Rebranding Website - Round 2

[Name Trader]

I still haven't finally decided on my rebranding of DNStore.com. I'm not afraid of rebranding (maybe I should be). Because I'll just point DNStore.com to whatever I choose to rebrand to. Let's start with why I want to rebrand. Several domainers have told me that end-users haven't a clue what DN stands for, and I should probably choose a domain with "domain" in the name and with a 2nd word which suggest selling domains. This sounds all well and good, except there are really none available to register, or are priced too expensively. I've kinda shortlisted 4 domains, which don't actually follow all suggestions which have been made. These are STUB.ORG, STUUB.COM, STUBWEB.COM, NAMETRADER.COM. So let's discuss these 4 domains.

STUB.ORG. I recently purchased this from a very top domainer. It wasn't cheap. How much does it matter that it's not the .COM, which is in use in the entertainment ticketing business? The .NET is for sale for about $25k. I'd like to hear the pros and cons of using STUB.ORG as my domains for sale website, replacing DNStore.com? Pros: It's my name on NP's and an abbreviation of my real name. It's short and to the point. It doesn't address the problem of not including Domain & Sales in the domain name, which started all this searching for a new name. How much does that matter? I think it's very brandable.

STUUB.COM. I purchased this from another domainer about 4 years ago. A true brandable with the same qualities as STUB.ORG, except it is a .COM. If that is important. Does that make it a better choice than STUB.ORG?

STUBWEB.COM. I purchased this in the drops about 4 years ago also. A 2 word brandable, with my keyword+WEB. Several top domainers are using "Domain(s)+Web".com (which obviously are not available). This only partially links the domain to selling domains on the WEB. It's a COM also.

NAMETRADER.COM - I purchased this domain some 15+years ago. This definitely fits the bill of clearly identifying what to expect from the domain. Although it uses the considerably lower form of "NAME" replacing the word "DOMAIN" according to one top domainer, I spoke with. I couldn't find any available domain which implied selling domains with the use of "NAME" available for registration or purchase at a reasonable cost. Not a brandable.

I would stress this is a shortlist. I have several .COM domains with 1 or 2 letters in front of or behind STUB. I have domains like STUBDOMAINS.COM, which might be a good fit/compromise. But I kinda preferred something shorter, and brandable. I have several NGTLDs with the word "DOMAIN(S).+NGTLD. Reasonably good NGTLD's. But I didn't consider them viable, because of thinking about .COM being almost a must. I'm not really sure how many end-users who would know of these NGTLDs, yet. I have and considered several DOMAINSALESxxxx.com but I figured you could die before the completing the domain in your browser

My personal preference is in the order they are listed. But it is a tight decision between all of them. I'd like to here your comments about each of these names and the one you would choose. And why.

rgds
stu

 

[forge]

It's not even a close race for me: you should go with nametrader.com. I can't imagine running a commercial enterprise on the .org TLD.

I agree that essentially no one outside the domaining world will understand the "DN" in DNStore.

 

[DomainNameFlow]

NAMETRADER.COM would be a good brand name, perfectly describing what domainers do.

 

[1Darko]

Hi Stu,
I see that you're still thinking about a rebrand . Why? - I think DNStore is just fine. Like some members before me already pointed out - the name doesn't matter. If I understand correctly you would like to raise the bar higher and get to the next level - probably to increase sales .
If you want to be visible you must expose your store and brand socially. If we look at DNStore more in detail:
- the store isn't integrated in any social platform like facebook, twitter, instagram, linkedin, youtube...etc.
-if I type into Google search "DNStore" it doesn't appear anywear, ok it appears somehow on the last page #6, but only because Google somehow favours DNShop which you're selling on DNStore
- if I type into Google "DN Store" I tried to find something until page #9 where I stopped searching whithout any success
I think you get what I want to say - you must rank better at Google search. Now how to do that is a big task for SEO experts. It takes knowledge, time and of course money. But this will have to be done with any brand you choose.
I would say you could achieve this with DNStore, the only little problem I see is that you will have trouble to get the exact match social handles for DNStore. Interestingly the brand DNStore is used already by some companies.
If you will really rebrand you should get the social handles of this new brand and integrate them into your site and business communication - imho. That could impact your choice of brand. You can use this site to check some available options: knowem dot com
Probably some handles you will have to buy.
You will probably have to calculate the financial outcome of this big decision before you take action. You could burn quite a sum of money without any big improvements to the current situation.

That's my view about your question. To clarify - I don't operate any domain store so I could be totally wrong and you could lose all your domains and money if you're listening to me .

 

[sbweb]

I think DN is fine. Here's my take.

1) DN stands for different things, but it is well known for Domain Name. https://www.abbreviations.com/DN

2) Who cares if end users don't know what DN stands for? They'll find out once they get to your site. A lot of sites have brandable domains/names that doesn't explain what it does upfront. For example, if someone never visited NamePros and they saw the name, what type of site do you think they'd think it was? "Name" doesn't automatically equate to Domains. Names could also refer to people, places or things. Us domainers equate "names" to domains because we're so accustomed to seeing domaining sites with the word "name" in it like NamePros, Namecheap, Namesilo, etc..

3) There are well known domain industry brands with "DN" in it. For example:
DNAcademy
DNJournal.com
DNF
DNGear
DNSchool.org
DN.biz
DN [dot] ca

With that said, I would go with DNStore or NameTrader. I do like NameTrader but typically a name with "trader" in it means that its a marketplace for buying/selling/trading something. In your case, you're only selling, so I don't know.

 

[VadimK]

My view is similar to @sbweb

First off, I think your current name is a really good one. Short and to the point. True that, the end user doesn't know the abbreviation DN, but at the end of the day it's all a matter of marketing, and how you bring him to your site. It's not like you'll be handing someone a business card with a name but without an explanation, to worry whether or not the person understands. It's all about online marketing.

Now, if you still want to rebrand, then NameTrader.com is definitely the best option. Don't worry about ''domain'' not being there (remember the name of the site we are all at right now).

The problem with Stub and Stuub (apart from .org, which I don't like at all), is that you'll need a huge, enormous amount of time and effort to make this brand widely recognized in our niche that is very specific. Basically you need to bring people to the point when someone says ''Stub'' and all people around like ''oh, that's a name platform''. Again, that's complicated as hell, not worth it at all.

Bottom line - you can rebrand to NameTrader if you like, but keeping DNGear as well, pointing to the same site. Then see how it goes.

Good luck!

 

[branding]

All prefer to buy on the trustful place and not every potential buyer would accept pay to unknown fellow from the internet.
If your potential client is a domainer or end-user who knows the importance of a good domain and already had experience with domain buying, then he can accept to pay you directly.
But the person who buys for the first time will prefer to buy via a well-known platform.. even if he has no idea what is domain auction, he will google and in 95% ask you to use Godaddy.
In your place, I would sell nametrader.com because it is a good name and continue selling on well-known marketplaces. Ok, you lose 20% but you avoid problems and headache with all the payment process.
I would continue keeping the same site - DNstore and offering nametrader.com for sale.

Mh well... Depends... I sell 90% of my domains privately, contract signed, wire/cc issued. Dunno about you but losing 20% in sales would be quite a monetary loss.

Besides exposure, marketplaces bring you nothing. Payment process is easy if you have the right payment processors in place and can be fully automated. Sale, purchase, provide Auth, transfer approval, all without manual intervention so no time (=money) involved.

Domain payed for, funds received and delivered instantly. Try that with afternic. Dan comes close. Those who automate are lightyears ahead of the competition.

 

[VadimK]

Thanks for your comments @VadimK. The point, if the people having pointed this out to me are correct, is that I'm probably having close to zero non-domainers typing in DNStore.com into their browsers. We as domainers think it's a pretty good domain. But I'm basically not catering for domainers. The niche I want to fill is selling domains to end-users, not domainers. I want to choose a domain which is attractive to end-users. You are correct. I want them to think of Stuub or StubWeb as a domain platform. Not overnight, of course. But I don't want zero end-users visiting my website. Whatever the final outcome on domain name might be.

But it's not exactly true that I don't have end-users visiting my website. I do have many end-users visiting my website. They type in a domain name in their browser, and up comes the domain landing page. From there, if they are feeling adventurous, they can then search my domain database for other domains. What else does an end-user want/need? They want to feel comfortable with the domain they are visiting is legit and useful. And then they will remember the domain. As long as it's memorable. Anything else?

I perfectly understand you want an end user, but it's a big misconception to think that people do type something in URL when they search for a domain name, and that your goal is to make sure name is more popular so more people type it in. That's not how SEO works.
Just put yourself on ''Average Joe'' place, a person who knows nothing about all our platforms, just looking to name his business. He is not gonna type anything into the URL. He would put in google searches like ''get domain'' or ''buy domain'' or ''brand domain name''. Then he'll be clicking on the first couple pages of the names that popup. Your goal is to be on those two pages, that's it. That's very hard.
But that was precisely to the point of not worrying too much that people ''don't type in DN'', they won't be typing in anything else either...
Hey, go to SpyFu.com and play with keywords and see what people are typing, check search volume. Then you should throw some SEO heavily and for a long time on the most popular combinations for the domain. That's how you bring an end user to your platform.

The toughest part of selling on your own platform in our business is that it's extremely hard to attract the end user to our platform, because he is interested in the name, not a platform he is buying with. But then once you manage to attract him, he buys, and then he is gone, and you need another end user.
Amazon or Booking - you buy once, and you hooked with them, the same people will be buying over and over. So, the same end user is hooked, while we (in domaining) have to get another end user every time to generate a sale. This is the most complicated part of selling on your own platform.

 

[forge]

I agree with @sbweb that DNStore suits its purpose fairly well. It's fine as a brandable name and is already somewhat established. I did find it interesting that @VadimK did confuse it with DNGear, however.

DNStore is short, easy to remember.

 

[karmaco]

I am just going to say this as gently as possible. Pick what you want. The name of your store doesn’t matter. The names you are selling matter.

This is kind of like how people put more attention into a wedding event than an actual marriage.

Your names dictate success or failure. Not the store name.

 

[Start]

I just saw your post and didn't read all the replies. But wanted to simply add that I think DNStore.com works very well, and I personally wouldn't change it out for any of the others.

NameTrader is a great brand name, but I think it reminds the buyer that you buy low and sell high (or try to at least). But DNStore is more like "come and buy what you need".

That's just my opinion on a very brief thinking of the issue, but I think either name is excellent for a portfolio site.

 

[4pm]

+1 for NameTrader from me

not only is it a solid domain name for online business presence
it makes up a good personal brand too:

Stewart "NameTrader" B.
Stuart B. aka NameTrader
(sorry, not sure about the correct spelling)

i'd change my NP nickname to NameTrader as well,,,

..all those subweb, stuub, .org look to me like
<<the guy was trying hard to be creative for cheap but failed nonetheless>>
kind of stuff,,, sorry

...
//only personal subjective imho
best

 

[Atone]

Nametrader.com
No1 for me.

 

[biggie]

Let's start with why I want to rebrand. Several domainers have told me that end-users haven't a clue what DN stands for, and I should probably choose a domain with "domain" in the name and with a 2nd word which suggest selling domains.

Hi Stub

do those domainers who gave that advice have websites of their own?
if so, what domains do they use?
what percent of "end-user" sales come from their websites?
what is quality of their names versus yours?
are all of your domains pointed to dnstore.com?
have you sold any domains via dnstore.com?
how trustworthy will a redirect to a new domain, be perceived by visitors?

there is a lot about domaining that end-users don't know...and to me, that's a good thing.

imo....

 

[MadAboutDomains]

NameTrader.com, beautiful name.

 

[jhm]

Don't have much to add, late to the party. As the guys above said, really into n/a/m/e t/r/a/d/e/r...good one @stub. Such a domain could apply to more industries than just domaining (car plates, and other "name things" that can be bought / sold), ultimate name

 

[DN Playbook]

Name is a good choice in a brand, as is the word brand. It should definitely be a dot com. Otherwise you lose credibility. With a few exceptions.

You should get unmarried from the word stub in your new brand. Get outside of your box. Find a name that is catchy, brandable, and that will resonate with people. It doesn't need to contain dn, name, domain, etc. in it. It can be a completely invented name. Think of Sedo, Squadhelp, Dan, Porkbun, GoDaddy. None of those brands have anything about domains in their name but are successful.

 

[Lox]

Whatever you choose is fine by me (domain seller). However, in the years to come ...

Brands moving from typing/touch to listening (voice assistants and voice user interface), bc users can ask for more individualized experience (Alexa/Siri etc search words related to transport, business name ideas)

Example PWC survey, Feb 2018 (PDF attached)

Stub+(Media related word), stub.org is fine. If you're a brand today, you must lead vs offer.

Regards

 

[Lox]

Interesting that I own stub.media already. Just many of the NGTLDs I did not mention above. Did you look it up?

Yes, and a few existing -Stub- companies helps you to match your specific needs; "brand, media, agency, finance".

I find it interesting that you like stub.org, whereas most dislike it vehemently.

It's easier to remember Stub.org and .org can be more relevant for prospects (on budget) to engage in less restrictive way.

I understand what you are saying about lead vs offer, although I'm not really fully on board with the concept.

I was referring to

It doesn't generate interest to encourage me to want to know more or calls for action to learn (emotion > remember) more (contact us) or make a purchase (lack of drive).

Awareness = creating social attention; follow & engage w startup companies (share your opinions & knowledge without pushing your names)
Desire = emotional presentation; like
Interest = statistics; encourage
Action = extra info/analytics per request; purchase
Retention = satisfy the buyer (communication) so they refer or tweet etc

I think you can have a brand without being a leader in your niche. The niche I know most about is Domains.

Would StubDomains .c/o/m/ be a good choice? (Brand name + Niche name)

I think DAN have carved a niche for themselves, although there at least 10 domain companies in that niche selling aftermarket domain names and beating DAN. And many smaller companies, like Efty.

The companies that constantly expand the most end up being dominant. Yet every day I use them to show, for me, it's just a simple tool for creating awareness. I'm selling through a network of world wide channel partners.

All work in the repurposing old domains to new customers.

As far as I know/see. From approximately 60M DN's for sale, 1.1M domains are sold/resold/swapped/ in 2020. +/- 200.000 sales were designed for absolutely different purposes.

Just like I do. Which has given my an idea for my home page. It's just an idea at this point. Not fully developed yet.

Redesign website and in PDF prepare (template/infographics): growth-oriented validation / analysis. "Does HomeSecurityCo .... domain name do what I (buyer) want it to do?

It's always nice to here your views @Lox.

Thank you!

Regards

 

[Steven McEvoy]

Honestly just keep it at DNStore… maybe last year when you were first debating this you should of made the switch… hell you can even make a domain marketplace successful on “hickeeupoop” brand. stop overthinking this and getting feedback from domain investors and not business developers.. they’re going say .com regardless of anything domain you chose. You’re not here to sell your brand you’re here to sell other domains… .com does not matter

Now that stud.com is going to be marketplace I would even bother with stub.


See you next year on part 3

 

[bmugford]

DNStore.com is good. NameTrader.com is good. Either one works.

I am not sure I would expect either to lead to more sales than the other. It is kind of like a lateral move IMO.

With that said, I would lean towards NameTrader.com if I had to choose.

Brad

 

[F.E.]

Okay, so after I've gone throughout the thread, I believe I could give you some late feedback, and understand that my point of view will be from a marketing perspective.

Brand name decision
Between NameTrader and DNStore, my preference goes to the first one, but from a marketing perspective, none of those are appealing to end-user:

- DNStore - you already explained in your initial post, but there's additional questioning: store vs shop. Although both terms are being widely adopted, studies have shown that store is being used to reference bigger establishments that own smaller subsidiaries (shops). Even if we disregard store/shop usage, both keywords are ranked identical at search rankings: eg looking for a shop, getting to a store, and vice versa, so if anyone decides to build DNShop (or if it already exists), you both just started confusing each other: market pollution.

- On the other hand, NameTrader has additional problems, on top of the same that DNStore had:
-- NameTrader is painting a picture of an individual domain trader, not a business itself while being marketed as a business. If you'd like to appeal to anyone coming to your website, start building a personal brand around that name, rather than a business brand. Add about-me page, give visitors real insight on that NameTrader. Build trust, and then pursue with Call to Action - check my domain portfolio. DomainKing would be a reference for your branding path on this name (he does it on a larger scale though).
-- Once you built a personal brand, it's time to use your USP (unique selling point) which is in your name - Trader. Instead of just selling domain names, start buying them (ask to list you). You will most likely end up getting a ridiculous amount of trash names, but there's a gold mine there: someone might offer you a gold mine domain name in exchange for one or several of yours. You trade.


My preference and suggestion if I've seen this thread earlier would be finding a unique name rather than keyword combination, using existing names for traffic redirection, and voila, but you can still get most of NameTrader if you listen to a bit of what I wrote about it above.



I'll post you more about design and SEO tomorrow, 1:22 am here

 

[F.E.]

I'm back for round two

That's not a rocket science - domainers are looking at the keywords (mostly) and prefer one over other, but keywords you have in both domain names are lacking of relationship. Who will search Google for dn store/shop or name trader? But you haven't made a mistake taking Nametrader over DNstore/shop (I gave you few pointers on how to move forward with branding it). If I came here sooner to this thread, I would've pushed you towards building a brand, it is a bit harder, but eventually you would've made it.

As for dnstore/dnshop: sell them both, at least now you know that a lot of domainers have interest in those names and could price it higher

If you didn't know what's going on at Squadhelp.com, what would've been your first guess? Or Porkbun.com? Exactly.

Design

Okay, let me be completely honest, current website sucks: eye-hurting colors, just a simple search and find directory, no information what so ever. If I was a buyer, I would've questioned you through e-mails back and forth before making any purchase directly, and would highly lean towards paying you on other marketplaces (Dan, Afternic or through Escrow).

What you need to do during redesign phase:

- responsiveness: your marketplace needs to be responsive on every single device people use in 21st century.
- first impression: people are keen to leave website in first 3 seconds if they don't find solution to their search. Make sure they see hero message (headline, description + call to action) on first visit. Call to action is a button that leads them directly to what your hero headline and description is selling: domain names search tool/list.
Second, your search directory is far too complicated. Once they come to the search/domain directory you need to present them your best offer: show them list of X (20) most valuable domains in your inventory. You will either lure them in search loophole or get an instant click between domain and buyer who will pick a name from suggested list and inquiry/purchase it.

Don't hide list under search tool. Your list is your value proposition, and you're making me do extra step to find what I am looking for. Index all domains into simple directory and let them go through pages.

Why would I buy from you? As a potential customer, you've shown me zero reason why I would click Buy now button: not a single compsny/personal information, experience. Build about page, showoff your domaining experience, even add your name to it. Stewart B, known as Nametrader, extensive experience in domaining and branding etc etc. Sold over 200 domains worth more than $50M. Showcase some brands built on your sold domains. Thus way, you're building credibility for your whole page and potential buyer bas a lot easier decision to make, he doesn't need to question you.

Unique selling point (USP) - Which domains you're selling? Brandable or keyword? Market is saturated with domain sellers, so you need to find unique selling point. Why would someone buy that exact domain? Keyword domain: show them stats for those keywords. Brandable? What that brand is all about, even if you can, go to Canva and build a simple logo for the presentation. Describe domains as much as possible.

Categorize them: people tend to use search button to look for the broad terms like industry. Categorize those domains and if someone is looking adult, show him porn domains, if marketing, show him all for those, etc.

Domain landers - build for each domain landing page (nothing to cocky) and describe that name. Offer for some buy now option. Integrate payment method: Stripe is offering now payment links, so you could easily add Buy now button to your site for people to buy directly from you, and Stripe could hold all neccessary information for you to proceed after purchase has been made (name, email and which domain he paid for). Make complicated process even easier. Once you established trust, people will go for quick solution: buy and start transfer asap. And result? Increased revenue by decreasing fees, less time spent in your inbox and quicker transactions.

Blog. SEO is all about quality content. Blog about your journey, give some insights on how to properly pick name, and so on. Use some keyword research tool to find mostly used keywords for people who are looking to buy names. That way, you're also building brand from yourself. Perfect example here from Namepros: @AbdulBasit.com. He even used his full name (I suppose) to build personal brand and gain credibility. You can use your "art" name NameTrader, and let people get to know you as a domainer. Let people have reason to refer you: 'oh boy, if you ever need a domain name, go to nametrader.com, this guy guru in picking names'.

I'll add you some links once I gather them to give you even better and more direct advices.

 

[Name Trader]

I think Name Trader is a really good domain.

When a lot of people talk about domains they say "domain name".

There are a lot of domain related services that use "name": NameFind, NameBio, NameSilo, NameCheap...

Many domainers would associate "name" with domains as well as end users who are buying a name for their business.

Hi @dncafe ,

Yep. I like Name Trader too. Although I'd prefer "Domain" .. something. But nothing jumps out at me.

Most of those domain related services aren't really for end-users except for maybe NameFind

But end-users would prefer to use the correct term "Domain" rather than the nicname of "Name" in most cases. But they are somewhat intertwined. Yes.

 

[VadimK]

I agree with @sbweb that DNStore suits its purpose fairly well. It's fine as a brandable name and is already somewhat established. I did find it interesting that @VadimK did confuse it with DNGear, however.

DNStore is short, easy to remember.

Ha-ha, true, I just noticed myself, my bad.
Indeed, I meant DNStore.com. It's just DNGear is lately quite popular in threads, so, accidentally typed in this one.