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What's in a Name?

iCraft Admin


Administrator
Posts: 1699


« on: September 27, 2012, 02:10:46 am »

Hello iCrafters,

Here is one of those updates for all of you, where we need your help.

When we opened this site at the end of 2007, we were focusing more on Canadian artists and crafters, but slowly the site became an international venue, and as of today, we have a lot more sellers from US and other countries, than from Canada. We love being so diverse, so we definitely want to position iCraft as an international venue.

For the past few months we've been reviewing our site from technical (coding etc) stand point and fixing SEO related problems as we were trying to increase site's traffic. One of the unfortunate things that we've learned from our SEO expert review is that while our domain name iCraftGifts.com is helping us with the positions on Google Canada, its working against us on Google.com. Basically, it's like swimming against the current. We need to work extra hard to achieve good positions on Google.com.  Roll Eyes

Our SEO expert strongly recommends moving the site to .com domain. However, the name iCraft.com is not for sale, so we have two choices now:
  • Switch to a domain name similar to iCraft, like http://iCraftGifts.com (which we've purchased already)
  • or Pick a brand new domain name and then re:Brand the site

We are going to move the site to .com domain for sure, as our main goal is to improve rankings on Google and to increase the traffic on the site. However, we'd like to hear everyone's input on this issue, before we make any changes.

Pros & Cons for using iCraftGifts.com

The name has iCraft word in it and many people know us under that name. We could optimize the site for word iCraft, so when people replacement for us by iCraft, we'd always come up first.

We could still use iCraft in our communication, as a short form. This is actually not uncommon when the business name and the domain name don't match one to one - Bank of Montreal is using bmo.com as their domain.

iCraftGifts reads like a meaningful phrase I Craft Gifts and has two valuable Keywords related to our site's theme in the domain name - "Craft" and "Gifts". It's not significant, but still helpful from SEO perspective.

However, this name is longer and not as catchy as iCraft.

Pros & Cons for Picking a Brand New Name

If everyone hates iCraftGifts.com, we'll start brainstorming new names and will probably hire a branding firm to help us with choosing a good name, if we won't be able to find something suitable. So that might take some time.

In the past, some people commented that focus on Crafts turns away artists and suggests something of a low quality. Anyway, we are not married to "Craft" in the domain name. Site's focus really is Handmade Gifts, so we could choose something completely different.

Just to clarify what this move means to the site:

  • There will be no disruption to the site during the transition to the new domain.
  • It will take just a couple of day's worth of work for us to complete this transition.
  • All current page rank will be transferred page by page to the new domain, so the current rankings for all pages will be preserved.
  • There might be a deep in traffic in the initial 2-3 weeks, while Google will be re-indexing all pages. But it's a small price to pay for the potential long-term gain.
  • In some strange way, the move to the new domain will be beneficial to the site as a whole, as it will force Google to visit every single page on our site and to re-evaluate it. Because we've done a lot of clean-up on the site prior to this move, we actually want Google to re-index all our pages asap. We'd love it if all sellers also updated and optimized their individual pages before we switch to the new domain. That would definitely boost everyone's traffic. If you are not sure what page optimization is please follow our current Bootcamp, where we are discussing this exact topic.
  • We will start seeing improvements in traffic in about 2-3 months thereafter.
  • People would still be able to use our current domain name iCraftGifts.com to access the site. We'll always keep it! We'll simply redirect it to the new domain.
  • You wouldn't have to reprint all your business cards to update your store URL, as it will still work. It will be just redirected to a different domain. Eventually, you'd probably want to update it, but only if you were going to print new cards.

This is an important issue that we want to resolve as soon as possible, as in some ways, its holding us back. Please vote on those two choices described above and tell us what you think. We want to make sure that you guys are happy with the site's name, whatever we end up choosing.

As always, really appreciate all your help!  Kiss
« Last Edit: September 27, 2012, 02:36:16 am by iCraft Admin »
Fairy Cardmaker


Posts: 1115


« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2012, 01:47:57 pm »

Wow. I did not realize "Gifts" figured so prominantly in the websites SEO.  I was going to say iCraftGoods instead of Gifts.

What about something that sound similar like, "MyCraft".

If Craft is not as liked, what about:
MyHandmade
HandmadeSource
AllHandmade
HandmadeEarth

I'm not big on Gifts because I want people who buy for themselves too, but focusing on "Gift":
iCraftGifts is not bad to me
GiftedHandmade
GiftedByHand

Idunno.  This is hard.  Does it have to be plain English words?
Delightful Suds


Posts: 84


« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2012, 06:06:22 pm »

I vote for a brand new name if we're still able to keep iCraftGifts.com (and being redirected). I agree that the word "Gifts" is too specific to gift giving. I would prefer to focus on the "handmade" part.

How about madebyhand.com?
Fairy Cardmaker


Posts: 1115


« Reply #3 on: September 27, 2012, 08:27:21 pm »

MadeByHand is already an organizational co-op of handmade artists that split off from Etsy.  Well, I think it's a .org address, but I know MadeByHand has been using my Project Wonderful ad spots!

I don't want to vote because I'm kind of indifferent to switching or keeping close to iCraft.
Red Rock Designs


Posts: 173


« Reply #4 on: September 27, 2012, 09:31:02 pm »

I'm also indifferent about whether it stays as Craft or not.  Here are my suggestions:

HandCrafted
HandmadeArt
MyHandCrafts
HandMadeMarket
CraftMarket
ArtMarket or ArtShop...to close to Art Fire??
CraftShop

I'll keep thinking....
iCraft Admin


Administrator
Posts: 1699


« Reply #5 on: September 27, 2012, 09:45:44 pm »

Quote
I'm also indifferent about whether it stays as Craft or not.
Interesting... we were wondering if people are attached to the iCraft name or not... I guess not. Good to know and thanks for the suggestions!  Grin
« Last Edit: September 28, 2012, 12:27:33 am by iCraft Admin »
Fairy Cardmaker


Posts: 1115


« Reply #6 on: September 29, 2012, 04:58:58 pm »

I like the iCraft, but I like it because it means something, it's short and it rides the coattails of "i"-everything.  But if it's not going to be short'n'sweet anymore, then I'm indifferent to a longer name or different name.

Thought of another: GiftedbyHand

And, instead of iCraftgifts, it could be GiftsICraft.
iCraft Admin


Administrator
Posts: 1699


« Reply #7 on: October 01, 2012, 03:39:17 am »

Gifts are a well replacemented term, same as Handmade... though we don't have to have those 2 terms in the domain necessarily.
I actually like handcrafted.com, Red Rock Designs!  

I think short and catchy name is still preferred to long and wordy.
What about?

craftedgifts.com
allhandmade.com
realhandmade.com
brandnew.com
« Last Edit: October 06, 2012, 03:34:51 am by iCraft Admin »
Ahkriti


Posts: 76


« Reply #8 on: October 01, 2012, 09:38:11 pm »

I honestly liked icraft! Short and simple and unforgettable!

I would suggest to have the word craft in your name should you like to go ahead with a name change simply because of the ease to remember the name.

TheCraftShop
TheCraftGuild
The Craftsters - I checked to see -- there's actually craftster.org...so maybe not this one then
CraftBrigade
Crafteria - this is a bit cheesy I think
Craftease - Don't know how this would sound when you say I have an online boutique here...
Craffiti
AllCrafts

Well, I guess it will be quite a challenge!




Fairy Cardmaker


Posts: 1115


« Reply #9 on: October 02, 2012, 11:08:02 am »

I like these:
handcrafted.com
allhandmade

But my favourite now is Craffiti!  Great suggestion.  It's easy to remember and sounds hip.

Quote
Craftease - Don't know how this would sound when you say I have an online boutique here...
LOL - too true.
iCraft Admin


Administrator
Posts: 1699


« Reply #10 on: October 04, 2012, 06:45:28 pm »

Great suggestions, AhKriti ! I like Craffiti too, but it's taken. We could try to buy it off them, though that's never an easy task.  Roll Eyes 
Not sure about Craftease... It triggers wrong associations, I am afraid. Ha ha  Embarrassed
iCraft Admin


Administrator
Posts: 1699


« Reply #11 on: October 06, 2012, 03:38:45 am »

Surprised not many people commented on the choice of the domain name.

I have a couple more names that we came up with:
artic.com
giftFull.com

JaJeJems


Posts: 174


« Reply #12 on: October 06, 2012, 10:14:02 am »

Well I was all for icraftgifts.com but I think Fairy C makes a good point about the word gift.  What about

icrafters.com
icraftmarket.com

I like having icraft in the name because it will make a nice transition from the current name
Fairy Cardmaker


Posts: 1115


« Reply #13 on: October 06, 2012, 12:24:18 pm »

iCrafters - I like that.  It makes us sound like a community of crafting peoples!
iCraft Admin


Administrator
Posts: 1699


« Reply #14 on: October 06, 2012, 04:25:33 pm »

"Gift" is a good word that buyers will relate to. Even if you are buying for yourself, I think you are treating yourself to a "Gift".

icraftMarket.com - we own it now!
same as icraftWorld.com
iCrafters.com - good, but taken. Looks like a real business actually. I doubt they'd sell their domain.  Roll Eyes

Please keep suggesting. We can always try to buy the name if it's taken. We are just looking for good ideas and want to know how you feel about various names that's been suggested.
« Last Edit: October 19, 2012, 10:51:00 pm by iCraft Admin »
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