What is a Premium domain name?
Advantages, price, registration methods... find out all about Premium domain names!
Standard domain name VS. Premium domain name: what are the differences?
As an introduction to this article, let’s start by reminding what a domain name is. Defining a domain name will be an essential basis for understanding what a “Premium” domain name is.
What is a standard domain name?
A domain name is the address of a website. In a way, it is the translation of an IP address into a sequence of several characters visible by Internet users.
Very often, a domain name will be deliberately composed of keywords or a series of characters that will be easy to remember. And easy to remember means a greater chance of visitors arriving at your website!
But what does a domain name look like visually?
If you’re having trouble imagining what a domain name might look like, that’s perfectly normal. But here’s a concrete example… 😉
A domain name is made up of different elements, namely a label and a TLD. However, other elements are needed to form a usable URL:
So, if we were to ask ourselves the following question: “Can a website be accessed without a domain name? The answer would obviously be… No!
To understand this, we could take the example of a postal address and its associated house, flat, etc… Without a postal address, it would be impossible to get to the property in question or to send mail there. Well, it’s the same thing for a website! No domain name (the address), no visitors! However, it should be noted that an address can always be accessed via its longitude and latitude, just as a website can be accessed via its IP address, even if you’ll agree that this is not very practical!
Premium domain name: definition
Now that we know what a standard domain name is, let’s take a look at the so-called “Premium” domain name. First of all, visually there will be no difference from a standard domain name. The Premium domain name will have the same structure as an ordinary domain name: it will also be made up of a label and a TLD.
What really qualifies it as Premium is the cost of registration, which is higher than usual. This is because Premium domain names are often highly searched terms by Internet users, giving them a high value compared with other domain names.
They therefore tend to be considered as high value-added digital assets, because of their high potential to attract a large number of visitors. This is the main reason why they are sometimes sold at much higher prices than standard domain names!
So when does a domain name become “Premium”?
The decision as to whether or not a domain name qualifies as Premium will not depend on just anyone… In fact, this choice is made by the registry in charge of managing a given TLD.
The identification of a Premium domain name is based on a number of criteria, such as the length of the domain name, its branding and SEO potential, and its relevance.
The UK Creative Ideas Limited registry, which manages the .art TLD, is responsible for choosing which domain names will be upgraded to Premium, remain Premium or be released at the “standard” level..
Why do Premium domain names exist?
Two different answers are possible here. One response from the registry side, and a second from the Premium domain name holder.
The Premium domain name from a registry point of view
The answer may disappoint you… but in the end it’s nothing more than a question of money! And yes, the fact that people are prepared to spend a lot more money for a Premium domain name is of course convenient for the registries… So they are able to generate much higher revenues with products that aren’t all that different!
The Premium domain name from a domain name holder point of view
Let’s go back to the example of our postal address seen earlier.
Let’s suppose that Internet is a very large city with a lot of houses. And those same houses would then be websites. We agree that each house in the city of the Internet has a postal address. Some of them will be more or less attractive depending on their location: if they are right in the city centre, or on the outskirts, for example. Addresses located on well-known streets or avenues (such as the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, for example) are more likely to be sought after by visitors: well, it’s much the same for domain names!
Premium domain names should be seen as those famous exceptional addresses: they tend to be shorter and therefore easier to remember, sometimes even containing attractive keywords! All these characteristics make a Premium domain name more valuable than any other, because it is likely to attract more Internet users. Here are some of the reasons why it can be very worthwhile to register a Premium domain name…
Ultimately, what adds value to a domain name is not the fact that it is Premium, but the fact that it is descriptive. And it’s because it’s descriptive that it often falls into the Premium category…
Let’s take the example of the domain name “life.sucks”. This is a Premium domain: it costs €1,000,000 excluding VAT to register the domain name, with renewal at €2,290 excluding VAT… Its strength lies in the millions of results found on Google (relating to series, films, books, etc.)!
What are the advantages of a Premium domain name?
A Premium domain name is relatively expensive compared with a standard domain name, and for good reason! Here are the various advantages of registering a Premium domain name:
- Avoid cybersquatting: When a domain name is very expensive to register, this can deter some ill-intentioned people from registering a brand name under a Premium domain name.
- Better remember the domain name: as Premium domain names tend to be shorter, they are often better remembered by Internet users.
- Stand out from the competition: registering a Premium domain name can be a good way of reducing confusion between a website and another competing website. This is because a Premium domain name is more memorable than a standard domain name, so Internet users are less likely to make a mistake.
- Better visibility: as mentioned above, a Premium domain name sometimes contains keywords that are highly sought-after by Internet users. When popular keywords are present in a Premium domain name, the domain name is likely to be better positioned in the results proposed by search engines.
Buy a Premium domain name
Methods of acquiring a Premium domain name
There are various ways of acquiring a Premium domain name:
- Registrars: this is the most common method of registering a domain name, whether Premium or not! Netim offers its customers a wide choice of domain names available for registration from over 1,200 TLDs.
Register my domain name with Netim!
- Directly with the registries: this second option is still very rare, because very often, once the order has been placed with the registry, you then have to go through a registrar again so that the registrar can manage the Premium domain name. This often happens in the case of an auction organised by the registry. So going direct to Netim is much quicker and more efficient 😉
- Via the secondary market: here again we could use our example of real estate. Certain domain names (“the properties”) are put up for sale by their holders (“the owners”), either because they are no longer of interest to them, or because they have been registered for speculative purposes. These investors, who may be naming agencies, marketing consultancies, private individuals, etc., come up with trends and bandable names with the ultimate aim of selling them on for a capital gain.
Domain names are very often put up for sale by their holders on platforms specialising in the secondary market, such as Sedo.
What Premium domain names are available for registration?
Finding out which Premium domain names are available for registration couldn’t be easier! Simply go to netim.com, run a domain name availability search and analyse the results of your search. Domains that have already been registered will be accompanied by the words “This domain is no longer available”, in which case you will not be able to register it. When a domain name is available for registration, you will know whether it is Premium if the word “Premium” appears.
Premium domain names may also be displayed as no longer available for registration when the registry itself does not wish to market them. This may be the case when terms are perceived as offensive by a government, for example.
Price of a Premium domain name
The price of a Premium domain name varies enormously from one TLD to another, as the registries set their own prices. These prices are often set by category. Each category generally called “Tier” will then have a higher price than the registration price of a standard domain name.
Premium domain name prices can vary from several dozen to several hundred or even several thousand euros!
A distinction must also be made between domain names that will “always” be Premium and other domain names that will only “temporarily” be Premium. Some domain names will always be Premium in the sense that the price of renewing the domain name will always be the same as the price of registering it, which was already high or even extremely high.
On the other hand, some Premium domain names will be more expensive than a standard domain name just at the registration stage, before returning to a standard renewal price.
Can I buy a cheap Premium domain name?
A Premium domain name is 99.99% more expensive than a standard domain name. It can be Premium and cost from €20 to €10,000, depending on the term and TLD.
However, it is possible to negotiate a Premium domain name when it is at a very high price and/or when it concerns a real project. The registry, via the registrar, may be able to agree to a discount in exchange for the use of its extension (and not just ask for a discount in order to resell it!).
