What defines a good "Brandable" domain?

[Work In Progress]

I often see requests for brandable domains in the wanted section here. Seldom do we see what (or if) the OP picked. Or for what price.

I thought it would be interesting to hear from folks what they consider a "good brandable" domain is. By this, I mean what makes one made-up word / term better than another?
Are they worth registering?
Do you have any in your portfolio?
Or do you say all brandables are worthless?

Thanks in advance for the replies

 

[jon]

It is a very lose term and i'm sure different people have lots of different opinions on what they are expecting to get when they use the term in a domains wanted thread.

Personally when i use the term brandable i am referring to how easy to remember the domain is. Every hyphen domain is out the window, every domain extension other than .com is out the window (excluding a few special circumstances). Two word domains are ok but they need to flow together. Also numbers sometimes work. Let me give you a few examples.

Brandable domain names:
yesthat.com
6pins.com
send2.com
upload2.com
hulu.com

Non-brandable domains:
Upload-website.net
domainnameforum.com
coolproxy.us

I hope that makes it slightly clearer, of my view on the word at least.

 

[verbster]

A brandable domain is simply a word, words, term or collection of characters that the owner can apply to a product or service and have the brandable domain be distinctively associated by name to that product or service (thus the need for trademarks).

Just think of names of products...Windex, Zune, Midas, Scott's, Estibot...and they will most likely be a name someone branded for a product...not to be confused with a generic domain like glasscleaner, mp3players, mufflerreplacement, lawnfertilizer, domainappraisals, etc.

Domainers--correct me if I got it wrong.

 

[DotWeekly]

I agree with verbster!

I always try to pick something that is easy to say, easy to spell and just has a sweet sound to it. Also has to be Trademark Free.

 

[shockie]

in addition to what's already been said, a good brandable should stand out, be memorable, and relate/connect to its end use if possible. examples include google (goggles -> search), febreze (breeze -> air freshener), reddit (read it), etc.

i try to only buy really good brandables, since the market for them are generally smaller compared to generics (imo). more people would want searchengine.com than google.com... pre-development of course.

 

[sashas]

For LLLLL.coms, I like names that have repeating letters, like
Ovoyo.com
Oyoyo.com
Loloo.com

etc.
(I dont own any of the above names, FYI)

For LLLL.coms, its usually the CVCV.coms (Hulu, Zano, Reno etc.), or good VCVC.coms (Alag.com, Opar.com etc.) or good LLLL.coms like Higg.com, Piff.com, Jigg.com etc.

For LLL.coms, brandability isn't as important as the letters. Jig.com is definitely better than Jyt.com

For LL.coms...well, anything is a brand in itself