Platinax to die; reborn as InternetBusiness.co.uk

[Brian Turner]

I've spoken before about grappling with Platinax as a name and potential brand:
http://www.platinax.co.uk/forum/5614...-platinax.html

One the one hand, you can't sit back and expect a brand to be built, and one of my failings so far with Platinax is that I haven't put anywhere near the amount of energy into it that's required.

The big problem, though, I think is the name. Much as I really like the name "Platinax" I don't think it's communicable - I always have to spell it out on the phone, and even then, people are often uncertain of how to pronounce it.

So once I was absolutely certain that I didn't want to keep Platinax, I looked for alternatives - my favourite was InternetBusiness.co.uk, because everything we do here is pretty much for internet-based businesses.

So I put in an offer, and bought it for nearly £9,000.

It seems like an awful lot of money - and it is - but I'm looking to the future of 5-10 years, and want to bring this site forward with a brandable name and energy that will easily justify the investment.

I'm just about to post out the Nominet transfer forms to confirm ownership, and though there is no immediate timescale in place for moving to the new domain, I do have the following plans:

1. Frontend: Recreate the main discussion topic areas on the front end of the site, and run a community news blog, covering business and internet news, not simply from normal media, but also the blogosphere.

2. Forums: remove subheading forums and bring all their content into the main headings. There's no need for these, and I think removing them will increase usability. I'll also set up the forums in a subdomain, to avoid clashes with mod rewrite rules on the main domain.

3. Directory: also move to a subdomain to avoid mod_rewrite conflicts, and also try and push more usability into them. Will probably also raise the price and make this an annual fee in time, because the directory should offer a quality user experience. It also escaped the cull that hit most of the other webmaster directories, and I think it's survival depends crucially on being user focused.

4. News & Blog: These will be merged together to form the front end, and once some steam has developed, get it syndicated again in Google News.

5. Design: Of course, look to redesign the site, though this will probably be more aesthetic than any major structural changes to the look.

Anyway, plans as I have them so far...

[lin robinson]

Probably not a bad idea. I thought the name was odd, myself, sounded like a silver exchange or chrome plating process. Hey, it was 8 letters, though. Don't know if that e-matters anymore.

My worst one of those was a short-lived arts magazine called "Eidolon". Wonderful name except nobody knew how to pronounce or its wonderful meaning.

Several years later, as a consultant, I tried my damnedest to talk a guy out of calling a magazine "Arete". Again, some cool greek meaning, but meaningless and hard to pronounce or spell. Worse yet, the mag was in San Diego and "arete" means "earring" in Spanish, which the devotely mulit-cultural mag people were unaware of. They kept the name. Made it a year by burning up the publisher's trust fund, then tanked.

Good luck with your new branding

[Joff]

Originally Posted by lin robinson

Several years later, as a consultant, I tried my damnedest to talk a guy out of calling a magazine "Arete".

It also sounds like a greeting from someone born in Newcastle

[The Web Consultant]

It sounds like you are going to have quite a lot of work on your hands Brian. What a scoop to get that domain too. Well done and good luck!

[Brian Turner]

Wasn't really a scoop - just expensive.

But indeed - will be fun work!

What's really interesting is that I originally thought I'd just transport Platinax over to the new domain - it was only later I thought more in depth about how to use it.

[MichaelWall]

I think it's a positive move and good luck to you. Platinax doesn't sound right, InternetBusiness works.

I have similar issues with my company name and don't know what to do.

[Brian Turner]

I'm exploring the possibility of changing company names as well - at present this site is run by "Platinax Internet Ltd", but I'm looking to change that - will advise on the process once I've found out.

[Craig]

Personally I think 9k InternetBusiness.co.uk is a cracking price! Well done Brian, IMO a great brandable domain that will only go up in value.

[Solicitors Mortgages]

I actually like Platinax, it's a cool name although I can understand your reasons behind the change. As you say.. the long term picture is your focus... 9K for a .co.uk is quite a fair bit of money when the .com is available for half that amount!



















hehe

[Brian Turner]

Heh, internetbusiness.com is owned by business.com. Should be no brand confusion there.

Originally Posted by Craig

Personally I think 9k InternetBusiness.co.uk is a cracking price! Well done Brian, IMO a great brandable domain that will only go up in value.

That's the theory...