Thread: Opinion on dashes, underscores, and .net. .info etc

Originally Posted by Shenron

There's no such thing as underscores in domain names, you might want to double check that.

I can imagine some older people having trouble trying to find underscores on their keyboard. I remeber I got a call 2 weeks about an underscore for an email..LOL

Thanks for the question and for the answers Very usefull.
What do you think about plurals names ?

Originally Posted by Come

What do you think about plurals names ?

You mean something like Googles.com..lol..once people get used to it, it would work out.

There are some sites out there that have plural names, just can think of any now.

Originally Posted by elbandelero

Is it your personal experience that a .com/net/org with the same amount of promotion as a .info will be favored by Google? There are some great domains available on .info, but I'm serious about creating a long term money earner and I don't want to be fighting the SEs over something stupid like paying $50 more for .com

Google in particular does give com/net/org domains a boost over info/biz/etc...

I believe this is part of Google's "brands are good" strategy.

For $50 extra, I would go for the .com -- just for the SEO benefits.

Originally Posted by Come

What do you think about plurals names ?

Plurals are hell, because we humans just aren't smart enough to remember whether a domain name was pluralized or not.

In most cases we "default" to the singular, although in some cases the plural seems more natural. Either way, if you pick the wrong one you are likely to be giving a lot of free traffic to the person who owns the right one.

I've been quite hesitant to buy domain names with hyphens in them since I read this in the leaked "Google Quality Rater Guidelines":

URLs may also contain keyword stuffing. They are usually created by some type of template and are stuffed with terms that come from the query. They are often formatted with many hyphens (dashes) in them......These templated URLs are computer-generated based on the query and are a strong spam signal.

Agree with Shenron, there is no problem with hyphens at all, just buy the best only with generic dictionary words. I own some hyphen domains and they are selling well too.Just lately acquired this one: ONLINE-ONLINE.COM - superbrandable hash domainword "ONLINE" have a billion Google hits.Good luck!

my bits,
sequence of preference taking value of the domain into consideration.
seo wise
ab.com
ab.org
ab.net
a-b.com
a-b.org
a-b.net
ab.info

singulars, plurals do not matter any more, google understands this now a days.

note- though google is good a seperating the 2 or more worded domains, some search engines are not so good at that, for some search engines, its easy if there is a - in between the words.

also google understands that keyword .com are very expensive.

Originally Posted by gmail

singulars, plurals do not matter any more, google understands this now a days.

Even if that were true, humans don't. They will type in whichever feels natural. This can cost you a lot of visitors.

Originally Posted by gmail

also google understands that keyword .com are very expensive.

Google made a conscious decision a few years ago to trust and promote "brands" in their algorithm. Algorithmically, keyword.com domains look a lot like "brands."

My expereinces. I have one info domain. I had so much time and promotion spent
and still I am not on Google first place even if it is PR4 and even if site is autority in the field. And concurents are poor and nothing. It have over 1300 visitors and over. Luckly on local search it is first. I would take .info only if that is my last option and I need domain with that name. I have few .com s and they are ok. I mostly have .org domains and they are excellent. I dont see any difference between .com and .org maybe .org is even little better. Net is ok. I dont hesitate to start site on .net at least until same .com is not freeking strong. I dont like dashes and I dont buy domains with dashes.

Probably .com have more results because major ammount of sites are on .com


edit:

I just saw gmail post about priorities and I almost completly agree with him.

Tips on Creating a Domain Name

Keep it simple. You have the option of registering a name that meets the 63-character limit, but in the realm of branding, brevity may be the soul of profit. Seven characters and below is the ideal. Visitors and potential customers should be able to remember the domain and access the site with their browsers. Use the shortest domain name for your market’s easy recall. To avoid confusion, your brand should also be as close as possible, if not identical, to your domain name.

Steer clear of trademarks. Simple business ethics dictate this. Many users have purchased the ‘dotcoms’ for popular, previously-registered brands and made a windfall selling the domain name to the company itself. Riding on the coattails of a Fortune 500 corporation to make a windfall may be profitable, but keep in mind that some entities have wised up to the practice. Instead of buying the domain name from you, they may choose to litigate.

If you can, do a dot com. Different domain name extensions are currently available. Businesses will benefit highly from appending a ‘.com’ to the brand itself. Visitors will tend to remember the URL better. In addition, the ‘.com’ suffix is one of the earliest domain name extensions, which will give the impression that your company has longevity and a reputable presence on the Net.

Make more than one. Registering more than one prospective domain name helps cover your bases. Slightly modify your primary domain name and register a few variants. Try a concise version of the brand, as well as a longer version. You could go as far as to enroll misspellings of your brand name. Another option would be to append a ‘.net’ or other suffix to your domain. Remember that many registered domains can direct you to a single website.

Take a vote. Listen to what potential visitors and clients have to say about your brand. This helps you take a more objective, if not clinical, perspective on your brand or domain. Factors that you should take into account include quick name recall. Is your domain name easy to type or spell? What are the implications of your domain name? What springs to your visitors’ minds when they hear or see your domain?

Register it ASAP. As soon as you have a sound idea of what your domain name should be, register it as soon as you can. You might not have the resources to set up the website just yet, but get the rights to the domain name just the same. Using your foresight is better than eventually using a domain name that no one else wants.

Pay less. Competition between companies selling domain names has become more and more..., well, competitive. If you think, the prices dictated by a certain company are steep, shop around. You will eventually find a domain name at a reasonable price.