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Generic
domains
tend to get most of the attention in this
business. People naturally like category
defining keyword domains like cars.com,
insurance.com, computers.com, etc. because
people searching for products or services
frequently type in what they are looking for and
add .com at the end. So when you base a
business on a relevant generic word or term,
odds are you are going to get a steady
flow of traffic to your enterprise.
Even
so, when you look around the web, you see
a lot of the most successful sites built
on brandable domains - names that
may not mean anything at all - but come to
be associated with whatever product or
service the successful site offers. |
.Com
image from Bigstock |
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Google.com,
Flickr.com, Digg.com, etc. are just a few
examples of that. When companies decide to
go that route they typically look for
names that are short and, often
from their sheer quirkiness, memorable. |
Since
large companies often have their own creative
teams to come up with cool brandable names, it
can be harder for individual entrepreneurs to
come up with names that are catchy enough to
attract corporate buyers. That didn't stop San
Diego's Michael Rader from deciding to focus
entirely on brandable domains for his new
business at Brandroot.com.
In taking that path Rader joined an exclusive
fraternity of domain sellers with barely a
handful of members (one of the best known in
that field is Domaining.com
owner Francois Carrillo who runs an aptly
named brandable domain sales platform at Catchy.com).
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Rader's
slickly designed site and his toll free
phone number (1-866-WE-BRAND) gives
him the kind of professional look that
would instill confidence in corporate
buyers. He was able to build the site
himself after studying design and web
development in |
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college.
During his school years Rader also became
fascinated with the processes and craft
involved in naming enterprises. As
a result, when he started registering
domains he instantly gravitated to
brandable names. |
Rader
started offering domains on eBay and was
blown away when he got $120 for a domain he
registered for under $10 - however he soon
learned the same lesson countless other
newcomers have learned the hard way. "I was
soon fully engulfed in the mania, buying
up hundreds of names I wrongfully perceived as
valuable," Rader recalled. "I managed
to get some money back by selling a few here and
there but the past few years have been a long
and expensive learning process for me.
Still, all of it has helped me discover my
niche and hone my skills."
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Michael
Rader
Founder, Brandroot.com |
"Being
the gung-ho creative that I am, I
naturally fell for brandable
domains," Rader said. "Their
innate values, unique qualities and
substantial potential for world prestige
had me reeling. I started out by listing
my brandable domains in other
marketplaces. I soon set out to start my
own after experiencing a lot of
frustrations from them. Many of these
marketplaces lacked usability, had very
slow response times (in terms of support
and the listing, selling and transfer
process) and had such strict and rigid
rules that reminded me too much of an
online dictatorship." "My
ideal marketplace would be simple,
it would be responsive and quick,
it would have options instead of
directives, and it would be an open and
self-governing marketplace of strictly
.com brandable domain names. And that
is exactly what Brandroot is and
continues to grow towards," Rader
noted. |
While
Rader initially built the platform for his own
domains, he now also accepts selected
listings from other owners. "To keep
Brandroot’s inventory fresh and valued we must
review every name submitted to the site, which
unfortunately results in a lot more rejected
names than accepted. This includes names from my
own portfolio as well," Rader said. "Only
a small percentage of them make the cut for a
Brandroot listing." "Our
company is very new, launching just a couple of
month ago, and is being developed further every
day," he added. "We ask anyone
interested in submitting a name for
consideration to use our contact
form for now. Within a few months,
domain owners will be able to open an account
with Brandroot and experience a very smooth and
thorough listing process. Once a domain is
accepted it is Brandroot’s job to describe
it and get it sold."
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Money
from computer image from Bigstock |
Rader
said Brandroot offers a variety of listing
options ranging in cost from free to
$75. Rader, who believes an
accompanying logo dramatically
helps boost sales said, "If a logo
designer is needed for an accepted name,
sellers will have the ability to specify a
logo award amount ($100-$500) that will be
added to the domains listing price
and released to the designer only
upon the sale of the domain. Brandroot
will recommend a total listing price of
the domain, which will include the logo
award and a 30% commission that
will be released to Brandroot upon the
sale of the |
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domain.
Essentially,
the domainer will have the option to pay
nothing to get listed. Monies are
distributed only after a successful sale." |
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