Had a similar idea with startup branding in a box.
Currently not using HeyBTW with Heybtw.com, heyb.tw, @heybtw
Pre-branded domain names for startups
171–180 of 212 posts
Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups
#172Count 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…
Small point: I believe Google Webmaster Tools has a tool for when you change your sites' names, which might have come in handy to transfer your PR5 to the new domain. Did you try this feature?
Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups
#173This is quite a good idea, and the site itself is very nice and easy to navigate. Congratulations.
Seeing a domain name with an MVL (Minimum Viable Logo, haha) is really much better for imagining how strong it could be than just seeing it listed in text.
However, I found the selection too limited. So I think an interesting model for you would become a marketplace: 1- invite squatters with domains to sell to post their names on your site 2- invite designers to freely create logos to un-logoed domains 3- sell this wider selection to your audience, sharing the revenue with both squatters and designers.
Good luck - with more selection, I would easily find the service worthwhile at that price point.
Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups
#174No! 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 smacks of "That doctor only spent five minutes in the room, and now he wants $200?!" There is a lot of other value you're buying here - the selection of the name, the connection of the name and an aesthetic, the skills for which don't magically appear in people overnight. Did you look at the site? Care and consideration has been exercised in the branding of these names, from colors to typography. If the "raw mat…
"There is a lot of other value you're buying here"
Something that has escaped many people who are in the habit of helping people for nothing is that their knowledge has value to others as a time saver among other things.
Back when NSI was essentially the "Internic" a living could be made by simply knowing how to submit a form to them to register a domain on behalf of a customer. If you (as an end user) wanted to take the time to learn how to do the same thing (which didn't require a medical school education of course) you could avoid those charges.
Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups
#175No! 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…
"is not a steal or a good deal"
A steal or good deal is not a reason to buy something in every case. In fact you can end up buying things that you don't need.
This is the philosophy of loss leaders. Things that get you into a store based on a deal only to have you end up buying something you didn't necessarily need on inpulse.
Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why are we entertaining the idea that there's an argument to be had about domain squatting? I wish we had enacted policies against squatting back in the '90s. But Internet governance did very much the opposite thing. This argument ended a long time ago. Why piss in the wind about it? In the post-domain-squatting world, this is a great offering.
"I wish we had enacted policies against squatting back in the '90s." What would your suggestion be as far as a policy that could have stopped domain squatting? I can't think of a scenario that you could have that would allow someone to purchase a name but then not allow them to sell the name. So what you would end up with is names that are registered but have not found their way (through the free market) to the best…
If it wasn't possible to sell a name, a domain that wasn't worth $10/yr to the current owner would have been released back into the market.
Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I'm all over your point but strictly only in theory. These logos are for the most part gobsmackingly awful. I'm genuinely surprised that there's no Comic Sans among them. Robogenerating words with free fonts you dug up on some website is not the same thing as a 'Design Service'. http://stylate.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/burntfood_smal... http://stylate.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/usante_small.p... REALLY? Thos…
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Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I'm all over your point but strictly only in theory. These logos are for the most part gobsmackingly awful. I'm genuinely surprised that there's no Comic Sans among them. Robogenerating words with free fonts you dug up on some website is not the same thing as a 'Design Service'. http://stylate.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/burntfood_smal... http://stylate.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/usante_small.p... REALLY? Thos…
This is my feeling as well. You have to sell about 200 of these a year to make any sort of profit off this. That means you have to have a large enough selection to make that many sales. That means each one has less time allocated to it, and is going to be of less quality. I'd rather pay someone to spend the time to get it done my way. That said, this isn't an obvious scam in the way that http://www.brandings.com/ is.
Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
"I wish we had enacted policies against squatting back in the '90s." What would your suggestion be as far as a policy that could have stopped domain squatting? I can't think of a scenario that you could have that would allow someone to purchase a name but then not allow them to sell the name. So what you would end up with is names that are registered but have not found their way (through the free market) to the best…
If it wasn't possible to sell a name, a domain that wasn't worth $10/yr to the current owner would have been released back into the market.
So then you are saying that if you start a business with a name (say a site selling something, even a pet rock) you can't sell that business with the name?
(See where this is going?)
Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think a reasonable argument to make against domain squatting is that those who do it as a business… are just charging you a fee solely because they thought of it first. It feels very much like a pure wealth transfer from me to a more entrenched player. It's somewhat analogous to say most software patents, in that their sole purpose seems to be enacting a social cost. You're not going to do anything with that patent…
"are just charging you a fee solely because they thought of it first." For some domains, true. In other cases considering that back in the day there were an infinite number of domains that you could register (and by the way they cost $70.00 after they were initially free) and $35 per year (until ICANN and competition dropped the price) I wouldn't say it was simply "thinking of it first". As somebody who spent much ti…
I don't understand why anything you just said invalidates anything I just said – but I would be glad if you took another stab at explaining it to me.