HybridDomainer wrote an article today about the “fascination” with LLLL.coms and why people still continue to buy LLLL.coms with “no obvious end user” He states.
“There still seems to be a fascination with the LLLL.com even if there is no obvious end user or use. I guess you can always try to make an acronym out of nothing but some letter combinations make that an arduous task”
As a businessman I have learned over the years is don’t question sales. People buy the craziest things and to pretending that I know better is naive. I am not fan of bright blue birdbaths. I think the are gaudy, draw too much attention to something that is an accent piece, yet I sell a ton of them. Would I have it in my yard? No. But I’ll sell the hell out of it all day long. I’ve learned over they years that in order to make money often you have to sell things that you don’t understand why they sell. But I understand why LLLL.coms sell.
Domain names are addresses. Addresses that you would like to be remembered. Yes, Google can guide but I would rather they type it in. Often the name of a company or site is long. Longer than people enjoy typing and occasionally can remember. The first thing that comes to mind is a site that I worked with several years ago. WhatWouldTylerDurdenDo.com Nobody Wanted to type that in so they went with WWTDD.com Who in their crazy mind would buy a 5L.com like that? Penguin Media did because it was easier. Short names are easy to type and easy to remember. As Google drops the bonus of Exact Match Domains we are left with domains to either give authority (people think you are the biggest and best in the business because you own the keyword) or to be memorable. That’s it. Short is memorable. It is not a coincidence that number dot coms are skyrocketing. They are easy to remember yet people still don’t understand why anyone would name their company a number. All the meanwhile a tremendous opportunity passed them by because their lack of understanding.
What I agree with Ray is that many of those LLLL.coms have little to no use to a company and are harder to remember. There may be better opportunities to spend the $10 or $20 dollars on elsewhere. But names like FMUA.com at $50. I think that is a heck of a buy. A at the end opens it up for all entities that end in Association and second I look at all the other FMUA domain is other country codes. I’m pretty sure many of these would gladly add the dot com for a few hundred dollars. A four times return for a few emails. You want to dismiss a domain, dismiss hash domains, especially in other tlds than dot com. There are millions of these still being purchased and peddled. At least in the LLLL.com there is a market. How can you dismiss anything that has liquidity like LLLL.com? If you have one you CAN sell it. And don’t tell me there will be a bag holder because as far as I am concerned if there are bag holders it won’t be dot com domain owners, especially not short domains. A perfect example was a large portfolio that was being liquidated a few months ago. It was shopped to the largest domain investors first and then passed to the medium guys like me. The names that had been sold weren’t taken off yet so I put in the names and bids of the domains I wanted and waited to see if they were available. What was gone by the time I got it? Killer generics, and all four number, four letter and less dot coms. All of them. Because they sell
The key to all business is know your product. Know what is selling, why its selling, and know the value of that product. Appreciate liquidity and active markets. It’s what gives you the ability to make money. Regardless of what you’re selling or if you personally like or understand the product. Shoot for the smart, big business money but start with any place there is active money.
A pragmatic & mature perspective Shane!
Looking forward to more
~ Gaurav