Best name for a forum-site

[materix]

Hi.

What do you think is the best domain name for a forum site?

For instance:

www.programmingforums.com
or
www.programmingforum.com
or
www.programmingtalk.com
or
www.programmingtalks.com
or
www.programmingboard.com
or
www.programmingcommunity.com
or
www.programmingdiscussion.com
........

[Sean]

Of those, I would say programmingtalk is the most fluid... mainly because programming is 3 syllables so it needs to end quick to not drag on.

[materix]

Sean, thx for the reply.

I used the name "Programming" just as an example. The topic I am thinking about actually has 4 syllables...... Maybe I should consider a abbreviated domain-name...

[Chris]

I would use a tool like word tracker to see which phrase is more popular and try to go with that.

[etech-martin]

I would suggest programming-talk.com or programmers-board.com domain name looks fine.

[Cutter]

I would not use dashes in the domain name (although it will be a lot cheaper if you first choice is taken.)

#1 the domain name needs to be easy to remember and contain your main keyword. In many cases you can easily and cheaply run an adwords campaign for "X Forums" or "X Forum." In my experience, this brings in a little traffic but not enough to really get a forum going.

[etech-martin]

1 the domain name needs to be easy to remember and contain your main keyword.

You are right domain name should be easily remember and easily spell. I think to remember, dash used for seperation of words involved in such long name is not bad. However, I would suggest domain name should keep short and simple to easily remember and spell. I think it is not necessary that your domain name should contain keyword as far as SEO is concerned. If you are able to put main keyword in domain, it is good. You should go and check for availablity.

[Cutter]

dashes are fine if everyone is coming from links, but you still have the risk of people mistyping it and telling their friends the wrong name. There is also an added bonus for SEO if people are hyperlinking you domain name because the search engine will see it as multiple words.

Dashes also hurt your credibility. I'm at the point now where I'm dealing with professionals in certain industries to promote some of my sites. If I called one of them up and said, hi its andrew from your dash industry dash blog.com, I would be at a disadvantage before I completed my first sentance.

In other words, if you want a site that you are just going to put up, send some links to, and do little else, dashes are fine. If you want to build a serious site that you have big plans for, don't use dashes.

[etech-martin]

Though you are right, Cutter; The most important reason for using hyphens is readability. Search engine robots read a hyphen as blank space so you don't gai or lose anything with it. However, there is no shortage of hyphanated domains. It can be difficult to explain and may not look good on headed paper and also harder to establish brand name. I would say a well chosen hyphenated domain name can be just as effective as a single word domain name.

[Cutter]

Yes, it all depends on your goals and plans for the site. The cost of premium domains plays a huge "barrier to entry" as far as getting a good non-hyphened domain, so its not even an option sometimes. Even so, I'd rather have ProgrammingTalk or ProgrammingSomething than Programming-Forums.