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Pre-branded domain names for startups

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Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups

#131

Post by gacba »

pitdesi wrote: post #52

Count me in the group that finds $250 to be a steal for this sort of thing. Your mission page is spot on. The amount of time/headache it takes to brand a startup should not be underestimated. I think that the logos are fine to get started quickly but probably would all need to be changed in the long run, but no big deal, you've provided a decent enough starting point where it doesn't look shitty atleast and can allow…

Agreed. The time and money you can waste doing domain search and logo design far exceeds the $250 price they're charging. Having done this a number of times myself, $250 is a major bargain for something that is vetted and pretty much ready-to-promote.

Looking through the brands, nothing really fits any of my current projects but I would definitely consider coming back to check again and again.

Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups

#132

Post by wildmXranat »

alex_c wrote: post #127
wildmXranat wrote: post #69

No! A $7.99 domain name and what looks like to me a $99 logo thrown is not a steal or a good deal. Let me come at this way: Can I get the domain off of you for %80 off the $250 price ? I presume that the answer is no, because it's a lipstick on pig product designed to glorify domain squatting. All the power to you for finding a niche market, but suckers be warned that it's highway robbery! edit: downvoted within 2 mi…

This is the kind of pricing philosophy that plagues HN (and I'll admit, I'm guilty of it as often as not). The value of a product is usually not cost of labor + cost of materials, it's the value it brings to the buyer. $106.99 won't get me the same value, because I have to spend long frustrating hours trying to find a decent available domain name, then a few more hours going back and forth with a designer for a logo…

In the free market, anything goes. In the domain market, there's a finite space within which we have to work in. If you want to buy a domain at a ( 250/8 = 31.25 ) 3100% markup, so be it.

Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups

#133

Post by froo »

alex_c wrote: post #127
wildmXranat wrote: post #69

No! A $7.99 domain name and what looks like to me a $99 logo thrown is not a steal or a good deal. Let me come at this way: Can I get the domain off of you for %80 off the $250 price ? I presume that the answer is no, because it's a lipstick on pig product designed to glorify domain squatting. All the power to you for finding a niche market, but suckers be warned that it's highway robbery! edit: downvoted within 2 mi…

This is the kind of pricing philosophy that plagues HN (and I'll admit, I'm guilty of it as often as not). The value of a product is usually not cost of labor + cost of materials, it's the value it brings to the buyer. $106.99 won't get me the same value, because I have to spend long frustrating hours trying to find a decent available domain name, then a few more hours going back and forth with a designer for a logo…

The best tool I've found for screwing around with domain names is wordoid which I'll link below

While it seems the database hasn't been updated in awhile, it definitely gives very good/quick results without hours of work.

http://www.wordoid.com

Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups

#134

Post by sweeper33 »

I like this idea. I think for smaller companies that can't afford a graphic design artist and a whole kit for their company, this is an attractive, fairly inexpensive option. It also has a kick start element to it. At the beginning lots of companies spend time and effort on their branding when they should be concentrating on their product, marketing and growth. Pre-branded domains give them a starting point to jump off from and is a timesaver.

Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups

#135

Post by hsuresh »

You should seriously consider reserving handles on twitter and other services and providing it to the user of your service, else a squatter can easily register handles on these services for the domains you list on your website.

I am not too comfortable with this service though, i don't like the thought of you squatting away hundreds of good startup names. Partly because the price point of $250 sounds very expensive to me, at least as someone sitting in India.

Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups

#137

Post by pseudonimble »

ta3892682334 wrote: post #79

I like the concept but I'm not a fan of the domains you have now. Can I suggest you open it up to consignment for anyone with a domain? So you increase the value of my domain mydomain.com by giving it a brand / landing page and for that I agree to give you $250 or some percentage of the sale.

Wouldn't that just be a straight up design/branding firm?

It is far easier to pick a random name and match it with some random generic branding, than to be given MySpecificProduct.com and build a brand around that. Branding companies charge a lot of money because it (generally) takes a lot of time, effort and expertise to build good brands.

There is also the fact that it would become a designer-client relationship than a merchant-customer one. Clients get to dictate what they want (to a certain extent), customers see what they are getting before they buy. What if they built a brand around MySpecificProduct.com and you didn't like it?

Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups

#139

Post by sweeper33 »

I like this idea. I think for smaller companies that can't afford a graphic design artist and a whole kit for their company, this is an attractive, fairly inexpensive option. It also has a kick start element to it. At the beginning lots of companies spend time and effort on their branding when they should be concentrating on their product, marketing and growth. Pre-branded domains give them a starting point to jump off from and is a timesaver.
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