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The domain name on which you house your site or, the brand name you create for your site?
Been talking to a few people about this today and, it has to be said, thus far it seems to be split pretty evenly between the two choices.
So what do you feel is most important to a sites success, the branding or, the domain itself?
Regards,
Lee
Frankly I don't think any one is more important than the other. I think you need to work a domain name in to the branding you do, and vice versa. Too many select domains simply because it sounds good but haven't a clue how to use it, so it goes to waste.
For myself, I want domains that will fit my type of content, that aid in the entire process, so i guess in a round about way I would have to say that branding (depending on your definition too) would take precedence with the domain name being in a prominent supporting role.
Man I need a drink... :coffee:
Fair enough, but, going by what you just said, how would you explain 'google.com' that, to me, doesnt say 'search engine' LOLQuote:
Originally Posted by gaystoryman
Regards,
Lee
Sure, make me think at nearly 1 in the morning without a drink in the house.. :mental:Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee
SE weren't all that big back then, name power had to catch the attention and in Google's case, I'd say it was a choice of using something that could be easily marketed, googling vs search engining? no brainer there... googling is more catchy and sticky.
I guess what I am trying to say in 10,000 words or more is that depending on your business model, domain name and branding can be interchangeable.
If you are planning on something like a total complete sex site, then sex.com would fit the branding but if you were marketing Kelly Taylor then vibrant.com might be more apt and more beneficial... so i guess it comes down to what is the overall plan/purpose of the business model.
My case is reading.. so i went the book route and story route... along with a name... where one supports the other.
Google is a great example.
Two in the adult industry industry that I think illustrate that domain name doesn't have to mean much...
corbinfisher.com
randyblue.com
Who ever heard of either of those 3-4 years ago, or had any idea what they mean? Yet these are two very visible names among almost anyone who surfs gay porn today.
For my money, it's a lot easier to *create* branding for a name like Corbin Fisher than it is to get people to remember "hot-american-college-boys.com" or even "amateurcollegemen.com." This assumes, of course, that you have the money/time/energy to create the branding from scratch.
Boyfunk.com is sort of another example. My former business partner had a totally different concept of what Boyfunk was about -- literally, "boy funk" as in, dirty underwear and such... but he recruited cute guys, and the site sorta developed a vibe around that, so the name really has little to do with what it's now known for.
Oh.... GayStoryMan has a good point. Avoid that dichotomy of domain name vs. brand name. Intergrate both and definitely weigh it towards a brand identity.
I've never really liked sites that are SimpleCompoundNounsStrungTogether .... like something right out of a German language nightmare.
I made it a point to name my site FriskyFans.org and not GayPornMovieReviews.org. Or my underwear site as UnderwearGalore.com and not GayUnderwearForSale.com ....
Branding is actually an interesting, and very deep subject. Some companies are a gigantic collection of many distinct brands... like Nestle. Other companies are one single brand, like Dell, who sport it on a wide variety of products. (from laptops to printers to lcd tv's) So at the end of the day there are a lot of ways to market your products successfully.
Even those of us in the adult business can benefit from thinking along these lines. That's why MBAs get paid the big bucks.
Steve
I think its important to combine these two, by chosing an easy to remember name and by pushing that brand out to create an image. randyblue is kewl because it uses two great words, randy (frisky) and blue (erotic cinema) so once you find the branding the name sticks in your head.
cheers,
Luke
re: RandyBlue
wow..... I'd never thought of that!
Steve
yeah, I always thought that "RAndy Blue" was one of the most genius porn names out there since "Candy Apples".
I relaly think that your Brand is the one that people are going to care about.
sure, if your domain is "Bigcocks.com" it's gonna get type in traffic, but we at Fratmen have been able to get name recognition on the strength of our branding.
I think the domain and name have to be the same. Especially if you plan on getting branded anytime down the road. And if you're successful, people will look you up as yourname.com. Make sure it's the .com version of the domain too, and also get the .net and .org if possible.
As for keywords in the domain/name, I think it depends on where you want to get most of your traffic from. If you're going for SEO, then having your keywords in your name helps alot. The benefit isn't a direct one though. Having keywords in your domain name doesn't matter to the search engines per se, but it means that people who link to you using your domain name are more likely to have the keywords in the anchor text, and that is quite important for SEO.
If you want to get your traffic mostly from affiliates and branding (type in's, once you get your name out there), then a short, brandable name is more important then having your keywords in your doamin. I have some short and hopefully brandable names for my non SEO'ed projects like my blog - www.unshroud.com. I am not aiming for SE traffic from people looking for the word "unshroud". At least no until the word gets around and people know the name, in effect getting it branded.
I'm of the belief that creating the brand name is more important than just relying on the domain name.
And I thank Chip for bringing up CorbinFisher.com because it's a case in point.
There is CorbinFisher.com and there is AmateurCollegeMen.com. And although the early days of CorbinFisher.com attempted to present and brand AmateurCollegeMen.com (as a more descriptive name that it was felt would get more attention, more SE traffic, and catch eyes more), nowadays it's all about the "CorbinFisher.com". We chose to present CorbinFisher to people and brand that, and it worked. It's Corbin Fisher that has taken root in the minds of surfers, not Amateur College Men. As an identity, at least. Amateur College Men is more a descriptive term for us now, as opposed to the actual name and brand. And now we have that much more freedom to create more, as well. Had AmateurCollegeMen been all we'd branded ourselves as from the get go, AmateurCollegeMen would have been all we could do in to the future, and we'd have to start from scratch if we wanted to offer up something else.
But now we can launch Corbin Fisher's AmateurCollegeSex - a brand new site featuring amateur college men (!) "in their natural habitat", having sex with women. And rather than it just being AmateurCollegeSex.com... it's CorbinFisher's AmateurCollegeSex.com. Everything we've already established ourselves as can carry over to the new site.
Another example is JuicyGoo.com. What the hell is "juicy goo"?! On the one hand, it's absolutely nothing. But on the other hand, it's quite obviously something. It's both meaningless and suggestive, benign and dirty. Before JuicyGoo.com as a site came along, "juicy goo" lacked any meaning or value. But once it was branded and took root in the minds of those who visited it, the name acquired meaning. Now, "JuicyGoo" is the perfect name for the site known as "JuicyGoo".
That's the great thing about branding something that otherwise has no meaning. You can define it. You can determine what it instills and inspires and suggests. You can create what it insinuates and what it means.
Rather than limiting yourself to just what your domain name allows, or looking kinda bad when you stray from what your domain name would suggest.
i also think the brand is more impotent than the domain.