Did you know that there are domain names that are worth more than the cost of a house in Clifton? Yes, domain names can be expensive, and profitable. I picked up a 5 letter .com domain from Flippa.com for around R800.00, and had it appraised by Brandbucket, who valued it at over R20,000.00.
Starting a business today is tough, you have to compete against brands which are well established and have to come up with a unique domain name due to most domain names already being taken online.
Finding a premium domain name to differentiate your brand online, or maintain your existing identity if your business is already established online, will allow you to build your website on an appreciating asset.
As more and more people snap up cool domain names and more domain name extensions are brought to market, the value of short, memorable, and easy to remember Top-Level domain names like .co.za and .com become rarer and more valuable.
Brandable domain names have become so popular that it is now a whole market on its own and many people are capitalizing by making big bucks flipping cool domain names.
Here’s the best places to find premium brandable domains in South Africa.
Domain name search engines
Do you have a brandable domain name in-mind already? the first place to start when looking for brandable domain names is by coming up with a list of possible names you would be interested in.
For example, perhaps you are in the financial industry and want to launch an online site related to finance. Begin by jotting down some finance-related terms and start entering them into a search engine such domains.co.za or Lean Domain Search.
In the screenshot above, we can see domain names which contain the keyword “hedgefund” and which are available .com domain names.
This method of finding domain names is really quick and easy. It does however not display domain names which are already taken and which may potentially be listed for resale.
Domains for sale
If you have a specific domain name in mind, you can visit the domain name by typing it in the URL bar in your browser. For example, let’s say we we’re interested in the domain name hedge.co.za, we could visit this domain name and quickly determine whether not the site is active and being used, or potentially for sale.
In this case, the domain name is for sale and currently priced at $978 US which at the current exchange rate equates to around R16,921.
Domain auctions
When domain names are not renewed annually they become suspended and eventually expire. Several domain registrars make the domain names available on auction before adding it to the public domain marketplace.
Some domain name auctions like GoDaddy require membership and in are extremely competitive, while others like Flippa.com is entirely free to join. Additionally, you also have to beware of bots which could bid at the last minute and grab the domain name or drive up prices considerably.
Premium domain name market places
Next you can try out premium domain name marketplaces. But beware, prices are really expensive due to the premium domain place generally adding commission fees, processing the transaction, hosting the domain as well as marketing the domain name in some instances.
If yo are looking for domain names to rival the leading brands in the world like Apple.com or amazon.com, your bb bet would be BrandBucket. Some of the brands which got their domains from BrandBucket include Ario, Envato, Pana, Setster, and Vobi.
If you are looking for domain names with more local extensions like .co.za, check out Domain Eporium, which lists premium .co.za domain names for sale. See below.
Classifieds
Finally, don’t forget to check classifieds sites like BidorBuy, and Gumtree. To take extra caution when perusing buying premium domain names via classifieds sites as classifieds sites are prone to scammers and fraudulent activities.
However, some domain sellers list their domains on classifieds sites in order to reap higher profits and not forgo huge fees to premium domain name marketplaces like BrandBucket.com.
When searching for domain names on classifieds sites make use of keywords like “domain”, “domains”. “domain name”, “.co.za” and so on to increase the number of results you get. Then use filtering to find what you are looking for or browse within a specified price range.
Finding premium domains are not that difficult and can make the difference between success or massive success online. You don’t always need to own a cool domain name to build a big brand, many brands are simply made up names and the internet is still fairly young.
If you have to take anything away from this article is that domain names are really valuable and can be seen as real estate on the world-wide web. So don’t think about it to long, act now and grab your ideal domain name before someone else does!
