What’s a Really Good and Reputable Domain Name Worth?

Written by Zac Johnson
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I’ve written several posts in the past about what a good domain name is worth. There are different ways to value a domain name and how much you might be willing to pay for it.

For example… if someone had “your name” .com, you would likely pay a lot of money for it. Especially if you were famous or wanted to build a brand off your name.

Then there are generic domain names that sell for very big numbers.

You can see a few of them below.

ALT 1. Sex.com
$12 million
Originally registered by Gary Kremen, a Silicon Valley software salesman, in 1994. Sold in a private sale for a mixture of cash and stock to Boston-based Escom LLC in January 2005.
ALT 2. Porn.com
$9.5 million
MXN Limited bought its way into the porn industry in May. Brokered by Moniker.com, the deal stands as the largest all-cash URL transaction ever.
ALT 3. Business.com
$7.5 million
Sold to ECompanies Venture Group, headed by former Disney executive Jake Weinbaum, in 1999. Yet even the highly prized name couldn’t protect the business from the dot-com bust; the site is now a parking lot for other URLs.

You can click here and see the full article with even more domains and what they sold for.

TechCrunch has released news on another awesome domain name and web site was recently acquired, which was for BRAND.COM and ended up selling in the six figure range.

When you think of BRAND.COM, what do you think would be the best use for the site?

There are a few ideas that would work, but reputation management and branding are the ones that seem to fit best.

If you guessed these two then you would be right.

I’ve also talked about Reputation Changer in the past as well, and they were the ones who picked up BRAND.COM to establish it into their next focus and branding project.

While “Reputation Changer” is a cool name and definitely tells you what their service does, you really can’t get any better and more direct that having “BRAND.COM” as your site and business name.

The thing about domain names is that there is only ONE of them… and if it’s not a .COM address, it’s not that great.

When you think about Google, Apple, Microsoft and Yahoo throwing a BILLION dollars at a company that they never end up doing anything with… think about what they could be doing in the domain name industry.

Domain names will only continue to increase in value over time and it’s always exciting to see who’s buying and for how much.

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25 Replies to “What’s a Really Good and Reputable Domain Name Worth?”

  1. Great article Zac! It's really critical for companies that exclusively offer web services to have a great name. There is only 1 Brand.com in the world, and it's taken.

  2. Awesome article, Zac! Thanks for sharing. I have been following this company since November and this is a huge power move for them.

  3. Brand.com is a KILLER domain name. One word domain names are truly an asset in themselves.

  7. Brand.com is a great purchase and stands to open a number of doors for the company. This purchase will stand up with the great ones you had mentioned in the article!

  8. Genius move! A company already on the upswing just raised the bar a few more notches by rebranding themselves!

  9. Amazing stats on domain name sales. The Brand.com acquisition is a sign of continued growth in the ORM space.

  11. Hi Zac, thanks for this article. We are very excited about Brand.com over here. It better reflects our vision for the industry and for @RepChanger

  14. I definitely agree, a good domain is a great investment and becoming Brand.com was a smart move for the company!

  17. Another great Post Zac, and congrats to Brand.com on an amazing domain purchase.

  18. I really like this. Having a good domain name is so important these days and Brand.com sounds like a great one.

  21. It’s worth millions, as your examples showed, if we’re talking literal here. It’s amazing how a domain name can make or break your career. I say, among the examples mentioned, I have seen a common denominator, and that’s simplicity. Something that’s easily remembered.
    My recent post Study: Google Local Carousel Results Win 48% Of Clicks, While Only 14.5% Of Clicks Were On The Map

  22. Hi Zac,
    Like you noted in your article "Killer Domain Names that Sold for Millions", the domains that are sold and bought in six figures are a kind of investment. I think Reputation Changer sees it so and it readily aligns with their business motives.
    That said, its pretty exciting to note these details from you.

    This comment was left in kingged.com after this post was shared and "kingged"
    https://www.kingged.com/whats-a-really-good-and-re…

    Sunday – kingged.com contributor

  23. As someone that works in the domain industry I can say that domains can really change the game for a company/website. Just like anything though, a Domain name is only worth what someone is willing to pay. Actively selling a domain can usually get you about 50% of what someone would offer if they came to you.

    Brand.com seems like a good idea as their is a clear business model behind it. Sex.com has been sold multiple times for millions but each time the person lost on their investment. This time someone bought it for 12 million and put up a adult pinterest site. I would be curious how long it will take them to make back that 12 million.

  25. I agree, FB really is a beast, any new training on FB Marketing I like to get my ads on…

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