question Why is everyone told to just create brandable .com's

[Jason Baudendistel]

This feels like trying to win the lottery? Why not go find keyword domains that are missed or undervalued in other extensions? Obviously the keyword matters and it needs to be taken in multiple extensions but a 500 dollar flip now feels more realistic than maybe someone 10 years from now will pay me 2,000 for something I made up. Thoughts?

 

[Zanok]

I noticed that 90% of new investors are just trying to go for the homerun instead of slowly but surely determine what THEY can sell. In other words, what works for THEM. Shortcuts are not for everyone. You still need to have the right buyer at the right time!

Personally, I would rather know why I sold a domain that actually make sense for $199, than selling a random brandable domain for $3999 on SquadHelp without having any clue why this one has sold while hundreds other domains just like this one barely get any views at all in my portfolio.

In the long run, consistent sales are what make an investor successful.

 

[bmugford]

This feels like trying to win the lottery? Why not go find keyword domains that are missed or undervalued in other extensions? Obviously the keyword matters and it needs to be taken in multiple extensions but a 500 dollar flip now feels more realistic than maybe someone 10 years from now will pay me 2,000 for something I made up. Thoughts?

I think there are different levels to "brandables". Some brandables are high quality and already have a pool of potential end users. Others are random stuff like Plorpee.com.

It kind of reminds me of this -

There are billions of people on Earth, there are 170M+ .COM registered. It is not like there are many great brandables sitting there to hand register in 2022.

Brad

 

[biggie]

This feels like trying to win the lottery? Why not go find keyword domains that are missed or undervalued in other extensions? Obviously the keyword matters and it needs to be taken in multiple extensions but a 500 dollar flip now feels more realistic than maybe someone 10 years from now will pay me 2,000 for something I made up. Thoughts?

Hi

per the title:

Why is everyone told to just create brandable .com's?

i'd like to know who is telling you this, and why are you giving it credibility?

also, if you're talking about "brandables"
then "the number of extensions taken" is irrelevant, for the end-user.

additionally, from a branding perspective, the more extensions taken for that term, could be a potential tm liability in future or it may be difficult to stand-out from the crowd of others with the same name.

as for whether to take the money now, the $500, or wait for a potential payoff years later for 4x previous offer....is each sellers' decision to make, at the time money is on the table.

for most of the long time domainers though, they tend to wait for what they think is best offer before letting go a quality domain.
nowadays, it's harder to replace comparable names back in your list for similar pricing in reseller/aftermarket venues.

imo...

 

[BRANDERX]

Why not go find keyword domains that are missed or undervalued in other extensions? Obviously the keyword matters and it needs to be taken in multiple extensions but a 500 dollar flip now feels more realistic than maybe someone 10 years from now will pay me 2,000 for something I made up. Thoughts?

Sounds like you're referring to invented/made up random names with no meaning. I would advise against building a portfolio with those unless you've figured out how it works with one of the brandable marketplaces, which is basically quantity over quality for those types of names.

As to why not find keyword domains, sure, also two word brandables that can be considered keyword names make for great brands, many can be found expired & worth investing in. In my experience, one could build a quality over quantity portfolio with those names, without dropping the majority every year.

imo

 

[MadAboutDomains]

If you can’t see that, I recommend some new glasses or a monocle

You don't always have to be goading and rude you know. I'm reading no further than that now .

 

[jmcc]

There seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding of what is "brandable" when it comes to how companies and businesses view things. A "brandable" from a business point of view is something in which it is worth investing time, money and effort but can be protected with a trademark or service mark. For .COM, it benefits from being the de facto US ccTLD. That does not mean that businesses outside the US think of it as being the first choice for anything other than a global TLD. Outside the US, there is a very obvious shift to the local ccTLDs for local businesses. Sometimes people get lucky with being able to flip brandables but many drop without ever receiving an offer.

Regards...jmcc

 

[MadAboutDomains]

I think there are different levels to "brandables". Some brandables are high quality and already have a pool of potential end users. Others are random stuff like Plorpee.com.

...and the name in the OP's signature. That video is great, I haven't seen that before

 

[Reallybigidea.com]

It kind of reminds me of this -

Funny video I have sold LaLaLah.com for $888 on Afternic a few months ago.

I think Elon Mask bought it because I have advertised it on his twitter under his post about which music he loves.

 

[narek]

This feels like trying to win the lottery? Why not go find keyword domains that are missed or undervalued in other extensions? Obviously the keyword matters and it needs to be taken in multiple extensions but a 500 dollar flip now feels more realistic than maybe someone 10 years from now will pay me 2,000 for something I made up. Thoughts?

I personally prefer good other extension names(.org or .net) vs nonsense brandable .com. But it's me. I am buying and selling primarily brandable .COMs, because people buy them

 

[VadimK]

I wouldn't hand reg them. These names look to me quite unnatural, they are like from a free generator list that you play with for free - nothing good comes up there in reality...
Maybe a couple like Crumla, CureKick are a bit better, but the rest - bad matches and for brandables - are too long and double lettered. Only by lucky punch can you sell them...

 

[AEProgram]

Any good .com keyword domain is beyond the reach of most domainers. Some go to other extensions others try their hand at brandables.

 

[biggie]

Any good .com keyword domain is beyond the reach of most domainers.

Hi
and i would say that "domainers" already own most of the good .com keywords.

but some who are coming up in the game want them too but can't afford them or aren't willing to pay asking prices.

so, yeah, other extensions or the brandable thing, are the alternatives.
and that probably would be same choices for some businesses who aren't willing to pay sellers asking price.

imo...

 

[karmaco]

This feels like trying to win the lottery? Why not go find keyword domains that are missed or undervalued in other extensions? Obviously the keyword matters and it needs to be taken in multiple extensions but a 500 dollar flip now feels more realistic than maybe someone 10 years from now will pay me 2,000 for something I made up. Thoughts?

Because not everyone wants or can afford a dictionary word domain. Some like a name with personality. Shopify for example and they aren’t hurting because they didn’t get shop dot whatever to begin with. Its what branding is all about.

 

[Alessandro Couteau]

You don't always have to be goading and rude you know. I'm reading no further than that now .

Haha, forgot to drink a shot of whiskey tonight, helps me mellow out

 

[DomainNature]

Because serious companies will not sell their cars under car + whatever combo, they will invent some brand or buy already invented brand, that is what I was doing recently, was creating brands with a niche that no body knows, I know that current car companies will run after my brands to rebrand, so in the end I will take them by surprise.

 

[ThatNameGuy]

There seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding of what is "brandable" when it comes to how companies and businesses view things. A "brandable" from a business point of view is something in which it is worth investing time, money and effort but can be protected with a trademark or service mark. For .COM, it benefits from being the de facto US ccTLD. That does not mean that businesses outside the US think of it as being the first choice for anything other than a global TLD. Outside the US, there is a very obvious shift to the local ccTLDs for local businesses. Sometimes people get lucky with being able to flip brandables but many drop without ever receiving an offer.

Regards...jmcc

"Sometimes people get lucky being able to flip brandables but many drop without ever receiving an offer" How true Having started many a business i just hand registered two brandable names "Dam River" and "Catch River". According to Hoster Stats "Dam River" had been registered 17 of the last 20 years, and "Catch River" has never been registered.

Neither of these names have been trademarked or service marked so I'll need to invest around $800 to maximize their value. While "Dam River" could be a name for a tech company, "Catch River" will most likely become an apparel brand.

Thanks jmcc

 

[Joe N]

Neither of these names have been trademarked or service marked so I'll need to invest around $800 to maximize their value. While "Dam River" could be a name for a tech company, "Catch River" will most likely become an apparel brand.

This is an interesting strategy. Have you had success with selling domains and trademarks together for much more than the domain alone would sell?

 

[Joe N]

jmcc said this, "A "brandable" from a business point of view is something in which it is worth investing time, money and effort but can be protected with a trademark or service mark."

Joe, I've had success starting, naming and trademarking many businesses's since 1970. If I sound confident this strategy will work, it's because of my past success. As I've said before, rarely do I register or buy a domain that I don't think I can develop into a successful enterprise. I just left talking with a young man working at my golf club who I told when I get home I'll register the domain "Cadabra Golf" for him/us to jointly develop when he finishes his last year in college (next year).....he's majoring in "Sports Management". When I shared with him the story of Amazon trading as Cadabra prior to it becoming Amazon, he like me thought it was really cool

Since I've actually made two hole in one's this year and this young fella personally knows about them (written up in the newspaper), i told him to be thinking how we can use this info for CadabraGolf(.)com....note, i haven't bought it as of this post, but I intend to. I haven't decided to trademark™ it yet either, but I'll let you know if I do. Finally, i wouldn't recommend this for someone with little or no business experience, but if you think you own a good "brandable" name, you may want to get some professional advice.

Cool story; thanks Rich. I hope Cadabra Golf works out well for you guys.

I think we got side-tracked from my original question, though. Have you had success selling domains and trademarks together for more than a buyer would pay for the domain alone? I'm not very savvy in these matters, so I could really benefit from hearing about your experiences specific to this strategy.

 

[ThatNameGuy]

Thanks Rich! That's all very interesting information. The USPTO site looks like a great resource for conducting trademark searches.

What if we're planning to sell a domain name that isn't already being used to host a thriving business? I don't run businesses on any of the domain names in my portfolio. Would I still benefit from trademarking all of my brandable names before trying to sell them?

The USPTO site is probably one of my best tools for even deciding whether on not to purchase a domain. For instance, if it appears that a name I'm looking to buy may have some issues I'll stay clear. However, with DataCube™ i believe it can be trademarked for the purpose of buying selling domains.

Moving on....the answer to your question about whether or not you should TM all your brandable names before trying to sell them is a big fat NO! Take BrandSail™ for example, while I might consider it a brandable name, I wouldn't trademark it "unless" I owned it and ran my business as BrandSail. Why?...because it simply adds value to the name and my credibility.

Finally, without a plan to outbound market your name, or at least have someone do it for you, I wouldn't consider it......piss'n in the wind is not my swag

ps. thanks for posting that USPTO link since my membership won't allow me to post links

 

[Joe N]

The USPTO site is probably one of my best tools for even deciding whether on not to purchase a domain. For instance, if it appears that a name I'm looking to buy may have some issues I'll stay clear. However, with DataCube™ i believe it can be trademarked for the purpose of buying selling domains.

Moving on....the answer to your question about whether or not you should TM all your brandable names before trying to sell them is a big fat NO! Take BrandSail™ for example, while I might consider it a brandable name, I wouldn't trademark it "unless" I owned it and ran my business as BrandSail. Why?...because it simply adds value to the name and my credibility.

Finally, without a plan to outbound market your name, or at least have someone do it for you, I wouldn't consider it......piss'n in the wind is not my swag

ps. thanks for posting that USPTO link since my membership won't allow me to post links

So your recommendation is to only trademark a name that you're using (or planning to use) for an active business. Thanks for the clarification; that makes a lot of sense.

Using the examples of DamRiver and CatchRiver that you mentioned, would your plan be to develop businesses that operate on those domains, trademark the names, and then attempt to market/sell the entire business to potential buyers?

 

[Mkt Sales Leads]

Sounds like you're referring to invented/made up random names with no meaning. I would advise against building a portfolio with those unless you've figured out how it works with one of the brandable marketplaces, which is basically quantity over quality for those types of names.

As to why not find keyword domains, sure, also two word brandables that can be considered keyword names make for great brands, many can be found expired & worth investing in. In my experience, one could build a quality over quantity portfolio with those names, without dropping the majority every year.

imo

The made up brandables that a lot of domainers go for to reg are the CVCV names (e.g. Yolo / Yoyo /Pogo etc)
and these have virtually all gone (at least in .com).

The brandable craze probably stemmed from the decreasing popularity of EMD/keyword names like buildingservices .tld (due to Google changing its algorithm) and startups choosing misspellings (the most famous being Google as a misspell of 'Googol') like Zomato and made up names like Trivago. The general consensus back then seemed to be that companies want 'brands' in order to be unique and in the eyes of some domainers, that meant weird, out there names.

The problem is that absolute rubbish like dindoploop.pie has been regged and somehow ended up in the brandable marketplaces (thus perpetuating the cycle).

 

[Sam1234]

This feels like trying to win the lottery? Why not go find keyword domains that are missed or undervalued in other extensions? Obviously the keyword matters and it needs to be taken in multiple extensions but a 500 dollar flip now feels more realistic than maybe someone 10 years from now will pay me 2,000 for something I made up. Thoughts?

TLDs besides COM generally sell less frequently and for less money. If you are a beginner you aren't going to be maintaining a portfolio of hundreds or thousands of names. If all you have are 10-20 names and they are all in some no-name TLDs, you might go for many years without selling any, and then you may feel discouraged or encounter financial difficulties at some point and let the names drop, taking a loss, never really sure if any of your names were any good. A beginner really needs a sale at some point, to offset their initial cost and give them motivation to keep going, and COMs give them the best chance at making a sale.

Note that almost all TLDs cost around $10 and up to renew, and COMs are near the low end of that scale. So you pay the same or lower renewal fee to maintain a COM name as any other, but it is likely to sell more quickly and for more money. In your example suppose it takes 5 years to sell the COM but 10 years to sell the non-COM. You have to pay $50 to eventually sell the COM at $2,000 (40x profit), while with the non-COM you are paying $100 to eventually sell it for $500 (5x profit). The profit margins are much less for the non-COMs.

Also consider that beginners are not very experienced at picking names, so the names they pick already have a reduced chance of selling, which means on average they are paying for more renewals before a name sells. So what if (from your example) you are wrong (being a beginner) about a name being good just because it is registered in a lot of TLDs, or the name is basically not really compatible with the few TLDs it is not registered in? When you factor that in, the beginner may end up losing money on those non-COMs. Perhaps they will only ever sell one of the five names for $500, and it takes 10 years, but in the meantime they have paid $500 in renewal fees.

Essentially the reasonable renewal fee, the faster time to make a sale, and the increased price at time of sale all help a beginner to reduce the cost the mistakes they are almost sure to make.

Even a stupid name that a beginner might choose, like "gamesz" (games with a random consonant at the end) might have a chance of selling in COM but probably would not ever sell in another TLD. The idea there being that if anyone wants the name for more than the cost of a $10 hand-reg, it's only really going to be one person/entity, and they are probably going to want the COM. Because what are the odds they are willing to accept a stupid name in a stupid TLD (two stupids) for their website? They may just try to find another name in that case. If you bought the COM then you might luck out and escape with a profit, but if you bought something else you're just paying to maintain trash that will almost definitely never sell.


The one exception is if you are hand-regging TLDs like XYZ that cost $1 or so for the initial registration. In that case there's probably no reason not to go to town and register anything that seems decent, as long as your plan is to only hold it for a year and not renew. You get 1 year to sell the name and if not then you drop it and all you lost is $1.

 

[Reallybigidea.com]

with keyword rich domain you can't get top results.
e.g. search.com impossible to find it on the Google search results by "search".

I got a brandable "seachr.com" created a page and my domain on the 3rd place in Google when you searching "seachr". so brandables works.

 

[Alessandro Couteau]

Because not everyone wants or can afford a dictionary word domain. Some like a name with personality. Shopify for example and they aren’t hurting because they didn’t get shop dot whatever to begin with. Its what branding is all about.

Shopify bought shop.app for $200,000 USD

They could buy the entire company of shop.com if they wanted to ...

Why didn’t they ?