What to call my fledgling website...?

[Ice]

Me neither - it made me think of something that's certainly not to do with books

 

[Stewart]

It's bloody hard these days since all the good names are bought.

 

[Ice]

I would choose the .com and only the.co.uk if you wanted to monopolise the name. I don't know about advantages but if you have a name and someone mentions it to another then the first thing that they will think of is .com - it's a brand all of its own.

Good point - problem I have is that the .com version of the name I want (or a version of the name) is already taken

My next site will also be a .com although I intend to buy all the available domains and have them redirect to the main one.

All?? Wow - you must be rich

When I decided upon www.talk-history.com over www.talkhistory.com it was a conscious decision. Search engines,when indexing the site, can break the two words into separate keywords which are more helpful than long one worded nonsence. If you are having more than one word then hyphenate.

Ah - now this is useful. I have posted this on another forum (based on the focus my site will be designed on) and so far people wouldn't go for hyphenated - where as I rather like it.

 

[Ice]

It's bloody hard these days since all the good names are bought.

I know

Ice

 

[Stewart]

Good point - problem I have is that the .com version of the name I want (or a version of the name) is already taken

Typical.

All?? Wow - you must be rich

For the price of them? About £5 for one or two years depending on the domain. Okay, maybe not all. It's the other vBulletin forum I'll need to buy and the years' hosting up front. Then there's the cost of registering a private limited company (much the same way in which The Book Network originated) for tax reasons, and possibly advertising. It's not fun.

I have posted this on another forum (based on the focus my site will be designed on) and so far people wouldn't go for hyphenated - where as I rather like it.

I'm more and more intrigued by this unmentioned focus.
Which host have you decided on or have you not got that far yet?

 

[Sar]

Specific focus.

Would you choose .co.uk or .com (or both) - pro's and cons?

Also - would you hyphenate as oppose to one word if it was too long?

I personally tend to prefer .net & the last 2 domain names I have bought have reflected this fact, though admittedly most people tend to prefer .com. I think .co.uk is useful for businesses that really want to just concentrate on the UK, otherwise people just tend to assume it's only for the British.

Ice - If the domain name you want has already gone, it's always worth checking out when it's next due for renewal as quite often people think it's such a good idea to get a domain name & then don't even bother with hosting. I take it you've checked if there's a site there & if so, if it seems up-to-date.

Not too long back, I would have recommended flexihostings for hosting a site, but they seem to be getting rather unreliable lately

 

[Ice]

For the price of them? About £5 for one or two years depending on the domain. Okay, maybe not all. It's the other vBulletin forum I'll need to buy and the years' hosting up front. Then there's the cost of registering a private limited company (much the same way in which The Book Network originated) for tax reasons, and possibly advertising. It's not fun.

Not fun and certainly not cheap

I'm more and more intrigued by this unmentioned focus.

Trust me - it's absolutely nothing interesting

Which host have you decided on or have you not got that far yet?

Not really got that far yet - knowing me i'll buy the domain name and then take about 6 months before I even bother designing the site 1&1 have been recommended but I have access to some web space anyway so I may just buy the domain name(s) and redirect to that.

 

[Ice]

Ice - If the domain name you want has already gone, it's always worth checking out when it's next due for renewal as quite often people think it's such a good idea to get a domain name & then don't even bother with hosting. I take it you've checked if there's a site there & if so, if it seems up-to-date.

Yes and yes

I personally tend to prefer .net

Why?

 

[Sar]

I'm also intrigued about your site, is it to do with dogs???

Erm, I think I like .net because it used to be exclusive & only for ISPs & other such technical-types, plus as .coms are 10 a penny I guess it's another way to stand out.

On the subject of hyphenation, my first ever domain name I didn't use any & it was tricky to read the url & awkward to see if it had been mistyped, with hyphenation it makes it alot easier to read, but some people who aren't used to the internet get confused by having to put hyphens in.

 

[Stewart]

Which is why you buy both and set the non-hyphen domain up to redirect.

 

[Ice]

I'm also intrigued about your site, is it to do with dogs???

Yes - so nothing interesting

On the subject of hyphenation, my first ever domain name I didn't use any & it was tricky to read the url & awkward to see if it had been mistyped, with hyphenation it makes it alot easier to read, but some people who aren't used to the internet get confused by having to put hyphens in.

These were my thoughts and the reason I am leaning towards the longer name, hyphenated and buying both .com and .co.uk

 

[Sar]

Yes - so nothing interesting

I wouldn't say that at all, do I win a prize for correctly guessing?

Kristocat have you had any ideas so far then? Any inspirational suggestions?

 

[Ice]

I wouldn't say that at all, do I win a prize for correctly guessing?

Now that's just being greedy

I have thought about having my own site for a while but prefer sites focused on a particular subject as oppose to a mismatch of topics.

 

[Sar]

I know what you mean, far too many sites seem to exist purely because the owner wanted a site & didn't necessarily have a decent idea for it. I studied a small amount of HCI at uni & we really had it drummed into us about the importance of content & knowing your audience. In the end, it was more of a mishmash of I fancied trying out running a site & I thought of one of my husband's main hobbies & hey presto - one very happy hubby.

Me greedy? Never!!!

Does that mean it's choclate? Please tell me it's chocolate!

 

[Ice]

I know what you mean, far too many sites seem to exist purely because the owner wanted a site & didn't necessarily have a decent idea for it. I studied a small amount of HCI at uni & we really had it drummed into us about the importance of content & knowing your audience. In the end, it was more of a mishmash of I fancied trying out running a site & I thought of one of my husband's main hobbies & hey presto - one very happy hubby.

Same here - I was also taught the importance of the content and what the audience would get out of the site. I've never been interested in a purely personal site focused on myself and my interests - it certainly doesn't appeal to me and I don't like putting up too much information over the net anyway.

Me greedy? Never!!!

Does that mean it's choclate? Please tell me it's chocolate!

You'll be lucky - like an idiot I went to work with all the chocolate I had just bought in the boot - it's now a melted mush

 

[Sar]

Same here - I was also taught the importance of the content and what the audience would get out of the site. I've never been interested in a purely personal site focused on myself and my interests - it certainly doesn't appeal to me and I don't like putting up too much information over the net anyway.

I know exactly what you mean, I don't like the fact a whois search can bring up my address It's good in many ways to stay secretive on the internet, you never know who anyone truly is (whichs makes me think of the Internet Lurrve thread)

You'll be lucky - like an idiot I went to work with all the chocolate I had just bought in the boot - it's now a melted mush

Ssshhh, someone might tell the police & get you arrested for crimes against humanity

 

[Ice]

I know exactly what you mean, I don't like the fact a whois search can bring up my address It's good in many ways to stay secretive on the internet, you never know who anyone truly is (whichs makes me think of the Internet Lurrve thread)

Ah - now i'm just registering the name and have the option not to have my information published on WHOIS

 

[Ice]

It's good in many ways to stay secretive on the internet, you never know who anyone truly is (whichs makes me think of the Internet Lurrve thread)

A very good point (well in my mind) - I'll head over and have a look at that thread when I get back from taking the dogs out for a quick walk. I certainly never usually give out my real name on forums (though one of the others I frequent doesn't count - my username there is my real name as I have met about 80% of the users in real life). Here I think there are only two people who know my name (not including Phil ).

Ok domains are registered I chose the hyphenated longer name in both .com and .co.uk in the end

 

[Sar]

So as this is a thread about naming websites, do we get to find out which urls you chose???

I don't normally give out my name, Sar is the first time I've signed up as something that isn't obscure (Mr-Burns being one of my old favs)

 

[KristoCat]

You guys have brought up some interesting issues. I will probably only buy one domain name, but I think it might end up being a .org instead of a .com, to try and convey that it's going to be a purely informational site, no money involved.

So, a character name or a nonsense word, huh? Hmmm.... maybe I could combine them somehow? Er... never mind After thinking about it I guess it would have to be one or the other. I was coming up with awful things like tixipolonius and susanalu.

So, would something like fictionlibrarian.org or booksnet.org be too boring?