Brandable domains are all the rage now days. (google, yahoo, engadget, etc..) So what are the upsides, downsides, and things to consider when looking for a brandable domain?

First lets start with some of the upsides, generally brandable domains are:

• somewhat easy to remember
• make an impression
• available for purchase (this is the big selling point)
• are more bandable (obviously)

On the downside however, brandable domains generally:

• don't provide any keyword boost on search engine position
• can have unclear spellings

Brand strength is the real power of random word domains. Something like google is a great example because they could have bought something like search.com Initially having search.com would have given them some credibility as a company that can afford a good domain, but long term having google.com really paid off. The main reason is verbability (a word I made up). By that I mean the ability for a word to be made into a verb. This is one thing you want to look for in your brandable domain. "Googling" is in our every day vocabulary, and while only a few domains can make it into this class, seeing if it verbable, helps decide how easy people will remember it.