What do end Users Look for in a Domain Name? Forget everything you know!
There is no definitive answer to this question as one end user is completely different to another one (I know that’s stating the obvious.)
The problem with most Domainers is that we are stuck in a certain mindest of strict aftermarket rules. Hyphens are bad, the letters aren’t premium, building a site on a .net or .biz is a waste of time, numbers and words don’t work, and many other rules and guidelines we have picked up on the forums.
We need to forget all this because although it will affect the price when dealing with other resellers these are not usually the concerns of an end user.
So what sort of domains do end users typically go for? Well they usually have certain characteristics in common:
Brandability: Money.com, Bido.com, JustOrganic.com, DutchCheese.com, Hot-Cars.com – all of these names are very easy to brand. (A lot of companies nowadays like to use a keyword and their name, so AdamsPiano.com, JamesJuiceBar.com, or the above example of JustOrganic.)
Traffic: If a domain comes with a steady stream of type in traffic that converts - then this is gold dust and companies will pay a large premium as they can start making money from the name as soon as it’s in their possession, before any marketing.
Generic: WashingMachines.com, UsedCars.com, Teddy-Bears.com – Companies rightly love these names as they usually have a healthy stream of traffic and they say exactly what the site does. So a visitor to the site will know exactly what they’re getting. Generic terms have also been known to help a little with the search engines for non competitive terms.
Extension: Most end users will go after the .Com as it’s the most widely recognised extension worldwide. All the largest companies and most successful sites have the .com. This doesn’t mean to say other extensions won’t sell as Quite often buyers may not want the .com or a .net but will prefer a regional tld as is quite often the case in the
Of course there are many other things end users look for and to be honest quite a lot of the time no one knows, this is why each and every domainer knows that their name that nobody loves could be the next big sale on the DNJournal chart.
James
True very true, i say that a lot of times, domainers have a few rules of their, and end users no, in fact most end users i talk to, seem to like the hyphens, because there’s a common belief that the name will better read and understood.
Usually they don’t like much the so famous LLLL.com most think it’s just a bunch of non sense letters, there are exceptions.
Extensions, dot com still rules, ccTLD’s are coming right after, but i see end users liking all kind of extensions, and prefering the right keyworks over extensions.
It’s like you said, it really depends on the person who’s buying, once again this is another proof that appraisals worth nothing. Big domainers like Schwartz, Latona or Schilling think the same thing about appraisals.
Another sentence that tells it all is ” One man’s trash is another man’s treasure ” once again the key is the costumer and what he/she wants
The domains that stand a better chance of pleasing the majority of buyers are the generics, and longtail specific search keywords.
Kind regards
Great post James!
Some other factors that quickly come to mind include if the domain passes the “phone test” and if it’s even memorable or not.
Many companies (and domainers) overlook these important aspects of their brand.
End users relate well to the .biz extension and understand the “Business” abbreviation. .US and .biz are commonly found on the internet across a wide variety of companies and industries. I see these in a variety of situations including local business … on business cards, truck logos, magazine and internet ads. Same with dotTV. DotBIZ in particular surpassed the 2 million registration mark earlier this year.
It’s true Menius, and i would also add that in Europe not only end users, but also domainers like dotTV a lot, it’s considered very brandable, while in the US it’s still seen as something like “let’s see where it goes”
Even some known big domainers who said the worse about dotTV, are now starting to sell dotTV
Kind regards
Most of the rehashed rules about “quality” domains, are actually targetting other domainers who are trading the names among themselves. So therefore, if you have a group of people who adhere to these “rules”, these people would naturally seek and pay premium price to domains that follow these rules. And if you are a domainer who wants to earn money trading names, it does make sense to stick with the rules because the number of domainers out there outnumber the actual end-users. Meaning, you will have more chance of selling your domain to another domain trader, rather than an end-user.
For end-users, anticipating what kind of name they have in mind is highly speculative. You will eventually run out of money trying to register names that “you think” someone out there would be willing to buy from you because you got it first. If I was the end-user with a great real-world business, I’d rather get a cheaper and nifty domain name, rather than pay a million dollars or euros from the aftermarket. These million-dollar deals only come once in a blue moon.