Out of This World Domain
Names
What’s in a name
For brands it’s their goodwill. Where some succeed in the marketplace, others may fall by the wayside. How much of success can be attributed to the selection of the right brand names (and brandable domain names), as opposed to market timing and forces, the product, leadership and marketing can be debated. But no one argues that a brandable name is intrinsically important – in conjunction with other essential business fundamentals – to conquer any market. The Bisbrand brandable domain marketplace has many domains for sale in a variety of industries to choose from. But first a bit more about what makes a great brand name for businesses and startups.
Fundamentals of Brandable Domains
A brand name — and by extension brandable domains — should be short. Typically, brand domains should be no more than ten characters long (ideally), but of course there are exceptions to this rule. Some company names are so long that they become known only by their initials, leaving consumers to sometimes struggle to guess what the initials even stand for. Try to keep it short and sweet. Brandable domains should also be pronounceable, easy to spell, a cinch to remember and be available on the right domain extension.
The Domain Extension
Dotcom is king, and that is a blessing and a curse for marketers. Available, unregistered names are increasingly hard to find on the .com top level in any brandable domain market or domain aftermarket, which puts dotcom names at a premium. This unavailability of brandable names on dotcom has led marketers to also look at dot-io, and dot-co, then there is also the dot-net, dot-info and dot-org extensions. Not to mention the recent launch of the new gtld extensions, which give marketers literally hundreds of domain extensions to choose from. Everything from dotcom to dot-xyz and every extension in between.
However, no one can argue by sheer numbers of registrations, and prices commanded on the after market, that dotcom is the undisputed leader in domain extensions with most every major brands’ website ending in dotcom. The fact is that dotcoms are often perceived as more credible, reliable, and trustworthy compared to other extensions.
The BisBrand brandable domain marketplace focuses on and contains domains for sale mostly with the dotcom extension.
In essence, a brandable domain name should be short, positive, convey your service and also be memorable (one of the main reasons, brands tend to be in the short side when it comes to length (character count).
Types of Domain Names:
Geo Service Domain Names
Geo Service domain names are names that have a geography like Chicago and a service like Dental to create ChicagoDentist dotcom for example. Change Chicago for any location around the globe, and change Dental with any service or profession and that’s a Geo Domain name. Ideally such names are only two words – the location and the service or profession. Because the shorter the domain name the better.
Here’s why Geo Domain is a great name for your local business:
Local Relevance: Geo Domain immediately conveys the business’s locality and services offered. This specificity can attract local customers looking for services within your area.
SEO Benefits: Search engines often prioritize local search results when users look for services or products in specific locations. Having a geo-service domain name that includes relevant keywords can enhance local SEO, increasing the visibility of the business online.
Trust, Credibility, Expertise: Local customers tend to trust businesses that are associated with their area, like ChicagoDental dotcom for our example above. Such a domain name can establish credibility, trust and expertise by showing that the business is focused on serving the local community.
Memorability and Recall: These domain names are often more memorable for local customers. When someone in a specific area needs a service, they are more likely to remember a domain name that includes their location and the service they seek. This is often called the Radio or Billboard test. Imagine Chicago Dental dotcom on a radio advertisement or billboard, or vehicle wrap, and how much easier that domain name is to remember. Geo Domains are easy to remember!
Local-service domain names offer a distinct advantage for local businesses trying to target a specific geographical area. They can significantly impact local visibility and customer engagement, making them a strong choice for businesses aiming to establish or build on a solid local presence.
Other Types of Domain Names:
Dictionary Brand Names
This is not to say that brandable domain names can not also come directly out of Webster’s dictionary. Of course. In fact, short, well known nouns, verbs and adjectives make for some of the most highly sought after, and valued brands on the planet. Look no further than the dictionary word Apple. Being so highly valued, such dictionary terms are nearly impossible to acquire as a dot-com. And not for less than millions of dollars if at all possible. The only caveat from a brand trademark perspective on dictionary terms is that they cannot be identical to the same name of your product. Widget would be an acceptable brand name for apparel, but not for selling widgets.
Mash Up Brand Names
Another creative angle to getting a brand or brandable domain is the brand name ‘mash-up’. This is done by taking a product or industry and combining it with a strong or fun name such as club or hero. Brands can use other suffixes as well, such as sy, ly, and io for domain names. Attention: If you are an entrepreneur looking for brandable domains and cannot find it on the BisBrand brandable domain marketplace, we may still be able to work with you to find and secure the type of domain you want with our Domain Concierge Service, contact us for more details.
Abbreviations & Alphanumeric Brand Names
To round out the branding conventions, there are brands that are abbreviations of existing dictionary words, this is especially helpful if the original word is running long. As mentioned, brand names that are too long or consist of too many words are harder to make stick in the minds of consumers, thus shorter brand names help with recall. We can take an example of a long word that can be shortened directly from this last sentence. The word abbreviations can be truncated into a new word with Abbrev. Lastly there are alphanumerics, in which a brand consists of numbers or a combination of numbers and letters, think of a phrase such as Cloud 9. This makes a nice brandable domain as cloud computing is a huge market and on ‘cloud 9’ is a positive saying. Mash them up and you’re on to something good.
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