url names

1. 61

   clarkwposted 11 years ago

   Is ther a benefit to appending either "today" or "now" (or something else) to a URL name to get a .com?

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   1. 80

      Rob Wintersposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      no, if you can get a .org or .net  and keep your preferred url title i'd do that instead - they are fine and will rank just as well but i would not choose .info. i know there are others but in general i'd stick with a .com,.org or .net
      you can add hyphens etc between words also

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   2. 89

      Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Rob is right, a .org is just as good as a .com. 
      
      However, you may find even those aren't available, in which case adding "today" or "now" or some other word is much better than settling for a lesser suffix.
      
      For instance, I couldn't get "pointeshoes" but I did manage to get "pointeshoesonline.com".  Similary, "mendsdancewear" was already taken but "mensdancewearonline" was available.
      
      Personally I wouldn't use hyphens or any other punctuation within your domain name.  Ideally, you want a domain name you can give people without having to write it down - what Eric Graudins calls "the Radio Rule".  If the words are run together they'll remember it, but they'll forget a hyphen.

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   3. 65

      SunSevenposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I will say YES, only if your parent domain name is 'news', 'show' 'events', 'life' 'games' 'love' etc.
      
      I would love to own a domain name like newstoday.com.
      
      Basically it should make sense for the people searching for the phrase.
      
      Best Regards

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      1. 61

         clarkwposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you  SunSeven... I apologize for overlooking your response!
         
         Thankfully, I just got an email that alerted me ) 
         
         Your advice is good and makes me wish I had not already purchased "name"today.com.  I think that the addition of "news" as you suggest might have been better )
         
         Thanks Again!
         
         Clark
         
         P.S.  What is your thought about using hypens?

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2. 61

   clarkwposted 11 years ago

   Thanks Rob... I just remember  "get a dot org even if you have to append to the end or use hyphens...

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   1. 80

      Rob Wintersposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hey Clarkw,
      
      i'll try clarify
      
      Just say you ideally  want 
      
      www.mywebsitesname.com but it's unavailable i'd get (if available)
      www.mywebsitesname.org or www.mywebsitesname.net before making other changes like adding additional words
      
      Your other alternative migth be
      www.my-websitesname.com or ww.my-websitesname.org etc
      
      My main point being if i was happy with and had researched my title or keywords in the title that .org or .net are fine alternatives to use if .com is unavailable which i would choose tobefore deciding to modify the title with extra words etc
      
      next i would add hyphens or plurals etc or if i had to add words like 'the' 'my' or 'best' etc  if suitable

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      1. 80

         Rob Wintersposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         i didn't mean for those examples to become active hyperlinks btw i just made them up oops

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         1. 80

            Rob Wintersposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I do agree with marissa that making your site's url easily memorable is very important and can be adversly effected by punctuations in the url but if i needed a specific keyword phrase and that was the only way that's what i'd do.

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3. 61

   clarkwposted 11 years ago

   Thank you both Marisa and Rob.  In this particular case all 3 .com, .net, and .org are already taken (.  So, I'll go with whatevernamenow.com.  Thanks again )

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4. 0

   Website Examinerposted 11 years ago

   This is pretty interesting.

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5. 84

   psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

   If you re going to add a word all that matters is that it is relatively short.  I would suggesting thinking of a word that makes the most sense, not one that screams random SEO (like: new, best,  review)

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6. 61

   clarkwposted 11 years ago

   Sorry to be so slow to respond... had something to take care of...Thanks for the response!  I chose today.
   Thanks,
   Clark

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7. 86

   Azure11posted 11 years ago

   I disagree with not getting a hyphen in a url. I started a website about a month ago where it was 2 shortish words for the keyword and I managed to get word1-word2.com - it is doing much better than I thought (and better than a .net that I started 2 months ago) as most of my searches are coming directly from google for "word1 word2". Also, how many people have to write urls down these days - that is going to be a minute part of your traffic surely?

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   1. 89

      Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I'm not saying that URL's with hyphens won't do well.  It used to be thought that Google didn't like them but I'm pretty sure that's not the case these days.
      
      I'm just saying that if you have a choice, it's better to avoid them.   As Eric says, it's the Radio Rule. 
      
      I have a website called Bellydanceoz about Australian bellydancers. I'm often at bellydance events and I'll tell people about the site.  They don't write it down, but the name is easy for Australians to remember - Bellydance and Oz,which is what we often call Australia.  People can go home and type that into their browser, but if it had a hyphen they'd probably forget it.

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      1. 86

         Azure11posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, fair point Marisa, it's good to have it without the hyphen if it is something that is frequently passed by word of mouth.

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      2. 0

         Website Examinerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I fully agree.

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8. 0

   Website Examinerposted 11 years ago

   I also use hyphens quite a bit, although not from a SEO perspective.

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9. 61

   clarkwposted 11 years ago

   Thank you all!  I agree that the days of whipping out a pen and writing something down on your hand are over.  (Good in a way becasue ballpoint pen and then sharpie palm notes were a pain to wash off  ) !!
   
   So, it seems that whatever seems to make the most sense and is most memorable on a case-by-case basis is the way to go.
   
   Thanks Again,
   
   Clark

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10. 65

    SunSevenposted 11 years ago

    Hi Clark.
    
    I have many surplus domains in my inventory. If you are interested PM me, I will give it to you free if you like any of it. No strings attached!

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11. 0

    Website Examinerposted 11 years ago

    I have been wondering about how to best dispose of an unwanted domain name prior to its expiration.

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