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Hey all

Here’s a piece that’s also been posted on my blog, but I decided to put it here though because I believe some people might be able to give me some advice here.

I’m looking for some business advice. My current website is this one. Bramme was a nickname from when I was younger and I chose it as my domainname back when I was 15 or 16. The site didn’t have a lot on it and it certainly didn’t attract much attention. I wasn’t even in the webdeveloping business back then.

However, today I am in that business (at least a bit) and I feel that bramme.net is a little too unprofessional to profile and advertise myself. My clients so far have almost always been Belgian or Dutch and most of them know nothing about the web except that they want a site of their own. However, when they contact me and ask for a portfolio or more information, I have to direct them here, because I have nothing else to show. And that feels kind off awkward. This site isn’t a portfolio, it’s a blog with a portfolio category that stands out a little more. And then some more random stuff.

So I’m thinking of starting up a new portfolio, maybe with a Dutch name and Dutch content to profile myself more around here. And that’s where the thoughts start to go crazy. What about the name? Should I just pick my full name or something fancier? What about the design? I can hardly design, though if I’d like to profile myself as a designer, I’d need one of my own…

Say I do find a suitable domain name and manage to create a good looking template, what about bramme.net? Do I depart from it, giving up the name it’s allready built up and start with something as blog.mydomain.com? Or do I keep it, linking the portfolio to the new site…

As you can see, a lot of questions, a lot of thoughts and no direct answers. That’s why I’m looking for some input from other people. Maybe they have had similar issues in the past, how did they handle it etc.

So if you have anything to say, any comment at all (preferably something useful though), please: do comment!

Thanks in advance.

I think you should stick with bramme.net, as long as bramme doesn’t mean “shrivelled penis” in Portugese or something like that 😉
It’s a nice short, snappy domain name, and personally I think it looks fine as it is.

I find bramme.net quite pleasant as well.  It’s short, memorable, and you don’t need to tell anyone that it’s an old nickname 😉 .  As for separating the portfolio from the blog, I would subdomain the blog.  Default to the portfolio and put a blog link along the top (something like this).

worth mentioning maybe: bramme is a Flemish diminutive for Bram, my first name. I’ve had a potential client allready addressing me as “Brammeke” which is a one-step-worse diminutive and is often considered somewhat offensive/condescending.

I find bramme.net quite pleasant as well.  It’s short, memorable, and you don’t need to tell anyone that it’s an old nickname 😉 .  As for separating the portfolio from the blog, I would subdomain the blog.  Default to the portfolio and put a blog link along the top (something like this).

Saved me some typing.

Either that, or use the name Bramme as a company name.

“Bramme Development” or something?

That’s a decent domain name. Hang onto it. As Jamie said, it’d work well as a company name too.