Just got back from a 10 day vacation where the only access to the internet I had was via free WIFI in random cafés, on my iPhone. If you sent me an email or left a comment in the interim, I will do my best to respond soon.
One thing that seems clear is that I need more writers; so, if you would like to write for Freewaregenius drop me an email and tell me why you would be a spectacular writer. Or if you know someone who would be a good candidate tell them Freewaregenius is hiring.
I’ve also been toying with this idea, that does not seem to go away, of changing the name of my site. I like ‘Freewaregenius’ but I am afraid it is too limiting for the type of content that I would like to publish, including segments such as “productivity tips”, “ideas that can change the world”, and smartphone app reviews, which are frequently not free. And I do not want to start building two brands instead of one. My main concern, of course, is losing Freewaregenius’ SEO standing (will Google still credit inbound links if the original page is redirected to a new URL?).
I have a cool new URL that I own and like, that would be perfect (and that I will keep secret for now). But is it even possible to change your site’s URL and maintain all the SEO credibility that the old URL has? I’ve got to hit the Google to research this. If you know SEO I’d love to hear your opinion/thoughts!
I love your site and would prefer to retain this name- In case you want to change the website name, it must contain the word genius, as I think you are really a genius and I am thankful to you for giving some wonderful moments in my life and for enhancing my computer knowledge
I don’t know about Google rankings but I think you should just go for it and take the jump – with so many followers it should not take too long to get your ranking up again. And isn’t it a nice challenge to prove yourself again?
I have been subscribed via rss since I found you a few of years back and love the site. I really enjoy learning about useful and free apps, and the times the article is about an app I already know, I love to see people submit alternatives to it in the comment section, so I can check out if those are better.
Re: New site/url?
The times you have posted other stuff like games I have wished they were in a separate category so I could opt them out of my feed, those are not interesting for me. I see you want to write about even more topics, but do you want to enforce those articles on your subscribers who do not wish to read them? Readers should be able to select which categories they are interested in. So either make sure you have an rss-solution fine grained enough for this (maybe a WP addon?) or simply keep one site per topic. Sister sites/networked sites rather than an all-in-one. A common top/footer menu to link between the various sites you have. See footers on http://codecanyon.net and http://stackoverflow.com for examples.
What I feel this site is missing:
I actually wish each application review would contain an “alternatives” section where users can submit apps that do the same job as the featured software. These entries can then be given a user vote (up/down or 5-star), so over time we could see which of the alternatives is the favourite among readers. CNET has a separate editor rating and user rating for each application, this is quite useful.
Over time this could lead to a directory of freeware where you could browse categories and see both editor rating (same as your current Top 30 freeware) but also user rating and how popular each app is among users. This is one way to make readers into contributors. I know if I read your review of free ftp client xx and I have been using client yy for years and think yy is better, I am a lot more likely to write an in-depth review with pictures _if I know it will be noticed and not drown in the comment section_. Still, I am not willing to take on an editor role just because I feel strongly about an app or two – so lower the bar, let everyone submit, but be picky with what you label as editorial content.
What would be the minimum for submitting an entry for voting? Software name and url, easy enough that a lot of people will take the time. If a reader wants to elaborate on an entry and create a full review, let him do that (maybe using a wiki?). Let us all join in on creating the mother of all freeware directories. Yes these are big changes to the site, but I do think it has some merit. Give it some thought, maybe you can come up with solutions that do not require too many changes… but let peoples voice be heard, there have been loads of good contributions in the comments through the years.
i dont think changing your website name would be a good idea. for one it’s a fantastic name, for another you have a following that knows you here.
i think it’s ok to do other stuff and still call it freeware genius — but another idea would be to have a sister site where you put the other content, and just link between them.. something like Productivity Genius, etc.
keep up the great work!
Since the majority of your visitors (I would hope) come here for freeware suggestions and reviews, I think changing up the site is not a worthwhile endeavor; you will alienate your audience. I, for one, would not care to see not-free smartphone app reviews, productivity tips, or anything other than freeware suggestions and commentary.
I too think it would be best to keep the freeware genius site as it’s focused and matches what many people are searching for. If you want to share productivity tips or review paid smartphone apps, they should each be on different sites. Would you rather subscribe to a site that had 10-20% of your interests plus a bunch of other stuff, or a site that focused 80-90% of the posts on your interests? Freeware, smartphone apps and productivity pull from 3 different audiences and you’ll dilute their effectiveness in drawing in readers by lumping them all into one site.
I agree with Christopher above. This site works, and I mostly come for the freeware. I also like his ideas of what the site could use to improve. adding a way for commenters to review and rank alternatives would be awesome (separate from the official rankings of course – I value your opinion by itself more than the masses).
You could at least start out with having the new site as a link at the top (along with “home/ sitemap/ freeware top 30/” etc.) maybe include a sidebar banner with stuff from that site. I’d keep this freeware for now, add the other stuff into the new site, see how that goes, then maybe transition into one site. I’m not sure how SEO works when moving sites, but I would guess linking to the other site from here would increase the new site SEO quicker than not, as well as give you a chance to see how popular the new content is vs the old before doing a complete overhaul.
that’s my 2 cents.
Totally agree with phil above. I only recently found your site and wish I had found it much earlier. It’s on my list of favorites, which I check daily. The name is perfect, please keep it. It might be more work, but please run your new site alongside this one.
That’s my 2 cents worth, now you have four!
No interest in the other stuff either, personally, and there are rather a lot of other sites filling general niches. Having said that, the Productivity Genius, Dishwashing Genius, etc. sister-site continuity and branding might be a plus.
301 (i.e. moved permanently) redirs to the equivalent URL on a different domain should preserve page rankings AFAIK.
Just a quick comment on the SEO. if you redirect the URL, then there is a good chance your rankings will drop, especially if the content is different.
Google takes a dim view of redirects, as the feature has been extensively abused in the past by link farms.
The best way is to build up the traffic for the new site, which if it is as popular as this one, will rocket up the rankings anyway.
Good luck with the new site !
5 months ago I’ve changed the URL of my site, then used 301 redirects on all pages. I lost about 30% of the site’s SE ranking. I’m still waiting for it to come up again but it’s going up very slow.
As for changing your website’s name, I think it might be counter-productive for the same reasons mentioned by previous commentators.
God luck
This seems to create quite some discussion! Actually, after reading the other comments I too realized I am not so much interested in smartphone apps, paid or free (I don’t own one and don’t plan to buy one in the near future). Freeware is the main attraction of this site. Wether you put all the stuff on one site, or use sister sites, I think it’s gooed to not make the user have to crawl through all kinds of stuff they are not interested in.
I check your site out every day. I like it, not only for the information about freeware, but because it’s written for PC users. I would hate for that to change. All the good software blogs are getting lost to AnyPhone this, and AnyPad that, and the f’ing cloud. Personally, I have no need for gadgets because I don’t need to carry the internet around with me everywhere I go, and I’ve no intention of going to the cloud to do my work. I know that makes me a dinosaur, but y’all are free to rush on without me. Even you.
I suppose you will have to make adjustments eventually because of the changes to computing. Well, they call it that still. Hahahah. I use spreadsheets, a database, writing applications, and information managers. I don’t want to do it on a 7 inch screen – with my thumbs. Aside from research, the internet holds less and less that interests me. I will miss this site when it changes, but I understand if you move on.
I just wonder how you guys are going to keep up with the myriad of gizmos that are proliferating. I’m glad I don’t have your job.
I add my vote to all those who think things should stay as they are.
What you have works for a lot of people, what you change to might not.
I agree with all the above comments. I come here to source good freeware and am not at all interested in smartphones, games or tips. Having to sort through the site to find the freeware topics is not something I would care for.
You’ve heard the saying “if it ain’t broke… don’t fix it”.
Thanks guys for your comments.
I really appreciate the feedback.
It looks like at least in the short term I will continue as always. Will consider building another brand rather than renaming the site and consolidating.
But what I learned here is that a bigger site would have to have separate RSS feeds for different types of content, which is easy enough to implement.
@ christopher: the alternatives section coupled with a kind of voting system is a great idea. Looking into it.