The very best domain name

Please help to choose domain name

[dend]

Here are few examples:

2-blue-widgets.com
2-bluewidgets.com

blue-widgets.DE
bluewidgets.DE

What will be the best to choose? What do you think so about international TDL's?

Web site will be in English!

And if I will choose with .com will that "2-" be penalized? Or better risk with .DE

Also it that "-" symbol in domain name is bad or good?

Any ideas are welcome.

[leppjc]

My 2 cents. Our corporate website is in the 'blue-widget.com' format and if we had to do it over again, I would not recommend it. Widget.com was already taken which is why we went with the dash.

A dash is just non-standard enough to confuse people, especially those who are not particularily web literate.

It's not so bad if all people need to do is click on an existing link, but if you need to verbally tell someone your URL, i.e. for an email address "[e-mail]" it takes more effort to make sure they have it right.

[chrisnrae]

When I bought the domain for a corporate-type site I am building, I bought both versions - the dashed and non (blue-widget.com and bluewidget.com). We plan to use the dashed version to host the site on and are going to 301 redirect the non dashed version for type in mistakes. If you go the .de route, I would buy both and use some variation of this type of strategy. Assuming this is for a corporate/business site.

[rfgdxm1]

>My 2 cents. Our corporate website is in the 'blue-widget.com' format and if we had to do it over again, I would not recommend it. Widget.com was already taken which is why we went with the dash.

>A dash is just non-standard enough to confuse people, especially those who are not particularily web literate.

The solution here if it is possible to to buy both blue-widget.com and bluewidget.com, and put a permanent redirect bluewidget.com to blue-widget.com. Thus even if people do get confused they end up at your site anyway. :)

[Powdork]

Does email follow 301 redirects too?

[XMLMania]

Just setup mail forwarding for emails.

[rfgdxm1]

>Just setup mail forwarding for emails.

Right. I believe that e-mail is totally separate from webhosting, in that it is logically possible to use e-mail servers for a domain that is different than the host of the website.

[JuniorOptimizer]

2-blue-widgets.com

I would run with that one. Even links with no specific anchor text reference the keyords, eh?

[randle]

JuniorOptimizer,

I agree with you, years from now you will have many more links than the other options. So many well meaning linking partners do not get the anchor text proper.

IMHO that’s the one to pick.

[nuevojefe]

It depends how often you'll have to say it vs. how much benefit (if any) you feel you will derive by having the -'s.

Bad choices (when it comes to saying my email addy is something@....): numbers spelled or written in numerals, z's instead of s's or similar, plural right before another s-word, hyphens, .onething.anotherthing extensions (sorry co.uk), and abreviations that sound like a word - for instance: IM sounds like I am, or MT sounds like empty.

[dend]

Thank your for ideas.

OK so I will go on 2-blue-widgets.com

Now lets say I will optimize, add content and link to 2-blue-widgets.com with link text "blue widgets"

And will add 301 redirect to 2bluewidgets.com (just for our clients, so they could type the domain easy)

Will it be good?

Or maybe to go with 2bluewidgets.com? I mean, do search engines have a good skills to find the keywords in domain name?

[chrisnrae]

I'd go with your first choice if it were me. That's exactly what we're doing with one of our new sites.

[MHes]

If you go with .com make sure the hosting is in your country.... for local searches.

[dend]

But if search engines were a human so they could rate 2bluewidgets.com higher than 2-blue-widgets.com, it is more easy to type I think..

and the idea of search engines algo is to work like a human

[canuck]

To dash, or not to dash: that is the question... It really depends on:

what type of site you are creating (ex. affiliate vs. retail)

how long-term you are thinking

how big a project it is

and what your sources of traffic will be (online/offline, search engine/ppc, repeat visitors, etc)

If you are creating an affiliate website then dashes / numbers / .com / .net... most likely who cares (unless you are a long-term thinker with long-term plans for the website, as well as wanting repeat visitors). In fact, dashes in the domain will help with anchor text as previously stated by lazy-linkers.

However, if you wish to brand this new site (perhaps the site is a retailer/reseller and not an affiliate of), then avoid dashes.

With dashes you will be confusing/diluting any branding efforts. Imagine, for instance, your site is featured on tv or in print and they mention your dashed domain but didn't know of the non-dashed domain (how were they to know of the 301 redirect!). Branding with a dashed domain?! Blah! (And maybe more importantly, what percent of visitors will become repeat visitors with your-dashed-domain.com? Are repeat visitors even in your strategy?)

Not to mention that the SEs are starting to show evidence of being able to decipher keywords in non-dashed domains.

So, how long will there be any benefit to a dashed domain, and more to the point, how long will you have to struggle in the future with your decision for some short-term gain?

[Pibs]

I prefer dashes myself.

The main culprit is underscores, because links are usually underscored anyway.

So blue_widget.com looks like blue widget.com, which can confuse the heck out of people when it doesn't work.

On the phone you can say "blue, dash, widget, dot com" no problem.

I have however found that when you try and explain to someone "It's all one word" you then get a call complaining that

bluewidgetdotcom

doesn't work..

P.

[py9jmas]

So blue_widget.com looks like blue widget.com, which can confuse the heck out of people when it doesn't work.

I don't think there is a single registrar out there that will let you register domain names with underscores in them. Squid proxy server doesn't support the underscore by default, and it's debatable if the standards allow it.