword gives a potential visitor an idea what the site is all about.
For example, when you run a search on Google for some geeky / tech related stuff and Geek.ng shows in the search results, the domain name gives you an idea that you’ll probably see that geeky / tech related stuff your looking for on Geek.ng.
Does that make any sense?
#Reason 3: I need to create a marketable brand
Where do you see yourself in five years? Okay, you’re still blogging, right? What about twenty years from now? No time for blogging anymore, huh? Okay, what if some new stuff comes up next year and there’s no time to maintain your blog anymore, maybe you’re busy making serious money offline or elsewhere on the internet?
Of course, you hand over your blog to someone or JUST SELL IT.
If that should happen, I definitely can’t sell Doncaprio.com, it’s my name, ain’t no way in hell I’m selling my name!
Don’t get it twisted, I’m not saying I’m selling my blog, I’m only trying to create a marketable brand in case anything happens.
#Reason 4: I can’t maintain two tech blogs
I can’t maintain two similar blogs. Doncaprio.com and the new Geek.ng are just too similar and sometimes, I get confused as to where to publish. There’s an hot topic and I’m not sure where to post it.
Besides, it’s gonna burn me out trying to keep up. I just have to combine these two blogs
#Reason 5: I want to connect with motherland
This is more or less a personal thing and it probably won’t make sense to you. I’m Nigerian, I represent Nigeria and I see no reason why I shouldn’t go with a Nigerian TLD. I want this blog to have a sense of connection with Nigeria and that’s why I went for a .NG domain.
So, what’s new?
Apart from the new look of the website, you can now join as a contributor and write for us. I’ll be creating a forum later or a question and answer section. I’m really gonna try to find a way to create a community around the new site.
What is your verdict?
Well, the truth is that it wasn’t easy making the move. This thing has been on my mind since last year and it took a lot of courage to go ahead with it… a whole lot of courage. If you’re wondering if I changed the domain name because of the manual penalty I got from Google a while ago, that’s totally wrong. I’ve gotten past that already and that’s not it.
“I’m on track, this is not a mistake, it’s all for the best,” I keep telling myself even now.
Well, I’ve explained and I think that clears it. I believe you now agree with me that I have good reasons. What do you really think? I would like to hear you comment and opinion. You can also help point out things that are not working properly or need to be added. I’m really gonna appreciate that.
By the way, I really thank you for being a reader on this blog all these while. I appreciate you even took the time to read this piece.