Category-defining. Generic. One-word. Exact-match. These are all ways to describe premium domains. A great example is cars.com. It defines the category (automobiles), it’s as generic as can be, it’s one word, and it’s an exact match for the service the website offers (selling cars).
Premium domains are perfect if your brand name matches your domain exactly, like cars.com, but every company stands to benefit from a premium domain. Many companies acquire premium domains to rebrand, defend their brand, or launch new marketing efforts. For example, Cnet owns computers.com ; ToysRUs owns toys.com; Sleep Number owns beds.com, and so on.
Why Are Companies Grabbing Up Premium, One-Word Domains?
Premium domains perform quite well in search engines because it’s intuitive. Think about it… If you wanted to buy nuts, for instance, you might search nuts into Google. Guess what the first result would be? Nuts.com. In addition to being easier to find, a one-word, premium domain lends itself to trust, legitimacy, and credibility. Wouldn’t you rather visit Realtor.com than wesellhouses4cheap.com?
Here is a list of additional benefits of owning a premium domain:
- Paves the opportunity for you to establish dominance in the market. Think Kleenex for tissues.
- Makes branding more effective and simpler
- Allows for more opportunity for growth, nationally as well as internationally
- Serves as an investment in the future of the company – even if the branding doesn’t work out, the premium domain will increase in value over time
- More intuitive for search
- Better suited for SEO
- Easy to spell and remember, and pass the “radio test” with ease
