discuss What makes for a good brandable domain ? Showcase your brandables here

[oldtimer]

With thousands of startups needing a name for their new company and many more existing businesses also branching out all the time and needing names for their new line of products and services it seems that brandable domains is one of the areas that could be very beneficial to domainers both old and new and deserves to be explored further.

Below are a few points of discussion to get this thread started, if I have left something important out please let me know so that it can be added to them. If you have any tips or advice about brandable domains please feel free to share them with the rest of us.


1-What is a brandable domain.

2-How many different types of brandable domains are there and is one type better than the others.

3-What makes a brandable domain stand out amongst thousands of others.

4-What is the optimum length for a brandable domain, how long can a brandable domain be and still qualify as being a good choice.

5-What types of brandable domains are most desired by startups and existing businesses.

6-What is the best way to find brandable domains.

7-What is the best way to sell brandable domains.


Attention Newbies: It's probably best to first hear what some of the more experienced domainers have to say about this subject before you consider getting any domains, and even then it's probably best to experiment with just a few domains at a time. You should be able to sell one domain and then use the proceeds from that sale to get more domains, if you cannot even sell one domain then you are doing something wrong and need to adjust your strategy. IMO

 

[urlurl]

I try to stay away from local brandables and words that may have more than one possible spelling from country to country. ie color and colour, check and cheque, etc.

It always best to stay as broad as possible to ensure you capture a wider audience of possible buyers

IMO

 

[oldtimer]

Once more thanks to all those who have provided us with so much valuable tips and advice in this thread. Although there are always going to be the usual suspects who try to put down any thread that gives new options for domainers, but I for one am very happy that I got into brandable domains when I did around three weeks ago. I now have 19 domains accepted at BrandBucket (with 7 of them live) and am looking forward to having my first sale soon.






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[Mystiko]

Once more thanks to all those who have provided us with so much valuable tips and advice in this thread. Although there are always going to be the usual suspects who try to put down any thread that gives new options for domainers, but I for one am very happy that I got into brandable domains when I did around three weeks ago. I now have 19 domains accepted at BrandBucket (with 7 of them live) and am looking forward to having my first sale soon.






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Well done...are those 19 names all fresh handregs from the last 3 weeks?

 

[oldtimer]

Well done...are those 19 names all fresh handregs from the last 3 weeks?

Yes, they were mostly 6L to 8L pronounceable names that I had thought of recently.

That's what is so good about brandables, there are still many new names available that look and sound great.

Although I should add that the real test would be being able to sell some of these domains soon.

IMO






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[equity78]

1) When did you start registering domains personally, and how many domains would you say you own ?

I believe the first name I ever registered was sometime in 2004. One of the first names I can remember registering was Modern4Less.com (a short-lived e-commerce store I built for selling modern furniture). At present, our company only holds about 250 names -- nearly all which are brandable -- they are either listed for sale with Namerific, or planned as names for upcoming projects not related to Namerific.

2) What attracted you to the brandable domain space ?

I essentially fell into the niche without even knowing it. I have always been entrepreneur-minded, and since discovering domains, I've always registered the potential .com names for businesses or brands that I wanted to someday develop -- which then left me with too many names to possibly develop, so I ventured out looking for ways to somehow monetize those extra names, which is where I came across a site called BrandStack.

While listing with BrandStack, I discovered that my domains didn't have as much 'spark' without attractive logos, so I turned my focus to learning how to design logos for the domains that I made. During the same time, I began building a personal site to display my own brands for sale, and named it ZTG Brands (ZTG being my initials). The main drive for creating ZTG Brands, was that I wanted to be sure that I would have the opportunity of promoting my domains for sale independently, and begin creating a name for myself in the brandable domain world.

About a year or so later of becoming involved with BrandStack, and getting some traction for ZTG Brands, I was invited to join BrandBucket to sell some of my names. I quickly became one of the leading sellers at BrandBucket, in terms of volume. It wasn't long before BrandBucket's Founder, Margot Bushnaq, invited me to help manage the company.

There are 4 more questions in the interview click the link in my signature.

 

[oldtimer]

Interesting article Ray,

Although I wish you had included a few more questions, like:

What makes for a good brandable domain.

 

[biggie]

. Although there are always going to be the usual suspects who try to put down any thread that gives new options for domainers,





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:talk:

still throwing rocks, huh

some folks only want agree'ers in their threads and some folks want all viewpoints to make best decisions.

you can still shine, without blocking the light on others


instead of throwing shade over knowledge, in an attempt to paint it as negative.

I read in between lines quite well as that's where I put most of my messages.

 

[oldtimer]

:talk:

still throwing rocks, huh

some folks only want agree'ers in their threads and some folks want all viewpoints to make best decisions.

you can still shine, without blocking the light on others


instead of throwing shade over knowledge, in an attempt to paint it as negative.

I read in between lines quite well as that's where I put most of my messages.

I am all ears if you have any tips or advice about avoiding mistakes with certain types of brandable domains or if you can shine some light on any downfalls associated with this niche. But when you call us clowns and threaten to ban those who are making legitimate posts in this thread then what are we supposed to think other than that you are the one who is trying to suppress knowledge. If that’s not the case then why don’t you gives us some advice about brandable domains and stop making this into a personal matter.

You have been around long enough that you can give us a lot of good tips if you wanted to.

 

[equity78]

He has no power to ban anyone here Old Timer so don't worry about that.

 

[biggie]

But when you call us clowns and threaten to ban those who are making legitimate posts in this thread then what are we supposed to think other than that you are the one who is trying to suppress knowledge

:talk:

IF, you actually read the words I typed, "clowns' was used as "sign of affection" and the mention of banning was in reference to , if I owned BB and you guys kept submitting newly regged names to the site, I would consider it spamming.


so again, you spent it wrong.


here's a tip:

reading is fundamental, comprehension only comes without emotions.
you ain';t gonna learn nothing while thinking someone is against you.

He has no power to ban anyone here Old Timer so don't worry about that.

:talk:

had you read my post clearly, would you still be flex'n

 

[equity78]

I was answering his post and stating a fact, I read yours, if I had a problem with it I would have posted something. no one is flex'n. Let's get the post back on topic.

---------- Post added at 11:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:44 AM ----------

The bottom line the "brandable" niche is wide open, some people consider certain names that other people don't. That's fine people are going to disagree, Brand Bucket certainly does not have the market on brandable domains.

 

[sids70]

I had submitted few domains to Namerific.

Some were approved and some were not, however Zane sometimes provide good comments. Also he rethinks about domain when I brought up an angle from marketing perspective. Sometimes he would accept the domain but suggest lower price than what I had asked for.

This leads to pleasant experience and I feel like there is a person who cares about my viewpoint.

Recent suggestion by Zane were as follows - This was sent to me specifically when I asked about denial of one of my domains which I think was very good.

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The most common reasons names are not approved are:
Difficult to pronounce (this is the most important factor when considering names)
Too many possible pronunciations
Too many syllables (making the name very stretched out feeling)
Using the letter 'z' as a replacement for a plural of 's' on a dictionary word (E.g. Shoez)
Caters only to a very low demand, niche market, or has very limited possible name uses
Sound or spelling too similar to a well-known company or brand name
Registered trademarks in existence with same or similar spelling and/or pronunciation
Created strictly by keywords which are too descriptive of the potential business/service
Suggestive of something adult, sexual, or drug-related

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I think above should give you some hints when you register potential brandable domains.

 

[GiftedDomains]

:talk:

, if I owned BB and you guys kept submitting newly regged names to the site, I would consider it spamming.

Oh really?

Well then ask Margot how many of their own names (boxador) were "newly regged" names when they acquired them.

This niche does not always work like the rest of the domain categories. Yes, most of the time you can not reg a good keyword .com, etc. but you still CAN register a new .com brand (either a totally new idea or a dropped name) and sell it with a lot of ROI (if you are good at finding the good ones). Many names sold at BB were "newly regged" names.

 

[dcristo]

The Brandable Domain Thread

I think it would be good to dedicate a thread to the discussion of brandable domains.

Have you made an end user sale for a brandable name? If so, what price did you get for it, and did it help to recover the cost of all the brandable domains you've registered?

 

[oldtimer]

I think it would be good to dedicate a thread to the discussion of brandable domains.

Have you made an end user sale for a brandable name? If so, what price did you get for it, and did it help to recover the cost of all the brandable domains you've registered?

It looks like everyone is interested to see what brandable domains other people have registered , but before disclosing your domains or the amount that they were sold for make sure it's okay according to the TOS of the venue that you have your domains listed with, I know that BrandBucket recently added an NDA to their TOS that forbids disclosing prices, but I am not sure about the other venues.

 

[GiftedDomains]

I have had very bad experience recently with disclosing sales and amounts publicly.
My buyer got spammed by someone here offering him a "similar" brandable name which he recently bought (this fucking stupid asshole spammer even mentioned the exact price and name making it obvious that i posted the sale here), making the buyer mad at me disclosing details of a deal. Of course we didn't have NDA or anything (in that case i would not disclose anything anyway), but nonetheless i decided not to disclose anything anymore publicly (with or without TOS, NDA; etc..

I talk too much anyway, just have to keep my mouth shut and make money.

 

[dcristo]

It looks like everyone is interested to see what brandable domains other people have registered , but before disclosing your domains or the amount that they were sold for make sure it's okay according to the TOS of the venue that you have your domains listed with, I know that BrandBucket recently added an NDA to their TOS that forbids disclosing prices, but I am not sure about the other venues.

You make a good point. Tbh though I wasn't even talking about specific domains, just prices in general. Having always registered keyword domains I am pretty clueless about brandables.

 

[GiftedDomains]

I would say an average good price for brandable names (5 Letters and more) is low x.xxx. The sweet spot. Most startups can afford it and you would be happy with the price too if you didn't invested a lot of money but got it for reg fee or xx.
Though you have to be patient.

 

[dcristo]

Thanks that was helpful. And do brandables that tend to sell have a relevance to a particular industry or they could be used for any site?

 

[oldtimer]

You make a good point. Tbh though I wasn't even talking about specific domains, just prices in general. Having always registered keyword domains I am pretty clueless about brandables.

I am kind of new to brandable domains too, but from what I have seen so far it seems like most start ups and to some extent even existing businesses are only willing to pay in the low to medium four figure range for brandable domains.

I have had very bad experience recently with disclosing sales and amounts publicly. .... I talk too much anyway, just have to keep my mouth shut and make money.

I was first attracted to brandables by seeing all the sales that were being reported on the end user sales thread, but it’s too late now, the cat is out of the bag and you can’t keep it all for yourself anymore.

But don’t feel bad, at least you are helping a lot of your fellow domainers become successful with brandable domains like you are.

 

[GiftedDomains]

Thanks that was helpful. And do brandables that tend to sell have a relevance to a particular industry or they could be used for any site?

Brand names which suggest specific type of usage (for instance because they include a keyword , like Shopster, Jobdia, etc.) have their advantages and disadvantages. Advantage is that if a buyer is looking for specific type of names related to that keyword (shop, jobs, in the mentioned examples), he may prefer these names over other brandable names with no connection to the desired usage.
Disadvantage is that you lose the other potential customers who are looking for names for other products/services.

Some prefer brandable names which can be used by anyone for almost anything.

I personally try to have a mix of both type of names: those for wide audience and those for specific type of products/services/industry

 

[dcristo]

Brand names which suggest specific type of usage (for instance because they include a keyword , like Shopster, Jobdia, etc.) have their advantages and disadvantages. Advantage is that if a buyer is looking for specific type of names related to that keyword (shop, jobs, in the mentioned examples), he may prefer these names over other brandable names with no connection to the desired usage.
Disadvantage is that you lose the other potential customers who are looking for names for other products/services.

Some prefer brandable names which can be used by anyone for almost anything.

I personally try to have a mix of both type of names: those for wide audience and those for specific type of products/services/industry

Makes sense. And although you have a wider audience you can market to when selling non specific brand names, you are also competing with lots more domains since there is nothing distinguishing your name from every other brandable name on the market. That said, my gut tells me, if you do happen to get lucky and make the sale with a non specific brandable, the sale price can potentially be alot more. Could be completely wrong about this though.

 

[GiftedDomains]

Remember, there is also the category of 2 word keyword-brandable names (these are also brandables, these are not keyword domains)

For instance i just got two new names today

EliteDynamic .com
FlyerBot .com

The first one can be used by a wide audience. This brand is not limited. For instance i could think of anything sports, business, software, employment, technology, etc. related wanting to have such a name which suggests flexibility, leadership, etc. (because of the chosen combination of the keywords).

The second one is targeted for someone who would like to have an online flyer making or sharing site like Smore.com, FlyerLizard.com, etc.
It contains the word flyer and ends in "bot" (a popular ending used in many brands), which also makes sence in the combination (do it yourself online flyer maker, etc.)

This way i try to have a good mix of all kind of brandable names (short 5, 6, 7, 8 letter, etc. and keyword brandable names like the ones mentioned above)

 

[dcristo]

Yeah besides madeup words this is mainly what I associate brandable names to be. A popular trend in this category is to use two words that start with the same letter. For instance, GamesGuru .com

 

[Havela]

I have had very bad experience recently with disclosing sales and amounts publicly.
My buyer got spammed by someone here offering him a "similar" brandable name which he recently bought (this fucking stupid asshole spammer even mentioned the exact price and name making it obvious that i posted the sale here)

Wow, what a loser, and in so many different ways.

First of all, it is a crappy thing to do to you, whose contributions to this forum we all benefit from

Secondly, what on earth was he thinking? "Oh yeah, I see this company just bought Brand.com, so I'll go and handreg PidgeonShitBrand.com and ask them if they want that too. What a great idea for a startup to launch on two confusingly similar websites all at once!" :lol: