Domains with Branding Value?

I know the rage has been for years for people to focus on the simple, short, and generic words as the highest possible domains. A lot of it is due to inert traffic they bring.

My question is why is there not more value placed on potential branding domains? It seems the entire domain marketplace is squarely focused on domains and how they do in the serps, and actual usuability and branding potential are worth virtually nothing.

For example, A23.com is a much worse domain than hotcars.com from the standpoint of user memorability and retention. You have to remember 3 things, a, 2 and 3 for the first, and only two things hot and car for the second. Since the brain can treat a word as a single object, a compound word can often be more effective than a shorter, but more complicated domain.

My speculation is this is simply because it involves way too much guessing. You could never predict someone could make google into a billion dollar business. However you would be amazed at the number of real usuable domains are still out there that don't fit the traditional criteria of the domain hunter.

There are tons of great domains out there. More importantly than the name is what is done with it. A great name isn't the end all on its own.

Not sure where you're giong with this, Triumph. Brandability is obviously a good basis for a valuable domain name. but until the brand is developed by someone, almost anything could be chosen for their efforts - as you pointed out, could be something as weird as google, although 'hot cars' might be easier, it's not necessarily worth the upfront money if you could still pick something else to start with. Branding experts are advising companies not to even pick a name until all the websites available can be vetted.

If you think about it, what you call brandable domains is a classification in value that comes after generics. Although this isn't always the case, this implies that most brandable domains have little to no inherent value. So what does it mean for a domain name to be brandable?

In my opinion, two things are needed:
1. A domain that people can remember
2. Development of the domain (usually)
3. Advertising or 'Branding'

The first condition is a quality of the domain name, and the second two are not qualities of the domain name. Furthur, the 2 conditions which are not qualities of the domain name take A LOT of work and good relations or money. So what does this mean?

Brandable domains are for the most part void territory. It is as if you were to buy great undeveloped land in the middle of nowhere. You would have to clear the land, build on it, and then get people to come to your territory. This is very hard to do, and is hence unattractive.

People who buy brandable domains are usually people with a lot of money and time. This is why you sometimes see 'rubbish' names selling at high prices. They are rubbish now, but the buyer plans to develop them. However, until the buyer does, they are pretty unvaliable.


Like triumph said, many things can be branded, and hence brandability (the 1st condition that I mentioned above) is only a very small consideration. The important ones, as I said above, are development and advertising.. and generally speaking, if you have to work hard to make your domain 'visible', then it isn't a good domain.

Zach

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talking about branding value.

do a search for victorias' secret.

the last time i checked victoriasdirtysecret.com was up there.
talk about funneling traffic.

wow...

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Personally I see more of a value cleverly named, but using the domain well matters too. I think it is about repeat traffic.

Who would have thought that "google" would be a good name? More important than the name is what you do with it.