Brandable domain names

What is a Brandable domain name or what makes a Domain Brandable?

This question can be addressed by understanding the true meaning of brandable domain names.  So without trying to re-invent the wheel I pull out a great definition from a reference site  It states: “many people have different ideas about what is and makes a domain name brandable. However, Brandable domain names has the following characteristics but not limited to the following:

• No numeric domains
• Dotcom only
• No 2L & 3L domains (as they are a breed on their own)
• No one-word dictionary domains (in any language).
• No 4L acronyms unless they are pronounceable and used as a brand name instead of a acronym (many examples of those on this list!)
• Two keyword domains can qualify.
• Variation on words are allowed.

This is quite simple and helps to understand what exactly is a brandable domain name. However, if you would like a further in-depth knowledge on the definition of brandable domain names you can have a read here

The current brandable domain marketplace

An E-Book called Domain Investment Philosophy By Stanley King mentioned that brandable domain names are extremely popular at the moment and are fairly cheap to buy and can be sold to new startups looking for a catchy domain name. Further stated that there are an increasing number of startups who are looking into marketplaces such as BB to buy a catchy startup domains for a fairly small investment.

Morgan mentioned in his blog When I started-out in the Domaining world I was all about exact-match domains, two words, three words, four words, I didn’t care, I just wanted to exactly match terms with high search volume. While this turned-out to bode well for me on the development side, it didn’t do much on the sales side.

What I found is that a new company that builds cellphone apps wasn’t necessarily excited by a domain like CellphoneApps.com. Instead they wanted something short and brandable like Apperly or Appersize. More often than not they would opt for a brandable one-word domain, most of the time they wanted .COMs but if they didn’t have the budget for it I found .ME and .CO to be popular alternatives.

The big lesson I learned is that we are entering a time where short, brandable domains are king. Yes, .COM is still king and short brandable  .COMs will always fetch the highest prices. That being said there is a market for short brandable names in other extensions like .ME and .CO.

How to invest in the right Brandable domain name?

As brandable domain sales data becomes more and more publically available subsequently investing in the right brandable domain names becomes easier. As of time of writing this post major key market places that specializes in the sale of brandable domain do not openly report sales data but luckily Dnbolt exits to put a temporary fix to the situation. Now with this sold domain list you can easily derive a bunch of useful information and trends that should allow you make informed decisions. Try and observe the patterns, keywords and frequently occurring alphabets once you put this puzzle together you will be ready to rumble.  Below I have also attached a pie chart which highlight some sales data stats that brandbucket produced for the month of February 2016