hsb-ga,
1) ?I need ideas for naming the site, ideas for colors for the web site (I
am thinking blue & orange at this stage)?:
First of all, I think it?s a good idea to look at some existing sites?
names before you name yours, both to avoid similarities and to gauge
your competition. This goes for the site?s colors, overall
presentation and look-and-feel as well.
With that in mind, let?s look at some existing Arab dating sites and
their titles, starting with the link below, to twomuslims.com:
[ http://www.twomuslims.com/index.asp ].
The title for this site is ?Two Muslims,? and with a tag-line, or
slogan: ?Faith, Love and Community.? Its colors on the main page are
predominantly red, white and blue (American theme intended?).
The next site we?ll have a look at is the one you refer to later in your Question,
Ezawaj.com:
[ http://ezawaj.com/ ].
The title for this site, after checking the English version of the
site to confirm, is simply the same as the domain name: ?eZawaj.com.?
The color theme for this site is mainly beige-ish or tan (reminiscent
of desert sands, perhaps?)
As somewhat of an aside, I?ve noticed in researching these Arabic
dating sites, that many American dating sites will place a link on a
search engine page titled, ?Arab Dating? or something to that affect,
even though it?s not an exclusively Arab site. In other words, they
probably have other links that read ?Chinese Dating, Japanese Dating,
Indian Dating, Mexican Dating, etc.? which all lead to the same site,
in an attempt to attract more visitors.
Let?s look at one more existing site which caters to the Arab dating
scene: ArabDating.com:
[ http://arabdating.com/ ].
The title of this site is also the same as its domain name:
?ArabDating.com,? but they attach a prominent tag-line, ?The Largest &
Most Successful Arab Singles Network.? Note the phrase, ?Arab Singles
Network,? which is their marketing way of describing their dating
service. ArabDating.com?s color scheme is an easy-on-the-eyes,
blue-grey-white.
So, at this time I?ll give you my ideas for naming your site, and for
its color theme. As far as a site name, I think it?s best if you can
have the site name be the same as the domain name, as is the case with
two of the three sites I referenced above. I can?t say for certain
that it makes the site rank higher in the search engines if it?s that
way (although it might), but it definitely makes it less confusing for
the visitor. I mean, when you click on a link that reads,?ArabDating,?
and when the page displays it reads prominently, ?ArabDating.com,? you
know you?re in the right place. So, if at all possible, I would shoot
for a site name that can serve as your domain name as well.
Using your given example from part 2 of your Question, I think
?ConnectingArabs.com? is a pretty good site name (and domain name).
You might add a tag-line to it, such as: ?ConnectingArabs.com: Today?s
Online Arab Introduction Service? or something to that affect.
I?ll give further consideration to site names when I discuss domain
names in part 2 below. Concerning colors, I personally think that blue
& orange, as you suggest, may be a bit flashy and hard on the eyes,
unless they were quite subdued shades of blue and orange. In other
words, I don?t think you?d want the same blue & orange as a sports
team uniform (Denver Broncos?) for your webpages, because they?re just
too bright.
Of the 3 sites we examined above, I like the color scheme of
ArabDating.com the best, because it?s pleasing yet unobtrusive?easy-on
the eyes. The background color has to make it easy to place text
against for easy readability. Personally, I think a black background,
with some tan, sand-colored graphics, perhaps pyramids and desert and
such, with a light colored text (light blue? white?) would look good.
You want any colors that work well together so as not to be overly
flashy or obnoxious. People need to be able to stare at it for
extended periods of time without becoming irritated, so go for
something that blends well. Perhaps pastels: Light pastel blues and
yellows, perhaps, with black text.
2) ?domain/url names. I have one name in mind and I reserved the URLs
for it: connectingarabs.com(what do you think) and I need many many
more ideas. Arabic & english sounding names are ok.?:
As I said above, I do like the connectingarabs.com domain name,
particularly if accompanies with some type of slogan or tag-line when
used on the site?s home page.
Here are several other domain names, all confirmed available via
Verisign.com, or otherwise noted:
[ http://verisign.com/ ].
1. ArabDatingWorld.com [ status = available ]
2. ArabSinglesWorld.com [ status = available ]
3. Tehrangeles.com [ status = unavailable, but for sale by owner
(domain has no working site established with it) ]:
[ http://tehrangeles.com/ ].
(Many Iranian people live in Los Angeles, CA, and they refer to it as Tehran-geles.
4. 2ArabsMeet.com or TwoArabsMeet.com [ status = available on both ]
5. ArabianMecca.com [ status = available ] (I really kind of like this
one, for a dating service or even something else).
6. ArabNeighborhood.com [ status = available ]
7. ArabianMatchmakers.com [ status = available ] (But note that
ArabMatchmakers.com is unavailable, although it is not a true Arab
site, just a placeholder redirect page for a general dating service).
8. USAarabDating.com [ status = available ]
9. ArabMatchmaking.com [ status = available ]
10. ArabLifePartner.com [ status = available ]
11. SocialArabs.com [ status = available ]
12. ArabSocial.com [ status = available ]
13. ArabLoveDate.com [ status = available ]
14. ArabSingleMingle.com [ status = available ]
Also, you could run a check on all of the above names? availability
substituting the words ?Persia? or ?Persian? for ?Arab? or ?Arabian?
if that would be suitable for your needs.
Example:
PersiaDatingWorld.com [ status = available ]
Here?s a link to what I?ve found to be quite the handy tool when
thinking about domain names. It?s a site that works by returning all
*registered* domains after you enter a keyword, so that you can see
what names with the same keywords as you?re thinking of using have
already been registered. The site is NameDroppers.com:
[ http://www.namedroppers.com/ ].
As an example, below is a link to the same site?s search results for
all currently registered domains which use the keyword, ?arab? (Scroll
down the page a bit to see the list):
[ http://www.namedroppers.com/ ].
Then, the same site offers a list of ?Suggested? domains using the
same keyword(s), which are currently unregistered.
3) ?I also want a theme along with the colors. Can you suggest a few
themes? I was thinking of something like a Joe Camel (but not really)
- but this MIGHT alienate some arabs for stereotyping. Any ideas?
(look at people fishing dot com) for cool themes and colors. I need
something similar that might appeal to Arabs without insulting them
perhaps as a Camel might.?:
It?s my personal opinion that a ?Joe camel? type image would be
somewhat, although not highly offensive. But, since you want people to
give money for using your service, it?s probably wise not to be
offensive at all. I think there are equally effective desert/Arabian
themes you could employ that are more natural.
I think a desert sand, perhaps with an oasis of palm trees type theme
is one way to go. Another might be the sand and pyramids theme, but
this is highly used already. Another way is not to have any overt,
symbolic graphics like deserts and trees and pyramids or camels, but
rather just to have a slick looking site (perhaps black background,
white text), with a neon-colored logo of Arab alphabet characters on
one side of the site, or perhaps as menu navigation characters (with
English sub-titles).
4) ?There are very few real web sites TARGETING Arabs. I know of
Ezawaj.com that seems to have significant memberships. Can you point
to any others that seem to have quality web site operation (not
necessarily both arabic & english
languages) with numerous memberships (over 50,000).?:
I agree that there does not seem to be too many Arab oriented websites
such as what you propose. While it is not possible to determine the
exact membership of these sites, I can provide you with a list of
large sites doing business in the Arab social space(some of which we
already discussed, above, some not):
1. http://www.twomuslims.com/index.asp
2. http://arabdating.com/
3. http://ezawaj.com/
4. http://www.datearab.com/pages/main.asp
5. http://216.119.89.52/images/arabian/ (nice colors/theme on this
one?simple brown and palms theme)
6. http://www.americanarabdating.com/ (Note that this is the same site
as ArabDating.com, so they bought the domain AmericanArabDating.com
too and use it as a redirect to ArabDating.com).
7. http://www.arabworlddating.com/ (Same with ArabWorldDating?note
that ArabDatingWorld.com which I suggested for you in part 2 above, is
available!).
8. http://www.americanarabsingles.com/ (Same here again?you can see
their strategy is to buy up as many domains as possible that work, and
simply use them all to redirect to their main site).
9. http://www.unitedarabemiratessingles.com/
Using namedroppers.com will help you locate even more sites. Enter
your keywords, and check out the sites that are currently registered
with those keywords:
[http://www.namedroppers.com/ ].
5) ?) Lastly, I need to target as many single Arabs as possible by email
to market to them this web site. How do you propose I go about doing
this ??:
This is a tough one, but I did manage to find one. Also, spam does
not have a good reputation these days, and it can annoy as many people
as it is likely to attract, but that decision is up to you. Promoting
your site via traditional and net advertising is a better way to go in
my opinion.
That said, however, here?s a link to a company specializing in
Arab-American e-mail lists Allied Media Corp.:
http://www.allied-media.com/MAILING%20LISTS/ARAB-HH.htm
You may find this site of use in general, for various purposes (Arabia.it):
http://www.arabia.it/english/index.html
Arab sites for news and other information, including advertising:
http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage
The following links will lead you to further sources of information on
the topics presented herein.
Google search strategy:
Keywords,
?arab dating websites?:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=arab+dating+websites
,
?arab singles websites?:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=arab+singles+websites&btnG=Google+Search
,
?arab online community?:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=arab+online+community&btnG=Google+Search
,
?arab e-mail lists?:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=arab+e-mail+lists
I certainly hope that this information is useful to you in doing your
due diligence and planning to start your business. If I have left
anything out which is important to you, please don?t hesitate to ask
for Clarification to this Answer.
Good luck with your web-based business!
Sincerely,
omniscientbeing-ga
Google Answers Researcher |
