domains There's No Money In Brandable Domaining

Nice post Keith and thanks to the shout out to DNgeek.com!

My two cents: Exact Match Domains are very difficult to brand and every smart entrepreneur wants to build a brand these days.

Imagine if all cereal brands would be called: Best cereal, Every day cereal, Super tasty cereal. You think those names are memorable, easy to brand and remember for consumers. You think kids would love them?

Same for cleaning products, peanut butter, medicines, online travel, clothing, etc.

Exact match domains will limit your companies growth and ambitions. This is the reason we named our company Efty and not DomainPortfolioManager.com - Why? because Efty is much more than just a domain name management software. We also believe it is much easier to remember (Efty.com vs DomainPortfolioManager.com) and there's absolutely zero benefit from an SEO perspective these days to have a EMD. In fact, brands outperform EMDs these days for almost any search.

I do think it's good however to point out that keyword based brandables have started outselling the made up, invented names lately showing a lot of companies do still prefer to have some sort connection in their name to their market, service or product.

i have invested in brandable domain names and have sold a few as well. Here is a rundown of some of my more recent sold "brandable" domains, all are .com of course:

Aftia - Sold for $2095 found this one on expireddomains.net, hand registered it.

BuildGrowth - Snapped up in godaddy expiring auctions for $30, sold for $2570

Shatterless - Hand registered with a $1.99 coupon from godaddy. Sold for $999

TopTwenty - Bought in drop auction, paid $1427 sold 35 days later for $4500

I think that every domainer should have a diverse portfolio that covers many different verticals. About 30% of my portfolio is comprised of domains which would be considered brandable.

Brandables DO sell. While they may less liquid than generic domains, they can be very rewarding. They are always in demand because end users want to differentiate themselves from the competition and they are looking for names that are somewhat unique.
Obviously some brandables are better than others...

Weber said:

Don't disagree about brandables. Just disagree about emds.
Imo, the truth in most cases is that "do NOT need" really means "can Not Afford".

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I do agree that the fact that affordability has a lot to do with the rising popularity of brandables. As a business you can secure a great brand name in the .com extension for under $5k while a EMD can coat a small fortune.

But let me ask you this. What if Google started out as SearchEngine.com instead of Google. And later ventured out into email, maps, cloud storage etc?

Or Amazon started as Books.com or Expedia as FlightTickets.com?

I choose a brand name over a EMD any day when I launch a new business.

Thank you for this. Its so true. About 50% of my sold names over the past 14 years have been brandable.

They can say There’s no Pay-Per-Click demand or competition all they want but the reality is that PPC is essentially dead, even to keyword names. Google has made sure of this. Names that used to earn me hundreds of dollars per month now barely get 25 to 50 cents in a month. Same generic names, no fads or trends names.

So having brandables actually gives me another avenue of income in the portfolio. Its good to diversify - much like with a stock and bond financial portfolio.

Certainly dictionary names that do not represent their generic meaning are considered brandables.

Mango.com is not fruit related (Fashion)
Apple.com is not fruit related (Phones/Computers)
iGloo.com is not a domed shape house for eskimos (Domain Brokerage)

and there are several others obviously, so they do fall into the brandable category, it is why these names have so much value, they can go both ways.

Weber said:

Well, if someone is using a search engine to find a "domain portfolio manager", the odds are quite high that they aren't going to type in efty.

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You are absolutely right but that wasn't my point. What I mean is that you do need to have the keywords in your domain or the exact keyword match to rank for those terms. Which is why Amazon ranks first if you search for books (just an example). Efty ranks on the first page in Google when you search for: domain name management software without having any of these keywords in the domain.

Only Bing and Yahoo search still favor EMDs but their market share is neglectable.

Premium quality EMDs will continue to be the bread and butter of our industry and they will continue to sell at high levels. The point of my article was that brandables are also a viable investment for domainers when they are properly selected and marketed.

BTW I'm really enjoying this intelligent and lively conversation. Lot's of good points being bantered about. Thanks to everyone for the 'likes' and the great comments!!

RU said:

A dictionary word can be a good long term strategy.
e.g. igloo.com - brand, dictionary word

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I thought igloo made coolers.

BUt if they dont sound or read well(to the end user) then they are dodos.

dotbay said:

Even if they understand the importance of a great brand name, they might not be able to afford a great .com. This is why they are buying made-up words or .io .me .co. They are affordable.

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It's true that most of the great brandables are long gone or to expensive, but you can have a less known word or a made up, which is catchy and make the right connections in the customers eyes. I have some handreg's which I think that they will do ok with the right product or service: MotorKite( listed for 6,3 k at NR), wackio(2,3k), simba.co( with some offers) exoteri ( accepted by both BB and NR) absorbeo and absorbio( accepted by BB and low xxxx offer) and other 100 like this. In the end I think that if the name touches something inside the customer than it's has enough value to start building on it.

Names that mean nothing but with the right development have become mega sites and known globally-Domainivate.
My Opinion is that brand names will continue to sell and the good ones will increase in value and not decrease.

Well, if someone is using a search engine to find a "domain portfolio manager", the odds are quite high that they aren't going to type in efty.

Don't disagree about brandables. Just disagree about emds.
Imo, the truth in most cases is that "do NOT need" really means "can Not Afford".

Makes sense...

Brandable domains do sell and companies do want them. Which is why businesses like Brandbucket, Namerific exist. But what I have an issue with is finding the fine line between junk and an actual good brandable. I guess it takes skill and patience to find the gems.

For me, a .com that describes exactly what something is, is where I put my focus though.

But yes, brandables do sell.

Thanks for the blog post!

-Omar

There is dictionary descr

RU said:

ah okay.
brandbucket.com - Partial Match Domain (PMD): some keyword in domain.
brandroot.com - Partial Match Domain (PMD): some keyword in domain.
namerific.com - Partial Match Domain (PMD): some keyword in domain.

Brandable Domain: No keyword/s in domain name

Here are some brandable domain examples (one-word, no keywords):

• Amazon.com
• Google.com
• Yahoo.com
• Ebay.com
• Fiverr.com
• Uber

Best,
RU

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There isn't a dictionary description for what exactly a brandable domain name is but I (and many others) personally divide them into two categories, invented names (Ambior, Obria, Bando etc) and keyword based brandables such as DeliveryHero, HelloFesh, Statly or FoodPanda.

Amazon and Uber are dictionary words by the way and Fiverr is based on the word Five.

Surya Giri Kurniawan said:

Here are some other notable brandable domains sales from other pattern CVCVCV :

• Moneta.com 150,000 $ at Sedo

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Moneta(.)com is not a brandable domain name. "Moneta" means "coin" in Russian.

You are right - "they do sell"

Some may say brandable sales are based on luck, but they don't understand that luck is when preparation meets oppurtunity.

I researched an industry( marijuana)
Looked at the problems facing a specific process of the industry
( delivery )
I looked at the businesses facing this problem head on( Speedweed, Eaze, weedmaps etc )

Like an amarteur I experimented with a few words on ( wordroid, namemesh, leandomainsearch) ,

I couldn't find nothing. I went outside to buy some food for some inspiration( enough internet for the day), I found out that (****)
and in that single moment i blurted out a two word combination
behold I created a brandable !!!

Anyone can make a brandable, but what makes a unique brandable ?

It's when you receive a set amount of offers after emailing pitchs to blogs, businesses etc

I'd like to think I own a unique brandable, I just hope brand bucket accepts it. So I can turn it into a premium brandable.

dv82 said:

Nice post Keith and thanks to the shout out to DNgeek.com!

My two cents: Exact Match Domains are very difficult to brand and every smart entrepreneur wants to build a brand these days.

Imagine if all cereal brands would be called: Best cereal, Every day cereal, Super tasty cereal. You think those names are memorable, easy to brand and remember for consumers. You think kids would love them?

Same for cleaning products, peanut butter, medicines, online travel, clothing, etc.

Exact match domains will limit your companies growth and ambitions. This is the reason we named our company Efty and not DomainPortfolioManager.com - Why? because Efty is much more than just a domain name management software. We also believe it is much easier to remember (Efty.com vs DomainPortfolioManager.com) and there's absolutely zero benefit from an SEO perspective these days to have a EMD. In fact, brands outperform EMDs these days for almost any search.

I do think it's good however to point out that keyword based brandables have started outselling the made up, invented names lately showing a lot of companies do still prefer to have some sort connection in their name to their market, service or product.

Click to expand...

dv82 said:

Only Bing and Yahoo search still favor EMDs but their market share is neglectable.

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I wouldn't say that a 30%+ market share is neglectable.. Source: http://bgr.com/2015/04/16/bing-vs-google-vs-yahoo-market-share/

But yeah, I am all for brandables as well and some of my biggest purchases are one or two word brandables.

dv82 said:

Imagine if all cereal brands would be called: Best cereal, Every day cereal, Super tasty cereal. You think those names are memorable, easy to brand and remember for consumers. You think kids would love them?

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Yes, of course they would. Children could not care less about names. That's like saying a child wouldn't love Snickers if it was called TheBestCandyBarOnEarth. Of course they would love it, all the same. Their faces would still light up after that first bite, regardless.

To your point, they wouldn't make good brand names, but it wouldn't matter.

dv82 said:

there's absolutely zero benefit from an SEO perspective these days to have a EMD

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This is false, even on Google. Plenty of studies have shown it is still playing a role, albeit, much less on Google these days.

EMD do extremely well on Bing and Yahoo, which despite being dwarfed by Google, still command hundreds of millions of unique visitors collectively. They matter.

dv82 said:

In fact, brands outperform EMDs these days for almost any search.

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That is due to the brands' success, not the domain names involved. If there were two equally successful companies whereby the only difference between them was the domain name, the EMD will perform better in the search rankings. That's basic SEO fundamentals.

* I do not support, register, or recommend EMD's. I simply felt it necessary to correct inaccuracies.

It's about the social signals, quality relevant links, advertising that point links back naturally, there is money wherever there is value and people. It's no longer about just the name, it's about creation and exchange value.

Here are some other notable brandable domains sales from other pattern CVCVCV :

• Moneta.com 150,000 $ at Sedo
• Sadara.com 70,882 $ at Sedo
• Xoxide.com 76,000 $ at Sedo
• Lalama.com 15,000 $ at DomainNameSales
• Mobike.com 47,400 $ at DomainHoldings
• Hadise.com 30,000 $ at Nokta
• Cocomo.com 33,000 $ at Sedo
• etc.