Hey everyone,

I need some advice. I'm trying to register a domain to make a site about an up and coming technology and marketing method and I've found the names I like the best for the research I've done are taken in the www.thisismydomainname.com format. However, they aren't even really sites yet or else they don't pertain to what the domain name says.

What do you think about the www.This-Is-My-Domain-Name.com format? Is this acceptable to most people and how does it do search engine wise?

Thanks in advance,

Sheree

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Sheree,

Many names are held more or less on speculation. If you have names you really like that have been claimed but not used don't fail to check back later.

You can get expiration dates by using whois.net. That can help. I have a domain name that I think is very good. It had been taken but not used (parked) when I first checked. I watched and was lucky enough to grab it as soon as it expired and before anyone else claimed it.

You can often buy names and and some people hold them for that reason. I suppose that may be OK sometimes but I always figured that if I tried that the price might be more than I wanted to pay and get even higher if they found someone was asking.

I don't have a strong opinion on the use of hyphens although I lean toward a somewhat negative feeling about them unless they are in certain natural combinations.

James

Can you elaborate on your negative feelings toward hyphenated domain names?

Sheree

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A hyphen to google bot means a space, so if someone typed blue bags into google blue-bags.com would come up before bluebags.com if they both had the same traffic along with other requirements etc.

So I think hyphen domains are great there much better looking too. But it really depends on the length of your domain and how well it can be identified by humans and search engines.

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I really like hyphenated domains too. I didn't know how Google picked them up though. That's definitely a plus. But I agree with Rob, if it is too long, the hyphens will only add to the burden of non-typists everywhere.

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Sheree,

Not much I can say about my somewhat negative feelings toward hyphens. As I indicated it is really only slight and without objective meaning. Info such as that about Google search and, if available, any actual research about public response by actually clicks would be more important than my personal response here.

Perhaps it is just because I am so used to straight combinations without spaces after so many years that I respond instinctively to something like ilovethisname.com a little better than i-love-this-name.com.

That's why I focused primarily on the other points, rather than my personal feelings.

James

I think hyphen only looks good if there is only one of it in domain name and it is fairly middle in the name, like "www.good-stuff.com" instead of "www.somehugeword-is.com".
Of course there are some exceptions too..

Also I think it is good to keep names fairly short and easy as someone stated.. if name is already long it wont look any better if you add 5 hyphens in there.