Can a site’s name stop it from developing into a certain direction? Say you have a popular site with man visitors that’s named something like “gayvideos.com”, the site is obviously related to videos, but would that stop it from being successfull in other non-video related areas? Say you add gay porn site reviews to a video site, would that work or are you better of starting from scratch just due to the name?
Re: Can a site’s name be a hindrance?
Nice question, is like if I wantedt o add rugbiers to my site.
If the name was a “general purpose” name (for instance “queer click”) is something you can put anything inside.
If your site is named gay videos customers will go to find videos, though reviews can still have a “reason why” because you review videos, after all. Reviews will be perceived as a bonus.
But general marketing rules say that each name should focus in one single thing. If you’re interested in marketing strategies, try Al Ries books, they are very strategic and he’s a source of wisdom. And marketing is crucial for what you’re doing now.
It’s specially recommendable “the 22 immutable laws of marketing” is a masterpiece and simply shows you 22 marketing strategies that will never fail.
Jorge Bianco
Authentic Footballers
Re: Can a site’s name be a hindrance?
A few years ago, I wanted to start an AVS hub featuring uncut, Euro guys, but all of the good domains seems to be taken. I had picked one and worked with it for a while, only to find out that the domain was blocked in Google because of whatever the previous owner had done.
So, I decided to make up a name. I came up with Eurodisiac (Euro + aphrodisiac). The site never took off. I was never really sure whether it was the name or whether Mancheck just didn’t have good Euro guy traffic. I could certainly sell bears and hairy men on Mancheck by the bucket load, but the Euro guy site was largely a disappointment and waste of time.
Certainly creating a site name that is a bit of a puzzle can be a challenge to get surfers to remember it.
I think the name can be important, but at the same time, I think it can depend on a lot of other things. There was time when no one knew what a Corbin Fisher was; and probably at the time, a lot of people thought, “What a dumb name for a gay porn site.”
Michael
Re: Can a site’s name be a hindrance?
Yes and no. Depends on how narrow the site’s name is. I mean adding photo galleries to a site named gayvideos.com makes no sense. But, adding reviews of video sites would work. I would target the reviews more at sites like dvd download sites etc or sites that you have videos of on the site.
There is really no “one fits all” answer.
Re: Can a site’s name be a hindrance?
Not to mention “Google” or “McDonald’s,” etc. Good point and I just took a second to think of the name “Corbin Fisher” by itself as if I never heard of it in this biz. Try it. Miraculous what some businesses can do with names.
[QUOTE=dzinerbear;59983]There was time when no one knew what a Corbin Fisher was; and probably at the time, a lot of people thought, “What a dumb name for a gay porn site.”
Michael[/QUOTE]
Re: Can a site’s name be a hindrance?
It’s true you can be succesful with meaningless names, marketing is full of examples (Heinz, Ford, Gillette, and thousands of others). This is specially true when you’re among the first ones in the industry.
But if the name shortcuts the idea in the consumers mind that’s even better.
A classic of the marketing books: “Positioning: the battle for your mind”, written in the 70s, when internet didn’t even exist, developes very clearly the idea. The consumer’s mind is crowded with info, overexposed to information and advertising. So the more straight you go, the better.
“Straight” meaning “directly”, not heterosexual LOL
Jorge Bianco
Authentic Footballers
Re: Can a site’s name be a hindrance?
i’d say it depends. if you’re throwing up a bunch of non updating freesites or feeder avs sites, the domain doesn’t matter. if you have a paysite or project you’ll want people to remember the name of so they’ll come back and maybe spread the word, i’d say the domain DOES matter unless you want to spend the big bucks branding the site.
Re: Can a site’s name be a hindrance?
yeah I think it depends too, with your example I see no reason to include non-video related stuff, as long as the main focus of the site is not changed.
Re: Can a site’s name be a hindrance?
[QUOTE=Intense_Lloyd;59985]Yes and no. Depends on how narrow the site’s name is. I mean adding photo galleries to a site named gayvideos.com makes no sense. But, adding reviews of video sites would work. I would target the reviews more at sites like dvd download sites etc or sites that you have videos of on the site.
There is really no “one fits all” answer.[/QUOTE]
Wouldn’t it depend on how you presented it? I mean if the site is a video site, reviews fit, but why not, outakes for photo’s? or movie stills? or movie publicity photos? In other words, photo galleries could be added, if labelled in a video type theme, such as ‘out takes’ or ‘stills’ whistle