discuss What makes for a good brandable domain ? Showcase your brandables here

[oldtimer]

With thousands of startups needing a name for their new company and many more existing businesses also branching out all the time and needing names for their new line of products and services it seems that brandable domains is one of the areas that could be very beneficial to domainers both old and new and deserves to be explored further.

Below are a few points of discussion to get this thread started, if I have left something important out please let me know so that it can be added to them. If you have any tips or advice about brandable domains please feel free to share them with the rest of us.


1-What is a brandable domain.

2-How many different types of brandable domains are there and is one type better than the others.

3-What makes a brandable domain stand out amongst thousands of others.

4-What is the optimum length for a brandable domain, how long can a brandable domain be and still qualify as being a good choice.

5-What types of brandable domains are most desired by startups and existing businesses.

6-What is the best way to find brandable domains.

7-What is the best way to sell brandable domains.


Attention Newbies: It's probably best to first hear what some of the more experienced domainers have to say about this subject before you consider getting any domains, and even then it's probably best to experiment with just a few domains at a time. You should be able to sell one domain and then use the proceeds from that sale to get more domains, if you cannot even sell one domain then you are doing something wrong and need to adjust your strategy. IMO

 

[urlurl]

This is such a subjective market and risky. You could hold a name for years without any offers and never sell it or you pick one up and sell it for a huge profit weeks later. So if you don't have patience or the money to wait it out this market is not the right one. Resellers barely touch them (unless they are clear gems) because of the low liquidity potential. So most resellers would only buy if they can grab a deal, usually pennies on the dollar.
Usually there is no parking revenue so holding 100's of these names could get expensive.

Here are some things to look for when buying brandables;

- Does it make sense, is there a partial word or meaning in it, like a bido, fiverr, digg, etc.

- "Radio test" some buyers want to be able to say the name without spelling it (note: only some, not all want this)

- Shorter the better

- pronounceable is a must

- random 5 and 6 letter combinations don't constitute a brandable name

- There is no expert in this game as the only expert is the end user who likes your name. So if someone gives you their opinion its just their opinion and how they see the value in names. one mans treasure is another mans junk.

- best acid test; before buying a name, think to yourself "would I personally use this name myself to build a site" if the answer is no then don't buy it.

- trying to hand reg a few letter combinations thinking they would make a good brandable name will leave you poor.

- if you want quality names be prepared to pay more for them.

- look at the past sales and see what people want.

- the bulk of goodbrandable names will sell in the $x,xxx range. crap one's will never sell and awesome names could fetch any price.

- if you are starting out its always good to find a few peers you can bounce the name ideas off of to see if they have potential. Its always good to get more than one opinion within and outside the domain industry.

 

[equity78]

Well I think there are probably two things being discussed here. I think Fonzie is talking about the complicated process that is building a worldwide, evergreen brand. There is a lot involved with the overall branding process that most domainers most likely have little experience with, although some may.

I think what gets talked about on domain forums is what is a good short brandable type name that will sell well on a boutique site like Brand Bucket. If we look at this past week and the sales charts from Sedo and Afternic we see some names that people wonder how did they sell ? They probably feel they have similar names that are better in their opinion. Names like Bitgo.com selling for $9,999 or Phast.com selling for $3499 are names that were held for a long time showing the patience needed with brandables, Bitgo was actually dropped twice.

Those names posted here in appraisal threads would have received mixed reviews, for every person that loved the PH being used as an F to make Fast, there would have been someone else who said they don't like that kind of domain name.

I think another thing that separates the crowds on brandables is what someone sees as within their portfolio reach. It would be great to own a one word name like Mango or Avocado, igloo or Amazon and brand them in a fashion not related to their obvious meaning. Most new domainers know they are never going to own names like that, they are simply out of reach, so someone looks for a Foozo or Evora.com and tends to like that style of branding. There is no right or wrong way, but there is the path of least resistance. Names like Mango or Avocado would have burn down value, the start up using Mango can close and the name still have value. If owned by a domainer they could find liquidity with Mango any day of the week. The person owning Foozo needs the perfect buyer, or sell at wholesale to another domainer looking for a 5 letter pronounceable.

Look most people would love to own a Rolls Royce or a Bentley, most cannot afford that and have to find happiness and utility in their budget.

 

[Fonzie]

I'd wager that a majority of domainers who regularly use the term 'brandable domain' have essentially no meaningful comprehension of what a 'brand' is.

Sure, they can run off to wikipedia or dictionary.com, collar a broad definition and feign knowledge, but 'branding' as a practice is as wide as 'medicine' or 'landscaping' or 'farming'.

It's like saying "what's the best land for farming?"

It depends on what you intend to farm.

Some markets are best served by an abstract brandable domain, others a keyword brandable. Some of the most potent 'brandable' domains are single, common dictionary words, branded to represent a product or service. If Steve Jobs never existed and someone came to Namepros asking what to do with Apple.com, most people here would think fruit.

That's why they're here.

 

[Doron Vermaat]

I just put together a list of the top 100 brandable domain name sales for this year: http://dngeek.com/2014/12/31/top-100-brandable-domain-names-sales-for-2014/

Here's to hoping to see lots of us NP'ers on the 2015 list

 

[hopkism]

For me a huge turn off is a name that incorporates the extension into it, like delicio.us. I find that incredibly annoying. I look for short and sweet, making sure it doesn't sound like another social media rip-off.

 

[Federer]

The best brandcentric domains in the namespace by a long shot (across the most coveted online extensions), are comprised of 2-words. The vast majority of the "brands" that sell week-in, week-out (public or private) fall into that category - period.

Some made-up examples include:

TopCrypto.com
OnePlanet.com
OpenSense.com
PureConsulting.com
PacificDevelopment.com
LendingCircle.com
HappyChat.com
SomethingDelicious.com
LiveConnect.com

 

[verbster]

Brandable domains are probably the most fun yet most challenging names to work with. Outside of stuff like cvcv.coms where the vowels rhyme, it's often very hard to determine if a domain is worth five dollars or five hundred thousand. It's all a matter of personal taste and 'feel'. Just look at some of the mega sites like google, yahoo and so on. The difference between yahoo and yoohoo? About 50 million. Why? Who knows? it just felt better to someone.

how do you know what to base a price on? That's not an east question to answer because beauty really is in the eye of the buyer. For instance, I had two brandables. both started with 'Y", both had seven letters, Both sounded very similar, easy to spell, easy to pronounce, both happy sounding, but one got several offers and one got hardly any. And the one I liked was the one with fewer offers. I thought it had a chance of making big bucks, so I priced it high and priced the other around $1000. I barely had time to list it before it sold. And now it's a pretty spiffy software website. I learned to late that I should have listed it without a selling price so I could take offers and eventually auction it.

Anyway, unless you have an obvious winner like boohoo or vudu, the key is to keep it clean. By that I mean easy to say, easy to spell, unique and cool sounding. Finally, what it sounds like makes a difference to how it's used: woohoo probably doesn't fit a fertilizer company, but might be great for a candy bar.

 

[Doron Vermaat]

Some recent pickups, all at auction:

RecruitingHero.com
BeerMonster.com
CoffeeBoss.com

I still have a strong preference for two-keyword brandables.

 

[urlurl]

branding isn't the name...its what you do with the name.

 

[hookbox]

There are millions of brandable style domains registered and few if any ever sell because they are never seen. Naming a company is very complex and a true art form and most in the business world are clueless how to come up with a great brand name so they seek out sites like Brandbucket. If you are new to this game don't waste your money regging a bunch of names because they will never ever be seen by anyone. Its a rarity to come up with a great 5, 6, or 7 letter domain and then for an end user to come up with that exact same name and seek you out to buy it. Not going to happen or very rare. If Brandbucket accepts your name you have a chance of selling it. A chance not a guarantee and first the name has to be accepted by them which is rare in itself. With around 12 million 5 letter combinations, 310 million 6 letter combinations and 8 billion 7 letter combinations you can see how easy it is for that fantastic name you just came up with to get lost in the sea of massive amounts of short domain names. There are easier ways to make money in this business.

 

[JudgeMind]

Here’s a couple of mine:

SmartHawk.com
DegreeCore.com
GrandToken.com
Commenced.com
Yonovo.com
BCtalk.com
Hostora.com
Finicorp.com
Instira.com
Delvico.com
PointFront.com
Toylio.com
Lofast.com
Arcten.com
SourceJar.com
TerraChain.com
FoxToken.com
imunex.com
Buump.com

 

[Kate]

Speaking of short domains, the really nice brandable 5L/6L are long gone.
Of course, you can still create longer domains using two keywords. But not every available combo will do.
It's not much different than predictive domaining or domaining in general: good domains are not waiting to be registered.

There is one thing that is sometimes overlooked even by the end users. In certain languages/cultures a brandable word can represent or look like an offensive/negative word. While they may look extremely brandable and memorable they may not be universally acceptable.
For example, I remember many years ago there was a dishwashing liquid launched on the market in Switzerland (or some other European country), the brand name was SIDA.
But SIDA means AIDS in French (French is spoken in parts of Switzerland). The items would remain on the shelves because people didn't want to buy any. Clearly a major branding blunder from a multinational company that didn't research the local market.
There are many more such examples of branding mistakes :gl:

 

[Ms Domainer]

*

If you are looking at a long list of "brandables" and one jumps out at you, it deserves a second look. That first impression is often correct, especially once you become more experienced at this.

My "creative" names have sold better than my so-called good names...not sure why.

I like short brandables best, 5 or 6 letters. For 5 letters, the best place is auction, especially Go Daddy, where nice cheapie BIN names can be acquired. One has to navigate long lists of pure crap, but patience often pays off.

Decent/pronounceable 6 letters can often be hand regged.

Once you start getting past 7 letters, it becomes more of a challenge, requiring a marriage of two generic words because longer non-words tend to be forgettable.

Always exceptions, of course, and others have made good money selling longer brandables, but, for me, the shorties work best.

*

 

[Eric Lyon]

Keep in mind that some of the best brands have deep meaning. That means that a powerful brand utilizes brand mapping techniques in the creative process. Here's an example of what brand mapping a deep meaning may look like:

Ok brands are, ok. Great brands are, great. However, deep meaning brands are powerful and much more attractive/beneficial to a new start-up when exicuted and presented properly.

Just some food for thought.

 

[Jeffrey]

A short, easy to remember and easy to type domain are the main ingredients of a good brandable domain, but that would be useless if the site is not constantly updated or the site is not unique and has short term marketability.

 

[urlurl]

There are still good 5L and 6L's dropping on a daily basis - you just to know what to look for.

just listed: P h o s o .com (perfect for any photo related site/app) on Brand bucket Mid $x,xxx

 

[gilescoley]

Any opinions on this one?

Chatco.com / CHATCO.COM

Great name for a Chat Company

Thanks

 

[Coral Cove]

I have been registering and selling nothing but brandable domain names. They are very profitable but can also waste a lot of your money. Every month I let about 10-20 brandables expire because I learn more and more about which ones will sell and which ones won't.

Compound words, like GladFish, BlotMedia, TreeDog, CrowdSociety and WayBound (Some recent ones I have sold) are great types of brandables because they instantly connect with people, thus attracting a larger interest, unlike completely invented ones like Javolo, Vanqo and Fliva (of which I also sold recently) that require a more brand-name trained eye to identify and desire.

There is also another type of brandable that I find to have a higher selling chance and more selling points than the completely invented one (but probably not better than compound ones), and that is the derivatives, like Nuvew (which I just sold a day ago) that sounds like "New View." These give the owners a better story to the name and lend it more life than just an invented one. Another one I sold like this is Refoca and Voyara, one sounds like "Refocus" and the other reminds one of "Voyage" and "Air."

The more you can describe the name the better the odds of selling. Entrepreneurs want stories to their business and that starts with a good domain name. They don't want to say, "I don't know, I just chose this name because it sounded cool." If you can capture some positive or attractive emotion with your brandable then I'd say it's a good one.

 

[Stare-Media]

All listed at Brandpa:

Namesie.com
Dubez.com
Chillly.com
Fastoly.com
Printosa.com
Brandoku.com

 

[wot]

The one thing I have definitely learned in my few years in the business is that I have no idea what is likely to sell and often no idea why the buyer has bought it.

Some of the weirdest names sell for good money that I often would not have bothered regging.so basically I have learned nothing.

 

[Kate]

It's important to understand that there are many degrees of 'brandability'.
Some domain names are more brandable than others.
For example, a domain like kawa.com or diva.com is hugely brandable.

No offense, but
C l y n g
S t y c k
are more like lottery tickets to me.

I think there are many possible buyers for kawa.com, but much fewer for C l y n g. The odds of making a sale aren't comparable.

Some brandables pass the radio test, others don't. Ideally, a brandable domain should pass the radio test. Some end users will still buy domains that don't meet this criterion, they will have to advertise a lot and brand them heavily. It can be done. But significant budgets are needed.
The problem here is that a domain that is memorable will work for you. A domain that isn't easy to spell or remember won't initially. You have to make the domain valuable until it becomes a household name (or at least famous enough). Yet after losing loads of traffic to flicker.com, Flickr had to secure flicker.com. There are limits to creativity and thinking outside the box in the real world...

Personal conclusion: brandable domains that pass the radio test will be more liquid than those which don't.

 

[BrandFishing]

Hi everyone,
I am glad to say that I made my first namerific sale. It was not a big one but still I am really happy about it.

 

[Doron Vermaat]

Some i picked up recently:

Mumr.com
Printerly.com
NoteNinja.com
Lerio.com
LaunchTiger.com
FlowerHero.com
RuleOne.com
Osendo.com
TechCritter.com
BadMonkey.com
Productly.com
LionSpring.com

 

[OnlineDomainShop]