ServeTheHome.com --- Forum name change?
- Thread starter Patrick
- Start date
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Thanks for bringing this back. Very funny to see that I was contemplating something similar to today almost two years ago.
ServeTheHome will stay for sure. The other thing I am toying with is http://www.servemy.biz Here is the thread on that.
1.
I find a number of places I reguarly visit have quite long names. Whilst longer is not always better
, if it is catchy it can offset the length a little. Being able to stick in someones head like an irritating tune, but pref without the irritation, is a pretty big plus.2.
Internationally very true. In the UK, .co.uk also carries quite a bit of weight.
3.
Very true. Generic rather than specific is how I would put it though. I registered my company using quite a specific name and grabbed the domain. Most of my business seems not to be coming from the area my company name links to though so I am now rebranding. Luckily I can rebrand and link to my current company rather than having to register a separate company with the new name.
4.
Ahh, this is the one which I think specific is better than generic... Human Female breasts on the home page in all their glory so when we get stuck with the latest technical issue and are close to bashing our heads against the table, we can always go there and see what really matters
. 3D for the win.... RB
I keep typing in Server My Home which is quite irritating but then I think that is my fingers not doing as directed. I have a couple of domains that were registered for my company which were never used. They may be worth a look so I will PM to you.
RB
@Patrick - LOL for necroing an old thread here. 5 years old.
But on a serious note. Why is the topic coming back up and in force? Does it have to do with just the forum or more so with your business model/reviews side of things?
If it makes sense to share some details, it might help get better feedback?
I like the name of the site personally, and even though many on the site are pro IT dealing with servers for their career, many still use the site primarily for using hardware/tech/knowledge for their home build out. Heck because of this site, I probably have more home server capacity then most small businesses. (thanks to the great deals section).
Just saying if it ain't broken, dont fix it.
But on a serious note. Why is the topic coming back up and in force? Does it have to do with just the forum or more so with your business model/reviews side of things?
If it makes sense to share some details, it might help get better feedback?
I like the name of the site personally, and even though many on the site are pro IT dealing with servers for their career, many still use the site primarily for using hardware/tech/knowledge for their home build out. Heck because of this site, I probably have more home server capacity then most small businesses. (thanks to the great deals section).
Just saying if it ain't broken, dont fix it.
Unless you want to reduce the "home" association to open up the marketing or content potential I think it is fine. STH is a known brand and quantity at this point that covers more than your average home lab content. If you wanted to split/expand the main site content I would still suggest keeping a single forum that is linked to them all since there is so much overlap and useful info - just add additional top level forum sections if needed.
servethehome and forums.servethehome already show up a LOT in google searches for me and I imagine others - it would be a shame to loose that visibility.
servethehome and forums.servethehome already show up a LOT in google searches for me and I imagine others - it would be a shame to loose that visibility.
The only thing, other than the current name, that seems to work well in my head is TSH (The Server Home)
Anybody who spends more than five minutes on the forum should figure out it does not really cater to home servers...
proper http 301/302 permanent and temp redirects for domain names retain search engine rank/juice eventually when search engines follow such http 301/302 Change page URLs with 301 redirects - Search Console Help
just the mental connect for users will need adjusting for a new domain/name
I suspect that you have developed a fairly large following of people that know "ServeTheHome" and that brand has value.
Another interesting question is do you want to reorganize forums/fork and Create ServeTheBiz, Soho, Enterprise... Etc.
I am biased working from home and building an overpowered server in the dungeon that ServeTheHome kind of fits my point of view.
Refurbished commercial gear, hobbyist, student servers fit nicely into serve the home.
There are a fair number of resellers and your best reviews are enterprise oriented gear by far. For example the latest spider looking aio wifi router made me wonder if it had found the right place for a review. There are a lot of aio routers you could review but most of the hardware junkies here would say meh, pfsense and a ubiquiti access point.
I wish SmallNetBuilders would spend less time on the retail aio's and more time on entry level commercial gear but they don't so I come here for that too.
I haven't seen much in the way of trolling between the two camps. If anything the commercial guys seem to enjoy repurposing hardware as much or more than those of us working out of the dungeon and the mix often comes up with good ideas for both groups.
My only gripes with STH are that swmbo has starting tracking my paypal spend on hardware and the cables are starting to overwhelm my dungeon.
STH gets the google hits in search to draw the crowd that your reviews and business sponsors target. If you are thinking about monetization; ars technica, anandtech, tom's hardware are far sillier names. I'm not sure whether search will ding you for alternate names. Worth checking.
TL;DR The ship has probably already flown the coup.
Another interesting question is do you want to reorganize forums/fork and Create ServeTheBiz, Soho, Enterprise... Etc.
I am biased working from home and building an overpowered server in the dungeon that ServeTheHome kind of fits my point of view.
Refurbished commercial gear, hobbyist, student servers fit nicely into serve the home.
There are a fair number of resellers and your best reviews are enterprise oriented gear by far. For example the latest spider looking aio wifi router made me wonder if it had found the right place for a review. There are a lot of aio routers you could review but most of the hardware junkies here would say meh, pfsense and a ubiquiti access point.
I wish SmallNetBuilders would spend less time on the retail aio's and more time on entry level commercial gear but they don't so I come here for that too.
I haven't seen much in the way of trolling between the two camps. If anything the commercial guys seem to enjoy repurposing hardware as much or more than those of us working out of the dungeon and the mix often comes up with good ideas for both groups.
My only gripes with STH are that swmbo has starting tracking my paypal spend on hardware and the cables are starting to overwhelm my dungeon.
STH gets the google hits in search to draw the crowd that your reviews and business sponsors target. If you are thinking about monetization; ars technica, anandtech, tom's hardware are far sillier names. I'm not sure whether search will ding you for alternate names. Worth checking.
TL;DR The ship has probably already flown the coup.
I have often heard about STH on other forums. If you change it into a new name, it will take a long time to rebuild the reputation.
My opinion as of 3-2017
- Keep it the same.
- Move the forum to a different dedicated domain, and change the review/content domain to your new name, maybe even leaving STH forum where it is on that domain, and redirecting the review/content to the new domain.
- Get crazy. Change it completely, not to "Serve The Biz" or "Serve Biz" or "Serving The Users" or anything related... go for something like "inBasementBuilders.com" or "Addicted2Servers"
IMO, keep STH...shift the forum into sections for home/smb/ent/whatever...could always create a vanity forums.servethebiz... and redirect it over to to the business sub-section of the forums.