Domains with hyphens are no good?

[Phare]

Do you think that domain names with hyphens are generally no good?

Can anybody point me out some successful sites with hyphens in the domain?

I have a domain which I believe to be is fairly alright, but it has a hyphen in it.

 

[evtimii]

One great website with hypen is:

free-webhosts dot com

 

[wwwweb]

It all depends on the domain, you cannot generalize all domains into a single category hyphens go better with some domains that others... I think 99% of us hyphen haters or lovers would love to own something like credit-cards.com, as creditcards.com is unattainable so if you really wanted to develop it would be a great domain, which would be much more affordable then creditcards.com... hyphens are just another entry point without breaking the bank with some of the more generic domains.... nothing wrong with them, if you can save yourself $xx,xxx and you have a development plan why not go to the hyphen....

 

[snoopinc]

experts-exchange.com is successful.

 

[RLW]

I have a site - music-chart.info - which (obviously) has a hyphen, and it's on track to get at least 20,000 uniques from google this month.

So from an SEO point view, (in my opinion) it doesn't seem like hyphens really detract from a domain. If anything, hyphens help ensure that a search engine properly identifies the keywords in the domain.

I think hyphens are underated, which means you can potentially grab some real bargains. The main problem I've found with hyphens is that it can get tricky to verbally tell someone about the domain - for example, i can't tell someone to go to 'music chart dot info', I have to tell them to go to 'music dash chart dot info'. There's also the risk as well that people will forget the hyphen if they type your url in directly, so they'll head over to your competitors instead.

 

[NetOctave]

I've seen more hyphen domains from Europe, while the preference for '-' names in US is less. There are many German company names that have - in them. And I've seen some german friends that default type names with - for separating the words.
Search ranking wise, it does not make much difference. But resale value wise, its difficult to sell a name with hyphen to another domainer...

 

[gladdy]

As I remember best hyphen sale was somethere around 132,000 EUR
It all depends of the name, I have some hyphen domains on my portfolio.

 

[Sparhawke]

I think it has been said above, if you are selling to another domainer they will turn their nose up at them, if you are using them yourself and plan on getting ranked and having visitors you will do quite well possibly, as domains with hyphens don't get penalized by the search engines. When it all gets boiled down, it simply comes down to which version looks prettier.

 

[dotker]

their not that bad but in terms of memorability the user will type in no dash first ofcourse.

 

[sourcez]

I'd say any more than the one hyphen in a name and it's a no go. Obviously not a general rule but seems to convert to domain sales if nothing else.