GOOD question! (I bet you weren't expecting that .. lol)
And I'll also stress that you asked about which
SELLS better .. which unfortunately is
VERY DIFFERENT from which is actually the
better brand (although often the answer is the same).
Ultimately it really depends on the business and industry in question.
But generally speaking, flashy/catchy names can be better at grabbing attention and optimising viral buzz if that's a marketing requirement of the company in question. It's important to note the differences in search as well if they are notable.
HOWEVER .. the big problem when going back to which
SELLS better is that the biggest factors is that a potential buyer needs to:
(1) THINK of your domain,
(2) FIND your domain,
(3) Be willing to PAY your price, and
(4) Not be swayed by COMPETING similar domains at the same price
The combination of #2, #3 and #4 are already big obstacles in the industry, as most people starting a new business really have zero knowledge or awareness of the domain aftermarket. But that's a very different discussion and not really the point here as it's a similar obstacle for both types of domains.
Which leaves us with #1 in that list being the big difference; the issue of potential buyers thinking up of, and trying to find your "catchy" domain. When someone is starting a new cooking school, they will have a HIGH likelyhood of searching for the most obvious names like CookingInstitute and FoodInstitute. However, even if YumInstitute** might be better for them in terms of having a fun, catchy and viral brand, it's an unfortunate fact that many potential buyers will not think of YumInstitute** compared to those other two.
In theory this is how sites like BrandBucket and SquadHelp can try to help boost the chances of those catchy names. I suppose they can make a small difference, but it really depends on the names and industries they specialise in. Plus they are now all flooded with names. However, in theory if optimised, a good name (
as an end user) like YumInstitute** would be at the top of every food related search.
@ThatNameGuy .. This difference is effectively the root of what I keep trying to repeat and get you to "catch"! Names like 9Time aren't necessarily bad brands for a business .. but they are bad investments as a domainer because of the extreme drop in likelihood of a end-user ever getting to the point of searching for that name.
That's why I keep saying what you're doing
is business development and
NOT domaining. Because naming a business is SUPER easy. Anyone can easily come up with a usable and even good business name .. but
getting DOMAINS that will actually be thought of, searched for, and found by the high volume of potential buyers willing to pay a significant multiple is a very VERY different thing and vastly more challenging.
I don't have any significant issues against you starting a business with the name 9Time. If we ignore the 9/nine problem, it's a decent brand for your nine-hole concept. So
YES, it's a good enough brand to use to
develop a business.
But it's an absolutely worthless
domain investment because of the astronomical odds that anyone else will ever:
1) Randomly think about your exact domain
2) Find it
3) Be willing to pay a substantial markup as opposed to just handregging an equally good domain.
4) On top of that you name needs to be better than all the competing names at the same pricepoint.
Domains like FoodInstitute, CookingInstitute and FastGolf are already challenging for domainers with points 2, 3 and 4 to work against.
But domains like YumInstitute** and particularly 9Time (and Simpli____) also face that extra first challenge. Then when you combine that very very significant obstacle with the 3 others, it's not so much that the domain will never sell .. but when compared to those other 3-obstacle domains, the math and statistics place the 4-obstacle domains significantly outside of the portfolio profitability zone.
Best case scenario a domain like 9Time would sell for $999 .. so effectively about a 100x over handreg. But while that sounds and looks good in theory, when you combine that with the likely sell-through rate of a 4-obstacle domain of around 0.25%/yr (probably MUCH less), a portfolio of equal domains will end each year with unavoidably big losses. YES .. you might (and will) occasionally get super lucky with one, but overall the math screams to steer very clear from 4-obstacle domains .. particularly when you consider that 3-obstacle portfolios are already challenging to make money with.
THE NUMBER ONE OBSTACLE facing new domainers is unfortunately the sad fact they need to keep their imaginations in check. It is good up to a point to find fun and creative names. But if those brand creations are too creative and original, more often than not they're focusing more on
big-losses 4-obstacle domains rather than
slightly-profitable 3-obstacle domains. Even after 3 years domaining I have to fight myself from reverting back to my former end-user perspective, where I think .. oh wow .. that would be an amazing brand! But unless the words are very common, then it's an unfortunate fact that too few potential buyers would think about it. So that when all the math of all the other factors are combined, they are simply really bad investments
AS A DOMAINER (even if YES they might be good brands).
I do buy such domains on rare occasions, but that's not for the domainer in me, it's for the former owner of a big web community who sometimes dreams about building out a new web project (and then realises he never has the time .. lol).
VERY IMPORTANT ** YumInstitute ** - For the sake of this conversation I'm placing YumInstitute as a lower quality domain investment because it is significantly lower when compared to FoodInstitute and CookingInstitute .. but in actually fact, it's not all that bad. More middle zone .. the math would probably be fine
as long as you got it around or under $30.