What Is A Brandable Domain Name
Brandable domain names are a major part of your business success. The Internet community is all about brands and recognition, if you are successful – your brand name speaks for itself! |
Description: From `Hacienda` providing gentle Spanish overtones. Possible real estate connotations.
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Why $ 10,000 is Still Cheap For A Domain Name - Business Insider - HERE
Whether you’re setting up a new business, a new product or a blog, the name you choose will have a major impact on the future of your branding and marketing efforts. It amazes me that people will spend large sums of money for advertising, branding initiatives and design, but then undermine those efforts with a domain name that is not aligned with their strategic goals. Good domain names are not so different from good names for businesses or products. Frequently the domain name and the business or product name are one and the same. Good names convey feelings, images and ideas. They’re memorable and easy to spell. Good names are central to branding and marketing and good domain names have become an essential ingredient for success.
One key naming consideration on the Web is the power of keywords. Keywords are real words that relate to a product or service. Keywords have value on the Web because they help people search, browse and discover sites. They may have added value when keywords are category defining to such a degree that people may type them directly into their browser or may use those exact words in search engines.
Rare domains selling for six and seven figure prices get a lot of attention. Those big ticket domain sales are typically premium keyword-driven domain names that have e-commerce value. While these domains offer huge value in their ability to get traffic and define a category, they can be costly and they can also limit the longer-term branding opportunities of a company, product or blog.
Many of the best domains are names that can branded, as opposed to names that are purely made-up of keywords. Examples of brandable domains include: Google.com, Bing.com, YouTube.com, Wikipedia.com and Flickr.com. Brandable domains names can also be made-up words such as Gizmodo.com, Digg.com and Tucows.com. They can be real words applied to something totally different, such as Google.com, Yahoo.com and Amazon.com. They can be made-up words that are based on keywords such as Engadget.com, that includes the keyword “gadget” in the name.
They can be made-up of words that convey the a feeling or meaning of a site, while not being likely keywords people would use in a generic search. YouTube.com is that sort of site. Before YouTube was big, very few people would use the keyword Tube to search for videos, even though the word sounds like boobtube (a derogatory name for television) and comes from the cathode ray tubes used in old television sets and video montors.
2013 NFL Draft Frank Schilling Rick Schwartz TRAFFIC conference
One key naming consideration on the Web is the power of keywords. Keywords are real words that relate to a product or service. Keywords have value on the Web because they help people search, browse and discover sites. They may have added value when keywords are category defining to such a degree that people may type them directly into their browser or may use those exact words in search engines.
Rare domains selling for six and seven figure prices get a lot of attention. Those big ticket domain sales are typically premium keyword-driven domain names that have e-commerce value. While these domains offer huge value in their ability to get traffic and define a category, they can be costly and they can also limit the longer-term branding opportunities of a company, product or blog.
Many of the best domains are names that can branded, as opposed to names that are purely made-up of keywords. Examples of brandable domains include: Google.com, Bing.com, YouTube.com, Wikipedia.com and Flickr.com. Brandable domains names can also be made-up words such as Gizmodo.com, Digg.com and Tucows.com. They can be real words applied to something totally different, such as Google.com, Yahoo.com and Amazon.com. They can be made-up words that are based on keywords such as Engadget.com, that includes the keyword “gadget” in the name.
They can be made-up of words that convey the a feeling or meaning of a site, while not being likely keywords people would use in a generic search. YouTube.com is that sort of site. Before YouTube was big, very few people would use the keyword Tube to search for videos, even though the word sounds like boobtube (a derogatory name for television) and comes from the cathode ray tubes used in old television sets and video montors.
2013 NFL Draft Frank Schilling Rick Schwartz TRAFFIC conference
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There are of course purely keyword driven names, such as Poker.org or Business.com, both selling for 7 figures. Strong keyword names tend to be highly valued, but are not always great to use for building brands. A big concern is that generic words are typically not good candidates for trademarks, because they are too easy to challenge. This is not the case if the word is used in a different context, such as Amazon’s use of a river name to apply to online retail. Another issue with purely keyword based domains is that they they can be bland and easy to for get. A name such as OnlineSchoolApply.com may include good search keyword, but names like Nowster.com or StudentNow.com are more likely convey stronger impressions and are more likely remembered.
Another issue is that while keywords can help launch or drive traffic toa site or business, over time they can become limiting. Compare the name Amazon.com to CDBaby.com. Amazon.com started as an online bookseller. But over time they were able to expand to nearly all categories of retail and ultimate web services. CDBaby primarily markets music and has proven to be a powerhouse for marketing indie music. But as CDBaby expands into other products and CDs become less and less relevant, will the name start to sound out of step?
Futher, what if a business expands outside of the web? If Amazon.com or Netflix were to start producing movies, the brand name could adapt. But names of online retailers, Overstock.com or DeepDiscounts.com, might sound a bit off as movie studios.
There are cases of businesses that have launch with generic words for their name only to late re-brand themselves. A great example where a business changed from a generic name to a brandable name, is the SciFi channel, which decided to change it’s name to SyFy. SciFi channel had a great business name that defined the category of its content. This helped them launch and grow the network. But as they grew, the name presented issues. In particular, because it was a generic category definining word, it would not be easy to get or defend a trademark. It also may have been too limiting for their expanded offerings. So the network had to go through great expense and trouble to rebrand itself as SyFy.
One great naming approach comes from combining a category keyword with another word to form a brandable domain name. For example Techcrunch.com, the technology blog combines the keyword Tech with the unrelated word Crunch. Together there is a sense of technology news as a crunchy breakfast cereal. Another example is Etrade.com, which has the keyword trade, with the letter “e” appended (typically meaning electronic). Thus the generic name is transformed into a brandable name that sounds like an online business. This naming approach has the value of transforming a category defining word into something brandable. The name gives a feeling and idea of the brand, while containing a valued keyword and the ability protect the name via trademark.
It’s true that the most of the biggest domain sales have been for prized keyword domains, typically single words or defining search terms. Slots.com sold for $5.5 Million, making it the biggest deal to-date of 2010 and one of the top 10 biggest deals of all time according to Domain Name Wire website.
Pure keyword domains have great value in the marketplace and deservedly so, but great brandable domains offer another kind of value. It is a value that grows over time and with the right approach, becomes a substantial asset.
So do you have your Brandable name yet?
Another issue is that while keywords can help launch or drive traffic toa site or business, over time they can become limiting. Compare the name Amazon.com to CDBaby.com. Amazon.com started as an online bookseller. But over time they were able to expand to nearly all categories of retail and ultimate web services. CDBaby primarily markets music and has proven to be a powerhouse for marketing indie music. But as CDBaby expands into other products and CDs become less and less relevant, will the name start to sound out of step?
Futher, what if a business expands outside of the web? If Amazon.com or Netflix were to start producing movies, the brand name could adapt. But names of online retailers, Overstock.com or DeepDiscounts.com, might sound a bit off as movie studios.
There are cases of businesses that have launch with generic words for their name only to late re-brand themselves. A great example where a business changed from a generic name to a brandable name, is the SciFi channel, which decided to change it’s name to SyFy. SciFi channel had a great business name that defined the category of its content. This helped them launch and grow the network. But as they grew, the name presented issues. In particular, because it was a generic category definining word, it would not be easy to get or defend a trademark. It also may have been too limiting for their expanded offerings. So the network had to go through great expense and trouble to rebrand itself as SyFy.
One great naming approach comes from combining a category keyword with another word to form a brandable domain name. For example Techcrunch.com, the technology blog combines the keyword Tech with the unrelated word Crunch. Together there is a sense of technology news as a crunchy breakfast cereal. Another example is Etrade.com, which has the keyword trade, with the letter “e” appended (typically meaning electronic). Thus the generic name is transformed into a brandable name that sounds like an online business. This naming approach has the value of transforming a category defining word into something brandable. The name gives a feeling and idea of the brand, while containing a valued keyword and the ability protect the name via trademark.
It’s true that the most of the biggest domain sales have been for prized keyword domains, typically single words or defining search terms. Slots.com sold for $5.5 Million, making it the biggest deal to-date of 2010 and one of the top 10 biggest deals of all time according to Domain Name Wire website.
Pure keyword domains have great value in the marketplace and deservedly so, but great brandable domains offer another kind of value. It is a value that grows over time and with the right approach, becomes a substantial asset.
So do you have your Brandable name yet?
