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3L/4L meaningless names or 2/3 Words Meaningful names

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Domainer Sid

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As I dig deeper in the amazing world of domains, I am getting more and more questions in my mind. The top most is why do people pay so high for meaningless 3L/4L .coms instead of 2words or 3 words meaningful .coms?

IMO Abstract and random 3L/4L are much harder to remember, pronounce and search optimize as compared some meaningful 2 or 3 word names.

Please put forward your opinion on this so that newbies like me get a better understanding and true value of random but small names.

Thanks
~Sid
 
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If you are typing on a mobile or tab, its much easier to type 3L or 4L than longer meaningful words. Also they have a history of over 10 years which i prefer.
 
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some examples of the bad 3L/4L's you're seeing sold expensively, as well as examples of cheap 2 word/3 word names you're comparing them to would help here
 
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some examples of the bad 3L/4L's you're seeing sold expensively, as well as examples of cheap 2 word/3 word names you're comparing them to would help here

I am referring to selling price for such domains. They are usually very high as compared to 2W/3W domains.
 
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many 3L domains are actually acronyms of an already established business. So, they want it. And, there are 4L in which CVCV type (an example) desired most because it is short and can become a good brand.

2 word and 3 word domains can also become a brand. But, it comes after 3L or 4L
 
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Well, let me put an example:

Which sounds better? qkw.com or quickkeywords.com?

You need more efforts to speak/remember the first one but still people are willing to pay 10X for the first one.


Note: No offences to the owner of these domains. I just used them as examples here and both are good :)
 
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Well, let me put an example:

Which sounds better? qkw.com or quickkeywords.com?

You need more efforts to speak/remember the first one but still people are willing to pay 10X for the first one.


Note: No offences to the owner of these domains. I just used them as examples here and both are good :)

3L/4L have become scarce. And scarcity creates demand. Also, these are liquid and can be sold anytime.
Having said that, the majority of best domain sales so far in domaining history are of keyword domains.
 
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3L/4L names are easy to remember,easy to write
And there are very few spelling mistakes
 
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Well, let me put an example:

Which sounds better? qkw.com or quickkeywords.com?

You need more efforts to speak/remember the first one but still people are willing to pay 10X for the first one.


Note: No offences to the owner of these domains. I just used them as examples here and both are good :)
There's so many nuances to domaining, I totally get the confusion when it comes to the "whys" in terms of value. I scratch my head all the time, but there's more than meets the eye to random letters in LLLs.

Their worth is because of their versatility (acronyms) and short length which in turn makes them, as mentioned, scarce (17,576 LLL's). There are common denominators that can be used in tracking sales patterns over time, which in turn can be used for projecting a fair value estimate.

If the LLL you need is not for sale, there's very little options for a suitable replacement. Multiple keyword domains have many alternative ways to word the message.

The doubled-up k's in quickkeywords make it sloppier aesthetically and can stumble verbally. Being able to quickly type in a domain has always been a desirable element. Used in marketing or on the front of a building the url should be easy to read and remember. A clean appearance.

If you look at qwk like this:

QWK = Quick

you've got a winner with the LLL domain. The extra "keywords" is removed, and you've still got a memorable message that can lead to your Quick/Keywords business.
 
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3L/4L are best reserved as acronyms imo. If doing 3L/4L for the sake of it, why not if you're successful with it. I tend to go for longer domain names just because of preference.
 
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I recently sold BZQV.com at BIN price... if ever there was a "meaningless" 4L that's it lol, and it sold! That is why people "pay so high" for meaningless 4L, they know even the most terrible ones can sell for thousands. Same thing with 3L .net .org .co .io - even the worst acronyms can sell. It costs me $8.29/year to renew a .com... so if a junk 4L has a BIN price of $3999 as long as there is >1/400 chance it will sell each year I'm coming out ahead.
 
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I recently sold BZQV.com at BIN price... if ever there was a "meaningless" 4L that's it lol, and it sold! That is why people "pay so high" for meaningless 4L, they know even the most terrible ones can sell for thousands. Same thing with 3L .net .org .co .io - even the worst acronyms can sell. It costs me $8.29/year to renew a .com... so if a junk 4L has a BIN price of $3999 as long as there is >1/400 chance it will sell each year I'm coming out ahead.

Totally understandable from a Seller/ReSeller perspective, I wonder why from an end-user's perspective.
 
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Personally, I have been investing heavily in 4L.com because of mobile usage... on an iPhone a person can get to a 4L in 6 clicks: L, L, L, L, .com button, go button. Compare this to a 2 or 3 word domain which might take 20+ clicks and I seem to always misspell stuff on my phone. I also think they have high CTRs when appearing in Google search results, so as an SEO guy I would definitely consider using a 4L when launching a new website.
 
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