Prime Domain vs. Brandable Name?

[RHL]

Here's a bit of a question: Some companies that go big get there by creating a brand name for themselves that was not previously associated with their product category, or, sometimes, any product category. For example, Google did not attempt to buy the domain "SearchEngine.com," Amazon did not attempt to buy "Shopping.com."

On the other hand, some sites have traded on the clout and accessibility of their domain name to help acquire customers, and have made their owners tens millions. For example, Cars.com and Limos.com.

I'm aware that one of the issues with the "prime" domain names is that they're hard to defend from trademark infringement *because* they're so freely associated with the thing they're selling, so cars.com can't very well pursue any other retailer using "cars" in their sales literature, while Google can pursue any other company using google/googled/etc. On the other hand, by not making up a word or phrase to be your domain, you save a lot on acquisition costs, and presumably having an exact match domain-to-search-phrase helps SEO as well.

With the way search engines have changed the internet (so, just hopping onto a browser and typing in the address bar, "www.realestateinvesting.com" instead of googling real estate investing, which might lead you to the (made up brand name) site "Bigger Pockets"), we all know a prime domain isn't as valuable to success as it might have been in 1999. But how do you estimate the value? How do you weigh the cost of having a defensible trademark vs. having the English-language byword for your category's product (pets.com, etc.)? I'm in the process of negotiating for a prime domain name, but I'm starting to have second thoughts, not because of the cost, which seems reasonable, but because I'm wondering about initial startup costs vs. spending those thousands on advertising, and defending my product from infringement later on since the domain name is just the generic exact-match term for what I'm selling.

Thoughts?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[safff]

The way I see it, (not knowing anything about your company), there's a distinction to be made between a prime webspace which supports your branding, and a brand itself which allows you to work your protection in. How you incorporate that web space into your marketing strategy and brand is where the value is scalable.

ie I don't know if there's much value in a premium space, if it's not going to be capitalised on in your marketing in any way shape or form. eg "Cars.com.au" which points to a well known motoring review site. Cars.com.au does not in any way shape or form integrate into their branding, and it serves the sheer purpose of someone putting in cars.com.au and getting redirected to them. Search 'cars' 'cars Australia' etc and the word is simply too generic to register on search engines (and I doubt they market it as such). However the domain was probably purchased a long time ago. Would they bother to pay a premium for it now? I struggle to believe they would..

However if they were starting up their company today and instead called it ''Vision'' and wanted to integrate it into their marketing campaign for example lets say they had a tagline of ''Vision... the home of cars''. Then the value of that domain skyrockets as it becomes an integral part of their branding rather than a site just sitting there incase anyone takes the old school approach of just typing the generic word into their address bar with '.com' and hope for the best.

I'm far from an expert on the web however, that's just my take on it. That and the fact that delimited domain names seem to pop up almost daily, it seems a waste to invest too greatly . eg cars.limo, cars.services, cars.club etc, even if the .com domain holds more clout

 

[Bellini]

But how do you estimate the value?

Thoughts?

Some thoughts.... I have been studying this a lot over the past year or two.

Recently I took part in a webinar from a Trademark Attorney AND a Naming Business so a good bit of info is floating around in my head.

When you ask about 'value', I think that is determined by what you intend to do with the domain name.

If you were trying to invest in and flip a domain, then of course premium generic domain names command the most money, and thus have the most value. But it doesn't sound like you're flipping. It sounds like you want the domain name for an actual business.

I think in your business case you can go either way. The made up name ("empty vessel" domain name) , is the most brand-able and protected by far (Google, Apple, Starbucks, etc) yet will cost advertising dollars like you said.

But the generic name will pull in more customers that are looking for that product.

If you have found an exact match domain name for the product you are selling, I would grab it. I am assuming you are going to have some type of brand-able name for your actual product, though, so if that domain is available, get that too.

If I had money to burn, I would get both the generic and the branded one and have them link to each other somehow. That way you cover even more area. You could be scooping up unknown potential customers with your generic/exact match one, and building a brand with your brand-able one.

Again, just my thoughts

 

[FastNAwesome]

If I had money to burn, I would get both the generic and the branded one and have them link to each other somehow.

+1. I've seen this done many times. And usually the prime domain redirects to branded one.

Another thing I've seen is businesses go with brand name, and then when they "make it big" the also buy useful prime domains, or even just switch to prime domain.

Another question to ask - what do you get from this prime domain? What kind of traffic it gets? That alone can be useful, and a good reason to buy it.

You can do great SEO with either domain.

But ultimately, I guess you want to build your brand, so what I would do is go with branded domain as a primary one (and it's 10 bucks anyway so what's the dilemma), and add a prime domain redirection optionally, either right away, or later on when profitable.

EDIT: Even if someone given me a prime domain for free, I'd probably in one way or another use it to build my brand(s). But of course, even the prime domain itself can be a brand, it's just trickier as you already mentioned.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.