Choosing an alternative domain name

[engine]

I have a project that requires a generic domain name. Not surprisingly, it has already been registered.

I'm not interested in offering a deal to the owner of the registered domain name for a number of reasons. End of story.

To achieve the desired goal, I will need to consider other less generic options - for example, instead of domain.com, I'll look at keyworddomain.com, etc.

What is your opinion of the logic of a surfer (if there is any logic ;) ) to try to use the address bar and type in these options:
keyworddomain.com
or
keyword-domain.com
or
domainkeyword.com
or
domain-keyword.com

Alternatively, I could register all options.

[JamesR]

Without more info that would be tough, engine. But I think I can safely say you should avoid the hyphen if you are looking for people typing in the address bar. SE doesn't seem to matter.

[heini]

Personally I find the most "logical" version is the hyphenated one, with keyword first, qualifying domain.
Especially when keyword and domain are more than four or five letters to me a "normal" way of writing down/typing in a word combo would require a seperation of the words.

I also find it sticks better that way.

Have no stats to back this up however.

[rcjordan]

>avoid hyphen

I agree, no hyphen. Also, IE autosearch and a listing in MSN can kick in some traffic. The hyphen can interfere with your site being referenced under "Did you intend to go to one of these similar Web addresses?, or so I believe.

[engine]

At this stage, the SE is not important. I'm looking for people typing into the address bar with the best-guess. I'd also add that I would NOT want to complicate the issue with superflous hyphens if I don't have to.

Is there greater logic in the keyword first, then generic word, or the reverse?

[rcjordan]

I like keyworddomain.com

[K_Wolf]

I found that both [nameboy.com...] and [deleteddomains.com...] useful when I was in a similar situation. NameBoy will automatically generate 'recommended' names for you. And with Deleted Domains you search for domains with your key word(s) that other people have registered (but not renewed).

Personally I'd go for one of two options - a unique but related 'short name' - like a rhyme or something from your original option. Or the domainkeyword.com style of name, because it promotes your domain first, and the keyword is secondary.

[Brett_Tabke]

And the winner is:

>keyworddomain.com

I would get away from the generic name if this is to be a full featured site. If it is ecomm or something built strickly for se purposes then that's ok. If it is a full content site, then go for branding away from the generic keyword. eg: skip searchengine.com and go for the easy to remember google.com that has huge branding potential)

[engine]

Thanks everyone. It's so easy to drown in the sea of domain name opportunities.

We've got to stick to the generic part in the domain - it's what the product is about. It's not a commercial site in the sense of ecommerce - it's an educational site and the name must reflect the particular aspect of courseware, which is a generic part of the name.

The only thing that is important is that the people to which it is aimed find it easy to type it into the address bar. Hypens will only complicate matters.

If it's in the search engines, then great, if not, it's not a big issue.

This is all useful stuff, thanks.

[tilt]

Assuming English is the primary language of your audience then consider English grammar. In general, adjectives come before the nouns they modify. So you have BlueWidget and not WidgetBlue as in French, for example. However, if your keyword is not an adjective but a descriptive phrase, then maybe it should follow the generic word as in WidgetsForRent which makes more sense than ForRentWidgets.