Long domain names – upwards of 50 to 67 characters in length- are generally considered beneficial if they have site keywords in them.  This can offer an advantage with a number of search engines.

Overall, I am a fan of shorter domain names.  I find typing a long one to be a chore and inevitably I enter it wrong and have to start over!   Now, I am not opposed to long domain names, but recommend avoiding extremely long ones over 67 characters.  Really long domain names are hard to remember and are hard to fit as a title on your web page.

What if you find the perfect domain name but only the hyphenated version is available?

The main disadvantage with a hyphenated name is that it’s easy to forget the hyphen, especially if the web address is passed on by word of mouth.  Imagine saying this at your networking event, “We’ve got a great website: www dot A1 hyphen home hyphen decorating dot com”   Yeah, right.  That person types it in without the hyphens and ends up at your competitor’s site.  Oops.

One advantage, though, is that search engines see your domain name separated by hyphens as a string of key words and that may bring higher ranking results for your site.  That said, I would advise against using more than two hyphens.

A great alternative to using hyphens is using capital letters in your domain name (e.g. WorldWideWeb.com).  Domain names are not case sensitive.  You are free to have it printed on your business cards using capital letters for each word.

What about including “the” or “and” or using an “s” to make it plural?  If it is appropriate and meaningful then go ahead.  It makes more sense to have ToysforPets.com instead of ToyforPet.com.

Be sure to search for your perfect domain name at www.comstar.biz.