Buying brandable domain names is a great way to make money in the domain industry. Brandable names are often sold to startups because they are, you guessed it, brandable. In other words, they work well as brand names for companies to use and build brands on. Since brandable domains often sell for between $2,000 and $5,000 to end users, they are great names to consider investing in. Here are some tips to help you find brandable domain names.
Buy Names With End Users in Mind
It's important to buy brandable domain names that end users would want to use. In order to better understand the names that end users value the most, domain investor should do outbound sales with some of their names. A lot can be learned from the interest (or lack thereof) that end-users show for your domains.
End users are especially important for brandable domains, because the appeal of a name to end users will determine whether that domain name is ever turned into a brand, and thus, whether it truly qualifies as a brandable.
Domain Age Matters (Usually)
An older domain with a history usually has more value than a brand-new hand-registered domain name. Why does age matter? In general, older domains perform better in terms of SEO, which is a factor that your potential buyer may consider while they research the perfect domain name to purchase.
Does this Mean that Hand-Registered Names are Worthless?
No. Every good domain name has been registered at one point in time. If you find a good enough domain, its age won’t matter. If you are willing and able to hold on to the domains you hand register for a while, they will likely increase in value over time as other good alternatives become more scarce and are built into brands. For this reason, good domains are becoming more difficult to find and hand register. With that in mind, a newer investor might try to find a quality name on the aftermarket, rather than trying to find value in a domain that has never been registered.
Where Can I Buy Domains?
There are many ways to buy a domain name besides hand registering. You can use domain drop catching services to purchase domains, which have expired and are in the process of "dropping" from registrars, within a split second of their availability. You can also visit auction sites to bid on domain names, or go to the NamePros Marketplace to purchase domains from other domainers. You can even email the owners of domains that you like and try to purchase directly from them.
What Makes a Name Brandable?
Remember, keep the end-user in mind. For brandable domains, you could begin by looking for two-word domains that have meaning and are easy to say and spell. Think of common phrases, words that go together, and cute and short names. You want to find domains that flow well and pass the radio test: they sound good, are memorable, and can be spelled without error when heard on the radio.
For example, “NamePros” is a brandable domain name because it contains two words that make sense together, it's easy to spell, and it's memorable. NamePros also sounds good, and it has meaning - NamePros is a site for professional domainers: Name Professionals.
If a name sounds good, has a meaning that would appeal to end users, and is short and easy to spell, then chances are good that it will make a great brandable name.
Estibot Helps Estimate a Domain’s Value
Estibot is a domain name appraisal tool that picks up multiple metrics on domain names, including traffic, type-in searches, domain age, etc. This data should not be your deciding factor when buying a name, but all of these metrics can influence a domain’s value, because buyers often value them when purchasing domains. If your buyer thinks that the appraisal matters, then it matters - period.
Apply this knowledge to your domain investing, and you can begin to register and sell brandable domain names.
Buy Names With End Users in Mind
It's important to buy brandable domain names that end users would want to use. In order to better understand the names that end users value the most, domain investor should do outbound sales with some of their names. A lot can be learned from the interest (or lack thereof) that end-users show for your domains.
End users are especially important for brandable domains, because the appeal of a name to end users will determine whether that domain name is ever turned into a brand, and thus, whether it truly qualifies as a brandable.
Domain Age Matters (Usually)
An older domain with a history usually has more value than a brand-new hand-registered domain name. Why does age matter? In general, older domains perform better in terms of SEO, which is a factor that your potential buyer may consider while they research the perfect domain name to purchase.
Does this Mean that Hand-Registered Names are Worthless?
No. Every good domain name has been registered at one point in time. If you find a good enough domain, its age won’t matter. If you are willing and able to hold on to the domains you hand register for a while, they will likely increase in value over time as other good alternatives become more scarce and are built into brands. For this reason, good domains are becoming more difficult to find and hand register. With that in mind, a newer investor might try to find a quality name on the aftermarket, rather than trying to find value in a domain that has never been registered.
Where Can I Buy Domains?
There are many ways to buy a domain name besides hand registering. You can use domain drop catching services to purchase domains, which have expired and are in the process of "dropping" from registrars, within a split second of their availability. You can also visit auction sites to bid on domain names, or go to the NamePros Marketplace to purchase domains from other domainers. You can even email the owners of domains that you like and try to purchase directly from them.
What Makes a Name Brandable?
Remember, keep the end-user in mind. For brandable domains, you could begin by looking for two-word domains that have meaning and are easy to say and spell. Think of common phrases, words that go together, and cute and short names. You want to find domains that flow well and pass the radio test: they sound good, are memorable, and can be spelled without error when heard on the radio.
For example, “NamePros” is a brandable domain name because it contains two words that make sense together, it's easy to spell, and it's memorable. NamePros also sounds good, and it has meaning - NamePros is a site for professional domainers: Name Professionals.
If a name sounds good, has a meaning that would appeal to end users, and is short and easy to spell, then chances are good that it will make a great brandable name.
Estibot Helps Estimate a Domain’s Value
Estibot is a domain name appraisal tool that picks up multiple metrics on domain names, including traffic, type-in searches, domain age, etc. This data should not be your deciding factor when buying a name, but all of these metrics can influence a domain’s value, because buyers often value them when purchasing domains. If your buyer thinks that the appraisal matters, then it matters - period.
Apply this knowledge to your domain investing, and you can begin to register and sell brandable domain names.
