With the LLLL.com domains long gone, it is domainer nature to move on to the “next big thing”.  Each domainer may have a different opinion of what exactly that is, but it seems many are moving on to LLLLL.com domains, with CVCVC.com domains getting most of the focus.   Without checking, I’m pretty sure that many of these domains are already gone! 

One term that has become popular on the domain forums is the word pronouncable when advertising these domains.  It is the same tactic that was used with LLLL.com domains.  Pronouncing many of these domains is quite a stretch, and the ones that are pronouncable in type, may not be when verbally spoken. 

One thing people need to ask themselves before investing in one of these types of domains for a potential end-user sale is whether or not it can be spelled multiple ways when pronounced verbally.  The goal of having a brandable domain is to associate the name with the product or service, and this includes verbal association.

When spoken, if saying the domain name results in several possible spellings, then it isn’t a brandable domain name in my opinion.   One example would be Colo.com.  When pronounced, it could sound like it would be spelled Solo.com or Kolo.com.   What about Pedi.com.   Is that spelled Pede.com?  Or Pedy.com?  Or even PD.com?  This is something to keep in mind when investing in this market.

With that said, there are many great brandable domains in this market, includes established sites like Sedo.com, Bido.com, etc.  I love domains ending in ”o” and think they are brilliant.  But there are other CVCV.com domains that would work great as well.

What do you look for when investing in LLLL.com or LLLLL.com domains?

I think for most domainers, one of the most anticipated things each week is DNJournal’s release of domain sales.  There are a lot of factors that go into determining a domain value, but one of the best ways to do this is to compare your domain to similar domains that have sold recently.

In this weeks edition, there was somewhat of a surprise to me with Casino.de taking the top spot at $625,060.00.  If you don’t find a dot com at the top, you might think that a dot net is probably in that top spot.  It isn’t often that you find a country code there.   With that said, the German country code has been well received by their country, so that could explain the high dollar figure it earned.  For those wondering, the highest German domain sale was Poker.de for $957,937.00 last July.

Only one other confirmed sale over the benchmark of $100,000.00 was completed with Tests.com selling for $176,505.00.  Relative.com, Psychiatrists.com, and Niche.com followed that up with sales between $85,000.00 and $100,000.00.

Other interesting sales:

• A dot mobi made the list with Shows.mobi selling for $20,000.00.
• Equipt.net sold for $18,000.00?!?

If probably doesn’t matter in most cases because you’ll want to use a dropcatcher, but have you ever wondered what time of day domains actually drop?

I recently ran across this information so I figured I would share!

Domain Drop Times (all Central Standard Time)

• .com & .net = 1:00-1:30 PM
• .org = 8:30-9:00 AM
• .info = 3:30-4:00 AM
• .biz = 1:30-2:00 AM
• .us = 12:00-12:30 AM