Domain Names Aren’t Irrelevant, But They Might Be in the Future

[A D]

A great deal of words have already been written about Stuff.co.nz’s post titled ‘Domain names are mostly irrelevant’. With a title like that, you knew it was bound it invite the ire of domainers everywhere. Shane Cultra responded highlighting the SEO value of domain names, something the original author, Henry Cooke had missed entirely. Yet, [...]

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[vinsdomains.com]

Great article. One of your best!

 

[Mark Talbot]

Good article puranjay!

One has to wonder,..will the next paradigm happen in the following 2.5 years?... and then the year and some months after that? or is it simply generational where 30 years from now the bellbottom domain names will become in favor again, at twice the price?

 

[ImageAuthors]

Excellent article. On the whole, I agree. And I wish that I had listened less, when purchasing some of my domains, to outdated notions about keyword SEO value. All the same, I can envision a scenario when type-in traffic will make a resurgence. The lack of privacy on social networking sites like Facebook may provoke a backlash. But I'm also expecting businesses to realize -- once their honeymoon with social media is over -- that they have relinquished a large share of their own online brand presence to companies like Facebook. And those businesses could begin a mass exodus away from social media and toward a kind of online independence that might be strengthened by (and strengthen) type-in traffic.

 

[sashas]

Excellent article. On the whole, I agree. And I wish that I had listened less, when purchasing some of my domains, to outdated notions about keyword SEO value. All the same, I can envision a scenario when type-in traffic will make a resurgence. The lack of privacy on social networking sites like Facebook may provoke a backlash. But I'm also expecting businesses to realize -- once their honeymoon with social media is over -- that they have relinquished a large share of their own online brand presence to companies like Facebook. And those businesses could begin a mass exodus away from social media and toward a kind of online independence that might be strengthened by (and strengthen) type-in traffic.

If you look at DNS' sales over the past 6 months, you'll notice that a majority of them are brandables, with a few keyword generics thrown in. Schilling is the smartest domainer I know; he figured this out a long time back. He's very active in buying two word brandable names.

But at the same time, what you say holds true as well: by using social media, you are essentially giving away your brand presence to Facebook and Twitter. Ideally, your traffic strategy should be a mix of all sources - SEO, social media, and even paid.

What I mentioned, but didn't expand on in the article is that different kind of startups need different kind of traffic sources. Some, like Instagram, instantly lend themselves to social media. Others, like Mahalo or a real-estate startup, does not. These still need to rely on SEO. The thing that has changed is that in the past 3 years, there have been a lot more Instagrams and few Mahalos and eHows showing up on the startup scene, hence the slow devaluation of SEO focused keyword names.

 

[ImageAuthors]

Two very interesting points. I find myself staring at the list of inquiries under "Recent Activity" at DomainNameSales. There are definitely a surprising number of brandables in the mix, but there are also keyword generics like BuildingManager {.}com, PhotographyClasses {.}com, etc.
But "brandable" can actually be broken down into a number of subcategories. For example, I see UpFront {.}com next to GigLink {.}com and Effits {.}com; and all 3 of these represent a different class of "brandable" domain. Still, when I look at my own recent domain sales, I think you're right. I've sold more brandables than SEO-focused domains.

Because I'm a social media ignoramus who cringes whenever he's forced to log in to Facebook, I'm in no position to judge your statement that "different kind{s} of startups need different kind{s} of traffic sources"; but I'm sure you're right. Maybe I and other domainers should devote some time to studying the ways domain branding is utilized on facebook, since that may influence our own domain buying strategies.

Thumbs up.

 

[Theo]

You give the Stuff guy too much attention. Already covered by Domain Shane and DNW.

 

[ImageAuthors]

I wouldn't really think of the DNFBlog article as a response to the other guy (whose piece, I would agree, was pretty cheesy). The DNFBlog article raised its own independent questions.

 

[sashas]

You give the Stuff guy too much attention. Already covered by Domain Shane and DNW.

I merely used that as the base for building another argument that Shane and Andrew hadn't touched upon.