"web 2.0 style domain names are NOT good domain names. More often than not people can't remember them and when they can, they misspell it and if they can spell it, it's only because someone had to spell it out when telling it to them"
Agree 100%.
I'd like to give my positive experience with leandomainsearch.com.
I used it when coming up with potential domains for a client (that was referred by a VC - a startup ready to launch with a new domain basically.).
Although the client ended up buying a domain (for sale) that I also suggested, I didn't tell them which names I found that were "free" essentially and which names they would have to buy from an owner. Or any pricing. I didn't want to color their opinion by creating a halo around the names available for purchase.
The majority of the ideas I got for available domains were from LDS. (In all fairness I also curated that list based on my knowledge since if you've used LDS you know it presents an overwhelming number of possibilities.)
The clients budget was about $20,000 for a domain purchase. In the end we bought two domains (one the one they wanted and one which was a typo of the one they wanted) for about $3500 total.
In my opinion the LDS names were as good as the ones the client wanted to buy. In some ways I thought they were better (but of course it's not my startup and maybe I was rated them higher because I choose them..).
The idea that I gave them when considering the final list (which took them several weeks to decide on) was to go out on the street and run the names by potential clients and consumers on this particular site and to see which names resonated with them. That allowed them to hone in on a great name at a reasonable price.
In any case even though they didn't go with the LDS name it was very valuable in the process.
Thanks larrys, that's some of the best feedback I've received.
I encourage everyone to do this: find some premium domain names that cost $X,XXX or $XX,XXX and mix them in with results from Lean Domain Search and see if people really prefer the expensive ones. (That would actually make a really good marketing tool/game that I could implement on the site itself.)
I've said it before: as word spreads that there actually are a lot of quality available .com domain names out there, I think the premium domain name industry is going to feel it. As it should.
I'm learning so much from this discussion. I'll throw in my data point (I believe it's relevant):
I ran shell scripts on 10 nodes with fast backbone connections, making DNS queries of all possible 4-letter and 5-letter .com's. Obviously, if the domain doesn't NXDOMAIN, it has been taken.
At the time (before domain squatting was shut down) all legal 4-letter domains were taken.
From the NXDOMAINs, I ran a much slower whois script to see if the domain was registered but missing a DNS entry.
From that final list of unclaimed domains, I was quickly able to spot the one I wanted.
No such thing as what you are saying. You are probably referring to the penalties that are assessed for domain tasting whereby a registrar is penalized if they return to many domains relative to the ratio of registered domains (registrars also pay more money to ICANN depending on how they handle this as well).
Much to much work to do the way you are doing it. You need to get a copy of the zone files there are people with access to that (we have access but we don't sell access others do though for nominal charges).
Comments
"web 2.0 style domain names are NOT good domain names. More often than not people can't remember them and when they can, they misspell it and if they can spell it, it's only because someone had to spell it out when telling it to them"
Agree 100%.
I'd like to give my positive experience with leandomainsearch.com.
I used it when coming up with potential domains for a client (that was referred by a VC - a startup ready to launch with a new domain basically.).
Although the client ended up buying a domain (for sale) that I also suggested, I didn't tell them which names I found that were "free" essentially and which names they would have to buy from an owner. Or any pricing. I didn't want to color their opinion by creating a halo around the names available for purchase.
The majority of the ideas I got for available domains were from LDS. (In all fairness I also curated that list based on my knowledge since if you've used LDS you know it presents an overwhelming number of possibilities.)
The clients budget was about $20,000 for a domain purchase. In the end we bought two domains (one the one they wanted and one which was a typo of the one they wanted) for about $3500 total.
In my opinion the LDS names were as good as the ones the client wanted to buy. In some ways I thought they were better (but of course it's not my startup and maybe I was rated them higher because I choose them..).
The idea that I gave them when considering the final list (which took them several weeks to decide on) was to go out on the street and run the names by potential clients and consumers on this particular site and to see which names resonated with them. That allowed them to hone in on a great name at a reasonable price.
In any case even though they didn't go with the LDS name it was very valuable in the process.
Thanks larrys, that's some of the best feedback I've received.
I encourage everyone to do this: find some premium domain names that cost $X,XXX or $XX,XXX and mix them in with results from Lean Domain Search and see if people really prefer the expensive ones. (That would actually make a really good marketing tool/game that I could implement on the site itself.)
I've said it before: as word spreads that there actually are a lot of quality available .com domain names out there, I think the premium domain name industry is going to feel it. As it should.
I'm learning so much from this discussion. I'll throw in my data point (I believe it's relevant):
I ran shell scripts on 10 nodes with fast backbone connections, making DNS queries of all possible 4-letter and 5-letter .com's. Obviously, if the domain doesn't NXDOMAIN, it has been taken.
At the time (before domain squatting was shut down) all legal 4-letter domains were taken.
From the NXDOMAINs, I ran a much slower whois script to see if the domain was registered but missing a DNS entry.
From that final list of unclaimed domains, I was quickly able to spot the one I wanted.
"domain squatting was shut down"
No such thing as what you are saying. You are probably referring to the penalties that are assessed for domain tasting whereby a registrar is penalized if they return to many domains relative to the ratio of registered domains (registrars also pay more money to ICANN depending on how they handle this as well).
Much to much work to do the way you are doing it. You need to get a copy of the zone files there are people with access to that (we have access but we don't sell access others do though for nominal charges).
Thanks for the great insights!