Short Domain Name Buyers Guide.
Overview, Definitions, Terminology, & Classifications:
There is something about a short domain name, especially four letter dot coms, that makes them such attractive brands.
There is a very limited supply & only a small % of the (less than 500k) letter combinations are truly useful – in terms of a Brand. With years of searching out details, deals, & insider “investing” tips we have built out a 4l portfolio & happy to share some of what we learned.
We found this amazingly detailed guide on 4letternoob, it’s an older post but amazingly detailed with 99% accuracy, still to date. So, after a quick run through, check up, & clean up, here it is.
4L.com & Short Domain Name Guide
Note the definitions as they will be referenced below.
- C = Character: When seen in a domain name listing, the number of C’s refers to the number of characters in a domain name. In the domain name industry, the term Character refers to either a Letter of the
English alphabet (A-Z) or a Number (0-9). A domain with many characters may have both many letters and many numbers.
- L = Letter: When seen is a domain name listing, the number of L’s refers to the number of letters in a domain name.
- N = Number: When seen in a domain name listing, the number of N’s refers to the number of numbers in a domain name.
Premium Short Domain Name: LLLL.com or Four Letter Names.
A premium domain name is a domain name composed exclusively of letters: A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,L,M,N,O,P,R,S,T.
One major update, going into the end of 2019, that needs to be considered & I would propose is; that the V (in term of domain weight) needs to be adjusted, to account for the (extreme) rise in Virtual and Virtual Reality (VR & V+ to indicate Virtual).
These letters are referred to as “premium letters”. A premium LLLL.com is, in other words, an LLLL.com devoid of the letters: J,K,Q,U,V,W,X,Y,Z. These letters are commonly referred to as non-premium letters. The letters J,K,U,V,W,Y are considered by most domain investors to be of higher quality than the letters Q,X,Z. The letters: J,K,U,V,W,Y are commonly referred to as “semi-premium” letters, whereas Q,X,Z are referred to as “bad letters”. These terms are used strictly in a reseller setting and currently hold the largest weight in the 3 and 4 letter markets. More information on premium letters and premium domains will be provided in the 4 letter (LLLL) .com section which is included below.
As a general rule, Characters can be represented by Letters or Numbers. A 3 letter .com (LLL.com) is also considered a 3 Character .com (CCC.com). Likewise, a 2 number .com (NN.com) is also considered a 2 Character .com. Because LLL.coms and NNN.coms are so popular.
2 Character Domain Name
- LL = 2 Letter .com: Two Letters from A-Z. They may be the same letter or different letters. Examples include: AA.com, BC.com, DJ.com, MX.com, YQ.com.
- LN = Letter-Number .com: One Letter from A-Z followed by One Number from 0-9. Examples include: A1.com, B9.com, X2.com, Y5.com.
- NL = Number-Letter .com: One Number from 0-9 followed by One Letter from A-Z. Examples include: 1A.com, 9B.com, 2X.com, 5Y.com. Notice the difference in letter-number placement between an LN.com and an NL.com.
- NN = 2 Number .com: Two Numbers from 0-9. They may be the same or different numbers. Examples include 11.com, 21.com, 47.com, 90.com.
3 Character Domain Name
- LLL = 3 Letter .com: Contains 3 Letters from A-Z. Examples include: AAB.com, ABC.com, JHD.com, OOO.com.
- LLN = Letter-Letter-Number .com: Two Letters from A-Z followed by One Number from 0-9. Examples include: JH7.com, KL4.com, MM8.com, ZX2.com.
- LNL = Letter-Number-Letter .com: One Letter from A-Z followed by One Number from 0-9, which is followed by One Letter from A-Z. Examples include: B2B.com, G4S.com, B3G.com, Y2K.com.
- LNN =Letter-Number-Number .com: One Letter from A-Z followed by Two Numbers from 0-9. Examples include: C93.com, D22.com, B16.com, W40.com.
- NLL =Number-Letter-Letter .com: One Number from 0-9 followed by Two Letters from A-Z. Examples include: 4DD.com, 3NT.com, 7WJ.com, 9QS.com.
- NLN = Number-Letter-Number .com: One Number from 0-9 followed by One Letter from A-Z, which is followed by One Number from 0-9. Examples include: 2D4.com, 5Y7.com, 6R1.com, 3F2.com.
- NNL = Number-Number-Letter .com: Two Numbers from 0-9 followed by One Letter from A-Z. Examples include: 40A.com 66V.com, 75J.com, 91R.com.
- NNN = 3 Number .com: Contains 3 Numbers from 0-9. Examples include: 123.com, 300.com, 444.com, 747.com. 4 Characters
- LLLL = 4 Letter .com: Contains 4 Letters from A-Z. Below we define different types of 4 Letter .coms.
Anti-Premium Domain Name:
A domain name that contains only non-premium letters. An anti-premium domain is a domain which is composed strictly of letters: J,K,Q,U,V,W,X,Y,Z.
(as noted above) One major update, in 2019, that needs to be recognized is V. The Letter V (in term of domain weight) needs to be adjusted up, to account for the (extreme) rise in Virtual and Virtual Reality (VR & V+ to indicate Virtual).”
The term Anti-Premium is most commonly applied to 4 Letter .coms, however it also makes a good adjective to describe the 3 letter short domain name selling near min wholesale as well. Examples of Anti-Premium LLL.coms include: YXZ.com, VKQ.com, XZW.com, QKU.com. Examples of Anti-Premium LLLL.coms include: WKQU.com, XYQZ.com, YQUW.com, KQJV.com.
Premium Short Domain Name:
- Single Premium: We use this term to refer LLLL.coms containing only one premium letter. Examples of Single Premium LLLL.coms include: JHXZ.com, UQTX.com, WQUE.com, EUWJ.com.
- Double Premium: We use this term to refer to LLLL.coms containing two premium letters. Examples of Double Premium LLLL.coms include: ASWQ.com, BJKT.com, WVMG.com, HWRZ.com.
- Triple Premium: We use this term to refer to LLLL.coms containing three premium letters. Examples of Triple Premium LLLL.coms include: ASDX.com, POSW.com, NWOO.com, XEEB.com. LLL.coms containing three premium letters are commonly referred to as “Premium LLL.coms”. Examples include: SAS.com, RTN.com, NPG.com, RSS.com.
- Quad Premium: We use this term to refer to LLLL.coms containing four premium letters. Examples of Quad Premium LLLL.coms include: AAAL.com, FFLE.com, MNGO.com, GHPR.com.
Name Types:
- CVCV: A 4 letter .com domain name which follows a Consonant-Vowel-Consonant-Vowel letter pattern. CVCVs are generally extremely pronounceable and are among the most valuable LLLL.coms. Examples include: MELO.com, MOFO.com, ZENE.com, LUMI.com. Many CVCVs are actual words in English or in another language and that partly contributes to their high valuations, on top of their immense brandability and obvious enduser potential.
- CVVC : A 4 letter .com domain name which follows a Consonant-Vowel-Vowel-Consonant letter pattern. Examples include: NOOL.com, ROOX.com, BEER.com, MOOT.com.
- VCCV : A 4 letter .com domain name which follows a Vowel-Consonant-Consonant-Vowel letter pattern. Examples include: ADDA.com, ELLO.com, INGE.com, UGFO.com
- VCVC : A 4 letter .com domain name which follows a Vowel-Consonant-Vowel-Consonant letter pattern. VCVCs are often among the most pronounceable and desirable LLLL.coms, right up there with CVCVs. Examples include: OPAL.com, ONEX.com, ILEC.com, UQEN.com.
Rare Short Names:
- AABB : A 4 letter .com domain which contains only 2 different letters, where “A” and “B” symbolically represent two different letters from A-Z. Examples include: CCDD.com, DDJJ.com, MMXX.com, ZZGG.com.
- ABAB : A 4 letter .com domain name which contains only 2 different letters, where “A” and “B” symbolically represent two different letters from A-Z. Examples include: CDCD.com, DJDJ.com, MXMX.com, ZGZG.com.
- Palindromes : A 4 letter .com domain name which contains only 2 different letters from A-Z. Examples include: CDDC.com, DJJD.com, MXXM.com, ZGGZ.com. Palindromes are commonly referred to ABBA-type LLLL.coms.
- Triple Letter : An LLLL.com containing three of the same letter. These are sometimes referred to as Triple letter repeats in the case it is of an AAAB or BAAA letter pattern. Examples include: SSSJ.com, SWWW.com, HHGH.com, IJII.com. Notice how each of these examples showcases the Triple Letter LLLL.com differently. These are all considered Triple Letter LLLL.coms.
- VVVV : A 4 letter .com domain name which contains four vowels. Examples include: AEIO.com, EUOU.com, IOUI.com, EAUU.com.
5L.coms Domain Names (five letter):
- CVCCV : A 5 letter .com domain name which follows a Consonant-Vowel-Consonant-Consonant-Vowel letter pattern. CVCCVs are among the most popular 5L.com domains which are registered and resold today. Examples include: RORRE.com, FOGGE.com, ZINNE.com, VISTA.com.
- CVCVC : A 5 letter .com domain name which follows a Consonant-Vowel-Consonant-Vowel-Consonant letter pattern. CVCVCs are essentially CVCVs with an additional consonant at the end. Examples include: FALES.com, FIRAL.com, SAGEP.com, LINUX.com.
- CVCVV : A 5 letter .com domain name which follows a Consonant-Vowel-Consonant-Vowel-Vowel letter pattern. CVCVVs are essentially CVCVs with an additional vowel at the end. Examples include: RAGOO.com, PARIA.com, MELOO.com, MONEE.com.
- CVVCV : A 5 letter .com domain name which follows a Consonant-Vowel-Vowel-Consonant-Vowel letter pattern. CVVCVs are CVCVs with an additional vowel included before the second consonant. Examples: ZOOME.com, ROOMI.com, PIECO.com, MOOLA.com.
- VCVCV : A 5 letter .com domain name which follows a Vowel-Consonant-Vowel-Consonant-Vowel letter pattern. VCVCVs are essential VCVCs with an additional vowel at the end. Examples include: ATOMO.com, EFOTO.com, ISAMI.com, OSIRA.com.
The original guide posted on 4letternoob , it is such a detailed guide (& although not an active site) wanted to give credit & thanks.
We have a portfolio of (over) 50 four letter (4LLLL.coms) available, check then out here: Short Domain Name Portfolio.
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