looking for opinions please

[philbate66]

Hi all not sure if im in the right place but if the domain name i want
is not available like

personalloans .co.uk

would you buy

personal-loans .co.uk

this is not the domain by the way and it has 6k exact matches
thanks phil

 

[lazarus]

Depends: Personally I don't use domains with hyphens myself. For me they fail the "radio test" (If said out loud it can be misinterpreted)

It is not so much of a big deal if most of your traffic is coming from web links. But if you are building a brand then I wouldn't.

 

[Adam H]

Same, wouldnt use a hyphenated domain at all. But there are plenty of end users that do.

 

[Sam]

Nothing wrong with a hyphen we have plenty of websites using hyphen that do well.

If you have no option to buy the non hyphen then its really depends on what your doing....

 

[philbate66]

Thanks all ive gone in and got i will let you know in 6 months how it gets on thanks to who replied

 

[WMD40]

Radio test? LOL
Fair enough if you plan on advertising offline on local radio. This is the current year don't you know? Who even listens to mainstream radio now?
"Podcast Test" is the way forward. Can I get a link from an obscure podcast description page to my obscure website is the modern question. If you get a mention on a podcast the chances are you will get a link too. Just below the "please make sure you like and subscribe" button. Or the Patreon donation link

 

[RobM]

'Radio test' doesn't actually mean just on radio. It means any form of audible communication - that could be as simple as communicating your website to another human being in a public place (yes people do still actually socialise in reality) or over a phone (again people still use them to actually talk to others). The more you have to say 'hyphen' or 'number zero instead of O' etc the more chance your domain will be forgotten or misunderstood. It is ONE of the things that weeds out strong domains from weak.

 

[WMD40]

Humans are still verbally communicating? In which society is this happening? I've not personally witnessed this phenomena in at least 20 years. All I see nowadays are eyes glued to smartphone screens. I should probably stop gluing eyes to smartphone screens..

 

[RobM]

I know it's happening - I read about it on wikipedia.

 

[diablo]

For radio test, think word of mouth.

One other issue for hyphenated domains is that you will inevitably lose traffic to the non-hyphenated version. How much will depend on name, your marketing plans, etc.,