OK. Long-time VB readers and newbies alike – please sit down … and if necessary have a cup of stiff cocoa to hand. This may all come as a bit of a shock.
As you know, we’re on a journey – after over six years publishing as VentnorBlog.
It’s been a great name for a publication, but over the time we’ve discovered there are two things wrong with the name VentnorBlog. The first is Ventnor and the other is Blog – apart from that, it’s perfect!
Ventnor
You might guess from our incessant obsession with shoehorning in a mention of Ventnor at the drop of a hat, we love the place. Those who spend time here find that too.
That aside, why does the having Ventnor in the name VentnorBlog cause us problems? Well, many people, somewhat understandably, by default assume that we only cover news about our little corner of the Isle of Wight – even though we have been reporting news Island-wide for the vast majority of those six years.
Our King Canute impression can only last so long. With the ‘Is it just about Ventnor?’ water lapping around our necks for the last x years, we’re admitting it – we cannot stop the tide. As sad as it is, the Ventnor bit has got to go.
Blog
What about the Blog bit? Well, we’ve found Blog limits us. People have a pre-determined view of what a Blog is, what it should be like, no matter what the content is actually like. Some people only see VB through that lens.
The “It’s only a Blog” label sometimes happens on the Island, but we also sense it when dealing with the press offices of National organisations.
Surprisingly, not all of them know where Ventnor is(!) and in years gone past, some of them didn’t have a lot of respect for Blogs – although this has notably changed a lot in recent years as National newspapers have created their own Blogs. It still holds us back.
Advertising
One other big reason for the name change is advertisers.
As we’ve said before, these days we devote so much time to VentnorBlog, we’ve got to turn it into a business, and on the Web, that means advertising.
A few years back, we had two very lovely people help us out (Stef Crosby and Lauren Ellingham) by going to speak to Island companies about advertising on VentnorBlog. The response? “Why do I want to advertise just to people in Ventnor?”
VB has become a lot better known across the Island since then, but we still find that we have to explain the name frequently.
Change
We know. It’s a shock, but we hope you’ll understand why we need to make this change.
It’s something we’ve literally been considering on-and-off for four years, so it’s taken a lot to get us to this point.
Interestingly, writing to you about this makes it all now feel real … and there’s more than a little excitement about the changes that are coming up.
It’s not just the name that’ll be changing, but more on that in the next piece.
Have a great weekend and let’s hope the weather holds.
(BTW, counselling is available in the comments below)
Image: mariareyesmcdavis under CC BY 2.0
