There are thousands of sites that have made mind-boggling amounts of money with a hyphenated domain name. Some major corporations even use a hyphenated name as their primary site, Tmobile.com actually redirects to T-Mobile.com. While great levels of success are possible with a hyphenated domain name, if you can avoid it, it will save you trouble and frustration when you are trying to build a brand or business.
The disadvantages of domain names with a dash (-)
There are several disadvantages to having a domain name that contains a dash:
- Counter-Intuitive: Domain names with dashes have to overcome the intuitive obstacle. The majority of internet users are accustomed to simply typing in a string of characters without a hyphen.
- The Verbal Factor: When mentioning your site verbally you cannot simply say “Visit us online at www dot my company dot com.” You will end up throwing them a curve ball and saying “Visit us online at www dot my dash company dot com.” While this is something that is possible to communicate, many of the people you speak with will get lost when they hear this domain. Also, if you ever advertise or run promotions on the radio, it makes it much more difficult when you try to direct visitors to your site.
- Lost & Confused: Even in this era of technology and information, there are still those that are not very internet-savvy. You would be amazed at how many people do not know what a dash or hyphen is. A dash or hyphen can be construed as / | _ or one of many other symbols on a keyboard.
- Potential Lost Visitors: Probably the single greatest drawback to hyphenated domains is the traffic you will lose to the non-hyphenated version. You will lose a substantial amount of your traffic to those visitors who type the domain name directly in their browser and are taken to the non-dashed site (that you probably don’t own).
- Tough to Brand: Hyphenated domain names make building a brand more difficult. We have become accustomed to simply typing in words in our browsers.
The advantages of domains with a hyphen:
If you are somewhat savvy with search engine optimization, a domain with a dash may have some appeal to you as this allows you to acquire a domain name with keywords because the other domain names have been registered. From a traffic perspective you may be able to produce some great results to one of these types of domains.
- Keyword-Rich: They are often very keyword-rich and may help with SEO
- Non-Hyphenated Version is Taken: Often, the non-hyphenated variations and versions are all taken
- Drive Traffic: Great at driving traffic through search engines if they contain terms or keywords you are trying to target.
- Easy to Read: When seen on the screen or in print you will be able to more clearly distinguish where words start and end. Example: www.Jeremia-Froyland.com is a bit easier to read than www.JeremiaFroyland.com
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Yes, but all you need to do when using business card, radio ads, etc is to buy a domain without dashes that is easy to remember, and use that with a redirect to the appropriate dashed domain, like TMobile does.
I guess that’s true if you already had an established brand and domain name. I still think that trying to find one without it is the best bet, unless you rely on search engines for the majority of your traffic.