Name Branding

This is a theory I have, so if anyone can agree or disagree, please do so.

If you're planning on running a large number of forums, it might be cool to do a kind of brand name on your forum names and URLs.

For example, you could do your first forum, "www.discusswordpress.com," then, you could maybe do "www.discussvbulliten.com." This is good for two reasons. If people who are comfortable on one see the name of the other, they may feel welcomed and comfortable at the second as well. Also, if someone thinks you have a forum for one thing, they'd be able to just go "www.discuss+topic.com" and see for theirselves.

This creates familiarity between forums and users, and could be good for SEO.

I have kind of set myself up for this, because with my site, moonlightfans.com, I can now make another fansite, like maybe newamsterdamfans.com or heroesfans.com, and it would make things easier.

Another cool way of name branding is by making up a word. For my other site, tevault.net, I decided to "make up" a word. That way, when people hear the word, they automatically think of my site. Tevault is for "TV Vault" just in one word.

Maybe you want to make up a name for your forum "network", that way when people hear the word, they think of your forum.

Any ideas? I realize it's kind of random, but I was just wondering if people have used this and had some success with it.

 

I completely agree.

Although a bit plain, the forums in my network usually have "forum" in the URL (ie: NameForum.com). I think doing this, and probably being more original, is a great way to show your are forums from one network - and a good way to keep the members of each one connected to each one.

Good thread. It appears we think alike about this.

 

I'm glad! And yeah, "topic+forum" is an excellent way to go. Good for SEO, and very clear about what the site is dedicated to.

Or, maybe you could get away with buying one doman, like www.unitedcommunities.com, for example, and then doing www.unitedcommunities.com/wordpress and www.unitedcommunities.com/politics

 

I actually have never thought of that. The problem there, though, is that it may get a little confusing and probably wouldn't be as SEO friendly.

My network has a website. Within the site, it has pages for each forum, and some other information about the network. But, at the same time, a member of one of the forums may not even know about this, because it is the specific forum they want - not the network.

 

Patrick, I think you're correct in your theory. If you're going to have a network of forums and promote them within each other, then I think that this sort of branding is excellent. I hadn't thought much about this before, but I'll keep it in mind in the future.

While still related to branding but a little off topic from your original intent, I'd like to say that the branding of any name is more personal and better for the community of a forum than a generic search engine optimizable domain name. For example, I'd like "tvfreaks" instead of "tvforum." Don't get me wrong - I'd snag tvforum in a minute because these sort are great for SEO. But I'd prefer to use a more personal, brandable domain name.

 

That's true as well. The less generic, the better. Makes it feel more unique of a community. Though I think there is value to having a clear, obvious name.

Also, if you want to do a bunch of forums, maybe you could make one site that displays them all through a frame? I'm a really big Joomla fan, and Joomla makes it easy to do this with pages that use a "wrapper" function, which just displays another site within yours.

So, I could have www.forumsonline.com or something, and then having pages that display each forum.

 

Great theory, Patrick! I totally agree.

Another "word" that could be used is "talk". E.g. "talktelevision" or "talkpolitics".
I have seen somebody do this for a few forums in the past, and it makes it easy to know that the sites are networked and produced by the same individual.

 

I am actually doing this, my previous forum was uranium-board and my current is tuto-uranium (tuto being a french abbreviation for tutorial).

-Green Cat

 

Great theory though I don't quite agree.

If you are importing members to your forum, it's very possible they can get confused as can you, the owner. This isn't completely true, 'cause we have bookmarking and favorite add ons.

But all in all, great post.

 

I'm kinda working towards this, trying to get several forums to share a similar vector visual aesthetic.

 

I run an Australian based Sports Network, at the moment it is one website and one forum => however when I get better at coding, or get a coder on board or get the money together to get a coder I would love to extend it to become a true "Network" of sport websites.

For example I would love to expand to have things like: Interactive Football Forums, Interactive League Forums, Interactive Cricket Forums and so on - playing on the word Interactive from my sites name Sports Force Interactive network.

However I will not be looking into this until there is an easier way to link the users database, as would be ideal when people can sign up to one and be able to post on all, it would just be better for my type of network I invision and when the time comes my current board will be mainly used for general chat, announcements, competitions while the boards for each sport will be set out for chat regarding those sports.

 

Patrick is a smart man. One good example of this I've seen recently is VegasTripping.com - they've also got AtlanticCityTrippipng, RenoTripping, and MacauTripping, with similar/familiar aesthetic on each site.

 

Now if only Patrick would make is two-year return... :p

 

:lol: it'd be great to get some of the founding members back.