Hyphenated and non hyphenated domains

[RonaldWeis]

A friend of mine always registers two versions of the same (several word) domain names, the hyphenated and non hyphenated ones. I think it's a good idea. Just one question, which version do you think is better to use for the main websites?

[Harry]

Non hyphenated domain names are preferred since they are easy to remember, spell out. In case the required domain name is not available then you can try adding a hyphen to check availability but it's not the recommended to go this way.

[Gerald]

Yes, non hyphenated domains are preferred so in that case I would suggest to use the non hyphenated domain names for the actual websites, then redirect the hyphenated domains to them.

[Rachael]

In my opinion it does not really matter whether you use a hyphenated domain name or a non hyphenated domain name; as long as it is appropriate and matches the nature of your website.

[GeorgieQ]

Maybe your friend is getting both versions to protect her domain name and prevent someone from intentionally or unintentionally using the same name in hyphenated form.

I agree about using the non-hyphenated version and redirecting the URL for the hyphenated name. For branding, a non-hyphenated domain name would be my choice.

[Geoffrey]

I prefer the non hyphenated version either. If someone else had registered a non hyphenated domain name, I wouldn't want to register the hyphenated version even if it's available.

[Crowbar]

I don't know why people stay away from hyphenated domains. I mean, it's not a big deal to tell someone that your website is "my (hyphen) website (dot) com" instead of "mywebsite (dot) com". Do you think that if instead of YouTube it would have been You-Tube, would it have affected the site's popularity?

[Steffee]

I think the website content is all that matters. hyphenated or non hyphenated domain name wouldn’t matter.

[Bushgrass]

I agree, it doesn't really matter whether you register a hyphenated or non hyphenated domain. Though, in the case that both versions are available, you should choose the non hyphenated one.

[jazzybiz]

If people are accessing your website mainly from links, it isn't much of an issue. One thing is for certain. The domain registrars make a lot of money from people registering all of these variations.

[leffler]

Many domain names that are hyphenated do well, and many that aren't hyphenated do well. Concentrating on getting traffic to your site I suspect is what makes the difference in the end.