A New Name For IdahoFallz.com
Have something to say? ADD A NEW POST!
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to the newsletter or RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
IdahoFallz.com has a great history. I have been looking for ways to continue to improve the site and I have some big ideas that are in the works. As we continue to develop the community to make it a better place, one thing I’ve thought could improve the exposure of the site is the name. The name IdahoFallz with the z in the name has never really appealed to me (no offence to Joe Vandal). I understand why the name was probably selected in the beginning, Idahofalls.com already being taken, but replacing an s with a z is more associated with hackers and illegal software than a legitimate community discussion site.
Then there is the fact that search engines like Google aren’t quite sure what to do with the name. People won’t typically search for “Idaho Fallz” when looking up information in the area, and the search engines are not smart enough to know “Idaho Falls” and “Idaho Fallz” are the same thing. That means that it is harder for people to find us when they want to find out about Idaho Falls than if the name of the site included “Idaho Falls” in the domain name.
And then there is the confusion when telling someone about the website. I’ve told many people in the past “you ought to stop by IdahoFallz.com” and I have to remember to tell them “Idaho Fallz with a “Z”” each time – sometimes even then they don’t remember the z.
So I am proposing that we change the name of the site to something that includes Idaho Falls (with an “s”) in the title. I have already purchased the domain name IdahoFallsToday.com, but we don’t have to go with that domain name if there is a better one. I want to open it up to everyone for your thoughts and suggestions on domain names. Remember, any domain name we would change it to would need to be avilable. Give is your ideas on a great name for the site!
And I anticipate there will be some who see a sort of nostalgia with keeping the z, but not to worry, even with a name change anyone could still type in “IdahoFallz.com” and reach the site.
I think with a change like this we could get the site into one of the first 5 spot in search results in Google when someone searches for “Idaho Falls” and that would be a real win for participation in the community.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
Vote:
0 
0 I’d stick with Idahofallz. All you have to do is google Idaho Falls blogs and up it comes. Changing the name could lose as many as a new name may gain so I think it’s a roll of the dice.
If you have your keywords meta tags on the front page of the website along with the keywords on the main page, it shouldn’t be a problem for the bots to pull up both. So maybe that’s all you need, is a main page?
Vote:
0 0 hmm, I just did an experiment. I used Google, Ask.com, Yahoo! and MSN searches. I typed in the words “idaho falls” and hit enter.
On all four of them, I went three pages in, looking at all the entries.
There were all the usual suspects, the paper, the broadcast media, tv, the site with the “s” at the end, the magazine. Multiple real estate sites, a few my space pages. City data and chamber of commerce.
But even 3 pages into a search using those generic words, I got no hits to this site at all. Not one.
So either change the name, or do the meta tags and a main page, etc. But what you have right now is hit and miss for search engines, as hmm could pull it up but I could not.
Vote:
0 0 I agree, “IdahoFallsToday” sounds good. Or maybe “YourIdahoFalls”.com?
Vote:
0 0 Like nemesis, I also tried a little experiment but by substituting the .com with .net or .org. IdahoFalls.net and IdahoFalls.org are both taken, albeit, not being used for any type of “website” per se’, as they both just offer links on the page to different Idaho Falls sites. I think the domain names were merely purchased by someone for “future use”.
Vote:
0 0 “YourIdahoFalls” .com is already taken.
Vote:
0 0 How dare they! 
They do have a nice picture of the falls on their homepage. Oh well. That’’s all I got. for now…
Vote:
0 0 Here are some other ideas that are available to bat around:
IdahoFallsChat.com
IdahoFallsPost.com
IdahoFallsCommunity.com
InsideIdahoFalls.com
Vote:
0 0 I’m not to keen on the “IdahoFallsPost.com”….that sounds too much like a Post Register affilliate. The other three aren’t bad though. Good suggestions.
Vote:
0 0 What hmm is searching for is “Idaho Falls Blogs”, what you searched for is “Idaho Falls”. The different searches will pull up different results.
Vote:
0 0 I agree that different search words will turn up different results. But if I’m checking out the area, those other sites turn up and this one does not. I think it should.
I like the community name (but it’s long). The chat name is fine, too, (I wish the chat box was bigger and held more history).
“MyIdahoFalls” has the dotcom domain name for sale or rent. I don’t know what your advertising revenue is but that would be a killer name for this site. The dot net version seems to be available.
Vote:
0 0 Joe is right, I searched blogs. But also I’ve been surprised when I search a topic, to find it in google as an idahofallz.com/topici’mlookingfor
Just another reason I’d hang on to this one.
Vote:
0 0 hmm, I agree, I’ve seen this site pop up many times when I’m searching for a similar topic (usually to try to bolster what I’m about to say).
I was surprised that it didn’t come up at all when I just typed in the city name. (I’m sure it would be later down the line but not many folks get past the first few pages of a search unless they’re totally desperate or have WAY more time than I do.
Vote:
0 0 People usually search up to 3 pages, it’s true. That’s where the meta tags and a main page would come in handy. What I would do is post a main page, make sure all the key words are in the meta tags and somewhere on the main page so the bots can find them. Then, in stead of posting entire articles on the front page, post a paragraph of say three or four of them, followed by the link on a -continued………-
That’s just my thought so that when people do search a topic, see Idahofallz links, they don’t wind up on a blank page that they think has been eliminated.
Vote:
0 0 How about renaming the site P. Diddy?
Just kidding!!!!!! Anyone remember what his name was before he went to that ….um…unique moniker?
Vote:
0 0 Puff Daddy.
Vote:
0 0 oops, meant to add that I agree the name should stay the same…unique and edgy yet gives you a bit of info about the site’s focus, for the most part.
Just IMHO.
Vote:
0 0 I have done some research on search engines and there is no question that changing the domain name to a version of IdahoFalls would have a huge impact on search results - in a lot of ways. (I’ll save you from the boring tech details)
Meta tags, titles, etc have an impact to, but they are tiny compared to the right domain name..
Hmmm, you’re right about the “Idahofallz.com/topici’mlookingfor” search results. Those are valuable. Most of those show up because of the value given to the title itself. When we change the stie name we won’t loose the search results for that one bit. Which means that when we change the site name we’ll be able to have our cake and eat it too. :}
Vote:
0 0 The owner of myidahofalls.com wants !0 Grand for the name. This website and all it’s content cost a fraction of that. I don’t think a domain name is worth near that much when there are so many other options.
Vote:
0 0 I’ll take your word for it Joe. It’s been awhile since I’ve worked on websites and the times they do a change.
10K sounds horribly steep, doesn’t sound like anyone is so anxious to sell.
Vote:
0 0 “Idaho Falls Today”, sounds real good to me too.
Vote:
0 0 ‘Idaho Falls Today’, sounds good to me too.
Vote:
0 0 Hey, Just a Rube here.
idahofallsnow.com and all of its various permutations are available. It looks great because when you look at it, it looks like Idaho Fall Snow!
Whatever. Da Rube.
PS–Good luck–Idaho Fallz with the “z’” doesn’t work for me.
Vote:
0 0 I’ve never been fond of the name, either.
Around the office, we stopped calling it Idaho-Falls-with-a-Z a long time ago. Now we just call it “The Z”.
Vote:
0 0 I went with IdahoFallsChat.com since it is what we do here, and the top of the page says it is a discussion website. In the past there have been some who have mistaken it for a media outlet. Using the word ‘chat’ is a quick and concise way of describing the site.
Vote:
0 0 How about Idaho Falls Forum?
Vote:
0 0 Good idea Humor. I was partial to IdahoFallsToday, but after reading you comments, IdahoFallsChat does make more sense.
Vote:
0 0 I try to be all about sense, lol
Vote:
0 0 IdahoFallsBlog.com
Vote:
0 0 We’re on the eve of a new anniversary for our country - and a good time to move forward with ongoing enhancements to the website.
With the website name now decided, I am closing this thread. Thank you all again for the input and thank you for helping decide the new name for the website!
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Loading ...
Vote:
I like the name IdahoFallsToday just fine. I don’t have any snazzy names to offer you in replacement.
I also liked the name Idahofallz, but you are right, folks can’t remember that ‘z’ so it seems it would hinder traffic a bit more due to its oddness.
Thanks for caring about our input.