With hyphens or not?

[Michau]

Hello!

I am considering buying a domain for my website. I didn't have a clue what to register so I want to expired domain finder and I found some I liked.

Now I am considering two possible domains:

* Domain name which tells exacly what my site will be about, is intuitive and fits perfectly as the name of the site, but is three words separated by hyphens.
* Domain name which is not as good, harder to remember and doesn't create as good a name as the previous, but is two words only and no hyphens.

Now I am wondering which one you would choose for your site? My primary focus is to create a website on it, not to resell it. Perhaps in a year or two I'd like to sell the developed site. But nevertheless, the hyphens in the domain name worry me. SHould I go for the domain with hyphens, or not? How do you think?

 

[inflames]

i would go for the one without the hyphen
JMO

best of luck

 

[jeter4982]

I would go with the one without hypens. If it is 3 words, chances are that it is long, and that also is not good. I personally stay completely away from hypens, even if it means settling for a slightly worse name.

 

[Michau]

OK guys, thanks for your opinions! So I went for the domain without hyphens. The exact domain I regged is HOSTSCORES.COM, I was considering as well as and RATE-YOUR-HOST.COM

 

[LeDomain]

Get the hyphen name...

If I were you, would go ahead and get the hypen name as well and direct it to your site...Particularly if you think it relates well to your business.

Hypen names are supposed to help with search engine placement and these days domain registration is cheap.

 

[Tippy]

I cant see how the hyphened name would help in this case as I dont see much for this term, search wise #'s via wordtracker. If it was me I wouldnt register it... HostScores.com is all you really need.

 

[ExpertDomino]

I cant see how the hyphened name would help in this case as I dont see much for this term, search wise #'s via wordtracker. If it was me I wouldnt register it... HostScores.com is all you really need.

Agreed, :imho:

 

[Veolus]

HostScores is much better than that hyphen domain :imho: .. Good pick :tu:

 

[Midano]

OK guys, thanks for your opinions! So I went for the domain without hyphens. The exact domain I regged is HOSTSCORES.COM, I was considering as well as and RATE-YOUR-HOST.COM

Hey.
I own RatedHost.com with plans to develop a hosting rating/feedback directory. Would you be interested in this name? Let me know.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

Good choice.

 

[MastMnds]

hostscores is a pretty good name. i only go with hypens when something big or maybe some type ins or se ranks like i got creditcard-fraud.com but anyways

 

[pimpdaddy]

non hyphenated

 

[superprogrammer]

Your first post says you liked the hyphen name but what I feel here is, the name
hostscores.com is much better than Rate-your-host.com :imho:
San

 

[Michau]

Ah, I wish only that hostscore.com would be available as well

Midano: Since I have the domain already, I'll stick with it. But when you develop your site, I'll gladly exchange links with you.

LeDomain: I decided not to buy the hyhenated domain, because I would have to advertise two domains nstead of one, and it would be more difficult.

 

[MastMnds]

Ah, I wish only that hostscore.com would be available as well

Midano: Since I have the domain already, I'll stick with it. But when you develop your site, I'll gladly exchange links with you.

LeDomain: I decided not to buy the hyhenated domain, because I would have to advertise two domains nstead of one, and it would be more difficult.

Good choice.

 

[LeDomain]

Hyphenated ?

Ah, I wish only that hostscore.com would be available as well

Midano: Since I have the domain already, I'll stick with it. But when you develop your site, I'll gladly exchange links with you.

LeDomain: I decided not to buy the hyhenated domain, because I would have to advertise two domains nstead of one, and it would be more difficult.

Michau

Just to clarify... I did not mean that you would need to advertise the hyphenated name...The recommened approach will be to get the non-hyphenated name.

The idea is to get any additional traffic from search engines if you get the hyphenated name. (I am currently using hyphenated names to direct to my main site because it helps with search engines).

Just my opinion that spending an additional $7 per year for a domain is well worth it if it brings in some visitors from search engines...without any added advertising

Just a thought...everyone has their own strategy....anyways good luck...

 

[omnia]

Personally I go with the non hyphenated domain every time. I much prefer the one you registered to the other, it gets the message across, and is just as memorable, if not more so.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

If you go for a secondary hyphenated name, I'd get host-scores.com, not Rate-your-host.com. Hopefully the search engines are smart enough to tell between "hosts cores" and "host scores" to parse the keywords, but you never know. This is the case where hyphens can help in making sure the right keywords are picked out for SEO.

Imagine the wierd traffic you might get with a name like firemensexchange.com (Firemen's Exchange) if you didn't get they hypenated version with the hyphen in the correct spot. Search engines might make 3 words out of it.