From Bodog, via New Bodog, to Bodog Life
If you're in the online business, or any business for that matter, one of the worst things that can happen is being forced to change brand name. What if someone walked into the Microsoft or Apple office and said, "Sorry guys, you're not entitled to your name anymore." That's exactly what happened to Bodog.
Bodog Becomes New Bodog
In 2007, Bodog was sued for a patent infringement claim and lost control over the domain names Bodog.com and Bodog.net. However, the company was still entitled to use its international domain names, but the court did not take the company's strong international trademark into consideration. Bodog.com was no longer owned by Bodog Poker - an utter disaster for the company.
Shortly after this, the poker site changed its name to newbodog.com, which obviously led to a significant drop in the search engines; and consequently, less traffic on the site. But it was just a temporary change.
… and then Bodog Life
Just a few months later, Bodog made its second domain-name switch and moved to bodoglife.com - where the site currently resides.
"Hey, the world changes, and if you don't change with it, you get left behind. We've been leading the good times for a long time, and nobody will leave us behind," said Bodog's founder and CEO with great confidence.
A forced name switch like this is obviously a nightmare for any company, and especially when you benefit from high ranking in the search engines. Although the site in itself didn't change, when you're gone in Google, you're no longer on the Net.
But Bodog recovered quite quickly, and bodoglife.com is now #1 in the search engines. Hopefully, the company can retain the name and the position.
