BuyForLess.com WebSite Domains

Visitors might get confused and enter the wrong URL when using hyphens in domain names because. But some domain name experts claim that the potential for search engine success makes the hyphens worth the risk.

The need (or not) for hyphens in your domain name depends on your individual website and your competition online.

Confusing Domain Names?

Hyphenated domain names are hard to read aloud. Imagine giving this domain name over the phone:Really-Cheap-Domain-Names.com “Our domain name is really hyphen cheap hyphen – no, that’s a hyphen on your keyboard, not the word hyphen spelled out. No problem! Let’s start over. really hyphen cheap hyphen domain hyphen names dot com.” It’s best to avoid having more than two hyphens in your domain name. It’s less trouble for visitors to type and easier to read aloud. Visitors forget to include the hypohenations in your domain name. Many users aren’t used to hyphenated domain names and forget to type the hyphens. If a competitor registers a domain name that’s identical to yours – but without the hyphens – visitors may see the competing site instead of yours. You’ll never even realize you’re losing traffic to the competition.Research your competition before you buy a domain name. If you do decide to select a domain name with hyphens, be sure to register the same without hyphens as well and redirect it to your main domain name url address.

Webmasters were excited years ago when they were able to register 63 character domain names instead of the previous limit of 22 characters. Longer domain names give you more choices, but are generally harder to read in one unbroken line.

Look at the difference in these two names:

The capitalization of domain names works great with human eyes, but not for search engine spiders.

However, hyphens of domain names may increase legibility to humans and may help search engine spiders:

They’re easier to read in print. An important offline site promotion strategy is to plaster your URL on every flat surface, from your stationary to print ads to the local soccer team you sponsor.So consider which would be easier to read: Really-Cheap-Domain-Names.com or ReallyCheapDomainNames.com The extra space provided by the hyphen makes a big difference to the human eye. Just be sure it’s worth the extra trouble to read aloud and spell. You get more choices. If the exact domain name you want is taken, consider whether you might benefit from hyphens. But be careful! If you find that your first domain name choice – BuyForLess.com – is taken, don’t automatically register the alternate name with hyphens: Buy-For-Less.com. As we said in the previous section, that may send your traffic to a competing site.However, if you’re registering a domain name for a regionally-specific business or organization and your first choice is taken, you may want to add a hyphen and text that includes location information: DomainNameCenterUSA.com Keywords stand out to humans and search engines. What’s the point of using targeted keywords in your domain name if search engine spiders can’t parse them (separate them from surrounding text)?Search technology has improved enough that most search engines can pull individual words out of a domain name. But there’s always room for confusion. What if your online window treatment business has this domain name?  Have your exact URL used in link text. Remember that a key to domain name links is to have text links contain your targeted keywords. If your domain name is legible to the human eye, another webmaster is more likely to use your domain name as the actual link text.That gives you a boost for having targeted keywords in your domain name and inside link text.

Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages of hyphenated domain names? Up to you to decide.

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