Help me in my domain name struggle

[athlon24]

I am struggling with the idea of my domain name. I am not quite sure if my niche really fits in to my domain name. My domain is http://thatwashot.com

If that is the domain name, for you guys, what is the first thing that will come out to your mind. As of now, I am starting to make it a blogging tips and ideas blog but does it really fits. Any thought or criticism is welcome.

[wahmsuzanne]

Well ... you have a tagline/slogan that describes your blog just fine ... so are you worried that when you're out marketing it that the domain won't "tell" others what your site is about?

My domain is my name so I struggled a bit with the same ... but I suggest you try to find a 2-3 word keyword phrase that you want to rank with Google for and start using that phrase as your anchor text as often as possible. I chose "Money Making Ideas" so I use that to link back to my site (and now others are too) ... and it's so exciting to see in my stats that I'm being found for that phrase through Google.

To tie in the "hot" part ... maybe you could do a weekly round up, "Weekly Hot Sheet" or "Hot Off the Blogosphere" type of thing and use a different theme each week, "What Was Hot in Business This Week," "What Was Hot in Politics This Week," "Hottest Wordpress Plugins," or whatever you want to focus on ... this is just off the top of my head.

Hopefully some others will jump in here and give you some more ideas too. We'll get you up and running in no time. *huGs* Suzanne

[Kevin]

I think that it would be a great name for a entertainment or gossip type blog but I don't think it is suitable for a blogging advice type blog as it doesn't really have anything to do with blogging. In that respect I think it would be difficult to brand the blog.

http://www.tshirtwatch.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/paris-hilton-thats-hot.jpg

[athlon24]

@suzzanne
Your suggestions are very very useful. I like the taglines that you mentioned and I could use all of that. I'll definitely mention you on my blog these coming days for these ideas. It was a risk taking this direction in my part so I'm a bit nervous but I was glad for the domain name I chose. It's only a two week old.

[wahmsuzanne]

If the blog is brand new and you don't have a lot of backlinks or others linking to you ... it is the perfect time to reconsider your domain name. Once you do that you will NOT ever want to change it ...

You could always keep the "hot" domain and like Kevin says use it for something totally different ... and keep all of the work in place that you've done on the existing blog and just change the domain.

It's ultimately your choice ... maybe you don't want to blog about blogging ... but more what's hot on the net in general? Keep thowing out your thoughts and we can help point and guide you. *SmiLes* Suzanne

[ap4a]

My domain name is an abbreviation of a chemical compound and bears no relationship to the content of my site, but it hasn't affected my site in any way. However it's quite abstract and doesn't cause visitors to make assumptions based on it. The same would be true of a domain name that used the site owner's name, it doesn't infer what the subject matter might be. If I was to use a descriptive name, on the other hand, that would infer what the subject matter might be and if the name didn't describe that subject matter it may have an impact (in my opinion).

To use thatwashot.com as an example, that would suggest to me that it was a site looking back at past trends - maybe fashion, music, film, television and so on. If I was interested in that kind of thing I might visit thatwashot.com to learn about what past trends you considered to be hot. If I then found that the site was about blogging tips I might be disappointed and not return. Similarly, if I was on the look out for blogging tips I'd be unlikely to visit thatwashot.com because that domain would appear to be about a different subject than what I was looking for. Meanwhile, in my search for blogging tips I would take a look at bloggingtips.com because that domain tells me that site is about the subject I'm interested in, and then when I get there and it is about that subject I'm a happy reader and I come back again and again to read the quality content about blogging tips.

[athlon24]

To be honest, when I was searching for a domain name, I want to come up with something that I can pour out my blogging ideas. And also latest trends, Tech maybe, because that's part of my passion but definitely not on entertainment, gossip thing (kevin, thanks for the that tip), I'm not into it. Then when I found out that, ThatwasHot is available, I took that and started building it. The first things that came up in my mind is about blogging so i started that way. Maybe the best thing is rip it down and start it for latest trends, do you guys think that's the best option?

[ap4a]

To be honest, when I was searching for a domain name, I want to come up with something that I can pour out my blogging ideas. And also latest trends, Tech maybe, because that's part of my passion but definitely not on entertainment, gossip thing (kevin, thanks for the that tip), I'm not into it. Then when I found out that, ThatwasHot is available, I took that and started building it. The first things that came up in my mind is about blogging so i started that way. Maybe the best thing is rip it down and start it for latest trends, do you guys think that's the best option?

If you're interested in doing that then yes. I think it would be better to build a blogging tips site either with a domain name that relates to it, or with a domain that uses your name, or to an abstract one that isn't related to any specific subject.

If you're not interested in developing a what's hot type trends site in the long term you could maybe do it for a short time, and build up a bit of relevant content and a readership; and then see if you can sell it on to someone else at a high enough price to compensate for the effort you put into it.

[athlon24]

Maybe I can push to make a latest trend site especially in Tech category. Do you think, it will fit? technology and gadgets for http://thatwashot.com? or robotics and space science? These are some of my passion.

[sarahG]

Gadgets is always a good one, especially with Christmas coming up. That would go well with your domain, plus gadgets are probably easier to sell online (via affiliate links) as most people into gadgets have some clue about shopping online.

[ap4a]

Maybe I can push to make a latest trend site especially in Tech category. Do you think, it will fit? technology and gadgets for http://thatwashot.com? or robotics and space science? These are some of my passion.

Technology trends can work, yes. If that's what you're interested in and you can write well on the subject that it can easily work well for you. You might also find that technology sites are easier to monetise than other sites, with more frequent click throughs of adsense, affiliate links and so on, than sites with different subjects. I have a friend who used to make around $400 a month from adsense on a technology site that covered camera, computers and mobile phones.

[athlon24]

so probably I'll take that into account. what's the site of your friend? maybe i can make a connection with him so i will have someone in my that niche. Thank you all guys, your ideas and thoughts all cleared my doubts. Maybe its time for ripping off some site.

[ap4a]

so probably I'll take that into account. what's the site of your friend? maybe i can make a connection with him so i will have someone in my that niche. Thank you all guys, your ideas and thoughts all cleared my doubts. Maybe its time for ripping off some site.

He no longer has it online. He lost interest in it when it was flagged as made for adsense by Google and his adsense stopped (it wasn't a blog). He appealed and got his adsense account reactivated but his earnings never recovered so he eventually removed the site.

[athlon24]

ouch, that hurts. I hope my site would not end up that way. Does commenting have some value in this niche or just putting content is what really matters.

And if I am going to pursue his niche, technology/gadgets/future tech/robotics/space science. do you guys have any suggestion for my tagline. I only came up with this,

That was HOT! - Latest Craze and trend in technology

[ap4a]

ouch, that hurts.

Well it proves it must have been made for adsense ;)

I hope my site would not end up that way.

It shouldn't do so long as it's clear you're writing for a human audience and not for click throughs.

Does commenting have some value in this niche or just putting content is what really matters.

Relevant, well thought out and well written comments can have value in any niche, as they all add to the content and can help attract visitors and stimulate interaction. You just have to ensure that you moderate them and prevent irrelevant, nonsense or spam comments from being posted. Those kind of comments can have an adverse effect and put visitors off.

And if I am going to pursue his niche, technology/gadgets/future tech/robotics/space science. do you guys have any suggestion for my tagline. I only came up with this,

That was HOT! - Latest Craze and trend in technology

The tagline should reflect your personality, and how you want to portray yourself on the site. So it needs to be thought up by you. However I would suggest that you ensure you get it grammatically correct as it'll likely be one of the first impressions made to a new visitor. So for what you've come up with so far: "That was HOT! - The latest crazes and trends in technology". But I think that's stopping short of a full sentence. Maybe something like: "That was HOT! - Expert reviews on the latest crazes and trends in technology by athlon24". (Replacing athlon24 with your real name.) With this kind of site include a photograph of yourself if you can as that can help foster trust in a reviewer, as does using a real name instead of a pseudonym.

Also, if going down the review route don't just use adsense or TLAs. Affiliate links are ideal for review sites if used intelligently. Just don't overdo it.

[athlon24]

Thanks a lot. It really helps. I will now, try to think some categories and some post ideas to get it started.

[wahmsuzanne]

I too have a review blog and you can look at it for ideas (but I haven't done much with it) http://www.review-mama.com. I think with some help here you are brainstorming and making it exactly what you want ... the money will follow if it's your passion. *huGs* Suzanne

[athlon24]

@Suzanne can i ask, usually how much traffic do you have in your review sites? I am having an impression that that like that is harder to market and traffic is usually low. But though, its traffic is low? Does it converts? - for monetization purposes? Thanks for any insights.