This article highlights the key differences between premium and regular domain names, helping you understand their value and how they can impact your online presence.
Key Takeaways
- Value – Premium domains are valuable due to their brevity, brandability, and ability to attract traffic, while regular domains require brand building from scratch.
- Pricing – Premium domains are significantly more expensive, often costing hundreds to thousands of dollars, whereas regular domains are much more affordable.
- Availability – Regular domains are widely available for immediate registration, but premium domains are rare and may require negotiation with the owner to purchase.
- Renewal – Although the initial purchase price is very different, both premium and regular domains typically follow standard renewal pricing.
- Reputation – Premium domains can have an established reputation and history, which can make them seem more trustworthy and credible to customers.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Key Takeaways
- What Is a Regular Domain?
- What Is a Premium Domain?
- The Difference Between Premium Domains And Regular Domains
- Is It Worthwhile To Purchase a Premium Domain Name?
- Where Can You Buy a Premium Domain?
When choosing a domain name for your business, you’ll come across some domains with the ‘premium’ tag. What are they, and how do they differ from regular domain names? Understanding the differences will help you choose the domain that aligns with your brand and business goals. Here’s a brief overview of regular and premium domains.
What Is a Regular Domain?
A regular domain is any domain name available for registration at the standard market price. These domains are usually newly registered and, as a result, don’t have any intrinsic brand value attached to them. They often contain two or more words and are less brandable. However, they are still viable options for new businesses seeking a distinctive domain name.
What Is a Premium Domain?
A premium domain name is perceived as valuable because of its rarity and brandability. Usually, this type of domain ticks all the requirements for a high-quality domain – short, pronounceable, memorable, keyword-rich, and easy to spell – and, as a result, is coveted by all kinds of businesses, even registrars. All these qualities increase their demand and price in the domain marketplace.
The Difference Between Premium Domains And Regular Domains
- Value and Demand
Premium domains are valued due to their brevity, brandability, and high market demand. They often contain highly relevant keywords and are easily recognizable, which helps to attract targeted/branded traffic on search engines. This is why domain investors, business owners, and entrepreneurs spend thousands to millions of dollars to acquire them.
In contrast, regular domains are just that… regular. After acquiring one, you’ll need to implement the right marketing strategies to build a strong brand online. However, they’re readily available in the marketplace, and you can purchase them at will. Since they’re less in demand, you have access to a larger pool of domain names to choose from.
- Pricing
As you would expect, premium domain names cost more than regular domains.
The premium domains are priced according to their intrinsic brand value, relevance, and market demand. Typically, they cost hundreds to thousands of dollars. Expect to pay even more if they contain a single word and use the .com top-level domain (TLD).
Regular domains, however, are more affordable. They’re available on all domain marketplaces at the regular price. We have millions of domains in this category; you can even find one for as low as $7.99.
- Availability
Due to their premium status, premium domains are not always available for purchase. Sometimes, you may find out that your choice is already registered, and even if it’s not, it is listed at a higher price.
To acquire a premium domain name, you may need to negotiate with the current owner or purchase one through a domain marketplace, such as Trustname. On the other hand, most unclaimed domains are regular domains, so you can easily find them on domain marketplaces and register them immediately.
- Renewal Pricing
Once registered, premium domains typically follow standard renewal pricing, unlike their initial registration cost, which can be significantly higher. The same applies to regular domain names.
- Domain reputation
Premium domains, especially those with industry-relevant keywords, are perceived as trustworthy and credible because of their history. Popular companies used some of them and have a rich history (in traffic, brand value, content, and domain authority).
Additionally, customers perceive them as reputable since they are related to the industries they’re searching for. Regular domains do not have any intrinsic value and require building a strong brand identity from scratch. This may take years to achieve, which is one reason business owners opt for premium domains.
Is It Worthwhile To Purchase a Premium Domain Name?
Yes, it’s worth buying a premium domain name! These domains are valuable assets, and though you pay more to acquire them, their inherent potential makes them worth the investment. Also, they have a high resale value. So, even if you decide to halt your business in the future, you can list them on marketplaces for a higher price and earn a profit.
Where Can You Buy a Premium Domain?
You can buy a premium domain for your brand on Trustname. We offer premium domain names for niche markets, making it easy to find one that aligns with your brand. Our domains come with robust security features, including a free SSL certificate, DNSSEC (to protect your website against DNS spoofing), and two-tier WHOIS privacy protection (to safeguard our users' data from unauthorized access).