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Am I MAD?

by Jake Howard
12 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi All,

I am in the process of developing a new site for my targeted keyword which is Construction Signs

Anyway, I ended up purchasing two domains:

Construction-Signs.com.au for $24.00
ConstructionSigns.com.au for $899.00

Now despite spending $899.00 for the later, I am actually thinking of going with the $24.00 option www.construction-signs.com.au for the following reasons.

1. construction-signs.com.au is easier to read and brand than constructionsigns.com.au
2. I often associate exact match domains with a dodgy, parked or redirected site, so by taking the hyphenated option, I feel it distances me somewhat from the exact match domains.
3. I thought it might look a bit more legit on Adwords

Am I mad for doing this? Have I just committed SEO Suicide, or will it have little impact?

Cheers

Jake
#mad
  • Profile picture of the author Jesse L
    It is just like any other site, keep everything straight and honest and the domain will not matter. Run a cheap auto blog then, well, it is doomed before you start.

    You'll be fine
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  • Profile picture of the author UMS
    I certainly wouldn't have forked out the $900 for the non-hyphenated domain.
    However, now that you have both, there's no real SEO difference as to which one you use, so just go with the one you prefer.
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  • Profile picture of the author lovboa
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Jake Howard View Post


    1. construction-signs.com.au is easier to read and brand than constructionsigns.com.au
    2. I often associate exact match domains with a dodgy, parked or redirected site, so by taking the hyphenated option, I feel it distances me somewhat from the exact match domains.
    3. I thought it might look a bit more legit on Adwords
    1. I actually think constructionsigns,com.au is easier to brand.
    Isn't it better and easier to tell people your site is construction signs dot com and not construction dash signs dot com? ---'No the dash is not the word dash, but the sign dash.' ... 'Yeah, next to the 0.'

    2. Many exact match domains are associated with thin MFA sites but thats not really for two word domains. That's more for like.. www,howtobuildaconstructionsign,com.

    3. Again, I think constructionsigns,com looks more legit than with the dash.
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    • Profile picture of the author TuNguyen
      What Lov Boa said.

      Originally Posted by lovboa View Post

      1. I actually think constructionsigns,com.au is easier to brand.
      Isn't it better and easier to tell people your site is construction signs dot com and not construction dash signs dot com? ---'No the dash is not the word dash, but the sign dash.' ... 'Yeah, next to the 0.'

      2. Many exact match domains are associated with thin MFA sites but thats not really for two word domains. That's more for like.. www,howtobuildaconstructionsign,com.

      3. Again, I think constructionsigns,com looks more legit than with the dash.
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  • Profile picture of the author The Mysterious Marketer
    Originally Posted by Jake Howard View Post

    Hi All,

    I am in the process of developing a new site for my targeted keyword which is Construction Signs

    Anyway, I ended up purchasing two domains:

    Construction-Signs.com.au for $24.00
    ConstructionSigns.com.au for $899.00

    Now despite spending $899.00 for the later, I am actually thinking of going with the $24.00 option www.construction-signs.com.au for the following reasons.

    1. construction-signs.com.au is easier to read and brand than constructionsigns.com.au
    2. I often associate exact match domains with a dodgy, parked or redirected site, so by taking the hyphenated option, I feel it distances me somewhat from the exact match domains.
    3. I thought it might look a bit more legit on Adwords

    Am I mad for doing this? Have I just committed SEO Suicide, or will it have little impact?

    Cheers

    Jake
    Hmm... You are not mad. Perhaps it's more of personal preference.

    But actually, adding the hyphen makes it seem more dodgy than without the hyphen. It's not a big deal though, since you only have two words (construction and sign). If you had three words, it would seem very dodgy.

    However, in truth... well, maybe it's just me, but it looks a lot better than without hyphen.

    I think maybe without the hyphen might be easier to brand. The reason being because if your customers were to hear your domain name by ear, they might not realize that there is a hyphen there, or they might forget it.

    On the other hand, what you can do since you have the option both is to go with the hyphenated one if you like, and then redirect the non-hyphenated one to go to the hyphenated one. So that if visitors mistakenly visit the other one, they will be redirected to your site.
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  • Profile picture of the author thebitbotdotcom
    Go with the non-hyphenated domain. In my experience, people tend to leave hyphens out when typing them in a browser just because they forget.

    I would 301 the hyphenated version to the non-hyphenated version and get to work.
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    • Profile picture of the author jonnyhardbaked
      Originally Posted by thebitbotdotcom View Post

      Go with the non-hyphenated domain. In my experience, people tend to leave hyphens out when typing them in a browser just because they forget.

      I would 301 the hyphenated version to the non-hyphenated version and get to work.
      I would agree with this one. Since you have bought almost the same domains, you could set a 301 redirect.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jake Howard
    Thanks everyone for your feedback. Glad to know that I am not 100% mad.

    UMS, I agree that I didnt need to fork out the $900 for non-hyphenated domain, but we wanted to dominate this particular keyword, and didn't want someone else getting hold of it.

    Lovboa and TMM also make good points, about the non-hyphenated domain appearing more legit and being easier to brand. I guess I am looking at it as follows:

    1. Do people actually type in domain names anymore, or do they just google?
    2. I plan on diverting the non-hyphenated domain to the main site?
    3. When comparing the two names, I thought that the hyphenated domain would make it easier to recognise the two words, as it just wasnt as clear or easy to pick up when there was no hyphen.
    4. I agree that Hyphens normally make a website look suss, and it is a bit contradictory for me to say that a hyphenated domain is more legit, but when I typed them both out in the same format that they would appear on Google, for some reason the hyphenated domain just appeared to look a bit better to me.

    Once again, thanks for all your feedback and advice.

    Cheers

    Jake
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    www.inksigns.com.au
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    • Profile picture of the author The Mysterious Marketer
      Hi Jake.

      1. Do people actually type in domain names anymore, or do they just google?
      They actually do. Not everyone of course, but there are many who do. There is actually a subset of people who don't even use Google. They only use the address box. And when they want to search for shirts for instance, they type in shirts.com. Or if they're searching for shoes, they type in shoes.com.

      Well, this is not everyone, but domains who get this type of type-in traffic are highly valued.

      Back to your question, yes people actually type in domain names. Myself for instance... Because it's quicker than going to Google.

      2. I plan on diverting the non-hyphenated domain to the main site?
      Well, I don't see any problem with that.

      3. When comparing the two names, I thought that the hyphenated domain would make it easier to recognise the two words, as it just wasnt as clear or easy to pick up when there was no hyphen.
      Well, you are actually right. It is true that the hyphenated domain would be easier to tell apart the two words. But the thing is, are you planning to market your domain name alone?

      Most people market their brand name primarily, and the domain name is just a side thing. If you are doing this, then I don't think it really matters if it's easier to tell the two words apart. Right? No one's going to look at your domain name, and try to guess your brand name from that.

      On another note, even if you are planning to market your domain name, when doing graphics or printing, you can easily put a small space in between the two words or capitalize the beginning words so that people can tell the two apart with ease. Like this:

      ConstructionSigns.com.au

      or

      Construction Signs.com.au

      See? It has the same effect as the hyphen right?

      4. I agree that Hyphens normally make a website look suss, and it is a bit contradictory for me to say that a hyphenated domain is more legit, but when I typed them both out in the same format that they would appear on Google, for some reason the hyphenated domain just appeared to look a bit better to me.
      If that is true, then it might help you in terms of CTR from searchers on the search engine results page. But you won't know that far sure unless you do some testing...
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      • Profile picture of the author Jake Howard
        Thanks for the extra feedback TMM.

        I agree that people still do type in the domain, although I think that it could be getting less and less common, with google predictive search and accuracy making things easier and also the increase in mobile web surfing.

        One of the problems I have got with constructionsigns.com.au is that when reading it, the "s" for signs, reads as though it could be a plural for the word construction. Getting this right is important for me, because I intend to do fair bit of advertising on Google Adwords, and from experience I have found that displaying the right domain name is pretty important in convincing potential customers to click.

        We are looking to use the domain as the business name. We can't call ourselves "Construction Signs" because it is too generic, so we are calling ourselves "Construction-Signs.com.au"

        Obviously we won't be calling ourselves "Construction Hyphen Signs dot com dot au" we will just call ourselves "Construction Signs dot com dot au" but when its in writing we will use the hyphen.

        Hopefully redirecting the non-hyphened domain will alleviate the problem, because if people type the domain or email us without the hyphen, it will still work.

        Cheers

        Jake
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        www.inksigns.com.au
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  • Profile picture of the author Harry Nguyen
    Is you mad man? Not sure, you tell me how you feel lol. If I were you, I would be mad, buying a domain worth near $900... It's kind of a waste of money for both, you don't get one with a hyphen man, at least put a "stop" word to it...
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