Comments on: What I Wish I Had Known About Naming a Web Site & Changing A Domain Name

By: Branding Guy

Branding Guy — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:37:16 +0000

So… months later… has your traffic recovered to where it was before the switch? We’re very knowledgeable on the brand development front, but not on the technical impact. I’d love to hear (or see) whether you’ve moved above where you were before.

By: John Pelts

John Pelts — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:20:03 +0000

Don't use Godaddy for checking domain names, they share that list with their resellers community. If you search and don't buy a good name right away some one else will. I like domaintools.com John Peltss last blog post..My Outdoor Hobbies

By: Elliott Ng

Elliott Ng — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:56:40 +0000

Wendy,
I think I’ve read this post about 10 times in the last 3 months. Yikes! Anyway, thanks for your tips on the 301 redirect and we’ll let you know how it goes for us. Hopefully with a recovery curve like what you show!

By: Friends, we need your help. Google can’t find us. - Travel Industry News - UpTake Blog

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:00:02 +0000

[...] broader marketplace success. And she picked a great name, Sparkplugging. Her post entitled “What I wish I had known about Naming a Website and Changing a Domain Name” shares some insights into the process and Wendy also has a nice interview in ProBlogger [...]

By: Sunday Link Lovin’: 10 Aug 08 Edition

Sunday Link Lovin’: 10 Aug 08 Edition — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 10:31:38 +0000

[...] Piersall over at SparkPlugging shared some thoughts, tips, and tools on website name branding/re-branding a few weeks ago. Worth [...]

By: Rich

Rich — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:36:29 +0000

What a great find this site is. Reason: today I was thinking about re-branding. My site is 5 months old and I’m beginning to think my name doesn’t work… I know I’ll regret it later… ahhhh

By: James Hipkin

James Hipkin — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:22:24 +0000

I am moving my small personal blog from blogger to its own domain. WordPress made the move relatively easy, just a bunch of images and links to update, but figuring out how to put a redirect on my blogger location has been impossible. Fortunately its a personal blog so no lost sleep just significant annoyance.

You might try domainsbot.com for domain searches. I use it all the time to find domains for our clients.

By: James-DigitalKeyToInfo

James-DigitalKeyToInfo — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:43:30 +0000

I did not know that about Stumbleupon traffic and redirects. I wonder if other social networks do that too.

By: Barbara Rozgonyi

Barbara Rozgonyi — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:58:01 +0000

Wendy, thanks for blazing the branding trail and for sharing your inside insights!

Re-branding is always a massive move – agree that sooner is better. It pays to be patient, confident and driven. You make it look so easy.

See you in San Francisco!!!!
Barbara

By: Chief Family Officer

Chief Family Officer — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:54:25 +0000

Wendy, you hinted at some of this stuff at the time it was going on, and I suspect it might not have been very easy to write this post and relive that time. So I thank you for writing it – itâ€™s very educational and helpful. And Iâ€™m sure your traffic will soon surpass what you used to get at eMoms!

Chief Family Officers last blog post..Another money maker at Rite Aid: Crest Toothpaste

By: Tom At The Home Business Archive

Tom At The Home Business Archive — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:16:46 +0000

It is difficult to find good domain names these days, but it is all about building your brand and your domain name should indicate what your blog/site is about.Very useful information, thanks for sharing. (Stumbled, Dugg and Mixxed)

By: David LaFerney

David LaFerney — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:43:41 +0000

Nothing like hindsight I guess, but that’s priceless information about Stumbleupon. If you think about it there’s a good reason for that, ignoring redirects helps to mitigate the irrelevancy of most link bait. I’m surprised that you took such a hit in overall search traffic though. Ultimately it’s just like a physical move – a calculated long term investment in position and branding.

David LaFerneys last blog post..Javascript Snippet Lets You Edit Screen Shots

By: Karen Putz / DeafMom

Karen Putz / DeafMom — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:19:35 +0000

Have no fear, your numbers are going to surpass your old numbers and keep increasing– I just know it.

Karen Putz / DeafMoms last blog post..Hands & Voices in Colorado

By: Cath Lawson

Cath Lawson — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:48:13 +0000

Hi Wendy – this is really useful to know. When I first visited your site and got redirected, I thought someone had stolen your website or something.

Sparkplugging is a brilliant choice and it’s a really easy name to remember.

I don’t think I would be brave enough to change my domain name. I would worry too much over the lost traffic and probably change it straight back.

Cath Lawsons last blog post..Did You Make A Mistake?

By: shriya

shriya — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:14:59 +0000

Wendy, thanks for sharing this with everyone. I’ve helped folks move their domain name and there are these little things you can’t be prepared for. StumbleUpon though is no little thing. It’s sad that they don’t redirect when it’s a legit redirect.

shriyas last blog post..Bottle Gourd Koottu – Bottle Gourd Curry

By: Steve Johnson

Steve Johnson — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:45:41 +0000

Aww, thanks Wendy! In all truthfulness, though, if you hadn’t been such a dream to work with and a dear friend to boot, we’d have never gotten this far.

Your insane requests pushed me to figure out how to do things with WordPress that I hadn’t even conceived of before.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:41:56 +0000

Great post.

By: Wendy Piersall

Wendy Piersall — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:18:14 +0000

OMG, Kelvin, every time I see a comment from you I RUN to read it – I don’t think you have ever said a word on this blog without me laughing my a$$ off!

Thank you for being so awesome!

By: Kelvin Kao

Kelvin Kao — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:10:35 +0000

Yeah, good domain names are so hard to find nowadays. It seems to me that everything is taken.

As for eMoms at Home, the fact that I am not a mom, not running a business, and not living at home didn’t stop me from reading it. In fact, I liked that unique angle. If your site was called Sparkplugging back then, I probably would not have subscribed. Actually, I don’t know. Maybe I still would have if I like the content. But I do like to file my feeds under the author’s name instead of the site’s brand. For example, it’s always been Wendy Piersall, Derek Semmler, and Lisa Lam in my RSS reader instead of eMoms at Home (or Sparkplug CEO), Work-Life Balance (was that the name? see? I don’t even remember, or The Man Page), and CraftBoom. But I guess I’m the statistical minority.

As for WorkLifeRemix, HomeOfficeGeneration, Bizsational, I think it’s true that they capture what the site is about, but I bet that when a metaphor like Sparkplugging comes up, there’s a bigger wow. It’s like a girl analyzing the background and personalities over and over, but suddenly her true love appeared out of nowhere and totally blew her away. I am not speaking from personal experience.

By: Elizabeth Potts Weinstein

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:18:41 +0000

Wendy –

I’m so glad you have been blogging about this transition b/c I’m about ready to do that for my sites — move my 2 blogs and 1 podcast over all to one site, under my The Wealth Spa trademark. Since I’m in the early phases of building these sites, I know this is the right time to do it (before I do my big book amazon campaign, etc.) but it still seems nuts.

And I’ll be ready for not just a google dip, but also a stumbleupon drop. Thanks!

~ Elizabeth