Buying advice

Okay, I am not looking to sell a domain, I want to buy one. I know the niche and I have found about 50 possibles. Supposing I'd buy 5 of the 50, how do I winnow them down to the best 5. What would discount a name entirely for you?

There is one with two hyphens for example, but it is from a well known phrase. Compared with two common words, unhyphenated and often used together in discussion of the subject.

Aaagh. I'm lost. Help me out here. How can you judge the comparative value of one domain over another supposing the end content is the same ?

 

Firstly,
Names with hyphens and numbers will lower the domain value. However, its not the case for SEO purposes. Depending on the words, as long as your users have no problem remembering them, i believe its ok. But it will certainly reduce the value of domain.

Second,
The domain extension. If all the 50 choices you have are .com then congrats
You do not have to worry about this issue, however, if you do not have your desired name with .com, registrating a .net name is also advisable.

Third,
Keywords in your domain. Which one out of the 50 has the most keyword searches for the past month(s)? This should probably be easy if the keywords are obvious like 'FREE' or 'GAME'. If not, pop over to Overture and do a search.

Fourth,

Number of Dictionary.com entries. Is your domain names contain of dictionary words? Try not to exceed three dictionary words as this would make the domain looks longer. Two-words domain works just fine.

Hope the above comments help

 

Hi KC,

All are .com and all are real words. There were lots more but this 50 were good but I can't afford to buy more than a couple.

I don't much care about the value of the domain in itself - but I do want the best SEO impact. If you had a choice between word1word2.com and word1-word2.com, where word1 is strongly associated with word2 and word2 is the main topic, would you from an SEO pov go for the hyphenated version or not?

 

As far as SEO is concerned, there are no differences in both versions, for example, codecss.com is the same as code-css.com in SEO (provided the same amt of SEO was done on both). If i were given two choices, i will definately go for the one without the hyphen (considering the extra value for the domain).

I thought you were asking in the terms of domain value in the first place

 

I'd buy both word1word2.com and word1-word2.com, for simple reason that "word1-word2" gives 2 clean keywords for SEO alchemy)

 

Try getting the domains which are a little catchy and easy to remember/pronounce.

One of my client had a domain GetThatLook. com, i really like this one. Catchy domains with a meaning are good.

word1word2.com is a better option than the hyphened ones.

 

I can't see whether you are speaking about registering new domains or buying old domains, that makes a big difference on the criteria.

 

Strictly from a SEO standpoint, go the hyphenated version.

 

dcristo,

That is what I think too - but I have had it drilled into me that hyphens are BAD. I think from SEO pov that two strong words hyphenated are better than two strong words together. As it happens (as it always bloody happens in my case) the money I had set aside for buying these domains has been swallowed by bills given that money I am owed has not been paid. No doubt my choice will be reduced by next week when I expect to have more dosh.

Not to worry, I think the question is a valid one in any case. And sji2671's point is also very good.

Of course, any domain you intend to buy should be run through Waybackmachine or whatever that is called, to at least check that there is no shifty history attached.

I was just so surprised to find so much choice in an area I thought would be swamped.

Incidentally, I stumbled across another name which I think would be fantastic for anyone in electrical goods - or even politics - I toyed with buying it anyway but in the circumstances, I can't afford to buy what I want never mind what looks vaguely interesting.

I have the feeling this would appeal to a UK electrical outlet and I don't want to just hang it out here because I think it is special.

PM me if you want to know what it is. All I want in return is to know if I am right that this is a hot name or not.

 

Ohhh all the choices... you gotta love it

 

Really. There are so many .coms still available. Just check the history.

 

When I say buying an old domain, yes archive.org can be used for checking the history, however I would

Want the oldest domain
Want one that had the oldest backlinks
Make sure it has never expired
Make sure its got a clean history

But if your talking about buying a brand new domain and are ready to deal with the sandbox there are still some really good .com's available.