Why brandable domains sell

[Bailey]

For those locked into a generic descriptive .couk existance (please ignore)

The main difference is one of "input" and "output"

Good domains have resonance at any level. Good brandables as in 'memorable generic' evoke senses and those associations aren't as random as some less intuitive souls would have you believe. It's not about type-ins. It's about association and potential feedback and return

If your not familiar with a the concept of word association then 'brandables' are not for you. which I'm sad to see tends to be a precept for those that work in just the UK "type-in" arena.

I will be honest and say I'm not sure if "brandables" have a place in the immediate UK namespace - but in fairness neither have the worn-out typein beliefs. We are proving to be an English speaking Sub-let to the GTLD namespace and I do wish I was wrong.

 

[woopwoop]

The question of what makes a brandable domain has floated around for a while and I think that there are two distinct types:

1. The 'breneric' type (brandable/generic) eg. VisionWear, SpecialBreaks, BudgetGifts (a few of my .co.uk brenerics).

2. A brandable without generic support eg. ebay, coca-cola, yahoo

A brandable without the generic support (indication of product/service in the name) is a completely different animal to the breneric because it could be a completely made up word, have a ton of money spent on branding (or not) and become a super brand.

 

[Bailey]

Agreed - but there is also a substantial timing input - Very little is random.
. We all have our steer that as you call them the "brenerics" Yep Specialbreaks /budgetgifts seem to be outside of too many radars. shame because I'm sure they make good money. (I wouldn't want them outside .com)

Now could you imagine operating in the .com field with each or all/any of your domains- I'm perplexed that the UK domain field is as contracted as it is - something is not right.

Some seem to get thrown by Gltd sales - but to my mind it's been pretty consistant since I remember (12 years) - being new (2 years) to our CC I'm trying to marry up the UK/US/German/Australian (my reasonably familiar) minor/secondary markets.

I don't mind inconsistancies. But, lack of any type of apparent marketing dynamics - leads me to believe Nominet are accepting undeserved awards ?

 

[woopwoop]

Good domains have resonance at any level.

I'm trying to marry up the UK/US/German/Australian (my reasonably familiar) minor/secondary markets.

I will be honest and say I'm not sure if "brandables" have a place in the immediate UK namespace

Not sure I understand what you're on about Bailey.

The UK market is so small when you imagine people who know about domains. This is a driver of the sales.

Mention domain to someone in the street and they have no clue. Mention brandable domain and they have less of a clue. They do however know what a website is and how to get to it. They also know and visit around 20 websites routinely.

Most of the websites they visit will be brands: hsbc.com, google.co.uk, bbc.co.uk, national-lottery.org.uk ...

How this affects the price and position of brandable, generic or breneric domains is anyone's guess. Maybe not random. Definitely different to the state of .com, but difficult to marry up with the other cctlds you mentioned.

 

[inbound]

There are extreme limits to how easy it is to sell a brandable unless you are very lucky:

Let's take a recent example of Microsoft changing MSN Search to Bing; they did a load of research to decide on a brand and then went out to acquire the domains before launch - so if they did it well they many have got away with OK prices.

If you are not 100% sold on a given brand then you can select a few and see if the cost of domains is a barrier for you - another domain owner can mess up your chances if you hold the .co.uk and the .com owner wants stupid cash for his. The end result is that no one domain owner makes a mint when people have alternatives - and brandable are problematic because there are so many alternatives (unless someone launches on .com, makes it big and then buys the name).

Having said all that, it's a nightmare acquiring all of the GTLDs and CCTLDs for any nice domain, anything remotely decent will now have one of the variants taken so there is hope for domainers that control all of the variants - there are drawbacks (even more reg fees per phrase) but the rewards are there if you are lucky.

I had the unenviable task of finding a free to register set of domains for a project in 2005 and it was difficult then - I tried last year to do a similar thing and it was almost impossible.

One thing to also consider is how much building a brand costs, and the fact that many online-only businesses believe people know their brand better than is actually the case (think of how little many "normal" people know/care about urls even though they see them on every search result).

Often it's better to go with something that's good rather than holding out for something that's great - your time thinking up clever domains is often wasted on the general public.

 

[Bailey]

Sorry it's taken a while to come back to this thread but, it deserves a follow-up to the questions posed.

Good domains holding 'resonance' is back to the merchandisers toolkit of using 'familiarity/recognition/association' without the wording actually being there (imbedded) in the first place - It appears familiar - hence it has a presence in .com thats quite lacking in .co.uk names space. I do understand thats more due to marketing messages = .com . Whereas more solid associations are expected (historically) in .co.uk

Regarding marrying-up Country level domains. I wasn't clear but I looking for similarities or indeed the nature of differences in the differing stratergies and application of domains. The marketing influence of .com dosen't explain the differences that exist across CCtlds (clearly more cultral - And Now if only i could get to grips )

'Brandables' (As in domaining/message sending) I agree dosen't have a strong presence in the UK namespace - which I am somewhat surprised given their popularity at the .com level (anybody that believes thats an American focus - isn't understanding this market within a mile)

To Inbounds comment - "your time thinking up clever domains is often wasted on the general public." What can I say - Apart from I have come to acknowledge it is a skill-set that isn't in everybodies arena" And for that I am truly grateful.

However - Domains have given me more than I can ever openly share here but I will still try and do my best to give some wider perspective to those that could benefit from my experience. Good and bad

Equally there is a contingent that belive the "domain boat" has sailed - 'nothing more to be said or had - How so very wrong

 

[octopus]

Agree with above points.

For me, I tend to buy brandable names if I like them aka gut feeling.

 

[octopus]

For those locked into a generic descriptive .couk existance (please ignore)

The main difference is one of "input" and "output"

Good domains have resonance at any level. Good brandables as in 'memorable generic' evoke senses and those associations aren't as random as some less intuitive souls would have you believe. It's not about type-ins. It's about association and potential feedback and return

If your not familiar with a the concept of word association then 'brandables' are not for you. which I'm sad to see tends to be a precept for those that work in just the UK "type-in" arena.

I will be honest and say I'm not sure if "brandables" have a place in the immediate UK namespace - but in fairness neither have the worn-out typein beliefs. We are proving to be an English speaking Sub-let to the GTLD namespace and I do wish I was wrong.

Agree with this.