Please help me come up with a tagline for my website.
July 2, 2012 12:57 PM   Subscribe

Please help me come up with a tagline for my website that explains what it is in a short, succint sentence. Because I can't seem to.

I have an information website on a specific subject matter I've been working on for years, it only gets a small amount of traffic, but it is my pride and joy. One of my friends recently pointed out that when she goes to the website, she doesn't immediately understand the objective of the site. It's obvious to me, because I'm close to it. But I see what she means.

I don't want to break any rules, so I'm not linking to it here, but I just threw it in my profile if anyone wants a look. The subject matter is seahorses, and their relatives, specifically making a point to talk about their more unusual relatives like pipefish and sea moths, etc . . ., since they don't get nearly the coverage that seahorses do. The domain name isn't really self evident either, unless you know a bit about these fish. It's a collection of articles in a blog format - but I am trying to keep it from being a "repost this news article" style blog and have it actually be quality content. Most of the information revolves around them in captivity because that is where my expertise lay, but I'm trying to branch out the information into areas such as conservation and research, as well as basic biology. Eventually I plan to expand it further to having a message board as well as having databases with information, sort of like fishbase but more specific information based on this group of animals.

And I want to capture all that into a single sentence. :)

I've been struggling with it, probably because the project is near and dear to my heart, as I always struggle with things I'm personally invested in. So far, the two that I've come up with are rather lame:
"Information about Synathiformes: Seahorses, Pipefish, Seadragons and Family"
And
"Learn about Seahorses, Pipefish and Seadragons."

So hivemind, can you help me be more clever?
posted by [insert clever name here] to Writing & Language (15 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
How about "Seahorses, Pipefish, and Seadragons, OH MY!"
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:01 PM on July 2, 2012 [6 favorites]


You need to leverage people's familiarity with seahorses and, at least in a tagline, ignore the rest by name and only allude to them.

So something like "The source for information on Seahorses and their relatives in both the wild and in the aquarium"
posted by inturnaround at 1:10 PM on July 2, 2012 [3 favorites]


Tiny weird fish and why we love them.
posted by shmegegge at 1:41 PM on July 2, 2012 [6 favorites]


1. Everything you've ever wanted to know about Synathiformes. And we mean everything.

1a. Everything You Never Expected to Know about Synathiforms.

2. We <3 Seahorses, Pipefish, and Seadragons. (But make the heart a little icon)

3. News. Information. Synathiformes.

4. The Online Source on Synathiformes.

5. Arguably the Best Online Source on Synathiformes.

6. A Community for Seahorses, Pipefish, Seadragons, and the Humans that Love Them.


(Jesus, I could do this all day.)
posted by functionequalsform at 1:44 PM on July 2, 2012 [5 favorites]


*who Love Them.

Not "that Love Them."

Sigh.
posted by functionequalsform at 1:46 PM on July 2, 2012 [1 favorite]


I like what you have, "It's All About the Snick." I had to look it up, but sounds good to me (before and after I looked it up).
posted by JohnnyGunn at 1:57 PM on July 2, 2012 [1 favorite]


Horsing around, in the sea: your Synthiformes resource guide.
posted by el io at 1:58 PM on July 2, 2012


I don't think there's much else to do with it that's succinct but I don't care for that wording... "Learn about blah blah blah," as soon as you say "learn about" I'm already saying "blah blah blah" in my head, I feel like I'm about to be shown a film strip.

I'd go with something like "Seahorses, Seadragons, and Pipefish... What do you know about Syngathiformes?" I think pun-y cleverness or any catchphrasey kind of stuff would ring tinny for an informational website like this.

I would also make your "Snick" catch-phrase, which is intriguing, more prominent, and I would also link to an explanation of it at the end of the little introductory essay (i.e., after "for future generations to enjoy." I'd add something like, in parenthesis, "(Now what's this about the snick?" with the word snick linking to whatever the hell that means because like I say it's a catchy line but I still don't know what the hell you're talking about and I'm too lazy to try to figure it out.
posted by nanojath at 2:18 PM on July 2, 2012 [1 favorite]


Dadmoms of the sea.
posted by rhizome at 2:24 PM on July 2, 2012 [3 favorites]


If you feel up to wresting it away from its current associations, I'd recommend

'Queerer than we can suppose: Seahorses and their kin.'

From evolutionary biologist J. B. S. Haldane"s famous remarks:
I have no doubt that in reality the future will be vastly more surprising than anything I can imagine. Now my own suspicion is that the Universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.
Or I guess you could use one of the Bowdlerizations that are apparently floating around:
Similar remarks that seem derived from this have in recent years been attributed to Arthur Stanley Eddington, as well as to Haldane, but without citations of an original source:

The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.
The world is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.
Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.
posted by jamjam at 2:33 PM on July 2, 2012 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: These are really great, everyone. I've gone from not knowing what to say to having to choose between some very good suggestions.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 2:37 PM on July 2, 2012


[insert clever name here]: "These are really great, everyone. I've gone from not knowing what to say to having to choose between some very good suggestions."

Now we can make suggestions for a clever user name?!
posted by JohnnyGunn at 6:48 PM on July 2, 2012 [1 favorite]


Tell us where you end up!
posted by functionequalsform at 9:50 PM on July 2, 2012


Starts with the obvious, moves into the serious:

A round-up of information on seahorses, sea dragons and their relatives.

Fused Jaw: rounding up the facts on Seahorses and their relatives.

A growing compilation of images and information on seahorses, sea dragons and the other syngnathiformes.

We're compiling everything there is to know about seahorses, sea dragons and their relatives.

We're compiling everything you need to know about seahorses, sea dragons and their relatives.

We are fascinated by syngnathiformes: seahorses, sea dragons, piperfish and more, and we're collecting everything there is to know about them.

We are sharing online everything we can find out about seahorses, sea dragons and their family.
posted by hifimofo at 3:22 AM on July 3, 2012


Response by poster: So thank you all for the great suggestions. Apparently I just needed to see some ideas, because this got my own wheels turning, and I've got two so far that I've come up with that I'm liking. If anyone is still reading this, I'd love to hear your thoughts:

- Sharing knowledge of the world's weirdest fishes: The seahorse family.
- Care, Conservation and Understanding of Seahorses and their Kin.

The last part could be a variation, like " . . . of Seahorses, Seadragons, and other Syngnathiformes.", etc . . .
posted by [insert clever name here] at 2:47 PM on July 4, 2012


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