Contest - help me choose a domain name

avanutria · Post by **avanutria** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 11:50 am

I am in the midst of indecision here. I have the opportunity to get my own web domain, but I can't figure out what to call it. So I'm taking suggestions.

The purpose of the site? Part personal (travel, music, academic, etc) but I'd like to eventually use it for business purposes as well. Possible businesses include photographic services, assisting people with eBay auctions, and web page design (the most likely candidate at the moment). So ideally it'd be something not too specific, as I don't know what direction to be moving into yet. As far as I know I'm still the only "avanutria" on the internet, but as hardly anyone can spell it and no one can pronounce it, I don't know if that would be a good choice...

The contest bit? The person who suggests the domain name that I ultimately choose wins a prize! Now, I'm still dirt poor* and in major transition, so it's not a particularly spectacular prize, but as a nod to my somewhat unusual item/post offering history on CF here, the winner has his/her choice of either:

1) A (never-used) book and instrument set entitled "How to Kazoo", or
2) A really weird small six-hole reeded instrument from Hobgoblin Music, London. Five finger holes and one thumb hole. Hobgoblin didn't have them anymore the last time I checked.

So send me your suggestions, please! I'm interested to see what people can come up with. Thanks in advance for your ideas!

* Dirt poor and still getting a domain? Yup. It's a gift from a businessman friend of mine. My source of income currently is to sell off things that I own, but by definition that can't last forever...

missy · Post by **missy** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 2:17 pm

Ideally, your domain name should be the name of your business, one word run together or with underscore if more than one word. If you don't have a name for your business, you could use your own name (you are gonna get spam anyway if you have your email up for contact purposes).

Missy

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 3:16 pm

Send Missy the prize, Beth.

Best wishes,
Jerry

Azalin · Post by **Azalin** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 8:47 am

Hey Beth,

The typical thing would be something like "Ava Consulting Inc." for the name (or virtual name) of the company you might have. "Consulting" means you could do anything

Then you'd have an address like:

www.avaconsulting.com

Which sounds pretty cool no?

FJohnSharp · Post by **FJohnSharp** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 8:55 am

If you were Jewish it could be avanagila.com

Montana · Post by **Montana** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 11:48 am

Oooo, ouch, ouch... actually that's pretty good.

BillChin · Post by **BillChin** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 1:26 pm

I'd go for something short, easy to type, easy to put on a business card. How about:

www.ava3.com

The downside is people confusing 3 with three. As always some of the other alternatives, such as ava.com, and nutria.com are already taken.

A couple of other ideas:
avanut, avaava

Nothing amazing here, just suggestions.

Maybe you can come up with a short list and post a poll to see what the whistle playing public likes best.
+ Bill

csharpd · Post by **csharpd** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 2:19 pm

ava_look.com

Lark · Post by **Lark** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 2:20 pm

Don’t forget that domain names can be rather on the long side too. Some times a phrase is as easy to remember as a short name, or easer if it’s a complex short name, eg:

www.thisisthelongestdomainnameintheworld.com

www.Iforgotthenameofthatwebsite.com

www.avaconsultingandwebservices.com

and so on....

Zubivka · Post by **Zubivka** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 4:36 pm

KISS

I can't see what's wrong with Avanutria.com (or .org)

Catchy, neutral enough (i.e. open to any kind of activity, just like "Acme") --and yours not the brainstorm of some weirdonet six-holey cakefruits

PS: thinking of which I just registered avanutria.com, .org, .co.uk and .fr: zubivka sounded too boozarre for my kind of buzziness...

Err... any chance you still have this 2-piece Clare tube ?

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 6:06 pm

I agree with Zoob. When I FIRST joined the Chiffy community, I thought Avanutria sounded quite exotic and sorta sexy and I never forgot it from the first day. Its not that far off from Ananova, which is a website I have visited a few times for news stories. Good graphics possibilites too, with the V in there...

At the time (11/10 and on) , major posters were Avanutria, aremnius as well as Loren and Bloom and Bob Bakski and a the others. You can see which names stuck by my recall. I'm sure there were others who posted equally..

I think its quite a winner. But that's just me (and Zoob)....so...you may want to go JUST the opposite....nyuk.

Just make sure you build the site. I paid for a name for four years and never got 'round to actually building it. It expired in December and I have been unable to locate the company who registered it for me.

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 6:11 pm

The Weekenders wrote:I think its quite a winner. But that's just me (and Zoob)....so...you may want to go JUST the opposite....nyuk.

Airtunava?

Brian Lee · Post by **Brian Lee** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 7:00 pm

What's the Irish word for "Boo"?

....oh yea, (.com)

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 8:10 pm

The Weekenders wrote:I agree with Zoob. When I FIRST joined the Chiffy community, I thought Avanutria sounded quite exotic and sorta sexy...

Hmm. I've had a different reaction--probably because I had a childhood friend who was heavily into trapping nutria (South American swamp beavers http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot1/myoccoyp.htm ) for their pelts. So, I every time I see it, I think:

Avanutria.

No thanks, already 'ave one.

Still, that's probably a rare reaction, and I agree that avanutria.com is probably as good as anything you could come up with without having a specific business in mind.

Names are always hard. I've spent endless hours sitting around in groups, trying to come up with names for bands (Dry Creek Drifters, Carolina Quickstep, Columbus Stockade), fonts (Gazelle, Paladin, Pendragon, Abilene, Meath), and software products (AME-Access Managed Environment, KISS-Keep It Simple Spreadsheet, InfoGenie, iData). These sessions often ended in hurt feelings and hardly anyone was ever fully satisfied with the results--even when their own idea won the day.

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 8:36 pm

One thing to keep in mind is, if you can come up with something easy to remember, that will help.

Avanutria might work, but if you can come up with something people can both remember and spell, that will be the best.

"Avaconsulting" might be better for those reasons.

Amazingly, "bethspages.com" is available.

"bethsplace.net" "bethswebsite.net" "bethsdomain.net" "bethshomepage.net" "bethworld.net" are available, but the .com versions aren't. (It's always better to get the .com version if possible.) Nonetheless, .net is common enough now, one of these or something similar might work.

"www.bethstuff.com" "www.bethplace.com" "www.bethchronicles.com" "www.bethwishes.com" "www.bethenterprises.com" "www.bethindustries.com" are available. (I kinda like "www.bethindustries.com.")

Best wishes,
Jerry