Wanted: Domain Appraisal My first purchase - good or bad deal?

[FCP]

I have caught quite a few domains and reged a few over the years but this is the first one i have purchased. The domain is home-networking.com and it cost me £500. I am going to use to help people setup small networks in the home (and make a few $$$ too). As i have not been in this position before i just what to know if you think this was a good or bad deal?

 

[itrends]

It's a good domain name. If you plan to properly set up a site on there with lots of good information, guides and resources then it should do very well.

As long as you make sure you write lots of unique content and guides then even if you don't get around to turning it into a business it will sell very well

Good luck with the site!

 

[FCP]

Yes that’s what I plan to do. I have been working as a sysadmin on for the last 15 years, predominantly in the infrastructure, comms and security fields.

I would like to cover the following areas and offer guides and obviously equipment and software sales:-

How to physically connect PCs together
Setting up a workgroup and sharing resources
Running a small server for the home
Connecting your network to the internet safely

I finished my job in IT last year to work on my hobbies full time (Photography and Martial Arts) but I still contract for my old employer now and again.

 

[itrends]

If you produce gudies that computer noobs can follow then you could be a big hit. Think about creating the guide that other 'tech friends' can chuck at the people asking them the crazy questions.

 

[ratboy]

Add a help/support forum and people should be asking the type of questions that people also type in the search engines - i.e. long tail keywords and phrases which done well will make your site very popular.

 

[FCP]

Thanks for the input guys. The forums is a great idea and something that will help the site grow. I have used Snitz forums in the past but I think I will be looking for a .Net setup this time, anyone have any good suggestions. Can anyone recommend a good .Net CMS solution as this would save me time on the design side? Obviously it must have good SEO potential too.

 

[staffjam]

I think hyphenated domains are currently Waaayyy undervalued, and should see a significant increase in price over the coming years.
Also the Se's don't penalise them for the hyphen.

 

[FCP]

From what people have been saying i think the '-' can even help SEO.

 

[itrends]

Speak as an seo specialist for the last 6 or so years, the hyphen makes no difference these days to the search engines.

However visually it can catch the eye of a user better.

Its a good name. Wish I had it.

 

[holgate]

Oh oh....

Sorry to be controversial but I dont like hyphens in domain names, the SEO angle may be valid but when it comes to telling others about your site or other people suggesting your site verbally it can sound a bit naff having to say blah hyphen blah dot whatever

IMHO

 

[itrends]

Sorry to be controversial but I dont like hyphens in domain names, the SEO angle may be valid but when it comes to telling others about your site or other people suggesting your site verbally it can sound a bit naff having to say blah hyphen blah dot whatever

IMHO

I agree with that though. For a BIG brand you can't have them. Imagine it was you-tube.com or micro-soft.com ....

 

[FCP]

I agree but most of my customers will be obtained online rather than word of mouth.

I think I am better to have two good keywords with a hyphen rather than two poor ones without the hyphen.

If I was setting up a site that relied on word of mouth I don't think I would even consider a domain containing a hyphen.

 

[itrends]

I agree with you FCP. I said "big brands". But it is clear that most your business will come from online. Hell, if you needed to brand offline you can just register a different name. This domain is all about the traffic.

 

[jimmc]

Your partly right, the hypen at one time I believe helped as far as the engines are concerned but it does devalue the name.

But its a good name, descriptive of what its about - I agree develop it, get good content on it and add the forum.

And from there with a little shopping-cart you can probably sell low-value, but i hope for you "high-volume" products to your clients.

Best of Luck with it.

 

[FCP]

Sedo wants to charge me 3% extra if i pay for this domain name using paypal. Is there a cheaper way?