discuss Does brandable domains work?

[Nezam Uddin]

I am very curious regarding the regging of brandables vs liquid domains. Personally i feel that there are very less chances that a new firm would like to browse through a buy a brand at BB etc. If i were a brand i would most probably come up with a unique identity for my company and not something thought off by other people.

So accordingly, there are less chances of the entity getting sold in the marketplace. Liquid domains, on the other hand, have a strong selling point and logical one too. Things such as mandarin sounding LLLL exists which have a valuable market in china etc.

So i want to have views of liquid domains vs brandables by people who have had an experience in both. Sale maximisation v/s profit maximisation.

 

[Federer]

Brandable domains do not come equal.
In my experience (and after having carefully analyzed thousands of sales) simply put: 2-word "brands" do far, far better than any other "brand" category - period.

Names like:
PracticePlus.com
LeaseGroup.com
InvestHub.com
ProAgent.com
PeakOne.com
AlianceShopping.com
MotionLab.com

 

[creataweb]

It's hit or miss.

 

[BaileyUK]

As quoted above, In most instances you are going to work with Two words, to build your 'Brandable domain'. What most tend to ignore is the importance of 'Letter-layout' If you have to insert Capitalisation in the second word in order to create recognition/distinction - then in most instances your already on a lost cause.

I never surprises me these days how many promote their domains as brandables but have to rely on capitalisation to portray their emphasis - Trust me, end users want sweet balanced wording. Once you've decided your key word you will need to play with literally hundreds of combinations to find the sweet-spot. Any additional (unrequired) lettering is a fools make-up (usually pluralisation)

 

[BaileyUK]

Everyone has their forte

I wouldn't advise going in 'Brandable' domains unless you have some good marketing background, enjoy Word-Art, perhaps a good understanding in behavioural-sciences, psychology and lets not forget technology awareness. Plenty of time to read up and study Trademark law and application. And finally are in domains for the long-game. Good domains for the whole business aren't 'Read' they are Recognised and yes, that includes wording not even out there yet

nope it is Not for the novice

 

[equity78]

Brandables require patience

 

[DOMAIN ILLUMINATI]

I see brandable domains as the result of individual creativityyy
If this individual creativity matches the sense for creativity of (an)other individual(s), they work.

 

[BaileyUK]

Can you show us some good and bad examples of what's brandable already and what's desperately being depicted as brandable , please?

hi Nezam, over the years I guess I've sold around two hundred brandables. Many are in use with some very large companies. I certainly wont pick on any listing as an example of a poor branding.

the key to brandables hasn't really changed since I started in 1999/2000. What is the market ??, and what are they selling ???. There's very little point in trying to explore todays markets - your already to-late.

So what's coming to market ?? with multiple outlets or applications. find your key word/s and the 'action' term that creates a perfect fit.

Now comes the time consuming skill of testing all your made-up combos in search engines and similar, yes they will be out there usually in technical journals and the like. Just like a precursor

I can't teach people how to identify future terms, you'll get twice as many wrong as you get right. I just hope in my posts I've added something to the basics,

 

[DonDraper]

There are some skills involved dealing with brandables and a lot of Expert NP Domainers (obv they know who they are) only rarely will share, that is quite normal cause its the only leverage in that niche that really works and cost to them hours and hours of research.

Im my personal view it remains a Number Game, with some code to crack inside, yes, the WordArt Passion, dealing properly with Premium letters, Non-Premium Position, Same-Sounding-Letters (and their long term value) and a lot of other stuff that really makes the difference.

 

[Haykay2005]

Brandables sell but Liquid domains sell faster. I love brandables and i stick to it. reason being that no one can predict the selling price/range. It can sell for x, xx, xxx, xxxx, xx, xxx, xxx, xxx irrespective of domain age.the Choice is yours.good luck.

 

[Kuffy]

I get the feeling that a name is not brandable until you brand it. Examples are MicroSoft, Rolls-Royce, Johnny Walker, Goldman Sachs, Land Rover and Coca-Cola.

 

[Name Trader]

I get the feeling that a name is not brandable until you brand it. Examples are MicroSoft, Rolls-Royce, Johnny Walker, Goldman Sachs, Land Rover and Coca-Cola.

Wouldn't that make ANY domain Brandable? Even xxyzzgqh.com? Brandable is a term referencing the future.

 

[Kuffy]

Wouldn't that make ANY domain Brandable? Even xxyzzgqh.com? Brandable is a term referencing the future.

In theory, but I think they need to pass the radio test to make them memorable and brandable.

 

[Name Trader]

In theory, but I think they need to pass the radio test to make them memorable and brandable.

Google doesn't exactly pass this radio test? It's only after seeing the domain several times that you know how to spell it.

 

[BaileyUK]

I see brandable domains as the result of individual creativityyy
If this individual creativity matches the sense for creativity of (an)other individual(s), they work.

that's an excellent summary

 

[Name Trader]

that's an excellent summary

Even if you say so yourself

 

[Nezam Uddin]

It's getting more and more interesting. It seems to me there's no one rule which works for all. This is a very vast niche but again one cannot be completely sure what will sell and what will not.

 

[Kuffy]

Google doesn't exactly pass this radio test? It's only after seeing the domain several times that you know how to spell it.

Ah! Well, we English know what a Googly is, because we play cricket. Sometimes I think it describes Google searches.

 

[namerav]

Brandable domains surely work.

 

[gina ferrano]

10% of sales at Brandable marketplaces is impressive.

I'm a small time player, but optimistic and thankful to have gotten any kind of sales tbh. There are some that do very very well. Patience is key. I dropped out of domaining (not buying anything for 3 years) and my how things have changed! Way more competitive! Where I once found gems with drop lists, Dropcatch corners that market. At auction, there are some folks with deep pockets, hard to compete with that. i've already learned the hard way. Ouch. Hand reg's take time, but I enjoy the 'word art' and the treasure hunt. I'll stick with brandables (made up & keywords), and future markets. + a handful I hope to develop one day.

 

[BaileyUK]

I've really only ever sold 'Brandable' domains since day one, 18 years ago.
you do have to be ahead of the game in terms of wordplay, technology and markets. It isn't an easy game to play but, it's certainly a far more interesting and challenging. Your basically looking for short but applicable 'WordArt' as well as multi-outlets for your domains. So your basically earning for the work you've put in identifying the branding potential
The fun tends to stop when a company goes and trademarks the term, obviously you predate them in terms registration date etc but, it tends to stop anybody else using the wording, So the fun part stops there.

most of my domains end up with subsequent trademark holders anyway (by negotiation) But it can limit your market scope.

 

[Nezam Uddin]

I seem to get the point. So basically the sales are inbound end user ones which require one to have lots of patience and money. It's just not the game for the one who wants to keep getting returns every month.

or is there a better way to sell them?

 

[BrandPlease]

active selling - you would reach out to a min # of prospects per day, per name... I think sitting back with your killer portfolio and waiting for the calls to come in happens after many years of success and portfolio building. or at least with the names in my portfolio hahahahaha

 

[Bullock]

IMHO, dealing with brandables aren't for beginners

 

[Haykay2005]

Everyone has their forte

I wouldn't advise going in 'Brandable' domains unless you have some good marketing background, enjoy Word-Art, perhaps a good understanding in behavioural-sciences, psychology and lets not forget technology awareness. Plenty of time to read up and study Trademark law and application. And finally are in domains for the long-game. Good domains for the whole business aren't 'Read' they are Recognised and yes, that includes wording not even out there yet

nope it is Not for the novice

You are very correct. Ability to think ahead of time

 

[Kuffy]

ProAgent.com

I'm starting to see a lot of "pro" prefixed names on vans. Business identities like 'Proparts'. 'Proserve', 'Protools' even 'Probusiness'