A Note about Niche Site Names
I wanted to take a moment today to address something that many of you have commented and speculated on: the naming conventions of our HubPages Network Sites. We understand that the site names that we've picked have been a point of contention in the community, so we wanted to share more about the process with you.
Selecting viable names for sites is actually a lot more complicated than it seems on the surface. In addition to selecting names with available domains, there are also copyright, trademark, and branding considerations that go into our selections. Some of the names may sound a little odd at first, but this is often the case with sites and products that haven’t yet developed any brand recognition. We are working together with branding experts and doing our very best to pick suitable names that will not potentially put the sites at risk later.
While we are doing our best to select the most appropriate names for the new sites given the constraints above, it's also important to keep in mind that the names are only a small part of the formula for the success of the new sites. Our biggest focus is on creating sites full of high quality articles for readers. We're pleased to announce that our new sites have been a success so far, with most Hubbers seeing an increase in traffic after having their articles moved to the new sites. Your success means our success. As always, we are doing our best to create a space where your writing will have the chance to thrive.Christy,
Thank you very much for taking the time to share this info. Your explanation is valued and appreciated.
Have a great week-end.I'd also like to mention that we would very much have liked to solicit feedback from Hubbers about name ideas, but a name is considered a company asset, and having someone outside the company or branding team we're working with come up with it could endanger our legal claim to that name in the future.
This post would have gone a long way in easing some of my concerns had it been shared awhile back. The name FeltMagnet is downright ridiculous for my purposes. However with that said I am beginning to regain some trust in how HP is doing things. Let's hope that the formula works.
Success???? Where???? The traffic on my hubs that were transferred to Dengarden has fallen to ZERO. And this is my prime season when I get the most traffic on my niche gardening hubs.
And high quality articles? Are you shitting me????? The quality of the gardening hubs on Dengarden is abysmal. I am a Master Gardener who has worked at a public botanical garden for over a decade and teaches classes and workshops on gardening. The hubs that mine are associated with are poorly written and full of wrong information. I am mortified that my hubs are associated with such amateurish drivel. I have worked damned hard at creating a quality niche site on HP and now those efforts have sabotaged.Feel the same. Some of the photography articles on FeltMagnet are 'not that good' (I'm feeling kind today!) plus having other articles on the same site like how to cut wood at Home Depot doesn't help either.
Christy, One of the things I love about HubPages is the professional way things are handled. Consideration of copyright issues is very important to avoid having to deal with domain name changes later in case of an unexpected infringement. The fact that you are working with branding experts proves the professional commitment.
Thank you much, Christy, for addressing and clarifying the bigger picture behind strategically choosing the niche site titles.
Thank you for posting this. I think if one takes a look at the names of many websites out there, and thinks of them before they had any name recognition, we'd see how many of them may have been looked at as unwise choices. Etsy, Expedia, Zappos, GoDaddy and even Google are some that come to mind for me.
For the most, when I'm searching for something, I don't pay that much attention to a website name.Thanks for the explanation Christy. People like to complain but if an explanation is provided early it tends to negate a lot of that. I know HubPages staff are always doing their best to make the site a success.
OK, we can but trust you guys and gals to do the right thing, even if, at times, we do not understand why you are doing things in a certain way. Explanations are always welcome and provide new impetus to keep going.
Having said that, all I know is that my monthly earnings have gone down from 3 digit numbers to just making payout every month, and I wonder where the decline in income is going to end. But perhaps that's significant of the site as a whole.
I know the answer to that dilemma: write more super quality hubs.
Times are hard.
Good luck in all your endeavors and thanks for providing this (still) wonderful platform.
I feel re-assured and will go with the flow.While I don't dispute the rationale Christy has given - it does strike me that this way of operating fails to take account of one extremely important factor
When you are trying to manage change you need to take people with you.
In the explanation, there was not one mention of any awareness that names might also be VERY important to the authors whose content is being transferred to the new sites.
I found this comment on this aspect of the names very eloquent http://hubpages.com/community/forum/136 … ost2810863
I very much doubt Christins is alone in thinking along these lines....I love the new names and look and yes my views have gone up! yeah!
Some (very few) of the new names 'might' somehow relate to the subject matter but others are a total disaster. Take for example FeltMagnet...if there's one name that does not make any sense whatsoever in relation to the subject matter this is definitely the one!!! Unless off course if you write about using felt to make pretty magnets.
Thanks, Christy, for taking the time to clarify matters. As you already stated, the names may seem to be unrelated or funny and ridiculous at the beginning. But, they will pick up the attraction and enthusiasm of the audience and win their trust definitely, if our content is niche. So, we need not worry about names.
Thank you...having been a member of 'branding' meetings in the past, I know how these things go! Best of luck to everyone, and thank you to the HubPages team for all of their efforts.
Common sense tells us that Hp is more than likely not randomly spitballing niche site names..some of you really seem to have ZERO faith in the company..or is it just fun complain about everything? It can be hard to sometimes find real information here in the forums, and to wade through the sometimes mindless speculations about this and many other things and find real facts.
No offense, your profile says you've been here for 4 months, so unless you're just using a different ID in the forums, perhaps you haven't experienced the constant changes in direction, rule changes, etc that many of us have over the past several years. I've been supportive of most of these changes, understanding very well that without change and keeping up with the times, growth isn't possible.
The fact that you feel the need to chastise people for having a difference of opinion (and I've seen you do this before on other posts) speaks volumes. I have worked very hard on my hubs, am almost to two million views, and while I sit in silence on most issues here and wait it out and keep a wait and see attitude; if I have something to say; I will say it. HP makes money off of our collective work and we are entitled to have opinions and give input when our work is being taken without our input and put on sites with ridiculous names.
Many may not find that a big deal - that's fine, you too are entitled to your opinions. I happen to think that having established hubs that have done well on sites with names like exemplore or feltmagnet to be demoralizing. I am not eager to say "Ooh go read my latest comprehensive article on soap making over at felt magnet!" ...
I'm also not thrilled to have Amazon ads snipped to be moved to other locations when they were in fact ones I've made sales on.
So, that being said - I'll say no more on the subject, but if you think this has been "fun" for me; you have no idea. I've been very attached to HP for years and it's actually painful to face the prospect of leaving here, but that's where I'm at.Thanks for the explanation. Where can I find a list of current niche sites? Also, can you explain how the niche sites are promoted on the web? Is various search engine such as google being the target for SEO or are all search engines treated equally? The reason I ask is that my own limited experience shows that Hubpages seems to do well with Google but not as well with Bing or Yahoo.
Anyway, keep up the great work!List at http://hubpages.com/help/sites-editorial-policy . Getting to be a long one.
Yep I agree ChristinS Writers are hardly going to brag about their wonderful articles on photography, painting and sculpture in the site/Brand Name FeltMagnet, nor will users doing searches choose articles in the SERPS with this brand. Makes no sense to me. Such a silly name. Over and Out!
PS HowToBeCreative(dot)com is available + many morePrecisely my main concern. 'nor will users doing searches choose articles in the SERPS with this brand.' Well said!
No popcorn needed. I learned what I needed in forums..and I thank all that have helped. You know who you are.
See ya later. But most likely not.I personally don't understand the objections raised about domain names, to me it's mostly a non-issue, but there is always, I've noticed, a collective panic attack that occurs when any change happens to this site. And I knew branding had something to do with the domain names, glad that was confirmed here on this post.
Also, I, like others, truly appreciate the amount of work HP puts into these things, handling them professionally and thoroughly. It certainly is a great task to run a site of this size.I choose not to believe that these names could not have been chosen better because of copyright and whatever to at least (even remotely) suggest something to do with their subject matter.
FeltMagnet.....Really????????
