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Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

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Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#31

Post by swies »

toast76 wrote: post #20
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 it's less of a name issue, and more of a customer engagement issue. If your customers can't remember your name, you're not talking to them enough. Doesn't matter how light weight your app is. Having said that, I'm not sure why the OP wouldn't just google "automated setup tool"....

We operate under the assumption that our customers don't want to be "engaged" or talked to.

People use Ninite to get apps installed quickly and without any hassle.

That's it.

They don't use it because they need a new friend, or want to be marketed to, or don't get enough email, or want to see some ads, or want to create another account somewhere on the internet. So we don't have any of that.

Our pages/visit in Google Analytics is 2.00. The main page then the installer download page. We've got other pages, but they are literally a rounding error.

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#32

Post by kn0thing »

loumf wrote: post #14

I have this problem with nearly every startup mentioned on HN -- it's not that some of them don't have good names -- there's just too many of them. Then, when I have the actual problem that I saw the solution for, they have no SEO yet, so I can't find them by description. The best solution for this is what Hipmunk is doing -- no way I'd remember it except -- they buy lots of remarketing style ads. I clicked through t…

Don't forget the mascot ;) we're the travel search that's chipmunk without the "C."

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#33

Post by swies »

spoondan wrote: post #24

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 reinf…

These are nice ideas, thanks for the feedback. The chemical element angle is one I definitely thought about when we first looked at the name.

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#34

Post by lbk »

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-them-all

Or go with what people are already searching for :

install-multiple-programs

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#35

Post by herval »

swies wrote: post #30
phillco wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'…

It does make a difference for people: http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~cook/movabletype/archives/2007...

My hunch is that it also makes a difference for products, but I don't have any data on that...

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#36

Post by name123 »

swies wrote: post #30
phillco wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'…

> Are there examples of products where an awesome name made them into successes? Or even had a significant impact?

YouTube. What differentiated YouTube from all the other video sharing sites? A good name and logo.

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#37

Post by Joakal »

JonnieCache wrote: post #15

As the proprietor of http://cleverna.me , I can confirm this. No-one reads my blog. At least, anyone who does isn't pulling down the analytics script.

You should do better analytics; combine server access logs with analytics script to determine your script and non-script audience.

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#38

Post by patio11 »

I've had they same issue with Ninite, actually.

I'm agnostic on whether it needs a different name. For a use-once-in-a-blue-moon product which fixes an immediate need, it probably needs better SEO. The simplest baby step is to write ten or twenty pages about pain points and how Ninite fixes them.

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#39

Post by beambot »

name123 wrote: post #36
swies wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'…

> Are there examples of products where an awesome name made them into successes? Or even had a significant impact? YouTube. What differentiated YouTube from all the other video sharing sites? A good name and logo.

I've got a hunch that there was a little more to it than just "a good name and logo."

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#40

Post by mmatants »

swies wrote: post #30
phillco wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'…

For any product, the name is part of the "user story", although to a wildly different degree. In your case, the user story starts with "Joe finds and downloads your software". And the argument here, really, is how effectively "Ninite" as a name serves that part of the story.

The linked post seems to think it fails that step. You disagree.

I am not offering a conclusion to that argument, but just wanted to position the name debate in a less vague way.

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