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  1. #1

    domain name with dashes etc...? what do you think?

    What do you think about domain names with dashes in between...?

    is it easy to remember for users? are there reputable companies out there with domains like something-somethig.com?

  2. #2
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    I think they are easier to remember when they are long domain names. But that is just my personal opinion
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  3. #3
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    Yeah i agree with jmcallister. Like johns-site.com looks better than johnssite.com

  4. #4
    suppose with just two words?

    I mean, there is domain I want to get, but its registered, and now I see version with "-" is perfectly available... should I considere that domain? or people will confuse it with the other websites? I wonder if there has been any studies done on that... I'm abit confused

  5. #5
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    Only thing I notice people getting confused with is .net and .com sites.

  6. #6
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    Well they can be beneficial in terms of what they look like, but there is a chance that customers might get confused between your site and the one without the dashes

  7. #7
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    If most visitors are going to find the site through the web, the dash is no problem and does sometimes even look better, but if word of mouth is going to be common, many will forget the dash when typing it in.

    I'd rather say to someone "go to john's site dot com" rather than "go to john's dash site dot com".

    For business sites, it's generally not a good idea to use a dash if the URL without the dash is used by someone else.
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  8. #8
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    Moved to Domain Name Forum.

    Quote Originally Posted by Premier
    ...if word of mouth is going to be common, many will forget the dash when typing it in.
    That's a problem with domains with dashes.

    If both johns-site.com and johnssite.com exist and you have the dashed version, you risk losing traffic to the other version. If the other version isn't registered now, someone else may register it later to get the traffic that would inevitably go to that domain.

    If you register and use both, you avoid these problems.

    Lois
    "Do what you can, where you are, with what you have." – Theodore Roosevelt

  9. #9
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    I own 34 domain names, not a single one has a dash. I absolutely hate dashes in domain names and by default most people will try the non-hyphenated version first. There aren't many major companies that use names like pizza-hut.com
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  10. #10
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    Like most posters already suggested, dashes aren't good for your domain. I can add that they are catastrophic, if you don't own 'undashed' version...
    Respect My Authoritah! - Eric Cartman (a friend of mine).

  11. #11
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    I like domains with dashes! It depends on the domain name as well. Some names will look better with dashes, some not.

    I have 2 domains with dashes!

  12. #12
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    So domains without dash get free typo traffic from the dash one, right?

    Usually when i want to buy a domain, it goes in a string:
    MakeDollar.com MakeDollars.com
    MakeDollar.net MakeDollars.net
    MakeDollar.org MakeDollars.org
    MakeDollar.biz MakeDollars.biz
    Make-Dollar.com Make-Dollars.com
    Make-Dollar.net Make-Dollars.net
    Make-Dollar.org Make-Dollars.org

    Man, that's f*cking expensive!

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by sc0rpi0n
    Man, that's f*cking expensive!
    If 7 domains is expensive for you (although it shouldn't be), concentrate just on .com
    Respect My Authoritah! - Eric Cartman (a friend of mine).

  14. #14
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    yesterday I heard a radio ad for a hyphen domain name.

    http://www.ima-art.org

    I can't remember if they said "hyphen" or "dash" when they spelled it out.

  15. #15
    some people may forget about the dash part

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stan Marsh
    If 7 domains is expensive for you (although it shouldn't be), concentrate just on .com
    I counted 14 domains he posted.

    Let's say he uses Namecheap (eNom), at $8.88/yr. per name, that's $124.32 to secure a single brand/site.

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Richard H
    I counted 14 domains he posted.
    Actually, he tried to secure TWO brands.

    The keyword here is 'tried'. In order to SECURE them, you'll need to register not only gTLDs like com/net/org/info/biz, but ALL ccTLDs, common misspellings, 'suxxx' varations (companynamesuxxx.com, etc) and dashed versions of these. The budget could be in a low to middle $xxx.xxx figures.
    Respect My Authoritah! - Eric Cartman (a friend of mine).

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Richard H
    I counted 14 domains he posted.

    Let's say he uses Namecheap (eNom), at $8.88/yr. per name, that's $124.32 to secure a single brand/site.
    You got the point. $124 is one year, but i usually register like 3-year, so that'd be $373 for a brand for 3-year run.

  19. #19
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    As others have said. Dash or no dash? You HAVE to have both.

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by stu2
    As others have said. Dash or no dash? You HAVE to have both.
    I always completely ignore the hyphenated version. If someone's dumb enough to register names the same as mine with hyphens, I'd be glad to have most of their returning traffic that forgets it had dashes and the free advertising they'd provide for me.
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  21. #21
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    Yep, I ignore dashed domains too. I have clients that use them (in some cases, very large clients), but it's not something I would do personally.

  22. #22
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    It's not about traffic. It's about protecting your brand. You don't want a porn site on cheese-cakes.com if you own cheesecakes.com.

  23. #23
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    There is a learning curve here for the public. That is why you hear long-timers strongly against dashes (and against non .coms as well). But the public is slowly catching on that domains can have dashes, and they are more likely to remember than a few years ago.

    Buying the no-dash name may be more expensive than losing a few customers.

    Search engines prefer hyphens-between-words.
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  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by accentnepal
    Search engines prefer hyphens-between-words.
    Are you sure of this?
    Respect My Authoritah! - Eric Cartman (a friend of mine).

  25. #25
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    Search engines prefer hyphens-between-words.

    Are you sure of this?
    Can we be sure of anything concerning search engines?

    I have heard it said on forums by people with a lot of experience to give it credibility. It seems logical - hyphens separate the words, reducing ambiguity. There are a lot of irrelevant words formed by adding the last part of one word to the first part of another.

    I also have heard Matt Cutts of Google say that a lot of hyphens in a domain name is a sign of a spam site -- probably hyphens are used by spammers in the belief they help with SEO. Question is how many hyphens is considered a "lot".
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    Great jewelry of Nepal and Tibet:
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