The Importance of Research

OMG! As you know, last week I changed my mind about my ranch name and officially changed it with ARI. Well this weekend I decided even though I'm still in the planning stages, it wouldn't be a bad thing to put my farm name and website link on my signature in the Alpacanation forum. It was a nightmare. Not because putting a link on a signature is difficult, it's actually very easy. The nightmare was getting a new domain name. Apparently there's an Alpaca Springs farm in Canada. Had I known this, I would have stuck with Suri Springs, even though I will have hucayas. Of course had I simply typed the name in the address bar, I would have known that. Sloppy research bit me in the heiney. I did do some research, I checked AOBA, ARI and Alpaca Nation. but had I taken that last step, I could have saved myself some creative thinking. Especially since some wonderful person has parked the name Alpacasprings farm.com. So I have a .net instead of .com. No biggie, but after my misstep I spent the better part of the day. Wrestling with myself so I didn't make the same mistake.

Now this rushing into a name cost me unnecessary money. Because I didn't live with my name before grabbing it from all over the place, and making sure I really liked the name. I had to pay to change the name with ARI and pay for a new domain name. Granted this time rushing only cost me $25 but the next time it could cost way more. Not to mention the time it took to change the name on this blog, and my email address. Thank goodness I hadn't started using email yet. It sounds simple and the actual actions are but I hadn't realized how many places I was already using my farm name.

Anyway my farm name AlpacaSprings is official and isn't going anywhere. Everything is set-up and ready for building and expanding. I can't wait to have the land and I can put that name over the entrance.