Brandable domain marketplaces are a growing market in the domain industry because of its popularity among end- users. This has of course gained domainers’ attention as well, as these markets potentially provide more end-users than any other. Also, here are a number of success stories where hand-registered domains were sold for thousands of dollars. In our portal we have already analyzed Brandbucket domain marketplace and provided some tips about domain names sold on this marketplace. Now we introduce another popular brandable domain name marketplace, Namerific by making an interview with its co-founder and owner, Mike Navarini. In our interview more insights are provided about hand registering techniques and about this marketplace in general.
Q. Mike, tell me about yourself
My name is Michael Navarini. I am a serial internet entrepreneur based out of San Francisco. I have been traveling the world for the last eight years while creating and running various businesses.
Before the economic recession in 2008, I was introduced to internet marketing, and have been fully invested in the online media niche ever since, launching various businesses including BananaAds.com (performance advertising agency), Kuyami.com (media buying firm), Namerific.com (domain/branding agency), among others.
Hand-registering domains
Hand-registered domains are best sold in these marketplaces. Many domainers love this idea as you can get an extremely large turnover by this technique. Mike is known to have a number of success stories achieved with hand-registered domains.
Q. How many domains do you hand-register a month?
We hand-register 100+ domains per month on average.
Q. Is there a tool do you use for hand-registering?
We have a custom build excel spreadsheet to generate domain names for us that helps us with finding domains.
Q. If you do not sell the domains within a year, do you renew them?
We renew almost every domain, although sometimes we let them go.
Q. Any special tips for hand-registering?
Try to gain as much knowledge regarding domaining by checking various domain related blogs and forums, check for latest domain trends and also check domain sales history through Namebio etc. So, as I have mentioned above, if you have lot’s of time to learn stuff but a limited budget, then hand-registering domains is your best bet. Patience is the key, so, if you have more time than money, focus on hand-registering domain names as there are big profits to be made from these domains.
Namerific, the brandable domain marketplace
Namerific is a domain marketplace that specializes on catchy business names and creates high-quality .com domain branding packages made available to start-ups, entrepreneurs, companies looking to rebrand, and those who are just looking to build an online presence.
Brandable domains at Namerific
Q. How many visitors and email subscribers does Namerific have?
We receive 1-3k unique visitors per day to our site. As for the number of email subscribers, it is in the 5 figure range.
Q. What makes you different from BrandBucket?
The biggest difference between Brandbucket and Namerific is that Namerific is non exclusive i.e. domain owners/sellers can even try to sell their domain in various other marketplace or forums even if their domain is still listed for sale in Namerific. We also don’t charge a fee to list your domain, and we are more selective with our listings. At Namerific, your name will be among 3-5k domains. At Brandbucket it will be among 20k+ domains, and much harder to find for visitors.
Q. How would you describe the domain names you would accept?
We are mostly interested in brandable sounding invented names, while we do love 2L, 3L, 4L and any easy to spell word or words together and exact match domains, too. Every domain is unique and the only way to know we’d approve it is to submit it to us. The listing fee in Namerific.com is absolutely free if your domain is good enough. And as I have mentioned above, Namerific is non exclusive.
Q. So which if these five domains would you accept? Forthcoming.com, dispensable.com, cytoplasm.com, cookierecipies.com, blogion.com
I’d approve all of those except the last one.
Q. Brandbucket is criticized for being rather slow at valuating submissions. What is your response time?
The response time is usually around a few days to a week max, and at the moment I guess we accept around 3-12 domains per 100 domain submissions. The logo design bonus ranges for $100 to $500.
Q. How many domains are listed and what is the average turnover time?
There are around 3k+ currently listed in our Marketplace. The average turnover time usually depends upon the quality of the domain and pricing, as we have even sold domains in a few days after they go live on the site for sale. While there are some domain names that have not been sold for several years.
Q. Can you tell me success stories?
We have sold names in the 5-figure range to date. We are now looking to sell more premium inventory in the 6-figure range. Our recent acquisition of Projects.com and other inventory, including working with domain sellers with similar inventory, is going to help us reach our goals of selling high value domain real estate.
Q. In this summer, projects.com was not renewed resulting in one of the most popular domain auction of the year. You were the one who finally acquired it. Any special plans for this domain? Do you own similar one word .com domains?
We see a potential buyout from Microsoft or perhaps another big client. We own several other one word .coms that are not currently being listed on Namerific.
Q. Where would you like to see Namerific in 5 years?
Namerific will grow to a $10m+year company and become a one-stop shop for any entrepreneur with online domain needs. From registering a domain by hand, to buying a premade brand, to being a place to post a classified ad for a domain, logo or slogan, to consulting on branding/trademarks, we have a lot in the works that will take us to the next level to serve our clients.
