Hi, would anybody mind giving me some feedback on a domain name?

My site concept is camping tips, for the sake of narrowing a very wide topic, with a slant towards family camping, but not to necessarily exclude couples or singles or anybody who is not a family but still wants to find out about camping. It will include anything that might be relevant to camping including equipment and many how to's...how to set up, how to choose equipment, how to cook, how to stay dry, etc.

I did some thinking and some searching and came up with a list of possibilities that I need to narrow down to one:

Your-best-camping-tips.com

family-camping-tips-and-tricks.com

easy-camping-tips-and-tricks.com

a-camping-family.com

a-world-of-camping.com

your-camping-handbook.com

your-camping-guidebook.com

a-camping-vacation.com

the-camping-guru.com

the-family-camping-guru.com

a-camping-life.com

comfortable-camping-tips.com

I would love any thoughts or advice on any of these!!!!

Thanks so much.

Jewel

Here are my favorite 3:

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If you want to focus on family I wouldn't worry about limiting the field with the word "family" but you can use another word instead.

Example: camping-together.com is available.

Good Success!

James

Thanks Sherif and James.

At first I was leaning towards your-best-camping-tips. It is concise, talks to the reader, and tells exactly what they are getting.

I did like the one with family in it, but was afraid it was too limiting.

A-world-of-camping.com also seems to open a lot of avenues. It is very unlimiting and everything is fair game under that one....so I wonder if that might be the way to go.

I DON'T KNOW!!!!! I think I had an easier time choosing names for my kids!!!!

Jewel

Hi Jewel,

First of all thanks for the good word on my site

Have you checked to see if the non-hyphenated versions of these names have been registered? It's best not to use a hyphenated name if the non-hyphenated version is already registered.

I'm not fan of hyphenated names, I prefer non-hyphenated names even if I have to go another direction and come up with a different name. Just make it descriptive of your website content.

That being said, these are the names that caught my eye:

a-camping-life dot com
a-camping-vacation dot com
your-camping-guidebook dot com
your-camping-handbook dot com

A word of caution; you should never type complete domain names into forums, websites or e-mails unless you have already registered them. There are too many spybots out there searching for new name ideas. They can grab the name and register it before you get a chance. Domain Front Running has been a problem in the SBI forums, as well as many others. Be careful.

Good Luck,

__________________
Greg
Choosing a Domain Name
Small Business Website Development

Thanks for your input as well. Oops, I didn't realize that about typing in the full names! Thanks for the tip.

Well, all of the names I did post are available in both hyphenated and nonhyphenated forms. As I brainstormed names, I checked the names and only chose those that had both forms available.

At this point I am thinking of going with your-camping-guidebook. My only concern is that my site concept keyword is camping tips, and that specific phrase is not in my domain name. I don't expect to win the huge keyword of camping, which has a supply of over 1.2 mil! But I also feel in the overall scheme of things, camping tips is really not that much different than camping, and most camping sites are basically full of camping tips! Without having the word tips in the name, do you still get the idea that this is a site that will help guide you through all the details of camping? Site choice, tent choice, other equipment choice, kitchens, recipes, etc.?

I am torn over the hyphenated v. nonhyphenated, although I will register both domain name versions. Everything I have read, everywhere except for SBI, says go nonhypenated, but of course SBI says go hyphenated for easy reading. I don't know still at this point, although I guess overall it doesn't matter if I am going to redirect one to the other anyway.

Thanks again everybody for your input and thoughts. This newbie appreciates it very much!!!!!


Jewel

Hi Jewel,

To me your-camping-guidebook covers all aspects of camping so you shouldn't have any problems with your site concept keyword being camping tips. Use it as a keyword and you will still rank with it.

I would register the hyphenated version with SBI and use YourCampingGuideBook in all of your off site marketing.

__________________
Greg
Choosing a Domain Name
Small Business Website Development

Jewel,

Sounds good to me. And even though "tips" is not in the domain word, you can still have it in your name description and key words along with others like skills, resources, etc.

Actually, guidebook sounds like a more encompassing term to me. People may be attracted because they will expect a more complete set of instructions--like the basics of camping, setting up camp, etc.--rather than just a collection of isolated tips. Of course you have to deliver, which I am sure you will.

I like your thinking on the name. The ones that start with "a" would be a problem I think in that many people could forget the "a" and just type the rest, going to someone else's site. Also, "your" has more meaning.

Good Success!

James

I agree with the guide-book or hand-book domain.

I heard the hyphenated domains get better placement in search engines. Not sure though. However, if you want the hypenated version, I think that you should register both hyphenated and non-hyphenated domains and point them both at your site because a lot of people who may be looking for your site from word of mouth will probably leave out the hyphen. Kind of like the whole .org problem most people have. Lots of users will type in ABC.com before typing in ABC.org, so when I built a .org site for a church last year, they wanted .org and I registered .com also for them.

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Alpha7

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Well thanks so much Greg, James, and Alpha7!!!

You guys helped me finalize my decision

I am now the proud owner of your-camping-guidebook.com, as well as yourcampingguidebook.com.

Greg, I did as you said and registered the hyphenated one with SBI and parked non-hyphenated version.

And James, had chosen "Your" over "A" because I remembered reading in one of the ebooks from SBI that when I am writing my pages that I should be focused on YOU, the reader, as opposed to me, the writer, so I just kind of figured that would only make sense to carry it through into the domain name. I am glad to see I made the right decision. I am notorious for second guessing myself! Oh, and James, I love your eagle...many people use it as a symbol for different things...but besides the obvious USA association, my son is a soon-to-be Eagle Scout (see the camping connection?), beginning his project now...and I am very proud.

Aaahhh.....I feel such relief to be "unstuck" and able to move forward. I have been doing nothing but reading forums for the last few days while I agonized over the name!

I imagine this feeling is short-lived though as I guess I will be hitting many other hurdles as I plow forward.

Jewel

Hi Jewel,

Congratulations

Sleep well tonight, the fun has just begun!

__________________
Greg
Choosing a Domain Name
Small Business Website Development

Alpha,

I would love to see the web work you did for your church. I've done two church websites and It would be good to get new ideas from you. I'll share as well.

KevinCamon