I am the new owner of AnaheimDucks.info - what should I do with it?

Just bought this domain from someone for a cheap price :)

I was thinking to make a Ducks forum or blog, any other ideas though??

Hmm, I don't ever think I've been to a .info site. Double-u tee eff mate?

Hmm, I don't ever think I've been to a .info site. Double-u tee eff mate?

.info are becoming almost on the same level value-wise as .net now (of course .com is by far still way above everything else)

For search engines now a days though the extensions almost has no ranking, so this is a solid domain name :)

Just wondering though what to launch it as, I'm leaning towards Ducks Forum.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you should use the site for Anaheim Ducks Info. ;)

I would say between AllDucks and here, as well as the official site, the message board market is pretty well represented and covered. There might be a few smaller board still floating around, but those three represent the major population of Ducks fans online. Not drawing you away from it, but it does put yourself in a position where you're trying to squeeze for shoulder room at the party.

Personally, I would lean toward the blog idea, keeping in mind there's already a handful of very good Duck related weblogs out there, such as Battle of California.

The key with this sort of thing is finding a niche and filling it. Doing something that no one else is doing and not just regurgitating the same type of content that is covered elsewhere. If you choose to go down this path, spend some time really looking at some of the more successful and well written hockey blogs around like Kukla's Korner, James Mirtle and Off Wing Opinion. See how they generate stories, write and cover things.

Finally, whatever you decide, embrace others in the field, don't dismiss them. The Internet is a big place, the hockey industry is a very interesting one to cover, the surface is just beginning to be scratched about melding online presences and the great frozen game. Participate in other blogs, other forums and not just to promote your own work. Far too often, you see "new kids on the block" try to establish themselves by being "controversial" and speaking ill of those who've been doing it before them. Again, look at how guys like Mirtle and McErlain at Off Wing interact with other bloggers, commenters and so on. It's all a support system, working with one another, getting ideas and stories from one another, cooperation on coverage.

Don't jump quickly at loading your website with ads or even AdSense. If you're thinking of the money going in, then you don't have the right motivation to keep at the writing for a long time. It should never be about return on investment unless you're actually selling something. Don't try to grow too big too quickly. Understand that these things take time and be satisfied with that. Be careful with what you're offering and how that will affect you. I know AllDucks had bandwidth troubles when they started offering videos and photos and other media. HFBoards and HF itself still goes down under load of visitors at peak times of the year. It's an enviable position to be in, until you get the bill at the end of the month.

Again, I like the blogging idea. I wish I had the time to blog about hockey. It's been growing in the back of my mind, but at the same time, I also have so much work to do for HF and then my real life and my day job. I have a personal blog that I write on erratically and rarely cover the game. But like my HF writing, it can be very rewarding and very well done, if you are willing to put the necessary time into it. Knowing ahead of time that no one will read what you write and no one will care what you say and even if someone reads it, they'll think you're wrong or shallow or just stating the obvious is key. You have to realise these things going in or soon you'll lose the drive and be another flash in the pan website that appears and disappears every year.

I would say between AllDucks and here, as well as the official site, the message board market is pretty well represented and covered. There might be a few smaller board still floating around, but those three represent the major population of Ducks fans online. Not drawing you away from it, but it does put yourself in a position where you're trying to squeeze for shoulder room at the party.

Personally, I would lean toward the blog idea, keeping in mind there's already a handful of very good Duck related weblogs out there, such as Battle of California.

The key with this sort of thing is finding a niche and filling it. Doing something that no one else is doing and not just regurgitating the same type of content that is covered elsewhere. If you choose to go down this path, spend some time really looking at some of the more successful and well written hockey blogs around like Kukla's Korner, James Mirtle and Off Wing Opinion. See how they generate stories, write and cover things.

Finally, whatever you decide, embrace others in the field, don't dismiss them. The Internet is a big place, the hockey industry is a very interesting one to cover, the surface is just beginning to be scratched about melding online presences and the great frozen game. Participate in other blogs, other forums and not just to promote your own work. Far too often, you see "new kids on the block" try to establish themselves by being "controversial" and speaking ill of those who've been doing it before them. Again, look at how guys like Mirtle and McErlain at Off Wing interact with other bloggers, commenters and so on. It's all a support system, working with one another, getting ideas and stories from one another, cooperation on coverage.

Don't jump quickly at loading your website with ads or even AdSense. If you're thinking of the money going in, then you don't have the right motivation to keep at the writing for a long time. It should never be about return on investment unless you're actually selling something. Don't try to grow too big too quickly. Understand that these things take time and be satisfied with that. Be careful with what you're offering and how that will affect you. I know AllDucks had bandwidth troubles when they started offering videos and photos and other media. HFBoards and HF itself still goes down under load of visitors at peak times of the year. It's an enviable position to be in, until you get the bill at the end of the month.

Again, I like the blogging idea. I wish I had the time to blog about hockey. It's been growing in the back of my mind, but at the same time, I also have so much work to do for HF and then my real life and my day job. I have a personal blog that I write on erratically and rarely cover the game. But like my HF writing, it can be very rewarding and very well done, if you are willing to put the necessary time into it. Knowing ahead of time that no one will read what you write and no one will care what you say and even if someone reads it, they'll think you're wrong or shallow or just stating the obvious is key. You have to realise these things going in or soon you'll lose the drive and be another flash in the pan website that appears and disappears every year.

Thanks for the advice Kevin, and I agree with them all pretty much.

I bought this domain simply because I am a Ducks fan and not as an investment. Luckily I have been working in the internet industry for about 10 years now, so things like handling server loads and covering BW are non-issues for me (the main site I operate has over 7.3 million users :) )

I think you may be right about the forums, perhaps a blog is the better choice. I would link to everything else Ducks' related (blogs, fan sites,forums) and support them.

I guess once I throw something up I will let you all give me your feedback

Just bought this domain from someone for a cheap price :)

I was thinking to make a Ducks forum or blog, any other ideas though??

How much did you spend? Personally, I have raycroft.info, alexanderovechkin.info, and ****************. :biglaugh:

Oh, and whats your main site? I'm interested. :P

How much did you spend? Personally, I have raycroft.info, alexanderovechkin.info, and ****************. :biglaugh:

Oh, and whats your main site? I'm interested. :P

Bought it for $100 - not a crazy bargain but I think a fair price.

I run IwantU.com which is an adult personals/dating website.

Porn?

j/k...Forbesy had some good ideas.

Blogs?

Fantasy site for Ducks fans?

Ducks Info?

Make it a tribute site to Emilio Estevez?

Start taking pictures of all the ducks you see in Anaheim. (not too sure there are actual ducks over there but i'd guess there were at least some). Then host a picture library and people could see their regional ducks without having to bother going out.

you forgot Letsgokings.net greatest duck board ever.

Blogs?

Fantasy site for Ducks fans?

Ducks Info?

Make it a tribute site to Emilio Estevez?

A fantasy hockey league for Duck fans sounds like a good idea.

amigeorgeparrosornot.com

where users can submit photos of themselves attempting to grow George Parros staches and other users can rate them

I say... host lots of Ducks related news and photos and stuff. I know that I am personally always looking for news about players or the team, or what have you. I am also incredibly lazy, so I don't like to look for it. So, if you host it, I will visit it. I'll even click on your ads too.

there are sites which offer newsfeeds (RSS) from different sources about a specific topic.

Use this and try to include sources like espn, thn.com, si.com...would be pretty handy to have all the news feeds on one site.

I would personally love to have facebook-like website for Duck fans where you have your own page/blog with message board and can update photos and easily befriend with other duck fans.

I would personally love to have facebook-like website for Duck fans where you have your own page/blog with message board and can update photos and easily befriend with other duck fans.

Can't we just create a Facebook group then?

Something else to consider with blogs:

The NHL is a bit of a trail blazer among professional sports organizations in the way they have been treating bloggers, even going as far as granting some of them media credentials. It's a slow process and some organizations, such as Washington are much more progressive then others, but it is something you should be aware of.

James Mirtle and Eric McErlain have both written a fair bit about blogging and dealing with the league specifically, so be sure to check that out.


EDIT: Oh and Kukla just wrote a column for NHL.com about Ducks bloggers = http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app/?service=page&page=NHLPage&id=9901

Can't we just create a Facebook group then?

There already is

Just bought this domain from someone for a cheap price :)

I was thinking to make a Ducks forum or blog, any other ideas though??

I don't know, a blog is a good idea you could show ducks pics and multimedia and daily info on new happenings of the ducks

Can't we just create a Facebook group then?

there already is ;)

Ok I have put the site up, it's still a work in progress obviously as I have to add the pages and many more links (I'll add all the ones mentioned above to other Ducks Bloggers - if you know some more please post them).

What do you guys think?

http://www.anaheimducks.info/

I'm no graphics guy, so if anyone here wants to provide a better header I'll permanently link to you as thanks.

Ok I have put the site up, it's still a work in progress obviously as I have to add the pages and many more links (I'll add all the ones mentioned above to other Ducks Bloggers - if you know some more please post them).

What do you guys think?

http://www.anaheimducks.info/

I'm no graphics guy, so if anyone here wants to provide a better header I'll permanently link to you as thanks.

Various, I thought that screen name was familure from the "Juicy" board ( I wont mention the name here).

How about making it a site where it searches for all Ducks news? Consolidate all the different sites such as tsn.ca thn.com yahoo sports nhl.coms news and bring them all to one easy page. All Ducks all the time.

Various, I thought that screen name was familure from the "Juicy" board ( I wont mention the name here).

How about making it a site where it searches for all Ducks news? Consolidate all the different sites such as tsn.ca thn.com yahoo sports nhl.coms news and bring them all to one easy page. All Ducks all the time.

That is an idea for another page perhaps. I wanted to keep the site free of pulling RSS feeds from other websites as most of them look rather bad, and also wanted the site to have original 'in my own words' content. However maybe a new page for te feeds is a good idea.

Also I just changed the colors last night to be more gold and less orange - what do you guys think ?

Looking good. I agree with the thing about a header though, something that pops a bit more would work better.
I'm even thinking you could use one of the championship pictures and crop it and throw a logo on it.