What Makes A Good Saleable Domain Name?

**Pete Rose** · 03-06-2008, 02:46 AM

Can someone please tell me what are the main guidelines for a domain name that would be considered attractive for an end-users to purchase.

This is a very open ended question I know, but if someone could point me to a posting made by an experienced domainer in this forum I would be very grateful for some indication.

I know that in general> .coms are preferred, one or two words, 18 letters or less, no hyphens or numbers, no mispellings, and the words must have relevency.

Is there anywhere to go to learn more?

Thanks

Pete

**dominator** · 03-06-2008, 08:04 AM

So you know the basic rules. You just have to come to DNF regularly and you'll learn the rest. But nobody knows it exactly. Millions of useless domains are registered and nobody needs them.

The end users know what they want. A domain (or more domains) for their project. If you create names for non-existing projects, it's just gambling. Except, if you are very good. But only few are...

**paulc** · 03-06-2008, 08:14 AM

Brandability, traffic, generic wording are three areas which makes it a good sellable name.

**biggedon** · 03-06-2008, 08:48 AM

Originally Posted by Pete Rose

Can someone please tell me what are the main guidelines for a domain name that would be considered attractive for an end-users to purchase.

This is a very open ended question I know, but if someone could point me to a posting made by an experienced domainer in this forum I would be very grateful for some indication.

I know that in general> .coms are preferred, one or two words, 18 letters or less, no hyphens or numbers, no mispellings, and the words must have relevency.

Is there anywhere to go to learn more?

Thanks

Pete

when trying to market to an end-user, you will have to "unlearn" or not apply some things that are relevant only to resellers.

such as..

length/number of words
numbers
hyphens

that list of criteria, typically is not part of what an end-user will consider when making a choice, unless he/she is pointed in that direction.

also, in some cases an end-user may prefer a tld, other than .com

of course, as others have mentioned, relevancy to the potential "buyers" biz model is the key.

along with pricing/flexibility and security of transaction.

having some past sales to use as reference can be a plus.

imo...

**draggar** · 03-06-2008, 08:55 AM

Adding onto Biggedon's comments:

Depends on the market. mañana.com won't do well in North Dakota but may do very will for someone in Miami.

Easy to remember is key, .com is preferred unless you are working with a country or are going to trly on links and not type in traffic (but not getting a .com is not the end).

Brandable is nice and descriptive. BlueWidget.com isn't very good for a site about GreenDooDads or Yellow Thingamajigs.

As always, though, a successful site will always get far more than a domain alone. Look at Del.Icio.Us. The domain itself isn't worth much (4 letter .us) in the domaining world but the site itself is worth millions. Even throwing up a small site (3-7 pages) with well placed ads can generate better revenue than parking, give better statistics, build up better traffic and fetch a much higher price (I have a site, the domain is worth a reg fee to maybe $20 at best but the site has had offers of $150-$200 (I'm not selling it yet).

**dominator** · 03-06-2008, 11:10 AM

mañana.com? really?
that was my question here:
http://www.dnforum.com/f31/who-uses-...ad-283387.html
(Who uses IDNs?)

**draggar** · 03-06-2008, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by dominator

mañana.com? really?
that was my question here:
http://www.dnforum.com/f31/who-uses-...ad-283387.html
(Who uses IDNs?)

It was an example that I pulled out, but maybe your thread made me think of that?

**fab** · 03-06-2008, 12:10 PM

Try putting yourself in the end users position. Say you are selling used cars, I assume the optimum name would be UsedCars.Com, or for UK, UsedCars/CO.UK.

BTW, any relationship to the former BaseBall player.

**Pete Rose** · 03-06-2008, 07:10 PM

Thanks Thanks Thanks guys...very helpful comments which I will take on board.
No I'm not a relation of PR!! Am from UK, not many know of him here I guess.

**ck89102** · 03-06-2008, 09:09 PM

Check-out NameNewbie.com

Good links at bottom of page.

**DNCredit.com** · 03-07-2008, 06:34 AM

Traffic is at the heart of the domain name industry but Michael Gilmour's experiment at his blog touches on the vagaries of the branding issue - the valuation of a low type-in traffic domain, progolfer.com. HTH

DNC.

**dominator** · 03-07-2008, 07:29 AM

I think the best advise in one sentence is from Fab: "Try putting yourself in the end user's position."

or mine:
Spend more time here and you'll learn.
(It takes time just as anything else.)