I used to appear in the blogosphere with the display name ‘Yee Piao’ and I was known commonly as YP because my previous blog title was ‘Simple Life of YP’. Till the day when I decided to get myself a self-hosted blog, I went to hunt for domain names.
At that time, I was really sure that yeepiao.com will not be taken as in real life, I’ve never came across people who has the same English name as me. You can try searching for ‘yee piao’ online, I can guarantee that the first 10 pages of “Yee Piao” is related to me, Yee Piao. I went to type in www.yeepiao.com and something unexpected happened, yeepiao.com was owned by a company in China which I think is offering contents downloads.
At last I chose this domain, wayneliew.com. It’s actually better because when I use Yee Piao on the Internet, non-Malaysians always regard Yee as my first name and called me Mr. Yee. My surname will not be disclosed here but now I have a name which everyone can call or refer to me, Wayne, the best is of course Wayne Liew! 
After I have done all the work to get Wayne Liew Dot Com set up, I do a thing which is unnecessary, giving a slap to my own face. What happened? I went to Lunarpages, my first and current web host, still wanting a final check on yeepiao.com. I don’t know why I did this but the results froze me!
Anyone who wants to hold a protest and show to me your greatness, buy up yeepiao.com now to make me envious! Try it, I shall see what you will publish in it… Anyway, I can tell you whoever owns yeepiao.com will have bad luck. I got proof by Alexa.
The Chinese company’s fund to maintain the site had gone dry within one year. Buy yeepiao.com and you will have the risk of selling off all the domains you have.
The lesson that I have learned from this experience is that whenever you are choosing a domain for your upcoming new blog, always know what you want but don’t be too specific as most domains with common phrases will already be taken at this time.
What had you gone through when you are trying to purchase your own domain for your blog?
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August 23rd, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Gee.. what a luck! But wayneliew sounds good too
August 23rd, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Thanks. The lesson I’ve learnt, when something is spotted, do it immediately and there’s no point looking back!
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:11 pm
there’s no point crying over spilled milk lil bro.
but too bad.. i know you wanted yeepiao.com badly… oh well.. life must go on, right?
have a nice day!
like seeing my name on the top commentor list. hehe.
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:13 pm
see? i’m number 1 now. lol!
anyway, can u edit my blog url? i already bought a domain name for it. the new add is: http://www.mycomfyzone.com
thanks!
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:22 pm
Sorry for not knowing that and I’vechanged it.
Well, it’s good to see you are at the top, just keep up the consistency.
Life must go on and especially in this cruel world, I can’t afford to stop and look back…
All those who wanted to be on the first page can challenge Chikai for it!
August 24th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
Hi first timer here,
wayneliew sounds way better then yeepiao =D Good that you didn’t get that domain lolz
August 25th, 2007 at 9:11 am
Welcome to Wayne Liew Dot Com, hope you enjoyed yourself here…
Thanks for it, after a while, I am starting to like it as well.
August 25th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
So you’re saying Liew isn’t your surname? Hmm..
August 26th, 2007 at 9:31 am
Just some playing with words there, of course smart people like you will know my surname…
August 27th, 2007 at 9:36 am
Wayne,
Perhaps you want to buy your name to keep… mine is already taken because it is too common *sigh*
August 27th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
I think I will not need it anyway. Also, I don’t have that much funds left in my PayPal account. I will see what company or individual is up to that name.
February 8th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Were you known by name Wayne anywhere else before starting this blog? or it started with this blog.
February 8th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
I do use the name but its usage became wider after I started this blog.
February 8th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Yes, and it also spread faster than yee piao (over 90000 results in google against 24000+ for yee piao)… getting your own domain proved beneficial to you (and it’s valid for all).
February 8th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
One of the reason I made the change with my name used on the Internet is that the name “Yee Piao” was used to spam blogs back when I started blogging which I think had left a dirty mark.
Starting all over again with Wayne Liew definitely is a good decision for me, at least until now.
On the spread of my name, I guess focusing on a niche definitely helps rather than random blogging back then because I have to admit that I don’t really write good lifestyle posts which is capable of getting readers.
February 11th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Renaming for removing dirty marks was indeed a good decision and not hiding your past yet another one. Being honest makes you stand head high even after all the disclosures.