Sunday, January 8, 2012

Would You Please Make a Decision For Us?

Have you ever avoided doing something you need (and want) to do, simply because you can't make a fairly basic decision? In the business world, they call this Analysis Paralysis. In my personal life, I call this The Last Four Months.

We've intended to give the blog a new name and its own URL for several months now. We want a name that's catchy and explanatory. That shows we take marriage seriously, but has a sense of humor. That's short enough to be remembered and long enough to say something.

Unfortunately, we're a little late to the game, and a lot of good names are already taken. The following four names have made it to the Finals ... but we can't seem to pull the trigger on any one. We offer the names and our thinking on them below. You can vote for your favorite on the right. Please share your comments as well as your vote - we'll make a decision next week based on the feedback you give.

1. Weddedness.com: You know what the blog is about when you hear that title. And I like the fact that it's not really a word, but you still know exactly what it means.

2. MarriedAnd.com: For this one, you have to imagine the graphic at the top of the page - "Married And" is in bold text, with a blank line that is filled in with rotating text: Married and loving it. Married and making it work. Etc.

3. GoToBedAngry.com: We like to think of this blog as a place where you might hear some straight talk and unconventional ideas about how to stay married (mostly happily). Go To Bed Angry captures that idea - it's antithetical to the standard marriage advice you've received, but sometimes it's not such a bad idea. You'll wake up happier ... which is hopefully how you'll also feel when reading this blog.

4. ForBetterOrSmirk.com: We like this play on the marriage vows. We're totally committed to our relationship, but try not to take ourselves (or this blog) overly seriously. This title would communicate that.

Again ... you have one week to vote and share your thoughts. It's much appreciated.

** UPDATED **
In comments on Facebook and the blog, a few people have asked the same questions. Here are the answers:

Why not keep The Marriage Project as the name? 
Good question. I (Amber) picked the name late one night without actually consulting my husband. That's usually a bad idea, but thankfully he didn't mind the name too much. But as we actually started doing our research, we discovered that a lot of other people use The Marriage Project, or variants of that name. Most notably, University of Virginia runs The National Marriage Project, which is a giant research initiative (that is really cool, by the way). We concluded that we wouldn't be able to distinguish ourselves with a name that was so frequently used by others.

Additionally, it's not actually a project: we don't have a scope or time frame.

Also, we can't get a unique URL with marriage project (at least as a .com, which I prefer). And I can never remember the current address so I need a simple and unique URL.

But aren't you going to lose readers by switching names? Will Google know where to find you? 
I love this question because it implies that people are finding us through Google. In truth, right now, most of our readers are friends who hear about a post from Facebook. We'd like to expand our readership and the unique URL will be part of that. (As will the Facebook page and Twitter account we'll eventually establish.)

Are you doing this for money?
Ha! Nope, not at all. It's a fun hobby that has meaning for me, and hopefully for a few others.


Have other questions? 
Your questions and comments are helping us think through the decision - keep them coming.

11 comments:

  1. Of the four, I think "Weddedness" sounds best. I so wish http://www.mawwiage.com/ was available. Cuz that would be the winner. ;-)

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  2. To be honest, I would leave the name the same. People know the name of your blog, Google knows the name of your blog. Changing this would decrease brand awareness, which would hurt.

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  3. I kind of like the "ForBetterOrSmirk.com" name ... a fun play on words.

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  4. I also would have preferred to keep the name the same (creature of habit, I suppose), but thanks to your helpful update, I understand the reasons for the change and have cast my vote...albeit somewhat begrudgingly.

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  5. "For Better For Worse" was the name of a comic strip about a family with young children when mine were young: it saved my sanity. And it addressed a lot of the same issues you two address here, albeit in narrative style. But alluding to that line may land you into something like the same difficulty you have with The Marriage Project. Does "Til Death Do Us Part" allude sufficiently to the possibility of marital homicide? Weddedness might work but it's hard to say-- Let me sleep on this.

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  6. Thanks, everyone, for sharing your thoughts. I appreciate seeing the reasoning behind your choice!

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  7. For better or smirk would be my pick.

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  8. I have thought this through repeatedly (like, way more than is reasonable for such a simple question that ultimately has nothing to do with me). I like The Marriage Project the best, but I am guessing that the change means that is not available. Or it's too much like The Happiness Project, The Lazarus Project, etc. So my next choice would be Weddedness, because you invent a word, and because it almost sounds like Wedded Bliss, but it doesn't.

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  9. Weddedness.com You get big points for inventing a word and imagine if people started using it in popular culture and YOU INVENTED IT. Also there's a certain neutrality to the word like you're not trying too hard, which is probably what I like most about it. It's clever, but not in a way that seems to be trying to call too much attention to itself. And by not calling attention to yourself, people tend to pay more attention. And in my mind there is no question that is the name of the blog (of those four named) that I would choose to check out first AND IT'S A COOL WORD YOU'VE INVENTED, did I mention that. (I did just drink a large Mango-tini, but I still stand by everything I've said here...)

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