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Do you still believe so? If so, what are the benefits of brandable domains? From what I've seen, keyword domains appear to be more effective when targeting specific keywords.
I'd appreciate any imput on this.
Goto changed their name to Overture because they were in a legal battle with another company (Go2).
Sure, they claimed they wanted to be seen as an advertising company rather than a search engine, but this change was primarily forced upon them.
AS far as the question goes, if you can find a brandable domain, go for that.
What would the name Goto have accomplished in the search engines?
Although some would say the traffic is pre-qualified, in most cases this simply isn't true (from a business point of view).
Branding is a long term solution - your brand will convey your professionalism, etc to new users.
More business will be generated via type in's.
More business will be generated from publicity.
More business will be generated from referals.
Higher sales conversions can be achieved (added trust / loyalty / repeat sales).
The difference between targetting keywords and branding is the same difference between someone searching for a service that you happen to offer and someone searching for you in particular.
Although it is entirely possible to do both! :)
Scott
The value of the keyword1-keyword2-keyword3.com domains came from their impact on the Yahoo search results when Yahoo was using its directory to feed its search engine. Yahoo counted words in the domain name when sorting its search results. So, a company with the url keyword1-keyword2-keyword3.com would do better on Yahoo for searches including those keywords. Since Yahoo switched to Google, it no longer matters. The value of those domains has dropped significantly.
There is still value in them. Many webmasters are buying keyword-keyword-keyword.com domain names and calling their companies "keyword1-keyword2-keyword3.com." This enables them to have the phrase "keyword1-keyword2-keyword3.com" as the TITLE of their company in their directory listings on DMOZ, LookSmart, and others.
Personally, I agree with Brett. Build a brand. Keep your perspective on the long-term.
Which would you more likely click:
google.com
or
1-internet-web-search-engine-internet-search.com
One looks like a company. The other looks like a joke.
I think even though widget.com is a keyword I would be able to brand it. I think it just depends. If you look at it overture is a keyword for music, so technically it is a keyword, but not for their industry.
This applies to many big boys with deep pockets. I'd never want to see Google changing their URL to search-engine.biz, but the majority of clients are small businesses, like a realtor, or a construction contractor. These people are not going to be doing any sort of branding campaigns.
In 41 they started advertising as Coke. Today both brands are recognized but which one is stronger? I find it interesting that we are debating a marketing question that Coke did over a hundred years ago.
Look at any hom or commericial construction project in your area. You don't see signs saying "house builder" "office builder" on the big sign at the edge of the project, on the trucks, on the office trailers. no, you see signs & logos like
Able Builders Inc.
Aztec Construction
McShannahey Homes
Even professional service providers like dentists, doctors, lawyers, rarely ever use signs that say merely
Dentist or Dental Clinic
Doctor or Medical Center
Lawyer or Law Office
These folks are into branding, though they may not even know that particular marketing term.
Just my .02
google.com
or
1-internet-web-search-engine-internet-search.com
This is totally unfair. One is a junk domain. If comparing keyword to brandable, let's keep it fair:
Google.com
Or
Search.com
Drugs.com
or
VHN.net
Jobs.com
or
Monster.com
Look at any hom or commericial construction project in your area. You don't see signs saying "house builder" "office builder" on the big sign at the edge of the project, on the trucks, on the office trailers. no, you see signs & logos like
Able Builders Inc.
Aztec Construction
McShannahey HomesEven professional service providers like dentists, doctors, lawyers, rarely ever use signs that say merely
Dentist or Dental Clinic
Doctor or Medical Center
Lawyer or Law OfficeThese folks are into branding, though they may not even know that particular marketing term.
Just my .02
Of course they aren't doing that offline. I never said they aren't interested in brand recognition, I said they aren't dedicating the money to do it ONLINE.
The Las Vegas realtor would get more traffic from Las-Vegas-Realor.com than he would get from JohnDoeRealty.com
Jobs.com
or
Monster.com
[google.com...]
Funny thing is, when I run a search for "monster" jobs.com doesn't even show up....
;)
G.
As far as keyword.com vs. brand.com goes, keyword.com can be brand.com, so I guess I don't get the point of the question.
My reply addressed the issue of hyphenated keyword domains. There is plenty of time (infinite) left to establish keyword.com as your brand.
<added>
Since we're not talking about SEO or Google here, does a moderator want to move this to [webmasterworld.com...]
</added>
I think keyword domains are good if they are 1-word and easy to spell.
Like money.com, style.com, phones.com, whatever. But not a keyword like hypochondriac.com or something. 2 words I'm not crazy about... hyphens, .net, more than 2 words, forget it.
I'm hoping to brand a new site where the word is 6 characters long, short, relatively easy to spell, etc. It's not a keyword, just some abstract non-english word.
If you're lucky enough to get a 1-keyword domain that is short and relevant to your industry obviously that would be better, but I doubt you'll ever get your hands on one unless you're ready to shell out thousands or perhaps millions just for the domain. :)
Funny thing is, when I run a search for "monster" jobs.com doesn't even show up....
Are you looking for monsters? Or jobs? I would be a bit concerned if I was looking for Godzilla info and Jobs.com was in the SERP's.
?
Interesting irony here. The name of this site basically is keyword driven. From the name you know webmasterworld.com is going to be about webmastering on a comprehensive scale.
If you got something for free - by all means keyword it, but if there's a salable product or service the domain name should be the company name, the product name (or service) or a close proxitiy to that affect.
A recent quote made to a client liking keyword domains:
His Name - a little like: what came first - the chicken or the egg? Does company deal with ...... information, products/services or is this provided by another company?Keyword domain helps define the topic of discussion nothing more. It is simply an advertising/distribution channel, which is no different than a company brochure with a mail-out order form.
However, the company brochure doesn't normally receive special recognition as a brand entity simply because it offer a specific product line or information of that product line.
The domain itself does not offer any copyright material itself, doesn't go court to defend any copyrights, no disclaimers, products, services, warranties, guarantees, product shipping, return or privacy policies, and the domain is not liable for any legal matters the physical company is.
Searchers knowing a company name or product/service name (brand) can easily find the domain (website) even if that domain name is not remembered. A precise company name is best for a domain name but sometimes not practical (or available).
Some of the most successful companies are successful because of their brand recognition like:
Adobe (in addition Acrobat), Apple (in addition Quicktime), IBM (in addition Websphere), Macromedia (in addition Shockwave), Microsoft (in addition MSN)… knowledge of the company means you can quickly find the domain for the content you are looking for.
These companies are successful because of their company brand or product/service brand was consistent and not because keywords got them to the top. This isn't consequence.
Right. And for fathom, for a lot of web businesses, they may not be interested in building up brand identity. This doesn't work very well if the idea is just to sell one kind of limited product.
Keyword1-Keyword2.com is really useless. Keyword.com can be very valuable though. If I saw the two domains ABBR.com(abreviated) and Keyword.com before I even visit Keyword.com, I will know what its about. As with the abreviated one, your left guessing unless you heard of it before.
Some company names really have nothing to do with what they do but it works for them. Its hard to esablish a good brand alone with just "Keyword". Keywords may work for internet but I wouldn't try it in the real world.
They may not be interested in building up brand identity. This doesn't work very well if the idea is just to sell one kind of limited product.
Why do you think that quality may not apply well to the majority of your smaller clients. You really don't understand what branding is if you think that.
Brand is quality of service, quality of product, quality in whatever you do. Brand image, and brand recognition isn't just reserved for companies like Google or other successful ones.
I can't think of one example where a large corporation started out that way... they were all like the majority of your smaller clients at one time but set themselves apart with quality of something and brand trust grew from meek beginnings.
Try and look at it this way... a single testimonial, a single excellent review, a single customer saying "man that guy gave excellent service" to a single friend (or word of mouth), these are all examples of branding at the core or the beginning.
What you choose to do what that beginning defines how your company grows... in saying that a company that believes they are not able to brand is a problem.
WebmasterWorld didn't start with all of us here, and didn't start with all the forums it has today, and today it is the most used forum on the Internet.
The most recognizable brand (in forums), and brand trust in webmastering.
Today, I agonize over the fact that I did not have the foresight to come up with a better name, since I cannot afford a huge branding campaign.
Recently, I was browsing a list of domains for sale and saw a six letter .com which made me almost fall out of chair. It is not a generic English dictionary word but one of our "new" vocabulary words which has come to define a huge section of my target market.
I immediately bought it and began conceptualizing a new brand, for this target market. The lesson here is that, with the right name, you have a chance to build a really successful business, online of offline.
On the other hand, a great product with a lousy name is a guaranteed loser. Generic names such as "Best-Computers-Online" may help you with the search engines but will never be successful brands. Similarly, "Flu-therapy", as a brand will never be as successful as "Theraflu".
Just my 0.02 worth.
Agree wholeheartedly.
The single greatest disadvantage that keywording a domain name has in favor of an easily brandable one is the search engine users are generally not repeat customers.
A keyword domain name is difficult to remember - a search query may develop new customers but suck at repeat customers.
Once people buys and has a good experience with you if that product/service is renewable, serviceable, disposalable, or anything that has a satisfied customer coming back to get more (this could be 2 year later) they will go to you - you have brand trust.
But like you said "Best-Computers-Online" is anybody - not memorable - thus any competitor will do - and the sad part about that - if the brand is compusave.com they will have your original customer for life.
But one can develop a reputation for quality if the product/service is good also with a keyword1-keyword2 domain name. As has been pointed out, it worked for Coca-Cola long before there were computers.
Not today because they don't market it as a nerve tonic either. After they removed the coca(cociane) it change to what we have today. In the early days they did brand it for plant extracts. It was classic keyword1-keyword2 marketing just using the seller as the search engine.
I agree with mosley700 to a point. I think the harder the language is to remember or brand in peoples minds the harder your campaign will be. The shorter the easier to brand, but with enough money you can brand anything. Look at naacp or aspca. Those brands are household in the states(although they are orgs), but are not the best roll off the tongue names.
