Nett Knowledge Blog

When do you use dashes in your domain name?

If both versions of a 3-or-more-word domain are available, use dashes because they make the word breaks more obvious to the eye. Also, the engines usually treat a dash as a space. So they may be more likely to "see" the entire string as separate words.

For example, which is easier to read?...

pricing-on-the-net.com or... pricingonthenet.com

Dashes are less important if your domain name has only two words in it. See how netpricing.com and cyberpricing.com don't really need the help of a dash?

Use dashes (even if the domain only has two words) if the non-dash version is already being used by someone else. But be sure that you are not violating anyone's trademark (details on this below).

Note: If your business is 99%+ online, the offline issues of dealing with dashes are not so important (i.e., telling people how to spell it, people forgetting to put the dash after reading your print ad, etc.).

Here's the bottom line...

Domain names are so cheap that it's a good idea to take both versions (with and without the dash), just to make sure that a competitor does not take names that could be confused with yours. You can always make one domain point to the main one.

For information about SiteSell's "Name Park It!" option, see this TNT HQ article. You will be able to access Name Park It! after you register your SBI! site's domain and build your home page. (It's in the Activity Center in Site Central.) For now, though, register the domain you plan to use for your site.

Offline vs. Online, and Branding

If you already have an offline business, it may be important to use your business name as your domain name rather than create a new domain name for it. On the other hand, you could give the site a name that uses your VPP, then use Name Park It! to park and redirect your business name to your site. This works particularly well with business cards and other forms of offline, local marketing.

If you want to brand your site, you'll want to get really creative and come up with a one word domain name. For example, if you wanted to brand a site about credit cards, you might use the name "creditopia.com" or "crediteria.com" (sorry, they're both taken!). Easy to remember, and have a VPP ("credit utopia" or "credit cafeteria").

Or you may find a domain name by simply adding a letter or two as a prefix or suffix to your site concept keyword (ex., ianguilla.com).

You'll have to be more creative to come up with a short domain name that's still available, but a little extra time spent now could pay big dividends later.

Learn more about this process at: http://actionguide.sitesell.com/special_information.html and go to day 5.