SA Chennai Trekking Club in Times of India?

[Peter Van Geit]

Looks like our club will soon appear in the national news papers.
Let's keep posting our trek summaries and photos on our blog. Not that
we appear very high in Google Search results. Still need volunteers to
complete Escape Road and write up the Venkatagiri trek.

-----Original Message-----
From: kamini mathai [mailto:kamini...@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 8:32 AM
To: Puttabasavaiah, Premalatha; Sekar, Balaji
Subject: from kamini mathai, a journalist from times of india

Hi,
Just came across your trekking blog. I was wondering if we could
feature you in the Times of India. Could you send me your phone
numbers so I can contact you.
My number is 98412-82889
Kamini

[Peter Van Geit]

Before we get published in the paper, we MUST finalize the domain name
of our club:

http://www.orkut.com/CommPollResults.aspx?cmm=49594218&pct=1205618865&pid=1453720816

Myself and Aditya have been thinking about this:

* As more and more people are joining from outside SA/CISCO, we should
not include anything related to our company. We also do not want to be
associated with any company but rather be an independent group.
* We should keep it generic enough to attract people from different
places. Not just specific to Chennai.
* We organize treks not just around Chennai, but all over South India
and shortly North India.
* It's a non-profit, non-commercial organization, so we would rather
go for .org or .in than .com
* It should sound professional, many of the domain names suggested
above are not that professional we feel.

Keeping all this in mind we were strongly thinking of following domain
name:

http://www.indianhikers.org

What do you think?

I can easily transfer our current blog content onto the new domain
name.

Aditya is putting the finishing touches on our club logo. He will
publish the first draft in the coming days. Once finalized we will put
it on our Blog, Google Group, Orkut Community, Google Calendar and
start printing t-shirts, caps and coffee mugs.

I am also looking for suggestions to further improve our blog layout
and content. Your suggestions are welcome,
Peter.

> Kamini- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Chandramouli Nagarajan]

Isn't indiahikers.org better than indianhikers.org?? So that we sound really international....
lol....

[bhellsun a]

Peter,

Hikers is not a commonly used word. When one is looking for adventure "trekking" would be the word which will strike.

How about

www.indiantrekkers.org

or

www.trek4fun.org

- Bhellsun

On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 11:06 AM, Peter Van Geit <peter....@gmail.com> wrote:

[Jayashree]

Very true!
In India the word 'Trek' is more common than 'Hike'.

[Peter Van Geit]

Note that "trekking" is what we use in India. Abroad people are using "hiking" to my understanding, not "trekking". Just look around. I am open to both. One is more recongizable locally, the second one is more international.

 

Peter.

[Siri]

We need people to join from india.
And we are concentrating more on Indian people to join our club or read about us so
i prefer word "Trekking"

--
M.M.Sreedhar
Development Engineer
Scientific Atlanta Ind Pvt Ltd.
044-66183053

[Balasubramaniam Arumugapandi]

I prefer "Trekking". The word "Hike" has a different meaning and is linked with Salary :D

[Aditya]

:) true.

How about go hiking, feel refreshed on the new week start, hence work efficiently, and get more hikes :D. hiking does have some positive traits too. For e.g ppl pissed off with their current salaries search for "india + hikes" and they fiind indianhikers and get interested to know more about this illusion. I assume many such interested ppl in india ;).
 
Well lets wait for many others to put in interesting comments on both words and then see which one is liked by all.

[Prashant Durgadmath]

Peter, does the domain name affects the rank in web search results? i dont think so. If not then I would also prefer to go with Hikers.

Aditya, regarding the hosting..i came across Google package, they register a domain name for $10/year and you get lots of off-the-shelf Google goodies(gtalk,email,calendar etc) customized to your domail for free..if you have not decided on where to host yet then we can have a look at it.

http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/index.html

As its hosted on Google servers, we are saved lot of trouble(backup etc) and it will be a seem less integration with Google search. Not sure of any disadvantages.If this was discussed earlier, then I apologize for repetition.

Regarding the timesofIndia..they have this weekly column called "Tribal instinct"(?) where they feature adventure clubs and groups..I guess we will be featured in that. Yepeeeee :)

thanks,
Prashant

On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 11:29 AM, Siri <mmsre...@gmail.com> wrote:

--
~ -- ~
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow!! What a ride!

[Chandramouli Nagarajan]

Or combine both the words like www.indiantrekhikers.org?? ;-)
Is it too much taxing to spell and remember?

[Siri]

They will be searching for Hike online. How do you think that when they see this they will join?

If one person should join or go through our block they need to be in that mood. if cant go through our blog just like that. since our blog will give only entertainment.

So if the person is searching for trekking then there are possibilities to enter into our blog and go through. so trekking is good oprion

On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 12:31 PM, Aditya <aditya...@gmail.com> wrote:

[nagendra prasad]

I personally like indianhikers.org   its commom to use trekking in india.. but indainhikers sounds more global :-)

[Aditya]

Well that wasn't on a serious note :). I just threw a positive point on having hiking as a choice. Surely its not going to give too much of an interest to the googlers. But then visibility of the domain is increased in one sense.

Well previous point does hold less importance. The main point here is hiker is international/global so more ppl searching this keyword will put us on top of search results.

[Aditya]

Prashant, i think yes domain name does affect the rank on search results. More global the name more ppl searching for it. Like ppl in north/outside india will search for " best trekking/hiking clubs in india" if its chennai specific chances are less to have higher ranks.

Regarding hosting, we already sort of discussed Google $10/yr package. The only thing i want to know is, if Google gives us enough space to have all those image data and other data uploaded. Other than this, another concern is that if we want to build our own website in future, does google support all kinds of underlying technologies(like some hosting sites don't support ASPX,etc). Google looked good to me overall.

Aditya

[Shankar Anand R]

Folks,

Our target audience is primarily Indians (and especially South Indians). And in India we use the term 'trekking' rather than 'hiking'. I don't think we need to attach much importance to international audience and their word usages..

Even if we see literally, the meanings from wordweb:

trekking:
- Journey on foot, especially in the mountains
- Make a long and difficult journey

hiking:
- A long walk usually for exercise or pleasure

Our activities are more close to what we can term as 'trekking' rather than 'hiking'.

As for the 'searchability' factor on google, I feel that people's search strings in google are going to be like:
- "trekking around chennai"
- "India trekking"
- "south india trekking clubs"
- "western ghats treks"

Hence I feel the use if the term trek will make more sense. I also think more people can relate to the work trekking rather than hiking.

I propose three names for the website:

1. indiantrekkers.org - coneys the meaning that it is a group of Indian trekkers

2. trekindia.org - conveys the meaning that as part of this organisation we plan to carry out treks all over India

3. indiatreks.org - conveys the meaning that this is a group from all over India who go on treks together

Just my opinion guys.

Cheers,
Shankar

[Peter Van Geit]

That's a good point Sreedhar. Let's take a word that is more recognizable locally. So we can go for:

 

   http://www.indiantrekkers.org

   http://www.indiantrekking.org

=> below two might be best as we sometimes have non-Indian joining - Markus, Renata, Tony, ...  

   http://www.indiatrekkers.org 

   http://www.indiatrekking.org => I like this one most.

 

Peter.

On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 11:29 AM, Siri <mmsre...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Peter Van Geit]

Check Google Zeitgeist to find out what is more popular in which
regions: trekking vs. hiking.

* Globally: hiking has more search volume and news references:

http://www.google.com/trends?q=trekking%2Chiking&ctab=0&geo=all&geor=all&date=all&sort=0

* In India: hiking has more news references, trekking more search
volume:

http://www.google.com/trends?q=trekking,hiking&geo=ind&ctab=0&sa=N

So we should probably go for "trekking" to appear in the local search
results (which we are targetting I believe),

Peter.

On Apr 9, 4:14 pm, "Peter Van Geit" <peter.vang...@gmail.com> wrote:
> That's a good point Sreedhar. Let's take a word that is more recognizable
> locally. So we can go for:
>
>    http://www.indiantrekkers.org
>    http://www.indiantrekking.org
> => below two might be best as we sometimes have non-Indian joining - Markus,
> Renata, Tony, ...
>    http://www.indiatrekkers.org

>    http://www.indiatrekking.org=> I like this one most.

>
> Peter.
>
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 11:29 AM, Siri <mmsreed...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > We need people to join from india.
> > And we are concentrating more on Indian people to join our club or read
> > about us so
> > i prefer word "Trekking"
>

> > On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 11:23 AM, Peter Van Geit <peter.vang...@gmail.com>

> > wrote:
>
> > > Note that "trekking" is what we use in India. Abroad people are using
> > > "hiking" to my understanding, not "trekking". Just look around. I am open to
> > > both. One is more recongizable locally, the second one is more
> > > international.
>
> > > Peter.
>

> > >   On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 11:17 AM, Jayashree <jayashr...@gmail.com>

> > > wrote:
>
> > > > Very true!
> > > > In India the word 'Trek' is more common than 'Hike'.
>

> > > > On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 11:15 AM, bhellsun a <bhell...@gmail.com>

> > > > wrote:
>
> > > > > Peter,
>
> > > > > Hikers is not a commonly used word. When one is looking for
> > > > > adventure "trekking" would be the word which will strike.
>
> > > > > How about
>
> > > > >www.indiantrekkers.org
>
> > > > > or
>
> > > > >www.trek4fun.org
>
> > > > > - Bhellsun
>
> > > > >  On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 11:06 AM, Peter Van Geit <

> > > > > peter.vang...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > > > > Before we get published in the paper, we MUST finalize the domain
> > > > > > name
> > > > > > of our club:
>

> > > > > >http://www.orkut.com/CommPollResults.aspx?cmm=49594218&pct=1205618865...

> > 044-66183053- Hide quoted text -

[Nagendran]

Peter, Balaji, Nagendran, Bhellsun put the heads together and came up
with this one -

www.Xplorers.in

Benifits:
Explorers sounds better compared to Trekkers
Explorers is more generic (trekking, biking, cycling...) all related
to exploring new places
Very short name. Instead of adding "India" to the name let's put
India in the suffix ".in" which also typifies us as an Indian group
The captical "X" can be enlarged/morphed to provide a good overall
composition

We checked the domain and it's still available.

Next thing - we need a "caption" for our club - something short and
powerful: something that represents the spirit of our club: e.g.
Going where no-one has gone before
Exploring the unexplored
Expect the unexpected
Discovering new places
Trekking beyong
....

We probably need to search for some trekking, exploring... related
words/synonyms and put something smart together,
Peter/Nagendran/Balaji

On Apr 9, 4:39 pm, Peter Van Geit <peter.vang...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Check Google Zeitgeist to find out what is more popular in which
> regions: trekking vs. hiking.
>
> * Globally: hiking has more search volume and news references:
>

> http://www.google.com/trends?q=trekking%2Chiking&ctab=0&geo=all&geor=...

> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[prashansa kumar]

Hi

 

I also feel that the words "Explorers/exploring" will be more suitable for the domain name as it would capture the essence of te club, and also would include trekking, hikin. rappling, cycling, mountain bikin etc; in a broader sense.

 

Maybe something like "Indexplorers" or "Indiaexplorers" will also be suitable.

 

 

Guys, plz try to think of some more names on these lines. 

 

And I agree wid those who said that we r lookin for ppl from India, who can join the club, so shud we worry much abt the domain name's global appeal? Just wondering...

--
Cheers,
Prash

[Peter Van Geit]

"www.indiaXplorers.org" looks pretty good.

Peter.

On Apr 9, 6:52 pm, "prashansa kumar" <kumar.prasha...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi
>
> I also feel that the words "Explorers/exploring" will be more suitable for
> the domain name as it would capture the essence of te club, and also would
> include trekking, hikin. rappling, cycling, mountain bikin etc; in a broader
> sense.
>
> Maybe something like "Indexplorers" or "Indiaexplorers" will also be
> suitable.
>
> Guys, plz try to think of some more names on these lines.
>
> And I agree wid those who said that we r lookin for ppl from India, who can
> join the club, so shud we worry much abt the domain name's global appeal?
> Just wondering...
>

> Prash- Hide quoted text -

[Phil Calvin]

If you use a word that is mispelled, you'll forever be telling people this:

"Look us up at india explorers without the first e"

My recommendation would be indiaexplorers.org for that reason. But since I haven't been on a trek yet, and I haven't met any of you, feel free to discount my views!  I'll go with whatever.

Hope to meet you all sometime in May when I'm back.

Phil

On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 11:14 PM, Peter Van Geit <peter....@gmail.com> wrote:

"www.indiaXplorers.org" looks pretty good.

Peter.

--
---

Phil Calvin

[premalatha puttabasavaiah]

Hi,

 

How about www.WorldXporers.in meaning exploring the world :)

 

Thanks

Prema

 

[Senthilkumar R]

Regarding caption:

 

"Discover the (trekking) trails"

"Experience the nature at its best"

"Walk across the road less travelled"

 

Regards,

Senthil.

 

On 4/9/08, Nagendran <mnage...@gmail.com> wrote:

--
Yesterday is misery; Tomorrow is mistery; Today is a Gift, thats why we call it as PRESENT.

[Shankar Anand R]

Folks,

How about:

www.trekindia.org

www.exploreindia.org

Regards,
Shankar

[prashansa kumar]

Ya, IndiaXplorers sounds very good

 

[Ramakrishnan Narayanaswamy]

that sound more like spandex :)

Well here are some that i cud think

www.allterrainboys.com
www.hikers-n-bikers.com
www.indian-trailblazers.com

Regds,
Ramki