Which is better?

[gray929]

Which is better?

www.buycars.com or www.buy-cars.com

Thats just a random example but is it better to have a domain with a dash or without?

Thanks

 

[bmugford]

All those brands have been built from billions of dollars in adverstising, which most companies do not have. If you had the money available you could brand ClownPenis.com into a top search engine. However, in an average budget you are better getting a domain with natural searches over something "Brandable". It takes a lot of time and money to brand a domain.

A couple examples are eBay.com and Google.com

They have been branded into the biggest auction site, and search site. But to the average person the money would not be there to brand a totally unrelated domain to the content.

However a domain related to the field like Online-Auctions.com, which would have natural search traffic would be much easier to use.

Brad

my opinion is that if we want the end user perspective, then let's look at the top brands:

eg:
apple.com
ibm.com
hp.com

most are short simple words...even hewlett packard is just hp without hyphens or full spelling

so my vote goes to without hyphens

 

[commsskills]

but it is not the money (to say that it is, is too cynical and missed out on the potential learnings)...it is the thoughts that go into building a brand...and part of those thoughts would cover the end-user experience

thus in looking at the top brands, you get a glimpse of how they incorporate the end-user experience into their branding, especially those which are technology companies

as a final example, take creative technology...they can hyphen it or do without....instead their net branding is simply creative.com

 

[bmugford]

If money is no object then clearly branding is a good option. However if I was developing a site to do with Credit Cards. I would rather have Credit-Cards.com any day over something "Brandable"

That is why quality generics sell for so much. They don't need to be branded.
If you owned Stocks.com, StockMarket.com, etc. It is pretty clear what the website is about. If you go to SomeRandomName.com it is going to take much more money to "brand" it.

but it is not the money (to say that it is, is too cynical and missed out on the potential learnings)...it is the thoughts that go into building a brand...and part of those thoughts would cover the end-user experience

thus in looking at the top brands, you get a glimpse of how they incorporate the end-user experience into their branding, especially those which are technology companies

as a final example, take creative technology...they can hyphen it or do without....instead their net branding is simply creative.com

 

[johname]

www.buycars.com is better but people generally have to settle for www.buy-cars.com

 

[bmugford]

That is exactly the point. Most people can't afford BuyCars.com, Buy-Cars.com would be a good backup option and is still a better option that something completely unrelated that is "Brandable" IMO.

www.buycars.com is better but people generally have to settle for www.buy-cars.com

 

[kshnbd]

ofcourse without, typing hyphen is a little difficult for the users.

 

[xman]

if you can get your hands on the first one, then get that one, if you're branding it and with seo, get both.

I agree.

all the views expressed till now are of domainers & website owners ....

but do the end-user think the same way?

they open what they want to open, be it the non-premiums, worst nouns , hyphens ... jsut anything.

It all depends on what the site is all about and how it is presented in terms of offline & online marketing.

Domain Type-ins might be lower, but then we talking about the building of brand, building a website!

e-Commerce is most common example used even though one can write ecommerce.

Think!!!! as End-user and bit of Domain-user

Now that's what I'm talking about.

Talk about thinking outside the box.

I normally ask an average user of what they think about visiting any site.

Gotta love those social networking sites.

~infos are out there​