I've looked and found that the domain with the same name as my game title has been registered (but not active). I can't change the title of my game so I was thinking about using the same name but add dash (-) in the domain name. For ex. it should be flipflop.com but now I change it to flip-flop.com. Do you think it's a good thing to do ? A friend of mine told me that using dash will only create a confusion and typo, not to mention that google ignores that certain character. Is that true ? Anyway, any information or advice will be appreciated.. thank you
Google only ignores that character if it preceeds a word (like "this -that", "that" wouldn't be found). If it's to concatenate two words, Google handles it fine. However, I'd suggest you just come up with another (better) name. Unless your game has something to do with sandals. Why do you need a specific site for your game? Why not just host it on your own company's server? I know a lot of bigger companies like to keep their games on their own domains, but that's typically because someone might want to look it up on the Internet and try "gamename.com" first. If someone is specifically looking for your game, I doubt they're gonna try "flipflop.com". Because you're trying to sell the game over the Web, your (potential) customers are already going to know you from your site. In other words: your presence exists on the internet, so they're not going to read an ad in GamerMag Monthly and go looking for your game. They're only going to know you from your homepage, and if they've gotten that far, they now know how to find you, and therefore the game. I think it's a waste of money to get another domain.
My site has a hyphen it it's name, and I wish, today, that it didn't. It's very difficult in a spoken exchange to get someone to understand how to type in the address.
Heh. How many times have you had to spell lexaloffle I had similar toroubles in the past. That's one of the factors with my current business. Everyone knows how to spell Screaming Duck, and hardly anyone ever forgets. The visualization memory thing is unavoidable.
Humph, nobody told me that "Squashy" was such a hard word to spell, or say, or remember properly even after I've corrected you fifty times, but apparently it is.
mmm i dunno but : gamename.com or namegame.com isn't catchy enough for me and I haven't seen one site using it yet, what do you think ?
I think using dashes in a domain name really dates the company (sorry to those who have them It was used lightly in the mid to late 90s, but after that, virtually nonexistent. Just doesn't seem to convey a professional image (at least to me) and, like everyone else has mentioned, hard to verbalize. Its tiring enough to say "EnjoyGames.com" - but immediately following that it is Injoy with an I....let alone trying to throw a dash in there. Mark, is the de-dashed domain name not avaliable for you? Could just do a redirect.
Not my first choice but . . . www.ballmastergame.com www.whatsnewgame.com www.chowdergame.com They all work nicely too! -JPG
I've asked the guy that owns laughingdragon.com to sell, but he's not interested. Sort of ticks me off because he's not even using it for anything but a personal site. I also have laughingdragongames.com and laughingd.com, the first for use in conversation, the second for quick typing for myself, though neither of them are hooked to my email.
Heh, I know what that is like. For over a decade, some dude has camped out on my ideal domain name. His site has one page, and all it says is that he will never ever ever ever sell the domain, and please don't ask because it will only waste time your time and his. It's had that same message for years. What a shining testament to personal integrity and unselloutability that site must be for him! Bastard. -Erik
well.. im going to wait for a month while : a. searching for a new title for my game b. negotiating with the dude who squat the domain if all failed, i'll go with the ____game.com !!! thanks guys
Well, seing as "flip flop" is a type of footwear, I doubt you'll have a chance to get it; it'll probably cost an arm and a leg. Good luck with your other plan, though!
As being long in web biz and being such a lazy person I'm with your friend here: using dash will only create a confusion and typo. Don't know about google - but typos are enough for me. flipflop.com is better than flip-flop.com. --- As those have been registered, why not start using your "I Play" text there... like: iplayflipflop.com ? or AllDayFlipFlop.com?