Much talk can be had regarding buying domain names with hyphens or dashes.

The don’t ever buy a domain with a hyphen camp…

There is the camp that is totally against it, as if buying domains with hyphens is an unforgivable sin.

If a hyphenated or dashed domain were the last domain name on earth to use, they wouldn’t dare think of buying and surely not using such a domain name.

The use of hyphens is like breathing camp…

Then some fall into the camp of not blinking an eye at buying and using domain names with hyphens.

This camp of folk buy and use hyphenated domain names even when non-hyphenated domains are available.

The hit-or-miss hyphen camp…

Then you have those in the middle that, depending on the day and hour you catch them, are a hit or miss on buying and using domain names with hyphens.

This crowd tends to base their decision to buy and use domain names with hyphens much like flipping a coin.

They don’t necessarily have a method to their madness for buying or not buying and using dashed domain names.

Which camp do you best relate to, and, more importantly, which camp will stand the test of time?

But no matter the camp you find yourself in, I think it is safe to say that buying and using domains with hyphens is nothing new under the sun in the Internet world.

There will always be a market for selling and buying domain names with hyphens.

But before you scurry off into the deep abyss of buying hyphenated domain names, I’d like to share some thoughts on why and when to consider buying and using domains with hyphens.

First, it was 1And1.com and their new domain name extensions commercials, and now GoDaddy has hopped into the mix promoting new domain name extensions.

I received an email notifying me that new domain name extensions are coming. It’ll be interesting to see how many small business owners and the general public understand Godaddy’s email in its most basic form.  

You will now have a chance to create a new domain name since the .com domain name you’ve always wanted is owned by someone asking an arm and leg for it or has it parked with funny colors and links on pages.  

So, for example, you will have the opportunity to own WomensClothing.shop, WomensClothing.online, WomensClothing.luxury, WomensClothing.blog, and WomensClothing.web since you can’t own WomensClothing.com.

As expressed in Godaddy’s email, the new domain name extensions will open a door of greater opportunity that never existed before. I think GoDaddy did a reasonably good job trying to simplify the tsunami of new gTLDs, or, as called by everyday people, new domain name extensions set to hit the domain market by the end of this year.

Having been involved with SEO in various roles over the last 10 or more years, I’ve had my fair share of conversations dealing with a wide variety of theories and hypothesis concerning the best approach to a company’s SEO efforts.

From in-house SEO to outsourced SEO, I’ve seen SEO efforts range from being planned, implemented, executed, measured and sustained flawlessly to those SEO efforts that were DOA or dead on arrival once the SEO efforts were executed. I’ve also seen and experienced mediocre SEO efforts.

My point is, there is no one-size fits all SEO effort. Whether in-house or outsourced, consider your SEO effort to be unique in its own right.

That’s not to say you should not focus on SEO fundamentals, but it is to say that you should always enter SEO knowing that there is no guarantee either way.

Well, it’s the second day of the second half of the year.  And my question to most customers and potential customers is, “What did you do with the first half of the year?”

Personally speaking, the first six months of the year was phenomenal for me both on a personal and professional level.

My hope is that you set and achieved goals on both a personal and professional level.

As it relates to business, I hope your business has been able to make leaps and bounds in achieving greater customer growth and revenue.

That said, today wraps up our series: SEO Audit Increases SEO Effectiveness.  I hope that both Part I and Part II have helped you identify opportunities for SEO growth as well as confirm SEO successes.

Too, I hope you’ve had a chance to perform a SEO Audit or have an SEO Audit performed on your website.

If not, what are you waiting for?  Time is passing by and so are endless opportunities to increase search rankings, traffic, customers and sales.

In today’s post, we’ll discuss how performing a SEO audit will help shed light on the dark areas of your website and benchmark your SEO efforts in comparison to the competition.

Let’s move full speed ahead.