Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

CraigL was right about one thing (sorry Craig ... I dare say more than one thing! )

You have all of four seconds to get their interest and all of my four seconds were spent thinking what on earth is maddoxoncology ??????

Listen my friend I know that is the name of your business and this has sentimental value to you, but it doesn`t to anybody else. You can`t sell sentiment.

If the company/website name deters punters then find something better.

Go to the whois website ( http://www.whois.net/ ) and check out various combinations of domain names then reserve one to use.

I was thinking "mdxcancercare.com"

You have to understand how people search for products/information on the web. Search engines search by the first 25 characters in a name. If you have cancer and care in the name your hit rate will climb dramatically. Try it.

Well, I didn`t want to bring up the name of the business, but.... :-D

Actually, I try to look at whatever name anyone chooses, then see how it can be *made* to work with the product and service. Remember, "The Beatles" was a very ridiculous name---until they became superstars.

Rather than change the name, I think what we need is a VERY fast way to explain that this is a company offering products to ease the pain (and terror) of cancer. Peolpe read "oncology" and freak out, but NOT cancer patients themselves. They`re now caught in the drama.

Remember "Terms of Endearment?" The hardest aspect of being captured by cancer is the "turning away" of everyone else. I think Maddox Oncology can work, but it has to clearly separate from the medical field of oncology. In other words, you don`t want to appear online to be a cancer clinic! Instead, you want to be a supporting business. Does that make sense?

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www.searchmarketingsystems.net

Thanks for the suggestions all. I have already done several of the things suggested. Changing that header picture is my top priority now.

I actually own cancer-care-products.com, but I was told by a friend whose judgement I fully trust that google stopped giving weight to the domain name about a year ago. So I never did anything with that domain. As googleguy says, changing domains would hurt the SEO I`ve spent countless hours and thousands of dollars building. Perhaps I should have an informational site with a different name that links to my main site?

It`s interesting to me that you guys don`t like the name. I thought "oncology" would be a good way of saying "cancer" without invoking the negative emotion of actually saying "cancer". Looks like I have some thinking to do...

I agree, from personal experience.  When an MRI for leg pains showed "unusual marrow activity", my PCP sent me to a Hematologist, in the oncology department.
Yes, I freaked out, but my PCP said that the hematologist will run more tests to identify the source of the abnormal marrow activity than she (my PCP) could.

But this strays from the topic.

Yes, if cancer were identified (it was not, thankfully) then I would have relied on my oncologist for advice regarding remedies for the side-effects of therapy.


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Steve Mann
Internet Videographer
MannMade Digital Video
My Email

It bothers me that your text is soooo small.  That might be causing people to turn around... it really is very difficult to read.

Thanks again for the suggestions, all. The site is already looking much better! If you want to take a look, you might have to shift+refresh to see changes.

Y`know, this is really starting to come together nicely...! The picture at the top is a lot more compelling, in my mind, although I`ve never dealt with cancer. I do understand the bandannas. (I assume you sell them on your site, as well?)

Couple of things: First, I have this sort of "wish" to see something fill in that empty space on the top banner line. Maybe the tagline could be larger...but I`m thinking more of a short pitch line. "Quality of Life Matters -- something something something."

Wait...I just saw the home page title. Why not use that?:

It could be about what...dealing with side-effects? That`s too limited though. It`s just that I`m really attracted to the site, and would like a faster, bolder way to immediately connect with the audience. Move the logo and tagline to the left, then have this title thing.

Same too with the content paragraph, which is very nicely done. I`d like a heading_1 headline of some sort. It could reinforce the message up on the top banner.

I think both those headlines, expertly done, would grab your readers` interest, and from there, they`d start browsing the site. But this definitely is looking very good!

Google News provides this story about "complimentary methods (CM)" involving an overall wellness outlook. Definitely something for you to consider in terms of SEO, advertising, and possible link-sharing.

Thank you CraigL . I`ll definitely take your suggestions into consideration. I don`t currently offer the headcoverings because I don`t have any pictures of them yet. I have a photographer lined up to do them, but it`s wedding season so it might be a while before it happens.