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What route do you think I should take?

by bsurb
9 replies
Hey Warriors, down here in Florida we have the largest retirement community in the United States (The Villages, FL) and there is a forum named Talk of the Villages that is HUGE. The forum has almost 50,000 members and 750,000 posts.

Thole whole reason for the site is for new residents who move to The Villages, they ask questions before they move, they ask for recommendations for contractors, all sorts of things. Restaurant reviews, local business reviews, etc.

I live about 20 minutes north of the retirement community and my city is also pretty large. I am apart of Facebook group called "Ocala Word Of Mouth". The group is all about people giving reviews on their experience with a business or service or people who ask about business/service before they pay or hire someone.

Now, I had a domain called "Talk of Ocala" a year ago I was going to turn into a forum. Now I made a bonehead move and transferred it to a friends Godaddy account who was getting into the whole creating website gig. He won't transfer it back.......

So what I have been thinking is creating another forum/blog based on my city and have people join and basically cover everything that the retirement community forum does.... They make a KILLING in advertising!!

To make $$.... Drive traffic to the forum, go talk to local businesses about buying banner ads on the site or forum advertising links. That way when the forum is active with our residents, their business ads are being seen. I know LOTS of businesses who will purchase ads.

Now what about the name. Should I register "TalkofOcala.net" or should I go with something like WordofOcala.com ? Would word of Ocala interfere with the Facebook group name, "Ocala's Word Of Mouth" ??

I am also apart of more than 5 groups on Facebook that are buy/sell/trade groups in my city and they have over 10,000 users in each. I was going to ask the admins on there and offer them a spot as a mod or part admin on the forum to merge the group...

What do you think?
#route
  • Profile picture of the author NeedBucksNow
    Hmmm. I think both of the names are kinda good but was more drawn to the wordofocala.com myself. Sounds like an interesting idea you have as far as adding local businesses to post ads. Hopefully you can get them to help you & should be able to get some of your current members as well. Think you should be able to do pretty good especially with people that are from the area.
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  • Profile picture of the author bsurb
    The groups that I am on the level of activity is insane. If you post something for sale like an item, you will sell it within an hour. No need for craiglist around here haha. But if I could get those people from all the groups come over to the forum then that would be gravy.

    It is going to be a challenge because people like to stay on Facebook for groups like that because its so easy to access. They are always on Facebook and the groups are a click away.
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  • Profile picture of the author Barry Unruh
    I would avoid the .net like the plague, since someone else has control of the .com and could screw up all your promotional efforts.

    WordOfOcala is ok, but I like PeopleOfOcala better...
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Barry Unruh View Post

      I would avoid the .net like the plague, since someone else has control of the .com and could screw up all your promotional efforts.
      This.

      On no account try to build a business on a domain of which the .com variant already belongs to someone else (especially when that "someone else" is someone with whom you've already had some kind of disagreement/dispute!).

      I also think "PeopleofOcala" is quite good. If using it, myself, I would probably register both peopleofocala.com and people-of-ocala.com, put the website on the hyphenated version, and redirect the unhyphenated one I'm not using to the hyphenated one I'm using. I think it's easier for many people to read with the hyphens (especially when one word ends in a vowel and the next word begins with another vowel). Hyphenation is not relevant to SEO at all.

      .
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  • Profile picture of the author bsurb
    I like both but people is more to say and type i feel like.

    Maybe if I just say it to myself repeatedly until which ever makes sense. I want it to sound the most appealing to advertisers too
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  • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
    Are you allowed signatures on their forum?

    Running and growing a forum is tough work, and it sounds like you already have decent competition.

    What you might consider, instead, is creating an authority site on the subject. New residents may even find it more helpful because they can more easily find the information they need. Your site could cover every aspect of interest and you could use the forum to aid research when article writing. 300+ articles should get the ball rolling quite nicely.

    And, if possible, you link to it via the forum sig - or buy ad space there. Do some SEO work, content marketing, etc, and you could have a nice monyemaker. Think of all the local businesses who will pay for ad space. You could make further money by offering a web design and / or marketing materials design service (banners, landing pages, etc).
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  • Profile picture of the author bsurb
    Competition isnt so much honestly... talkofthevillages.com is the retirement community forum but they have nothing to do with the city I am from. Hell, they hate driving out of their divisions with their golf carts. Everything they post is strictly about their retirement community.
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  • Profile picture of the author jemacb
    What about these domain potentials (they are all available as the typing of this response):

    everythingaboutocala.com

    ocalarelated.com

    ocalarelatedreviews

    And I agree with Alexa about the hyphenated versions.
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  • Profile picture of the author bsurb
    I like wordofocala or peopleofocala a little more... Just for the fact that its a lot more than just reviews. Its normal every day chatter, buy/sell/trade, etc. And just the shorter the better.
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