Web start-ups scraping bottom of brand barrel

[Sir Regalot]

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/sto...x?guid={F9C03C2F-15F1-4F9F-A791-8BB8851EFEB0}

 

[labrocca]

Great read and if you notice...they only mention dotcom. I don't believe any startup with millions in VC would settle for anything less. dotcom is truly king and everything else is fodder.

Brandables are certainly great to have in a portfolio. One difficult thing is to find these startups to promote your great names. Rarely are they savvy enough to ask professional domainers for help. They are stuck in an old-thought quagmire of just typing stuff in to see if it's available. As domainers we know that's nearly fruitless. I believe in the past 3 years I have only hand regged one brandable myself (paloopa.com).

Maybe some domainers need to consider being "domain consultants" and help with acquisitions of brandable names. Hmm...

 

[nrmillions]

Great read and if you notice...they only mention dotcom. I don't believe any startup with millions in VC would settle for anything less. dotcom is truly king and everything else is fodder.

So you dont think any startup with millions in funding would use something other than .com? Have you ever heard of Craigslist.org, Wikipedia.org, Last.fm, Del.icio.us, Blip.tv, and many many others? If you have millions in VC funding then it doesnt really matter what the domain name or the extension is. It just matters how brandable the whole thing is. you dont need generic type in traffic when you have the money already, thats why google.com gets more traffic than searchengine.com.

 

[Mark]

Nice article


nrmillions :
But it Does matter in the long run ..... IMO

Craigslist.com Wikipedia.com Delicious.com are all redirected to the other extension.

Traffic leaking is what you have to remember .... While some names may stick in your head when You see a "Print" Ad or See/hear it on a TV/Radio .... Many will not - And many people do associate .com with the Web the most , So if they only remember the "Phrase" part of the domain , They'll likely end up at the .com when trying to find the site.

How much of your Millions of VC would be spent sending traffic to someone elses Site ?

I don't know why you mentioned "generic type in traffic" - It's nice to Brand on or own those type domains just because they have "built in" Traffic that you don't have to keep paying for forever. No it's not needed (But it makes Cent$[sense]) , But people visiting generic type domains are seen by many as the best traffic (They know what they are looking for already).


While I have no problem building small sites on other extensions - I'd prefer to do so on a .com So if it takes off , I won't have to buy the .com later on ...

 

[deleted984054565403]

Great read and if you notice...they only mention dotcom. I don't believe any startup with millions in VC would settle for anything less. dotcom is truly king and everything else is fodder.

Brandables are certainly great to have in a portfolio. One difficult thing is to find these startups to promote your great names. Rarely are they savvy enough to ask professional domainers for help. They are stuck in an old-thought quagmire of just typing stuff in to see if it's available. As domainers we know that's nearly fruitless. I believe in the past 3 years I have only hand regged one brandable myself (paloopa.com).

Maybe some domainers need to consider being "domain consultants" and help with acquisitions of brandable names. Hmm...

Very good and true advice. When all else fails, it's always good to have a brandable domain or two or three sitting in your portfolio. There isn't speculation that will die over time, so they're good for the long run, too.

Maybe it's just me, but I have a nice collection of brandable names.

 

[briman1970]

So you dont think any startup with millions in funding would use something other than .com? Have you ever heard of Craigslist.org, Wikipedia.org, Last.fm, Del.icio.us, Blip.tv, and many many others? If you have millions in VC funding then it doesnt really matter what the domain name or the extension is. It just matters how brandable the whole thing is. you dont need generic type in traffic when you have the money already, thats why google.com gets more traffic than searchengine.com.

Type Craigslist.com, Wikipedia.com, Lastfm.com, and Delicious.com into your browser.

That's four out of the five companies you listed that have net savvy people at the helm (or at least in their IT department). Blip.tv is losing buttloads of traffic to BlipTV.com, especially since it's developed and some surfers won't know the difference when they get there. The rule of the present day is, get the .com... always. Will that change in the future? I personally believe so, but it's going to be a long time from now.

 

[Joan]

A very interesting read. Thank you for putting the link in here. It sure makes it obvious that if you are thinking of starting up that the most time and energy will be spent in that elusive domain name that pulls it all together for you in the best way. I for one wouldn't want to be putting in a hundred different names to come up with something that doesn't really make any sense at all.

 

[labrocca]

Have you ever heard of Craigslist.org, Wikipedia.org, Last.fm, Del.icio.us, Blip.tv, and many many others? .

As mentioned these companies mostly have their dotcom. Also...it's noteworthy that the names you mention DID NOT have millions in VC to begin. They were free little startup sites that grew. And the second they did earn millions or get enough VC...they ran to the dotcom owner.

So pretty much your point is nullified ...sorry.

 

[zachary0611]

ahh theres lots of good names out you just have to use your head a little bit

 

[Joan]

Well I guess I will just have to put my thinking cap on and try to come up with the ultimate name. lol... I can just see it now ... winultimate.com now there's a name that has probably had a hundred tries to get it. Probably worth thousands by now.

Anyway, I will keep trying for the best name possible. That's the only thing that we can really do.

 

[Ronald Regging]

I think this article only helps to illustrate how uneducated businesses are about the importance of a domain name. It's not like they're looking to buy brandable domains... They're looking for good names and then finally deciding to use some random non-word that just happens to be available. Meaning, they aren't buying domains...

The guy stated that they would rather spend the money on more valuable things like toilet paper...

What is more valuable than the image and brand of your entire company? I mean I guess you can spend millions of dollars and many, many years building a brand from the ground up, but if I had $4-6 million in VC, I'd rather use a nice chunk of it to acquire a name that gives me a headstart.

 

[creme]

I think this article only helps to illustrate how uneducated businesses are about the importance of a domain name. It's not like they're looking to buy brandable domains... They're looking for good names and then finally deciding to use some random non-word that just happens to be available. Meaning, they aren't buying domains...

The guy stated that they would rather spend the money on more valuable things like toilet paper...

What is more valuable than the image and brand of your entire company? I mean I guess you can spend millions of dollars and many, many years building a brand from the ground up, but if I had $4-6 million in VC, I'd rather use a nice chunk of it to acquire a name that gives me a headstart.

I agree - they seem really unimaginative - I'm sure you could hand reg something better than what they have...or just look around Namepros, Sedo, etc and find something great for a few hundred bucks.

If you approach someone to buy a name, you shouldn't preface it with "Hi, we just got $4M in funding and would like to buy your name..."

Example: MobileContest.com is for sale on Afternic for $95