1. Marketplace domain:
FYI .. the marketplace prefix in question is "
Viral" (I just didn't want the full names of both my potential brands to be in one discussion) as obviously I don't want my eventual potential retail clients to instead go buy $xx domains on auction instead of $xxxx on my marketplace! lol .. (Although I guess both will find their way into my signature eventually .. lol)
I'm actually going to use both as market places but will only use one "officially" (business cards, linkedin, etc) .. the other (and many of my others) will be mainly testing and alternate marketplaces (adult/weed/etc). I was pretty set on using Viral // Domains .. mostly asking feedback because I had already started the thread for my other name. Was also curious if another who has used one or the other regretted their choice for a particular reason I might have overlooked.
lol .. I'm actually the opposite .. unless you're going to make a huge spend on marketing .. then I think having a domain where people know what they will find when they get there is a pretty big advantage. We all know purely on content Google doesn't care .. but at the same time .. google also measures click-throughs .. and I know for me personally if I was looking to buy a domain and I saw a made up brandable in #3 search result and "Viral // Domains" in the 4th place, I'd definitely go to Viral // Domains. Obviously it totally depends on the keywords .. Viral is really an amazing prefix in context and actually turns it into a keyword domain .. and people most definitely want to buy a domain that will make their business go viral. [Random Animal]+Domains on the other hand .. always cool and memorable .. but still a significant notch below .. then get to more obscure prefixes, and I could agree with you that a good short punchy unrelated brandable could possibly be better depending on the names in question.
2. Auction lists domain:
Yeah .. I agree .. lol .. but I'm not at all interested in spending lots when I already have decent options. This really isn't some huge brand .. in fact I only want it to be domainers who ever find it .. my main marketing focus will be on my marketplace.
I thought about doing that .. but the why is more important for me to make my choice. My main issue with using "brand" for my lists is exactly what
@hookbox mentioned in that not all the names on my daily lists are actually brands .. there are keywords in there as well that aren't necessarily brands .. although I'm thinking that isn't really all that important (since it's only domainers and all they'll care about is the actual list and not what it's called) .. but in the same way that since domains have nothing to do with religion that using cult isn't the end of the world either. But ironically the only reason I prefer NameCult is for what
@D Haynes said in that it's short clear and punchy. Of all of them I think it's probably the one you'd remember most .. most importantly .. it makes me laugh!
I have A LOT of brand/name/domain type domains .. but the 3 I mentioned are the ones that felt more like a good fun name for domainers looking for names. I have 2 super amazing .org's that I was considering as well .. but not sure how I'd feel with a site geared to domainers using a .org .. lol. FYI .. the names are Name// Brands // dot // org and Brand // Power // dot // org. NameBrands is obviously super amazing and still strong left of dot despite being org .. really hesitated adding that one to the list above. Then Brand // Power does have a pretty big company behind it that sells a wide range of products .. I'm not so much concerned about trademark issues as it wouldn't be the same thing .. but the way they market quite vaguely pretending to be "information/news" is a little confusing/unethical, so while it's a fantastic name, I'm still a little hesitant.
I do have better names .. but my target audience is essentially the domainer community .. I'll never be running national ad campaigns or anything like that. I actually think both NameCult and BrandSonar are more than good enough .. plus they're both meaningful to actual purpose of the site .. Sonar = because I go out "searching" for the best names at auction each day to share .. and I actually really like cult in this context because most of us are addicted to domains .. lol .. or at least the people who will use my lists the most are at least a bit!
At the end of the day .. it's like most lists .. domainers are going to come check it out via forums / discussions / news / etc .. whether it's namecult or brandsonar .. the likelyhood of people returning will be 95% due to content .. 5% if they remember the name .. and honestly .. both are memorable enough .. although I think namecult is just a touch catchier .. more importantly .. it's 20% shorter left of dot .. lol .. in this thread I think BrandSonar is favoured a bit .. but outside of this thread it's namecult .. again though .. it isn't really about a vote .. I'm looking for reasoning to use in help making me decide which is best to use as my "lists" brand. Or maybe I'll use one for my auctions list and one for my closeout list! ok .. to be clear .. that's not going to happen! lol
Big thanks to all of you for your opinions and feedback. The fact there was no clear choice for the lists ironically actually is a help in that there was no significant reasons good or bad that I didn't think of!
