Which domain should I register?

[randomo]

Though I've dabbled in domains for several years, I'm still pretty early on the learning curve, so I'm looking for some advice.

I have enough $ in PayPal right now to register one domain. After some research, I've narrowed the field down to these candidates:

A) 3-word hyphenated .us -- phrase (without hyphens) has OVT over 800,000

B) 2-word hyphenated .com -- phrase (without hyphens) has OVT about 90,000

C) 3-word non-hyphenated .net -- phrase has OVT about 70,000

D) 2-word non-hyphenated .us -- phrase has OVT about 70,000

The phrases all serve different audiences, so ignore the specifics for a moment and just think about the relative value of each of these _types_ of domain.

I'm trying to set up a poll in this thread; never done that before, I hope it works!

I'd appreciate any advice / votes.

Thanks,
randomo

 

[maroulis]

IMHO... 2-word non-hyphenated .us, OVT 70,000

 

[Grrilla]

Which one is best has alot to do w/ your purpose. If the 800,000 OV searches is accurate, (you might want to double check w/ WordTracker- http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/ ), looking at it blindly, I would go w/ choice 1. Despite the hyphens, which are generally considered to be poor in aesthetics and which are not intuitive, in that they are not a common type-in, and despite the .us, which is down the tld hierarchy, a bit, but can be optimized- the 800,000 searches/mo is the most attractive of the alternatives that you have offerred, IMHO, and is an attribute that could be most easily capitalized upon w/ a developed site. Resale w/o development is another matter, and it is my guess that all four alternatives may be a hard sell, if that is your intent.

 

[Dannoth]

3-word non-hyphenated .net, OVT 70,000

 

[fonzie_007]

2 word non hyphenated

 

[AmD950]

2 words non hyphanated...

3 words hyphanated... looks so weird...

 

[randomo]

Which one is best has alot to do w/ your purpose. [snipped]... the 800,000 searches/mo is the most attractive of the alternatives that you have offerred, IMHO, and is an attribute that could be most easily capitalized upon w/ a developed site. Resale w/o development is another matter, and it is my guess that all four alternatives may be a hard sell, if that is your intent.

Yes, I thought about giving two options - for development or resale - but figured that would make things too complicated.

I guess the best approach here might be a hybrid, i.e., develop it enough to make the domain more attractive for resale.

Thanks to everyone who shared an opinion ... keep 'em coming! (It's nice to confirm that not all domainers think alike! )

 

[Grrilla]

(It's nice to confirm that not all domainers think alike!)

If there was one definitive *right* answer, we would all have domain name sales and marketing figured out and the forum would be a very dull place, indeed. BTW, welcome. I see you are from Deleware, the "mystery" state- home of corporations, DuPont and George Thorogood and the Destroyers.

 

[randomo]

...BTW, welcome. I see you are from Deleware, the "mystery" state- home of corporations, DuPont and George Thorogood and the Destroyers.

I'm glad to see you said I am from Deleware. You see, the state is actually spelled Delaware, but I have regged DelewareCasino.com & DelewareCasinos.com. (There's already gambling here, and they're in major developments to add more casinos, so I think these typo domains will be good to me! )

 

[Grrilla]

You see, the state is actually spelled Delaware

:red: Uh, um... I knew that. Just checking to make sure everyone reading your thread was on the ball. :hehe: :blink:

 

[harkster]

:red: Uh, um... I knew that. Just checking to make sure everyone reading your thread was on the ball. :hehe: :blink:

Yeah right sQQzit. Thinking about throwing the ducks at the appraisal forum & listen to the laughter.

Interesting that DelawareCasino is taken in all major ext but only .com taken in the plural version. --oops, someone just reg'd the .info

Now on topic. For development don't fear the 800K one cause if the numbers are real it could help in SEO. Yes, I know the SE's can parse the phrases but you deal with what is available.

 

[smub]

it was a tough decision between hypenated .com and no hypenated 2 word .us

i end up voting for hypenated.com but it only depend if the domain is good otherwise go with 2 word .us

 

[Untitled]

I voted for hyphenated .com. It would be cool! I like hyphens in domain names. and .com is the best extension! . So go ahead and register!

Untitled

 

[peter phillips]

I would say 2-word hyphenated.com as .com extension is always preferrable also it's a two word name. My second preference would be 3-word non-hyphenated .net.

 

[cache]

I would go with the high ovt, the 3-word .us

 

[edwinfelix]

2-word non-hyphenated .us

hypenated domains aren't so good.

Some sites use hypenated domains because they HAVE to.
e.g. experts-exchange.com can't be expertsexchange.com :D

 

[randomo]

Thanks again for all of your thoughts and votes.

I've discovered some drawbacks of a couple of my potential names, including the poll-leading hyphenated two-word .com domain. But sometime tomorrow, I will register a name and will tell all of you guys which one it was. (Don't let the suspense keep you awake all night! )

 

[X_GuardiaN_X]

Unless the domain is something like scratch-n-sniff.com then you should probably avoid the hyphens in the first place. However, that being said you should take the 2 word .com since obviously com is of more value, and it wont look as weird.

 

[randomo]

My final decision has just been made!

First, though, some valuable things happened in this thread. The poll has shown an interesting outcome: that .com is still king, even if it has to be hyphenated and have a relatively low OVT.

Also, this whole process has forced me to be more disciplined in my pre-reg research. Why? Well, it turns out that all four of my potential domains had major problems:

* 3-word hyphenated .us with 800,000 OVT: one of the three words was singular, but more than 98% of the searches used the plural version. (This difference doesn't show up in Overture, but it does show up in WordTracker, which I just started using [it's extremely helpful].)

* 2-word hyphenated .com with 90,000 OVT: opposite problem here. One of the words was plural, but almost all the searches went to the singular, as it was part of a well-known trademarked product name (with which I was unfamiliar).

* 3-word non-hyphenated .net with 70,000 OVT: the phrase went [verb] "a" [noun], but the OVT was based on the two-word [verb] [noun] combo. With "a" in the middle, there were very few searches.

* 2-word non-hyphenated .us with 70,000 OVT: the words were in the wrong order (again, Overture doesn't make this clear). Almost all searches came with the words in the other order.

So - I won't be reg'ing any of those domains, but I learned a lot from this [admittedly flawed] process.

I promised I would reg a domain today. Well, I grabbed a bunch of excellent .info names, but for a domain from one of the TLDs in this poll, I went with this one:

bowling-alleys.net

I don't love the hyphen, but it has some strong points:
*one of the best TLDs
*only two words
*super-high OVT -- without the hyphen, it's 300,000+, which (according to WordTracker) is split pretty evenly between "bowling alley" and "bowling alleys".

I also picked up a nice 2-word .us (no hyphen), but since I can't get whois privacy on .us domains (at least at NameCheap), I'm keeping its identity to myself. Only about 6,000 OVT, but a popular type of item that many people buy.

Anyway ... thanks again for all your input! This community rules.

Cheers,
randomo

 

[cache]

let us know if you get any type in traffic. thanks.

My final decision has just been made!

First, though, some valuable things happened in this thread. The poll has shown an interesting outcome: that .com is still king, even if it has to be hyphenated and have a relatively low OVT.

Also, this whole process has forced me to be more disciplined in my pre-reg research. Why? Well, it turns out that all four of my potential domains had major problems:

* 3-word hyphenated .us with 800,000 OVT: one of the three words was singular, but more than 98% of the searches used the plural version. (This difference doesn't show up in Overture, but it does show up in WordTracker, which I just started using [it's extremely helpful].)

* 2-word hyphenated .com with 90,000 OVT: opposite problem here. One of the words was plural, but almost all the searches went to the singular, as it was part of a well-known trademarked product name (with which I was unfamiliar).

* 3-word non-hyphenated .net with 70,000 OVT: the phrase went [verb] "a" [noun], but the OVT was based on the two-word [verb] [noun] combo. With "a" in the middle, there were very few searches.

* 2-word non-hyphenated .us with 70,000 OVT: the words were in the wrong order (again, Overture doesn't make this clear). Almost all searches came with the words in the other order.

So - I won't be reg'ing any of those domains, but I learned a lot from this [admittedly flawed] process.

I promised I would reg a domain today. Well, I grabbed a bunch of excellent .info names, but for a domain from one of the TLDs in this poll, I went with this one:

bowling-alleys.net

I don't love the hyphen, but it has some strong points:
*one of the best TLDs
*only two words
*super-high OVT -- without the hyphen, it's 300,000+, which (according to WordTracker) is split pretty evenly between "bowling alley" and "bowling alleys".

I also picked up a nice 2-word .us (no hyphen), but since I can't get whois privacy on .us domains (at least at NameCheap), I'm keeping its identity to myself. Only about 6,000 OVT, but a popular type of item that many people buy.

Anyway ... thanks again for all your input! This community rules.

Cheers,
randomo