To Dash or Not to Dash

widget-place.com vs. thewidgetplace.com

[spike2131]

Which do you think is better: "widget-place.com" or "thewidgetplace.com".... assuming that "widgetplace.com" is already taken, and goes to a fairly lame site that is not a competitor.

"widgetplace.net" and "widgetplace.org" are also available.

I'm looking for something that would be easy for potential customers to remeber and type in, and also be likely to click on in a PPC ad. SEO is of lesser concern.

- Spike

[ccDan]

TheWidgetPlace.com is easier to remember. If you're looking for something people will remember, I think no dashes beats dashes.

Make TheWidgetPlace.com your main site, and 301 widget-place.com (and the-widget-place.com) to it.

[nonni]

One thing to consider - the search engines parse a dash or underscore as a space. So the name red-widgets.com will give somewhat of a boost in the algorithm if you are trying to rank for widgets or red widgets. People like to type multiple words mashed together in the address bar (redwidgets.com), but are more likely to use a space in a search field, and the search engines treat redwidgets like one compound word - you will rank high for that word, but it is usually one that few people are searching for.

[vincevincevince]

I'd go for jimmywidget.com - judging by your priorities.

[Shiznaught]

I've had a very similar dilemna myself. I chose thewidgetblog.com because widgetblog.com was taken. A blog is such a personal form of communication, so my domain name had to look good and be easy to remember.

[jikel morten]

I don't know anything about domain/url level seo but I thought that dashes were a bit of a spam flag for the search algos - is this old thinking or was it never a problem for search engines at all but rather a branding issue?

[spike2131]

I guess I am inclined to think of hyphenated sites as "spammy". A site with "the" in front is also a little spammy, but I think more memorable. I will be going with TheWidgetPlace.com... thanks for y'alls input.