i have recently discovered a niche and have decided on a great website name. The catch is that a version of this domain name is being used already in an unrelated feild of interest so i have to choose something else.
My options are to either spell the domain with a hypen between the words (ex: www.widget-world.com), go with a .net extension to the address, or just try to find another .com extension all together
I am under the assumption that from a marketing perspective .net is more forgien to most web users than .com ... do you think that this is true?
would i be better off going with a hyphen? or is this to confusing and just make users looking for my site go to "www.widgetworld.com" instead of "www.widget-world.com"
thank you for all your ideas
That said, you could benefit from a highly memorable name instead of something made up that isn't as targetted. Example: widgets-world.com or widgetsforsales.com vs. widgets.info or widgets.net. I would go with the latter options, because it goes right to the point; it's memorable. Add to that a very useful website, and you will be getting a lot of type in visitors.
Out of that 15% how much would you think type-ins would be? I don't know the stats, but guessing not very much.
That is all of course if you are not selling anything, then domina may matter a little bit more.
the question is if there is a "widget.com" owned by someone else and i have "widget.net" am i going to give the other site traffic that was in actuallity trying to find me?
Simple answer: yes
Unless you have unusually savvy customers (I'm guessing not).
That's why I would recommend something just a bit more unusual. If the full-form of the name, including ".net" ".info" ".us", or whatever, is memorable, you might be fine. But if "widgets" is the only thing that stands out, people will invariably assume its a ".com".
By the same token, I would avoid including hyphens in the name, especially if someone else has the same name sans hyphens. People usually miss or forget them.
Agreed. But if the domain name combines words, it is sometimes worth it to buy the hyphenated version of your name in addition, and have the server redirect any stray traffic from that site to the "real" site.
(Downside -- if the hyphenated version ends up listed in search engines, it becomes more complicated to keep track of your SE rankings.)
Not that easy but if you add a few choice words it should be possible. If someone is going to try typing in your website address 9 times out of 10 they will try a .com extension.
My plan is to use the "topic" and a rhyming word (or word extension) on the end that goes along with it in a clever way
(ex: widgetmidget.com or widgetopia.com)
but my problem is that there is already a widgetmidget.com and a few others like it... i dont want to seem like i am just another "widget" esque crap site. I plan to head the market in my site.
thank you for all of your help, any other suggestions?
I tend to agree in the long run. .info to me seems ideal when the focus of the site is indeed information. To me, when I see widgets.com that is what I'd want to click on if I wanted to by a widget right now. However, if I am looking for information on widgets, widgets.info would be what I would click on. Of course, along with widget info the site could also sell them. ;)
Nope. Domain names with hyphens are a definite plus for search engines. However, excluding search engines they are a negative in terms of marketing.
I tend to agree in the long run. .info to me seems ideal when the focus of the site is indeed information. To me, when I see widgets.com that is what I'd want to click on if I wanted to by a widget right now. However, if I am looking for information on widgets, widgets.info would be what I would click on. Of course, along with widget info the site could also sell them. ;)I don't agree, Unless things change a lot, I think it will never bu much. All I see on these .info sites is crap.
My options are to either spell the domain with a hypen between the words (ex: www.widget-world.com), go with a .net extension to the address, or just try to find another .com extension all togetherI would go with .net before I would put in a hypen(s).
I might just rethink the whole thing and come up with a more origional name all together.
I have a pretty successful hyphenated and non-.com site and it ranks quite well in the search engines. Of course, most of the other variations of the keywords I used (widgets.com, widget-site.com, etc.) either have little content or don't exist. The main .com site using the same keywords does outrank me by quite a bit, but it's got great content so it deserves the ranking. (But it also offers a different type of content than my site, so those who seek out my site but mistakenly type in the .com variation won't stay there for long—it isn't offering them what they are looking for.)
I've got another non-.com domain with a weird name (only obscurely related to the content of the site). It also ranks well in the search engines, mostly because of content. In fact, it often outranks more appropriately named .com domains on the same subject.
While I definitely think that domain names are important to ranking, not having the "perfect" domain name doesn't automatically mean that you won't list well on the Search Engines.
you would suggest to go with a .net even though there is a .com with the same name?I was only saying that if you wanted that name that bad and the .com name was already gone, I would go with .net domain before I would put in a hypen(s).
Unfortunately you better off getting an off-the-wall .com then a really really close .net by my experience...
He's not actually using it, it redirects to his other-name.com This guy has about six domain names pointing to himself and only links to himself.
Anyway the .net could also be an advantage. People remember it because of the .net extension. it may be the only .net domain they have visited. I know my family and friends always remember the .net "I know it was .net but what was your website name again?"
Another advantage could be found in the fact that they have trouble finding it. If they are looking for it they will find it eventually, this time they will bookmark it because they had trouble finding it.
So there are advantages and disadvantages depending on how you look at it.
My stragety is this: if you have high expectations of your sites' future performance, and if you have the budget to register multiple names (available at less than $10.-/year each if you know the way), register multiple names.
Try to find a usefull variation such as somethingwidget.com or widgetsomething.com, and register it at least with and without hyphens, and .com plus .net extensions (that's four domain total; less that $40.-/year). Consider -if budget allows- registering .info, .us (with and without hyphens) also; .org never attrackted me personally, but maybe you will want that one also.
If you can't find that useful variation, consider to drop the widget-part all together and register a yahoo/google type recognizable name without keywords.
In addition to either of the above, if you have any budget left, register domains similar to those of your most important competitors'websites (.net variations of .com names, hyphend names of non-hyphend names, etc) to redirect to your site.
If the site does not live up to your expectations after a few years, let the domains go: you loose a few hundred dollars at most. If you have only one name, and competitors see your success and register all other possible names, you will loose more and get frustrated.
This practice is common, that is why you see so much expired domain buying. Some expired domains in your topic area might have hundreds and thousands of links pointing to them. If you identify these and are able to purchase them, your site will receive valuable traffic from these names.
Also, variations of a domain generate traffic. People get confused and type a word slightly similar.
Here the general industry consensus is that if you are starting a new business, don't use a name unless BOTH the .com AND .co.nz domains for that name are available. The use of hyphens, and .net or .net.nz is relatively unpopular here and generally discouraged. Not only are hyphenated addresses hard to communicate verbally, they're also seldom guessed when people are looking for you online.
My personal feeling is that if the widgetsworld.com is already taken, don't go for the hyphen and don't go for the .net, just pick a new name altogether.
Good luck! :)
