Domain Name Vows

So my full name is Sultan Gul Hassan, it is long, now addition photography to it will make one of the possible domain names very long www.sultangulhassanpho​tography.com.
Gul is my first name though.
I really wanted to go SGHPhotography.com but its already taken, and I am bit hesitant to go SGHimages so as not to have it mixed up with the incumbent.

Anothe rname was gul.com which is already gone.

Any recomendations on a cathy and easy domain name.

I am thinking out loud here.

Well theres always thinking out side the box. I don't know what the obsession with keyword domains are. Ok it says you do photography, but that's where the relevancy ends. It does help with ranking your name, but other than that you mies well just spend the time on link building.

How about sultangul.com, sounds nice to me, or even go for something completely different.

PeteA wrote in post #11526967
Well theres always thinking out side the box. I don't know what the obsession with keyword domains are. Ok it says you do photography, but that's where the relevancy ends. It does help with ranking your name, but other than that you mies well just spend the time on link building.

How about sultangul.com, sounds nice to me, or even go for something completely different.

A 'bad' domain name costs the same as a 'good' domain name, so spending some time up front getting something keyword rich is a freebie bonus before you commit to link building. I wish it was otherwise, but domain keywords are quite weighty in search rankings. Wouldn't it be nice if it only relied on quality of content?

Anyway, I have to ask the question, 'why use your name in the domain?'
Are you trying to build a brand around your own name and face? Are you already famous? If your photography business ever became successful to the point you'd want to sell it, another business name would be better as the new owner can continue to trade on your goodwill.

If this is just for non-commercial personal photography, maybe building a personal brand is the better way, as most of your contacts will come to you through friends, family and associations who already know your name or are directly introduced.

If that is the case, then build your name brand by including everything you do under your personal site SultanGulHassan.com with a blog, your wisdom and opinions, as well as your photography. That way your photography can act as a conduit towards you as a person and generally convey you as an interesting and diverse a person.

Links from these forums, flickr and personal business cards when out in public all funnel to the one site and that makes maintenance easier as your personal website is a reflection of your whole life and every facet.

bdp23 wrote in post #11527011
A 'bad' domain name costs the same as a 'good' domain name, so spending some time up front getting something keyword rich is a freebie bonus before you commit to link building. I wish it was otherwise, but domain keywords are quite weighty in search rankings. Wouldn't it be nice if it only relied on quality of content?

Ranking for those key words, there are many other longtail and short tail keywords to rank for and these will generally give more traffic than the actual website name it's self. (I've been in the industry for a while know).

Well, you could always do what I did and reduce your first and middle names to initials. "SGHassan" doesn't sound too bad.

ok
well here is some back ground and some reseach

Background
Today, I am a nobody, Only a handful of people around me, know me and my passion. What I have been doing lately is shooting on request friends or their friends cars, stuff, family etc. Then it died down and now recently started again but with more passion than before. Right now as I am planning to start it I am relying on soem of my existing for referrals, using FB, and also cold calling and roping in customer via different channels.

With regards to the site; my idea is to have basically one potfolio page with some pics, one contact page, and rest basically to use it as gallery for clients (password protected). I will support the site with a blog type page just to make it more interactive with regular clients or potential so that they see a human element there basically using it as a marketting tool.

I can always use my nick bluelight.com (it redirects to Kmart ) somehow using this nick everywhere as long as I remember.

SInce I am a nobody right now there is no brand so any tiume I pick I can build myself around it.

www.sultangulhassan.co​m is free though.

PeteA wrote in post #11527052
Ranking for those key words, there are many other longtail and short tail keywords to rank for and these will generally give more traffic than the actual website name it's self. (I've been in the industry for a while know).

Elaborate please

Lookup "sghassan.com" and see if that's available. Sounds pretty cool to me.

Photography businesses, being businesses that almost always gain by personal artistic vision are usually "branded" by the name of the artist. Client seek out photographers, not photograpic companies.

We've all heard of Paramount Studios, 20th Century Fox Studios, and Universial Studios...but what was the name of Richard Avedon's company? Annie Liebovitz's company? Bert Stern, Pete Turner? When photographers are known, they are known by their names.

Sometimes a photographer's name becomes famous enough that the business can be sold by that name. Olan Mills, of course, is most prominent, but there are at least three studios across the US using the name of "Philip Stewart Charis Photography" because those photographers studied under him and have patterned their own visions after his.

SE Smith Jr wrote in post #11527197
Lookup "sghassan.com" and see if that's available. Sounds pretty cool to me.

If not try .co or one of the other dot's..

RDKirk wrote in post #11527224
Photography businesses, being businesses that almost always gain by personal artistic vision are usually "branded" by the name of the artist. Client seek out photographers, not photograpic companies.

We've all heard of Paramount Studios, 20th Century Fox Studios, and Universial Studios...but what was the name of Richard Avedon's company? Annie Liebovitz's company? Bert Stern, Pete Turner? When photographers are known, they are known by their names.

Sometimes a photographer's name becomes famous enough that the business can be sold by that name. Olan Mills, of course, is most prominent, but there are at least three studios across the US using the name of "Philip Stewart Charis Photography" because those photographers studied under him and have patterned their own visions after his.

On the other side of the coin, if you use your name and you screw up (not saying you will) it's quite hard to change your name, it's easier to change a business name.

PeteA wrote in post #11527515
On the other side of the coin, if you use your name and you screw up (not saying you will) it's quite hard to change your name, it's easier to change a business name.

If he screws up bad enough for his name to be remembered, he will be remembered. Using a business name as a facade fails the first time someone who remembers the name gets in touch with him.

Even if a photographer uses a business title, people will still remember "the photographer is John Smith, but I always forget what the name of his business is."

You're in a creative field of business, so be creative with your domain.

seesult.com

seegul.com

How does the following sound

sghassan.com
sghfoto.com
photobygul.com
shotbygul.com
GULSHOOTS.COM
gulhassan.com

Finally got myself a domain
shootmegul.com
Now researching themes and styles to build a style.
Man this is one tough job