What makes a domain sellable part 2
POSTED BY Rick Latona IN Web Sites

It isn't easy to appraise a domain. When someone asks me if I want to buy a name, I often reply simply with "I'll pass". Inevitably, they'll send me back an email asking my why I'm passing. Well, that's an impossible question to answer. Perhaps, in the future, I can point them to this series I'm writing on what makes a domain sellable.

It takes a holistic approach.

In my last entry on the subject of what makes a domain sellable I went on about the obvious use of the domain being the most important thing.  In this entry, I'm going to rant about something even less tangible. It's whether or not the name is exciting. Boring names are not sellable.

How does one define what makes a name exciting? I'm not sure it is possible but I'll try and give some examples that will help.

One thing that sure makes it easier to sell a name for good money is emotion. Most of the time when I sell a GEO name, for instance, I end up selling it to someone from the city, state or country or from a neighboring place. At a minimum they'll usually have an intimate knowledge of the place. Heck, I even paid a fortune for Buckhead.com a while back because I live here. Fortunately I sold it for even more money because someone else had an even higher emotional attachment to it.

Clearly it is tough to anticipate if buyers will have that emotion but I think some names should have points taken away if they are simply boring. Let's take my typical guinea pig name Aquaphobia.com. On hindsight, this is a pretty lame domain. Sure it has value and one day it'll sell but it will sell in the low x,xxx range. It simply isn't exciting enough for someone to step out and pay well for it.

Very often we see names sell for way more than they are worth because they have an exciting appeal to them. Guy.com for 1 million dollars? Sure there are a lot of guys out there and at a glance it looks like a super-premium but seriously folks, one million?

The bitch of it is that I keep reading over what I've typed here and I can't think of good examples or a good way to say it. We really are talking about an impossible thing to define. I hate to say, "you'll know it when you see it" but that's just the way it is.

Perhaps you can compare it to "curb appeal" in the real estate world. Some houses just show better than others. How does your domain look from the curb?

I know I  haven't put down enough to give you guys any real insight. Hopefully you'll just think about it more often.

  • Elizabeth

    Very true indeed. Emotions play a strong part in buying certain domains.

  • http://www.AidDoctor.com Seyi

    Rick, you actually have a better experience to make judgment on what sells and what doesn’t. Sometimes, it is difficult to tell if a name could fly for a certain figure. Regardless of how tedious the name sounds or looks, emotional attachment or importance might trump everything. I wouldn’t be surprise is someone pays double of what you anticipate for AquaPhobia.com. I mean, the name “Aqua Phobia” sounds trendy and by the way, this is summertime! with a lot of marine and water activities going on. Thus, that name can be very catchy if given substantial exposure or marketing. You know why? In some circles, “Phobia” twistedly means “Obsession”. And that site looks developed so far.

    Moreover, a name that deemed boring might make sense or have special meaning to some. Therefore, they wouldn’t mind paying premium for it especially in bidding. I think this is what happened, sometimes, at major auctions; When I look at some sale reports, I can’t help but wonder how such irksome names sells for 5 – 6 figs.

  • Richard

    I can relate to the emotion and attachment bit. I recently bought a colorful dropped name related to Colorado. Seems I was the only one who liked it because I got it for less than anticipated. Used to live there and still have an attachment to the area. It still feels 'right' and I hope to prove the doubters wrong. Keep the good stuff coming from that lesser traveled road.

  • http://www.ygrab.com/?p=43 Sellable Domains | ygrab.com

    [...] was over at Rick latonas blog just a min ago and i was reading this post. It got me thinking and it further confirms “the bigger fool theory”. I mean emotional [...]

  • http://www.radiocrat@gmail.com Mak Ossa

    Good tips, Rick. I agree with phrase "curb appeal" besides emotional factor. I think the most powerful “curb appeal’ some names could have is their developments and potential services they have to offer. An undeveloped good name or “category killer” could appear like an Empty Plot, (on Madison Ave.) until acquired by a visionary developer........
    Nice read.

  • http://www.YourEdgeOnline.com Jason Murphy

    Rick:

    I hear ya, to take this further, to create revenue generating emotion, I think the domain should also have a subtle "call to action" to it.

    Maybe now "but it now" but something that makes the name sound so good the person HAS to respond to it.

    I just contacted you to sell EffortlessVacation.com a name I think invokes emotion. Vacation planning can become a major pain in the kisser.

    If I've had a bad experience planning a vacation which many of us have then I am all over this URL and when it's presented to me in the right PPC campaign I'm probably clicking on it.

    Which brings me to second point.

    With the popularity of PPC - the domain needs to have the emotion you are talking about to be able to persuade the Web browser to click the URL.

    Just a few thoughts man. Great blog. Hope to do biz with you soon.

    Best,

    Jason
    Founder
    http://www.YourEdgeOnline.com

  • http://www.ricklatona.com/2008/05/26/what-makes-a-domain-sellable-part-4/ What makes a domain sellable, part 4

    [...] bottom line is that domains with revenue that have legs, are exciting and have obvious usesare very damn sellable. Everything else is slightly less sellable and some of [...]

  • http://www.domainmagnate.com/2008/05/29/what-makes-a-domain-sellable/ What Makes a domain Sellable | Domain Magnate

    [...] makes a domain sellable? What makes a domain sellable part 2 What makes a domain sellable, part 3 What makes a domain sellable, part [...]

  • http://www.mwzd.com/2008/05/30/inside-the-mind-of-a-domain-seller/ Inside the mind of a Domain Seller | mwzd.com

    [...] Part 2 - It isn’t easy to appraise a domain. When someone asks me if I want to buy a name, I often reply simply with “I’ll pass”. Inevitably, they’ll send me back an email asking my why I’m passing. Well, that’s an impossible question to answer. … Perhaps you can compare it to “curb appeal” in the real estate world. Some houses just show better than others. How does your domain look from the curb? [...]

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