28 Business Owners Discuss Their Exact Match Domain Names

I want to share an article that I believe will interest you. Edwin Hayward of Webmastering.co.uk published an article that shares comments from 28 business owners who operate on exact match domain names (EMDs). The compilation of comments comes from a variety of sources, and the focus is on what the domain name means to the company.

Aside from the fact that it’s interesting to read about businesses that successfully use EMDs, I also think a resource like this can be beneficial to you. When you’re negotiating the sale of an exact match domain name and need to emphasize the value of the domain name, you can point your buyer to Edwin’s article. Alternatively, you can also pick and choose specific quotes from that article to share with the prospective buyer.

I have found that some companies and people are reluctant to spend the necessary money to purchase an excellent domain name. When these prospects read quotes like the ones Edwin compiled, it may help get them over the hump and give them enough confidence to pull the trigger.

Another excellent resource I reference often is the Domain Guardians list of premium domain names owned by major companies and brands. I’ve found this list to be interesting and a great reference.

Thanks to Edwin for compiling this great list of quotes. If you have seen another quote about an exact match domain name, perhaps you can share it here or directly with Edwin. For instance, in reference to the VacationRentals.com domain name, the CEO of HomeAway stated, “The only reason we bought it was so Expedia couldn’t have that url.”

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

30 COMMENTS

  1. Thanks for the shout out, Elliot!

    If anyone reading this has other similar examples with first-hand source material to back them up (i.e. comments from the actual business owners rather than those who sold them the domains) then please email them to me and I’ll try and update the blog post periodically so that there’s one comprehensive reference point people can dip into whenever they need a bit of “persuasion” ammunition.

    My email address:
    ehayward(AT)memorabledomains.co.uk

    Thanks in advance!

  2. LOL – Thanks for this post, Elliot. I haven’t replied to my new suitor again yet, but I suspect I may soon be including a link to that article to him when I do and tell him “no” on stats.

  3. Great read! …
    What better than the Owners of such great properties!

    as the cloud.com previous owner said … “Instant recognition”

    ‘Dot Com’ and ‘Dot Country Codes’ is where is at, anything else and sail against the wind.

    I am still baffled about the upcoming .xyz what an aberration of a domain.

    WTF?

    Thanks Elliot and Edwin.

  4. I like EMDs but I think they are overrated. Think about it after over 25 years of the dot com juggernaut and he can only compile a list of 28 examples in use that are real businesses. There are a lot of smart people in domaining and there should be a massive list of real world examples of EMDs for people to reference. Some on this list would be considered brands and not EMDs such as BlackSocks, CoPilot, LiveStream, ContactUs, GetFeedback, MyCorporation and GapYear. So that leaves you with 21 businesses after 25 years. Pretty sad results.

    • It was never meant to be a list of “businesses using exact match domains”!

      It is simply a compilation of domain name-related comments by the owners of such businesses – a much smaller sample set since probably 99.9%+ of business owners don’t sit down interviews and talk about their domain names. BTW, the count is up to 44 examples now as I’ve added a lot more.

    • @Edwin

      I was not directing my comments at you but just toward the EMD subject in general. I always appreciate when people such as yourself take the time to compile lists like this but like I said after 25 years the list should be very long. I think I will take the time and start making my own list of EMDs in use that are actual businesses. The list from Domain Guardians is great but the majority of those EMDs are not actual businesses and they just redirect the EMD to the actual business. If it’s a redirect it doesn’t count as an in use EMD.

    • As a quick test, I gave myself exactly 5 minutes (Google “countdown timer” – handy) and randomly typed in the first generic domains that popped into my head. By the end of that 5 minute period, I found 6 in use by “real” businesses (and hit about 15 parking pages; I wasn’t keeping track).
      http://www.microscopes.com/
      http://www.ergonomickeyboards.com/
      http://www.mousepads.com/
      http://www.barcodereaders.com/
      http://www.greenhouses.com/
      http://www.constructionequipment.com/

      In other words, if you’ve got a good imagination and a few hours, you’ll find thousands of valid examples soon enough!

    • @John

      Yeah I did read the reply and I am not saying his list should be long but there should be a long list whether it be made by him or someone else of in use EMDs. There are over 113 million dot coms registered and no one has ever made a list of in use EMDs for people to reference and the one person that does can only come up with a grand total of 44 out of 113 million dot coms.

      Seriously, everyone start listing examples of in use EMDs on this blog post . I am calling you out John and everyone else let’s make the list public right here right now. I would love to see how many actually are in use and I bet the number of successful ones will surprise us all. Trust me if the list was long it would have been made and posted many years ago.

      If you list a name it must be the site name and no redirects allowed only in use EMDs.

    • You’re calling me out? LOL. I’m calling you out for still writing as if you never even read his first reply, Todd.

      Here you are just contradicting yourself:

      1. “I am not saying his list should be long but there should be a long list whether it be made by him or someone else”

      And here you are still responding to “a list of in use EMD’s” when Edwin has already explained what was obvious from the start, that such a list is not and was never his purpose:

      2. “no one has ever made a list of in use EMDs for people to reference and the one person that does can only come up with a grand total of 44 […]” Nor do “in use EMD’s” even qualify for inclusion on Edwin’s list, which he has already made clear, but only those for which the owners or operators do “sit down interviews and talk about their domain names.” In light of Edwin’s most clear purpose and statements, I’d say 44 is actually quite impressive.

      So, honestly Todd, you are really a bit puzzling here, and you frankly seem to have an issue of your own about EMD’s. I’m a bit embarrassed, Todd, about you that is, and I’m sorry to have to point out your extreme error here like this, but I have no hard feelings and again it’s not to be nasty.

    • That’s an epic fail at deflection Todd, not to mention resorting to bad behavior. I understand being totally annihilated on the merits can be unpleasant but now you are only busted again.

    • John I am not getting into here with you because like I said you just like to hear yourself talk and this will be never ending and I know Elliot won’t appreciate it. The link to the post in my previous comment shows you commenting 15 times out of 55 comments which just to tell you is EXTREME by anyone’s standards especially when the majority of your comments are just ramblings like the one below.

      “Oops, I just accidentally clicked dislike for Elliotā€™s comment November 21st, 2013 at 8:08 pm and canā€™t undo it; was meant for Toddā€™s above. So the real count for Elliotā€™s should only be 1 now.”

      Sorry but I don’t get into conversations that will become never ending whether I be right or wrong so let’s agree to disagree and move on.

    • “John I am not getting into here with you”

      Well you’re too late, that’s exactly what you did, you failed, and now like people so often do you’re seeking both the last word and to try to plant the last impression by portraying me as the bad guy, as the one doing something Elliot would not “appreciate,” as well as both grabbing total irrelevancies from a past and different thread, adding your own opinion about them and presenting the combination as evidence of something here.

      I stayed on topic and merely addressed some of the things you said here, however.

      It’s actually tempting to address the totally irrelevant items and opinions you have expressed here about a past thread, but I don’t have to.

      I’m more than happy to “agree to disagree” and move on about your basic overall opinion about EMD’s, but certainly not all of your tactics and statements here. So unless Elliot closes comments for this thread or blocks my IP I can’t guarantee that whatever “last word” you decide to push won’t result in a reply made for the benefit of the topic and all concerned unless I decide to be done with it.

  5. Yes, thanks a bunch Edwin for putting that together. šŸ™‚ You’ve really done an excellent service to us all. I just fired off an email to someone I’ve been meaning to reply to who has been eagerly pursuing a .com with me, featuring a prominent recommendation and referral to both DNJ and your article there. Do take care and cheers all. šŸ™‚ (Except what is that first poster doing here, lol? Times like this you can really miss that “dislike” button. šŸ™‚ )

  6. Should be followed up with an article interviewing 28 established businesses that operate on brandables. Also another one with 28 that operate on some arbitrary non-exact match domain or one with awkward plurals or hyphens. This last group is generally thr group that bought these names because they thought domains don’t matter and it’s all about search. Well would be interesting to see if they still feel that way and if after running their business for some years if they have any desire to own the exact match name.

  7. I think a domain such as Blacksocks.com is a good example about why EMD can be a limitation for a ambitious company. What if you want to expand into the booming orange or pink socks business?

  8. 1. EMDs aren’t only used for direct type-in or SEO purposes. They also make great brand names.
    2. I would prefer to visit a site with an EMD as the domain vs one that is using some weird branded domain.

    • I agree that EMD’s can make great brand names.

      I also believe in the short snappy brandables, if developed correctly, these can benefit in page rank. And we know good (subjective) ones sell well.

      That’s the beauty of choice in the market. šŸ˜‰

      Cheers.

  9. Sorry, but Brandables don’t stand a chance against EMD’s.. i sell far more EMD domains than brandables (or to be more exact: EMD’s bring me a far higher ROI), unsurprisingly as EMD’s have the powerful effect of commanding authority in their market which isn’t given with a fantasy name..

    i will clearly continue to focus at EMD’s and also use this useful link as reference for possible suitors

    Ps: thanks for mentioning the article, Elliot!

  10. As a general rule, EMD’s very obviously “rule,” so even discussing it is odd. As they say about rules, there can be qualified exceptions with “brandables.” The most valuable brandable would not be more valuable than all the most valuable EMD’s, but there are some very few which can be almost as valuable as the most valuable EMD’s and more valuable than 99.*% of all of them on a strictly individual basis. Remember, however: only a very few, as in a really minute number compared to the general value of EMD’s. I have a brandable now that is a very famous phrase you can use and brand for almost any purpose you want, and which almost made it into the record books for top domain sales. That would have put it ahead of most of the best EMD’s individually, but again it’s only one in a “zillion” that could do that.

  11. Even if you took a look a couple of days ago, might be worth a second dip, as I’ve managed to boost the number of interview snippets to 87 examples. Not just .com, there are also various success stories for ccTLD including .co.uk and .com.au.

    • Hello Edwin Hayward,

      Thank you for the “Tool”.

      Yes, I did use the list as a tool.
      After realizing that IBM didn’t own “Think”, I gave it a closer and different look.

      As of result, I did hand register three .com domains with decent value, to me of course, related to a good sub-niche.

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