|
|
|
Dashes, Numbers and Confusables
[See also: Choosing a Domain Name and 'Type in' Traffic]
Dashes
Domain names can have dashes in them. This is the only non alpha-numeric character allowed in a domain name and it is best to avoid them.
As an example we (Traffic Names Ltd) own DVDplayers.com and DVD-players.com. The former gets
'type-in'
traffic of 589 visitors per month and the latter gets just 4.
If you have dashes in your domain name, traffic intended for your business may well end up at the site of the similar name without the dash.
Numbers
Whilst .com names that feature just numbers can be very popular (our own 15.com, for instance, gets over 2600 visitors a day - mainly
'type-ins'),
it is best not to mix in numbers with words. This is because there can be confusion for visitors who remember your site as "Keyboards For Outdoors" but may not know whether to type Keyboards4outdoors.com or KeyboardsForOutdoors.com. Similarly 7games.com or SevenGames.com.
Confusables
Other confusables worth avoiding include dot/. and u/you. We made this mistake with our
DOTCOMAgency.com
domain and now each time we speak the name of our site or email address we have to clarify that the "dot" at the beginning is spelt d-o-t and not actually a dot!
Also pick descriptive names that can NOT be misspelled easily. If you have decided to go for one that can be misspelled, try to obtain all the alternative versions yourself so that your traffic will not end up at a rival web site.
See also: Choosing a Domain Name and 'Type in' Traffic
|
|