Texas - Bike Co-op Name

I am starting this thread to get feedback on a name for the bike co-op with the working title of "Dallas Bike Co-op". It would be nice to get this figured out sooner than later so we can get the website rolling. It would also be nice to hear from people that were unable to make it to the meeting. For those that did make the meeting, having a bit of a refresher on your ideas would be good.

I personally am okay with "Dallas Bike Co-op" because it is very descriptive. It does lack in the imagination department though.

So let's throw around some ideas and see what we come up with. I think by the end of next meeting would be a reasonable deadline if not sooner.

I guess everyone is watching the game. That's what laptops are for.

velvet elvis

velvet elvis

Might make for good t-shirts.

velvet elvis

Only if you're looking to be sued by the Elvis Presley estate. there was a famous case about 10 -20 years ago where a local Houston pub was using the name "velvet Elvis" and they were sued for it. They eventually changed their name to the Velvet Melvin.

i'm always looking to be sued.

I agree that Dallas Bike Co-op sums it up nicely but isn't very hip. I Googled "bike coop" and it seems most coops in metropolitan areas include the city name. The color ("yellow") names in Austin being the most notable exceptions.

Chris

I think that Dallas Bike Co-Op works from a search approach. We could then add some spiffy catch phrase that is used more locally and may be advertising friendly.

What is a Bike Co-op?

-Nate

We could always redirect to the catchier name from "dallasbikecoop.org"

We could always redirect to the catchier name from "dallasbikecoop.org"

Yea, that was my thougt too. Dallas bike Co-Op is sometihg that most would type in a search engine in my opinion, therefore it is useful.

Yea, that was my thougt too. Dallas bike Co-Op is sometihg that most would type in a search engine in my opinion, therefore it is useful.

Worth noting that many search engines will interpret that as a bait and switch which could result in low or non-existant search engine rankings. Google *often* delists sites that do that. They assume you're up to riff raff when it comes to redirects.

Having two distinct domains where one resolves (actually points to) another is easy to do but Google aint likley to appreciate it. Sites often get delisted for it. The reason is it gives the appearance that the web surfer is being re-directed.

I think the best bet would be to pick a domain name, have a funeral for the fantasy of having something super groovy, and instead have a super groovy bike coop with a normal name.

I don' have strong feelings over the domain name but I do have strong feeling about doing things that might hurt our chances when it comes to search engine rankings/relevance.

Chris

I think the best bet would be to pick a domain name, have a funeral for the fantasy of having something super groovy, and instead have a super groovy bike coop with a normal name.
Chris

I think this is the best bet also.

Any objections or other ideas?

Only if you're looking to be sued by the Elvis Presley estate. there was a famous case about 10 -20 years ago where a local Houston pub was using the name "velvet Elvis" and they were sued for it. They eventually changed their name to the Velvet Melvin.
Yep. Terrible place. Don't even think about opening a credit card tab there, because you will find +1 or +2 drinks on your tab. It happened to me numerous times before I learned to pay cash for each drink.

I think the best bet would be to pick a domain name, have a funeral for the fantasy of having something super groovy, and instead have a super groovy bike coop with a normal name.



I think this is the best bet also.

Any objections or other ideas?

Works for me. I hadn't meant to imply that we have two sites, just an extension of the name possibly with a catch phrase. The domain name would be Dallasbikecoop.org and then when you got there The actual name could be something like Dallas Bike Co-Op, Cyclist helping cyclist or some such.

Worth noting that many search engines will interpret that as a bait and switch which could result in low or non-existant search engine rankings. Google *often* delists sites that do that. They assume you're up to riff raff when it comes to redirects.

Having two distinct domains where one resolves (actually points to) another is easy to do but Google aint likley to appreciate it. Sites often get delisted for it. The reason is it gives the appearance that the web surfer is being re-directed.

I think the best bet would be to pick a domain name, have a funeral for the fantasy of having something super groovy, and instead have a super groovy bike coop with a normal name.

I don' have strong feelings over the domain name but I do have strong feeling about doing things that might hurt our chances when it comes to search engine rankings/relevance.

Chris

Chris, can you link me to Google's guidelines where it states that forwarding to another domain will get it (or both) delisted? I haven't been able to find anything regarding that. I am aware of a number of "tricks" that google isn't too keen on, but never heard that domain forwarding would get you in trouble (perhaps unless it is excessive)

Dallas Co-op definitely targets the downtown inner city.
Consider North Texas Bicycle Co-op to include the suburbs.

Chris, can you link me to Google's guidelines where it states that forwarding to another domain will get it (or both) delisted? I haven't been able to find anything regarding that. I am aware of a number of "tricks" that google isn't too keen on, but never heard that domain forwarding would get you in trouble (perhaps unless it is excessive)

You bet. Here is their page on Cloaking, sneaky Javascript redirects, and doorway pages (http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=66355) and here is their more general webmaster guidelines. (http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769) They address this elsewhere on their site but my best link list died when my PC died. May they both rest in peace.

Having www.domain.com resolve to www.domain.org is not the kind of thing that gets you in trouble. It's the www.wanky.com that resolves to www.pinky.com that is a recipe for trouble (but not a guarantee of trouble). Not that you'd get delisted but you run that risk.

In short if you want your website named www.wanky.com to show up in searches on the term "pinky" it's better to use good word density versus on the wanky site instead of making one domain point to another. Typically (not not always) redirecting is an attempt to cloak or create misleading doorways and Google sometimes punished legit redirects in their attempt to not get hoodwinked by scammers.

Chris

It should be called "the coop"

Dallas Co-op definitely targets the downtown inner city.
Consider North Texas Bicycle Co-op to include the suburbs.

+1 (suburbanite)