Hyphen in domain names

[john_karr]

Hello when is it OK to use a hyphen in a domain names? I think its ok to use them as long as its always a dot com. Only if its a long domain name and the name have to make sense straight to the point, and depend on what the name is. Oh ONLY ONE OR TWO HYPHEN. What you guys think?

 

[wot]

If you look at reported sales few names have hyphens or those that get sold are under $2K (threhold for reporting). So I think hyphens hurt sales... not to mention possible traffic leak to non-hyphened site (radio test).
Maybe hyphens are good when you have a SEO-only strategy in mind.

Not quite correct , a lot of good priced hyphen sales and you will see a lot more as raw .com's become scarcer. :hi:

 

[TheBaldOne]

There are a few of these threads been started, and from them I have gleamed the following:

1) Old school do not like hyphens (its not the way they made their money)
2) It is often quoted that hyphenated names will lose traffic to unhyphenated names (only 15% of traffic is type-in, the remaining 85% is search engine)
3) If a domain name, in say .com, is valued at $50,000 there is a chance the hyphenated is unregistered and could still be worth $5,000 for an $8 investment.
4) A good developed site will not lose much traffic (as in 2 above) because people bookmark sites they intend to return to
5) Search engines prefer hyphenated domains (hyphens between words)
6) The owner of a developed site with an unhyphenated name would be well advised to purchase the hyphenated name to protect his/her market share
7) Hyphenated multiple word domain names are 'better' at being recognised at first glance and more memorable via sight than unhyphenated multi-word domains
8) Many domain names are automatically barred from many user protection programs because of the 'letter string' involved, i.e. Penisland.com because it contains the string 'penis', whereas the hyphenated Pen-Island.com is not barred.

Just a few points.

 

[DnEbook]

i saw that comming-soon.com was listed sold at dnjournal for $20,000.

 

[john_karr]

i saw that comming-soon.com was listed sold at dnjournal for $20,000.

you think that we will see hyphen domain name sell for $xxx,xxx or $x,xxx,xxx?

 

[krx]

There are a few of these threads been started, and from them I have gleamed the following:

1) Old school do not like hyphens (its not the way they made their money)
2) It is often quoted that hyphenated names will lose traffic to unhyphenated names (only 15% of traffic is type-in, the remaining 85% is search engine)
3) If a domain name, in say .com, is valued at $50,000 there is a chance the hyphenated is unregistered and could still be worth $5,000 for an $8 investment.
4) A good developed site will not lose much traffic (as in 2 above) because people bookmark sites they intend to return to
5) Search engines prefer hyphenated domains (hyphens between words)
6) The owner of a developed site with an unhyphenated name would be well advised to purchase the hyphenated name to protect his/her market share
7) Hyphenated multiple word domain names are 'better' at being recognised at first glance and more memorable via sight than unhyphenated multi-word domains
8) Many domain names are automatically barred from many user protection programs because of the 'letter string' involved, i.e. Penisland.com because it contains the string 'penis', whereas the hyphenated Pen-Island.com is not barred.

Just a few points.

Excellent post! Rep added (somebody had to do it...)

(edit)
Whoops! Spoke too soon. Must've repped you recently cause it won't let me add more. Sorry.

 

[domainer50]

I just registered my first hypenated name in a while. 4-02.com Wish me luck

 

[TheBaldOne]

D50 goodluck, nice pick-up. I got the 2-06.

 

[domainer50]

D50 goodluck, nice pick-up. I got the 2-06.

Nice pickup as well. I bought 4-02 becuase my birthday is April 2 and I have a pretty good idea for the site. I think the N-NN names are going to be sold out within the next 6 months as well.