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Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

usersinhell.com

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Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#21

Post by sorbus »

heyitsnick wrote: post #19

For me it's sixth in the google search results for "automated setup tool." I don't see the problem.

The last paragraph of the post acknowledges that, and points out the problem: "Nowadays, Ninite finally shows up on the front page on Google for “automated software install”, so the problem’s fading away for them. But in your early days of your project, you’re not going to have a good search engine ranking to rely on, and you’ll want to keep as many of your early adopters as you can. Name your software appropriately."

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#22

Post by code_duck »

swies wrote: post #16

I'm a co-founder of Ninite. We hear this a lot, but I don't think it's a big deal. Traffic has been growing well since we launched and we install 1,000,000 apps every week now. The real problem is that there's not really a term for what we do. The key part in all these stories is that even searching for us is hard. We're doing something totally new so we might as well call it something totally new. I'm also just aest…

I'm always going to remember the name now that I read an article using it as an example of a bad name. It doesn't stand out to me as a terrible name, not worse than many others that bear no relation to their functions.

It sounds like a great product. I've wondered a solution for the lack of a package repository for common Windows programs.

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#24

Post by spoondan »

Until I read the post about how the name was selected from a list of computer-generated options, I (and apparently a few others here) thought it was a play off of, "ni' night." This made sense to me: you start Ninite to do unattended installs and then head off to bed.

Regardless, I think the name is actually pretty good. The issue for me is that the site has so little branding and personality to it that nothing reinforces the name. It's great that it gets you to the functionality right away, but I think you can preserve that quality and add some branding elements that reinforce the name.

Two ideas jump immediately to mind. The first is to play off, "ni' night," and use a darkened children's room, the night sky, or a children's bedtime book theme. You could add a dark background with a memorable graphical element such as a poster bed or the moon. The second is to conceive of "Ninite" as some sort of cool new chemical element -- a laboratory, the periodic table, or chemical structure diagrams could serve as themes.

Regardless, I'd move "Featured In" to be a horizontal set of badges below the screenshot and place a large logotype to the left of the screenshot with the tagline, "The Easiest, Fastest Way to Update and Install Software."

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#25

Post by todayiamme »

swies wrote: post #16

I'm a co-founder of Ninite. We hear this a lot, but I don't think it's a big deal. Traffic has been growing well since we launched and we install 1,000,000 apps every week now. The real problem is that there's not really a term for what we do. The key part in all these stories is that even searching for us is hard. We're doing something totally new so we might as well call it something totally new. I'm also just aest…

I think that there's something more going on than a simple naming issue over here.

As a product you're exactly in the right place to be. You see, your product isn't something "cool" that people should use. It's now a fact of life. It's an extension of your users environment. This means that they take it for granted, because they just can't imagine life without it.

That's an amazing position to be in for a product. Think about it. When was the last time you thought, "hey I'm going to send you a messing using an electronic messaging system that allows me to send files and store things on a server!" You just say, "I'll drop you a line". You don't even need to talk about the technology over here! Email has become just another fact of life.

Some technologies become so ingrained into your life, that they are the technological equivalent of drinking water. It's something completely natural that you will never think twice about.

This means if you play your cards well, you're here to stay...

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#26

Post by ihodes »

At first, I agree. But then I look at my running programs: emacs, Steam, Safari, Python, Clojure, along with the more descriptive Finder, iChat, iTerm2, Mail. Somehow, I think the problem has more to do with how obtrusive or how much interaction you have with a program rather than the name.

What would you call Ninite?

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#27

Post by zem »

ihodes wrote: post #26

At first, I agree. But then I look at my running programs: emacs, Steam, Safari, Python, Clojure, along with the more descriptive Finder, iChat, iTerm2, Mail. Somehow, I think the problem has more to do with how obtrusive or how much interaction you have with a program rather than the name. What would you call Ninite?

> What would you call Ninite?

install-in-one

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#28

Post by swies »

ora600 wrote: post #17
swies wrote: post #16

I'm a co-founder of Ninite. We hear this a lot, but I don't think it's a big deal. Traffic has been growing well since we launched and we install 1,000,000 apps every week now. The real problem is that there's not really a term for what we do. The key part in all these stories is that even searching for us is hard. We're doing something totally new so we might as well call it something totally new. I'm also just aest…

This is almost like Oracle support telling me "There is no problem" after I call them about my database corruption. The author, who obviously loves your software, couldn't find you enough times that he wrote a blog post about it. There are several reddit thread about this issue. Several replies to this thread express the same frustration - they can't find your software when they know it exists and want to use it. You…

Oops, I didn't mean to come off as saying that the author's problem isn't real. I understand where he's coming from and we hear similar things from a lot of users.

But, there's not a good solution available so I don't really worry about it day to day.

We're not going to change the name at this point, and I think people have started to see us enough that its becoming less and less of a problem.

Actually, lots of people do remember the name. Our top 26 searches to find the site are variations or misspellings on the name. 27 is "install multiple programs" and then we're back to the name until "multi installer" at 40. We got a quarter million visits last month from people typing ninite or ninite.com into google.

I also don't think founders of new startups should fret too much over naming. Just make something great, release it, and improve it. The catchiest name in the world won't save a bad product. Product is the high bit here, naming is lower than you'd think.

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#29

Post by swies »

todayiamme wrote: post #25
swies wrote: post #16

I'm a co-founder of Ninite. We hear this a lot, but I don't think it's a big deal. Traffic has been growing well since we launched and we install 1,000,000 apps every week now. The real problem is that there's not really a term for what we do. The key part in all these stories is that even searching for us is hard. We're doing something totally new so we might as well call it something totally new. I'm also just aest…

I think that there's something more going on than a simple naming issue over here. As a product you're exactly in the right place to be. You see, your product isn't something "cool" that people should use. It's now a fact of life. It's an extension of your users environment. This means that they take it for granted, because they just can't imagine life without it. That's an amazing position to be in for a product. Th…

Thanks, this is a really great compliment.

One of my favorite things about Ninite is that we get thank you letters from grandmothers who hear about us on the local news and orders from Fortune 500 companies for the same basic product.

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#30

Post by swies »

phillco wrote: post #18
swies wrote: post #16

I'm a co-founder of Ninite. We hear this a lot, but I don't think it's a big deal. Traffic has been growing well since we launched and we install 1,000,000 apps every week now. The real problem is that there's not really a term for what we do. The key part in all these stories is that even searching for us is hard. We're doing something totally new so we might as well call it something totally new. I'm also just aest…

I think the reason for your success is that Ninite is simply an excellent product. If your product is truly great, it'll usually overcome problems in naming, promotion, design, etc. (I remember there was a Joel on Software post about how Naptster's UI design was terrible, but it didn't matter, because it was Napster). But, we'll never know how successful Ninite could have been had it been easier to remember. Of out c…

I bet we'd be exactly as successful with a better name. Are there examples of products where an awesome name made them into successes? Or even had a significant impact?

I'm sure you could tank a product with an offensive name or something that required weird unicode characters. But I think it's only worth getting a passing grade on the name and then going for an A+ on the product.

I guess the argument is that if you're right on the margin a better name could tip you into winning. But I'd already consider a product a failure if it only gets to that middle ground on its own. If the name makes a difference I'd say you're not working on the right sort of problem.

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