Dashes in Doman Names???

[ted]

Hey guys, I need your input. What is your opinion on using dashes, - in domain names?
I know it's not ideal, but my new marketing people think Ad-VentureVideo DOT com is a great domain name since that is our name. :)
I have always been against using underscores and dashes. But they are confident it would be fine and benefit as a branding tool.
Along with the web address, this would also be the e-mail.
Am I over thinking this? With our name as one consideration what are your thoughts?

On a side note, how do you guys feel about the .tv extention as in our current editbay DOT tv. I own both the .com and .tv.

Thanks guys for being a sounding board. :help:

[art]

I used to work for a company that had "-" in their domain name.
Apparently, they do not hurt your search engine rankings but may be more difficult for people to remember. Also, they might cause troubles and confusion when pronouncing the name of the website
Personally, I'd avoid them but that's only me.

[JeffrySG]

Yeah, I agree with Art. But if you are going to use it, you might want to check if there is a site that is the same name without the dashes. If there is, are they a competitor? Will it hurt if some people go there instead? If there isn't another site you could get that domain also and forward all incoming email and web access to the real site.

[OnlineRender]

hmmm www.i_think_its_a_no_no.com

talking about domain names
Best price for them?????? one.com or 1and1.co.uk or godady -good service for me

a few years back i bought alot of .in domains like media.in medicine.in alot of crappy ones like that ,made a nice profit :)

thats another reason i got onlinerender.com :)

[OnlineRender]

Ad-VentureVideo




i can understand there view ! but why not

adv.li its avilable , OR advv.dk available 6.00
advv.se available 8.00
advv.com taken 9.00
advv.net available 9.00
advv.org available 9.00
advv.info taken 12.00
advv.biz available 12.00
advv.co.uk available 6.00
advv.me.uk available 6.00
advv.org.uk available 6.00
advv.nl available 4.50
advv.de taken 4.50
advv.be available 6.00
advv.eu available 8.00
advv.name available 6.00
advv.mobi available 9.00
advv.cn taken 6.00
advv.at available 9.00
advv.ch available 12.00
advv.li available 12.00
advv.es available 6.00
advv.it available 6.00
advv.cz available 9.00
advv.pl available 6.00
advv.in available 6.00
advv.me

[OnlineRender]

Domain Status Annual fee in GBP

lightwave.dk taken 6.00
lightwave.se taken 8.00
lightwave.com taken 9.00
lightwave.net taken 9.00
lightwave.org taken 9.00
lightwave.info taken 12.00
lightwave.biz taken 12.00
lightwave.co.uk taken 6.00
lightwave.me.uk available 6.00
lightwave.org.uk taken 6.00
lightwave.nl available 4.50
lightwave.de taken 4.50
lightwave.be available 6.00
lightwave.eu taken 8.00
lightwave.name available 6.00
lightwave.mobi available 9.00
lightwave.cn taken 6.00
lightwave.at available 9.00
lightwave.ch taken 12.00
lightwave.li available 12.00
lightwave.es taken 6.00
lightwave.it available 6.00
lightwave.cz available 9.00
lightwave.pl taken 6.00
lightwave.in taken 6.00




Just an IDEA

[ted]

Wow, thanks for the quick replies!
Yup, I know there are a lot of variables, but .com or .tv is about it.
I still get people who can't handle .tv. :D

I HATE it when people keep changing phone #'s and e-mail addresses. So whatever I go with will stick for a long time.

Thanks and I'm still looking for more input if you got it.

[OnlineRender]

I gather the your client target audince fit into the young criteria ?

I would go with what you peers think . .AD-V..............

i still dont agree with it, but the evidence for is stronger

[ted]

I gather the your client target audince fit into the young criteria ?

At this point, my doctor is almost younger, the cop that pulls me over is younger and the clients seem to be getting younger every year! :D

I'm starting to get e-mail replies to some of the people I asked and ad-venturevideo is doing OK. Against what I would have thought, but it's looking better.
The .tv is about 50-50 right now.
More input is welcome.

[OnlineRender]

you might aswell cut out the small talk and use this LOL

Domain Status Annual fee in GBP

givemeyourmoney.dk available 6.00
givemeyourmoney.se available 8.00
givemeyourmoney.com taken 9.00
givemeyourmoney.net taken 9.00
givemeyourmoney.org taken 9.00
givemeyourmoney.info available 12.00
givemeyourmoney.biz available 12.00
givemeyourmoney.co.uk taken 6.00
givemeyourmoney.me.uk available 6.00
givemeyourmoney.org.uk taken 6.00
givemeyourmoney.nl available 4.50
givemeyourmoney.de taken 4.50
givemeyourmoney.be available 6.00
givemeyourmoney.eu available 8.00
givemeyourmoney.name available 6.00
givemeyourmoney.mobi available 9.00
givemeyourmoney.cn taken 6.00
givemeyourmoney.at available 9.00
givemeyourmoney.ch available

[kojean]

I think using a dash is fine, especially if it's the way your company is usually printed and if the non-dash version is already taken. If both versions were available, I would try to register both. Otherwise, dashes between words at natural breaks are fine for a company site. The site and content really matter more than the domain.

You might lose a small amount of traffic to typos or if people are searching for your site without knowing the URL, but since the dash-less version of the domain is just a parking page, your site should eventually rise higher in ranking when it has real content and incoming links.

I personally would stay away from .tv in most cases, unless it's a media related company (like yours is). I'd rather have a .com with a dash at a natural break than a .tv.

[ted]

Thanks for that. Especially the .tv thought. I thought it made sense, but many of our clients are non-media companies and people that don't get the .tv as we insiders do.
The e-mail poll I took is about 75% saying the dash is no big deal and 60% or more saying stay away from the .tv.

Sure was enlightening to me and a relief since I bought it already. :D
Thanks for all your replies!

[DiedonD]

Too fast Ted. I juse woke up :)

For what its worth, unless its going to be a 24/7 or so, non stop media over the internets, Id stay away from the .tv aswell If I were you.

[inquisitive]

Typically the concern in terms of domain names is how simple they are for your clients to remember and type, typically shorter domain names are better.

The other aspect is to try to own both the dashed and non dashed version, so that no matter how they type it, they get to your site. The other side of the coin is that you want to make sure that as you build your Internet identity you are not sending traffic to someone else's site, and what I mean by this is that some people will make the mistake of not including the dash and land on the other site you may not own (at times no matter how many times you tell them otherwise ;) )

.com domains are more valuable in terms of recognition (most people automatically type .com, less chance of them typing .tv) however in terms of owning both, what you would want to do is decide which of the two will be your main domain, if the .com will be the one, then just forward the .tv to the .com domain.

Typically registering more than one TLD (ie. .net / .org / etc) is mainly used to prevent some other person from creating a crappy and/or spam type site in the hopes that your visitors wont remember your domain name.com and land in theirs, and unfortunately there are some people outhere that try to outrank you in the search engines with a different tld (at times by stealing your own content).

The .tv domain though could be used for video business, however bottom line is how you market yourself and the emphasis you place on whatever domain you use.