Question - Should I use www. at the front of my domain?

I am creating a new website, and want to know if I should use the www. at the front of my domain name?

i.e. should I make my homepage on http://www.example.com or http://example.com?

I don't know what difference it makes, but are there any advantages or disadvantages to this?

Thanks

 

Whichever you prefer!

Just choose one and stick with it.

No,no difference.

 

Great, thanks for the help!

 

i would go with www. its the most popular option

 

always go with www.
you can redirect your example.com to www.example.com

 

It doesn't matter but www is the most common.

 

it really is up to you, generally it doesnt matter but sometimes you are required to use www

 

I rarely use www anymore when typing in url but it's your preference.

 

no difference in SEO but i prefer www so i use a 301 redirect to www.domain.com. whichever you choose, stick with promoting that one string.

 

For internal links I tend to ignore the www prefix, or I set a global variable that I can change as I want. Really up to you, I avoid typing the extra 4 characters (lazy I know) but those less computer literate may prefer the www as a kind of safety net.

 

www. is better

 

how do i go about putting the www. in front?

 

Depends - what CMS are you using?

 

dreamweaver cs3
host: hostgator
domain: namecheap

so if the web surfers type in "domainname.com" or "www.domainname.com" or "domainname" it will not matter. It'll still show in the address bar as www.domainname.com?

 

You'll be happy to know it doesn't matter what you use. Without the www. looks better and shortens it. People are lazy and sometimes don't enter the www., allow both though.

So if someone goes: domainname.com - it goes to your site still.
If someone goes: www.domainname.com - it goes to your site still. Etc.

 

I think it'll look more professional if the is a www. at the front and what Rory says i find it to be true.

 

Sometimes typing the www is highly unceccessary. Why all that extra effort to reach a domain? Typing the domain with http://domainname.com looks better and like I said, it doesn't matter. It's not going to make your site seem like a different url.

Just make sure that you've got your site setup for shorthand and longhand urls and always use a 302 redirect.

 

I understand what your saying but I still like to know how to apply to the domainname.

 

Dreamweaver? That's going to make it quite challenging.

And sorry I can't help with adding the www. to your domain, it should be in the cpanel somewhere though.