Geodomains were the talk of 2008 in the domain world. Personally, I still hold them in high regard in comparison to different sectors within the premium generic domain industry. Beyond just the generic type-in traffic these domains receive, they also contain a very clear business plan that comes with ownership. Directory listings, hotel/travel/activity bookings, and advertising on the back of informative content are the staples to most geodomain business revenue. We are in the process of monetizing Lahaina.com through these exact, basic, procedures.
Growth at Risk
While geodomains are being developed on the back of potential growth and future earnings, there is definite risk within the industry. The newspaper industry is collapsing and others are organizing quickly to replace them. The number of local and travel sites with information dedicated to geodomain cities are growing rapidly. Plus, technology advanced aggregators such as Google and Microsoft are going local and technology itself is a threat to the standard geodomain dot-com.
The newspaper industry has been touched upon previously (“The Newspaper Game“), but within the outcome of that situation is an embedded risk of a governmental bailout of the industry. Not only do I think the chances of that happening are growing rapidly every day, but the governments actions recently could extend to even greater ownership and contract legal risk to geodomain owners. In fact, I think there is a growing chance that within or post a newspaper bailout, geodomains could be “nationalized” for the “greater good” and given to the newspapers. This is obviously a bit extreme, but one cannot deny the potential given the recent growth of the US governments reach.
The last risk that geodomains face is their own internal lack of aggresive growth. I think there is a risk to geodomains surviving without generating their own natural sources of traffic. Currently many survive on the default traffic they receive from their inherited brand (Lahaina.com included). Window-shopping customers walking in the front door of a prime real estate business location will only get a business so far. Eventually, the business must convert that customer into a sale.
Geodomains 2.0
The next push by geodomains must be aggressive if they are not to be squeezed out. Static sites need to become dynamic and stale business plans need to be revised.
Changes need to be made in how geodomain sites approach and interact with the users. We are beyond establishing a presence. The domain and a basic site have conquered that stage. Next, geodomains must become both a real-time resource and a peer to the community. As every site (or musician) ever to be Dugg or Tweet-stormed knows, it is fans support and interaction that give a site that boost out of “the dip”. I am not just talking about Facebook and Twitter, but forums and blogs, news and opinions, and community events.
The industry is on course for this to happen. The reorganization of the Associated Geo’s group is a great start and a productive San Diego Expo will provide both the knowledge and inspiration for owners to innovate and reorganize. It is now up to the geodomain owners to leverage this opportunity and run with it. If I have known a group of people with the dedication and risk appetite to do so, the current geodomain owners and leaders are indeed that group.
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I think it’s important for the developer of the geodomain reside in or at least near the town.
I live in RI, so should I expect to develop Tempe.com (example) into a top notch geodomain all while living 3,000 miles away? I don’t think so.
Definitely agree with Bob. I have some geo development on a tight hold till I can actually visit these places and get an idea of what I want done with them.
A cultural connection, IMO, is extremely important in creating the brand of a geodomain. Developing a minisite for a geo is “fine”, but these, IMO, are priceless given that there is always a “pride” connection with ones geolocation.
Great post.
There is no question that a local person should, at least theoretically, be better able to develop a geo domain than someone living thousands of miles away. That was the exact reason the FCC use to encourage and give preference to applicants in comparative hearings to local ownership of broadcast stations. That, as we all know, went out with nickle cokes. Ain’t no more folks. I know as I owned both radio and television licenses for years. Now we can all listen to canned music controlled from the bird to local transmitters all over America. Same crap in every city in America.