Community website name/domain (brand vs. ___community)

[Ulixes]

Lads, looking at launching a community website for people with a certain interest. What is peoples opinion on branding?

Have a couple of ideas for a 'unique', brand-style name (criteria is .com available). Issue here is that all my first choice options are taken (not necessarily with sites in the same niche, naming lends itself to multiple niches). Other option is the regular _______community.com style address.

I've had a look at some of the Enlightened threads, but just wondering whether there is more recent thinking/other opinions?

Cheers

 

[StackCash]

Unless you're ready to drop $$$ on a premium domain name, chances are the short, catchy brandable names aren't available for registration. The next best option would be to take the broad niche keyword plus an identifier:

[keyword] + [identifier].com

dogtrainingcommunity.com
puppytrickshq.com

Again, this is only if you're not buying a premium domain. If you are, then there is a ton of other things to consider when choosing your brand name. A "real" brand will take into account how easy it is to say, if there are many different spellings that could make it difficult to find you, if the name immediately makes the person know what you do, etc.

 

[Ulixes]

Unless you're ready to drop $$$ on a premium domain name, chances are the short, catchy brandable names aren't available for registration. The next best option would be to take the broad niche keyword plus an identifier:

[keyword] + [identifier].com

dogtrainingcommunity.com
puppytrickshq.com

Again, this is only if you're not buying a premium domain. If you are, then there is a ton of other things to consider when choosing your brand name. A "real" brand will take into account how easy it is to say, if there are many different spellings that could make it difficult to find you, if the name immediately makes the person know what you do, etc.

Thanks! This is my first time running a community driven site, so really just looking around at advice/etc before making the jump and investing a lot of time.

Probably not looking to outlay for a premium domain (at least initially (I am aware of possible difficulty in rebranding)).

Think I've got a couple of decent brandable names in mind (with all domains available); need to do a bit more demographic research, but the niche I have in mind is relatively educated, wealthy and technologically savvy so thinking I should be alright with a 7-8/10 name (as opposed to a 10/10 amazing brandable name)

 

[StackCash]

Sounds good. I think the most important thing is that the name immediately lets the visitor know what you're about in some aspect. The keyword + identifier strategy is usually the best way to accomplish this.

 

[golan]

I might have a great domain for a social network... the downside is that it's .org and .com is taken, although not in use. Pm me if you want.


.

 

[JulianTrueFlynn]

Like Stackcash said I usually at least try and get a partial keyword match, not for SEO but just for simplicity sake. I like obvious/clear names most of the time. More stupid-proof.

dogfeeds.com
dogshare.com
doggybuzz.com

BTW if you're using WordPress I'm a big fan of BuddyPress and manage a couple sites with it.

 

[Ulixes]

Like Stackcash said I usually at least try and get a partial keyword match, not for SEO but just for simplicity sake. I like obvious/clear names most of the time. More stupid-proof.

dogfeeds.com
dogshare.com
doggybuzz.com

BTW if you're using WordPress I'm a big fan of BuddyPress and manage a couple sites with it.

Thanks man, simplicity probably isn't my primary concern here because of the demographic of the niche I'm targeting (and long term I'm becoming more convinced a solid brand could be worthwhile). I know one can build a brand on a generic name (e.g. BuzzFeed), but I feel like a more generic name doesn't easily lend itself to this.

Another option I suppose is a brandable high-level domain (with 'high-end/impact' commentary), funnelling peeps into a more generic community. Concerns re this is the added complexity, brand dilution, and effort required (when payoff isn't guaranteed or even possible).

Thanks for the advice re BuddyPress. I'll likely be building on Wordpress (only other CMS I've got an real experience with is Joomla - which I hate :/ ), so yeah, am looking around for drop in social functionality

Not super keen on VBulletin (at least initially) mainly due to the way I'm looking at positioning the site/generating traffic and familiarity with Wordpress.

 

[melnikov]

Unless you're ready to drop $$$ on a premium domain name, chances are the short, catchy brandable names aren't available for registration. The next best option would be to take the broad niche keyword plus an identifier:

[keyword] + [identifier].com

dogtrainingcommunity.com
puppytrickshq.com

Again, this is only if you're not buying a premium domain. If you are, then there is a ton of other things to consider when choosing your brand name. A "real" brand will take into account how easy it is to say, if there are many different spellings that could make it difficult to find you, if the name immediately makes the person know what you do, etc.

I agree with this guy.

Or maybe you should make use of one of the new TLDS when creating your brand, and let us know how that goes