Dec 05 2007
I Think I’ve Found a Domain Name for My New Travel Site
Inspired by some really good travel magazine type sites, I’ve been eager to try my hand at something similar. So far, this blog is the only site of mine that has any sort of interactivity and I love that aspect of it and want to transfer it to a travel site.
I’m pretty new to Wordpress and other content management systems (Joomla, Drupal etc.) but I can see that they have the potential to make building what seems like a complicated site a lot easier. I’m going to have plenty of time on my hands so I might as well learn some stuff in between sipping cocktails and working on my tan (or burn in my Scottish skin’s case).
I finished up some major projects last week and was itching to get cracking on this new site but I couldn’t think of a domain name that wasn’t taken. I’m picky with domains and I always go for a dot com unless I’m targeting a specific country. This seriously limited my choices. I ended up decided that I was really keen on having the word wander or wandering in there somewhere since I think that’s what travel is all about… wandering around without any plans really set in stone.
I tried loads of short phrases with those words without much luck. I found a few available domains but they didn’t really capture my imagination or were too long or hard to spell or something. Just sitting at my desk now I starting thinking about how good I think my Travoholic.com domain would be for the site I have in mind. I’ve decided to leave it as is though because it’s already a nice little earner but it’s frustrating at the same time because I want the domain name. But then it came to me! Why not start a whole new site called Wanderholic.com?
I think I like it. It’s hard to say. It’s easier to spell than travoholic (word of mouth people always assume it’s travelholic), I think it’s brandable, it’s short-ish for a new domain name, and I think it sums up perfectly what the site will be about - addicted to wandering around the world.
What do you think? Big winner or big wiener?
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I've been travelling since January 2008 living off earnings from the web. Follow me as I bum around Asia and beyond, getting up to mischief and working online as I go. 
Have a suggestion name for you… check your travoholic email
Wanderholic.com…
The only issue I can see you having is that wOnderholic.com may get entered by accident by repeat or word of mouth visitors… so if you can buy both more power to you.
Of course with a heavy search engine strategy, What people read is more important then what they hear. If when a new visitor who has never seen your site reads your site address and description in their Google results, will the initial branding be strong enough to bring them in.
With the quality content that you write, I am betting that it will be. It has some definite branding potential.
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Gustafson
http://www.TheViewFromHome.com
Well you could buy wonderholic.com too and just forward the domain to wanderholic.com - that would fix that problem. i like the name, and it would link nicely from travoholic.com
Nice - it means you are building your brand too -that’s important according to the marketing experts!
I like it.
Because its a bit of an iffy word, I suggest you do some brainstorming on typos and buy them too and 301 them.
I thinking of ‘wondo’, ‘wonder’, and anything else you can think of.
I can’t think of any obvious typos for ‘holic’
Thank goodness domains are cheap these days!
Thanks for all your comments guys. Thanks for your suggestion too, Fab.
I had another email from Dave from http://www.adventurebookshelf.com suggesting Wanderstruck.com and I was amazed it was available. I snapped it up straight away and I love it! No, I think I’m in love with it. I want to marry it! I think it’s a cracking domain and and now I’m even more excited about getting started on this new site!
What do you think of Wanderstruck.com?
I love it! It’s vivid, powerful, proactive and sticky. Go girl!
So happy you liked the name. Looking forward to seeing the site.
Safe Travels
That is nice - you’re going to go with that in preference? I think its a good name.
)
(Don’t forget the hypheanted variation
I read this post and I thought “I know what you mean!” I just bought my website, and it took me hours of sitting there figuring out what wasn’t taken and what was.
I’m glad I found your site. Lots of good advice and your writing style is easy to read.
I like wanderstruck.com - had a look at travelstruck.com but it has already be taken!