settling for a domain name

[Open_Your_Eyes]

I just finished designing a website and am now shopping for a domain name. Since the ideal names are taken, I am considering alternatives. There are a few different ways of getting a close domain name and I'd like some feedback on these options
a) separating words with a - or _
b) tacking an extra word at the end like 'online'
c) settling for a less common extension like .biz or .info

There are drawbacks of each option, but what would you do?

[edwinj]

a) you can get a hyphen -. I don't think you can register a _.

b)if your keyword is single, then adding 'online' at the end is a good idea. If it is 2 words then, 'online' will make it 3. Will that be too long?

c) try to stick with a .com. Other wise there is a possibility you may be losing visitors to the .com version of your domain. But you can consider other extensions depending on your website market. If it is internet or website related, .net would not be a bad choice. If it is information-based, you might consider getting a .info.

[xmx]

Same answer than above for a)

I would stay with a .com even if the domain is a litle longer.

Good luck

[hal]

Hi Open_Your_Eyes,

Truth be told, as long as you can register it, length doesn't seem to matter much any more. Reason -- people don't type much any more. They lazily click on links in search engines, and later in their Favorites file.

That being said, I do agree with the previous comments. Shorter is always better, and .com is best.

Have fun.

Hal