Finding the Right Web3 Domain & Username

In the decentralized world, wallets and domain addresses are your unique identifiers.

With a .eth name, you can carry over your identity from one dApp to another seamlessly. You can send/receive crypto without worrying about incorrect addresses (as long as your wallet is connected to the unique ENS domain address). All of this is possible because of ENS smart contracts that automate the entire process and ease the burden of users to process transactions. (why use complicated 64 characters, when you can use a fun, memorable, and unique nickname)

While I highly recommend everyone to own their name on the blockchain. For avid investors, ENS domain names provide a fantastic buying opportunity. This is something that’s truly not accessible in the web2 world where the majority of the names have been owned and held by a smaller percentage.

ENS domain names provide a great starting point for those looking to build up a portfolio that can help them attain their own financial goals. Before we dive in, let’s remember this isn’t financial advice.

Here are a few pointers on finding your own niche when it comes to decentralized domains in the web3 world.

Understanding Trends

Seriously, if your favorite CT influencer is talking about how 🇬🇧999.eth will be the next big thing. Be wary. While there are plenty of ways to define your own niche in the web3 domain world. It’s never useful to blindly follow a trend that’s showing up in your Twitter timeline. Take your time, understand “WHY is this useful”, and run comparisons with Google trends and search metrics. If everything points in the right direction, mint your ENS domain name and keep a close eye on the floor prices. You never want to be someone else’s exit liquidity.

Establish a Niche

We all have hobbies, interests, or areas we’re much more familiar with and this is a great starting point in establishing a niche.

Are you a big LOTR buff? Great, let’s see if you can find some key names that match up with characters, cities, and realms. Are you a sports fan? Neat, let’s look at local, state-wide or international teams.

The idea is to be able to find names that can be relatable to fans, and businesses and provide clear use-cases for subdomains. As you go about and find your niche, it’s important to always ensure that you’re looking out for a possible use-case. After all, carinsurance.eth has utility but insuranceformycar.eth does not have value for a business.

Memorable Names

While finding ideal domain names to mint or purchase. You should take a look at short, descriptive, memorable names. When you take a look at web2 domains, there are a lot of memorable names that can be created with different TLDs in the running. However, with .eth there’s a finite number of possibilities. If you take a look at ENS.Vision, you’ll find a lot of great categories of memorable names and domain addresses (numerals, letters, characters).

Geography

This is a no-brainer, names of countries, cities, localities, street names, landmarks, and tourist destinations are great domain names. While countries and major cities may be already owned by others, there are still a lot of great domain names to explore and find the right one to suit your investing style.

Use-Cases

Let’s take a quick recap. We already know brand names, 3 letters, digits, etc., are all the rage because of their unique use-cases and subdomain potential. But what about words that open up more utility for the future? Fintechbank.eth, BusinessMeeting.eth, Loan.eth are all examples of great names with massive sub-domain potential. It’s crucial to understand this application and envision what could be the future use for a particular product or even an industry.

In a decentralized world, we’re looking at massive adoption for ENS domain names. A wider audience in the future makes the current landscape even more crucial when it comes to domain names and their value for businesses, users and investors.

Long-term

When you’re in the world of domains, you’ve gotta think long-term. You cannot be swayed by the first offer or hope to make it in one go. It takes time, perseverance, and a lot of mental fortitude to power through. One of the ways to be cost-effective in this long-game is to ensure that you mint your .eth address for two years or more. This way you’ll save up on renewal fees, and gas fees and possibly not miss the renewal timing for your domain names.

Localization

While English words, numbers, and characters are great to create. You shouldn’t overlook the power of different languages, Spanish, Hindi, Arabic, and Korean are among the many different languages which can unlock an even wider world for domain names. If you’re a native speaker, you already have an edge over others who will be using translators to get the job done for their domain names.

While this isn’t an exhaustive guide, this is a good starting point for understanding the different niches that are present in the world of domain names. It’s important to do your own research by understanding search metrics, trends, community, use-cases, and overall reason for “what makes this name valuable”.

Be Mindful

Lastly, the most important takeaway, be mindful of your purchases, don’t be someone else’s exit liquidity.