Geo Domains HQ

[cdnbigd]

Just thought I'd create a thread where we can all talk openly about Geo (Service) Domains. Seems like a hot topic which I've been discussing quite often now.

Let's get together and chat geo domains.

Advice, Questions, Statistics, Recent Sales, Venting Frustration, etc..

 

[headsupp]

This thread is a great idea, so thanks for starting it

I really like real estate geo domains but have not been able to sell any through outbound sales. I’m wondering if anyone here considers real estate geo domains easier or more difficult to sell via outbound sales relative to other niches. What about law / legal geo domains? For some reason I imagine people in the legal profession being less receptive to unsolicited domain offers, does anyone have experience with this?

I bet the new gtlds are hurting effectived niches such as Real Estate and Lawyers. You can now register. .realty .realtor .house .law .lawyer .attorney and who knows what. Why would these companies want to fork out a good amount of money for a .com if they have the freedom of choice of buying their domain of their choosing. .com are simply good for the type in traffic that the few selective premium ones offer.

I am pretty sure to see a steep decrease in more than 2 word .com demand for where a new gtld exists. I let my 3 word geo lawyer domains drop do to this.

 

[aramyus]

I bet the new gtlds are hurting effectived niches such as Real Estate and Lawyers. You can now register. .realty .realtor .house .law .lawyer .attorney and who knows what. Why would these companies want to fork out a good amount of money for a .com if they have the freedom of choice of buying their domain of their choosing. .com are simply good for the type in traffic that the few selective premium ones offer.

I am pretty sure to see a steep decrease in more than 2 word .com demand for where a new gtld exists. I let my 3 word geo lawyer domains drop do to this.

I am not too sure vanity is the main driver for a business to acquire a domain. I think there is still the perception that an emd domain will bring traffic and leads which is what they are really interested. Also, some businesses acquire domains to avoid their competitor to take it, or sometimes to 'steal' their competitor's traffic.

Else, it'd be simpler for them to register something like SmithLaw, JHSmith or any brandable domain associated with their name.

 

[cdnbigd]

I bet the new gtlds are hurting effectived niches such as Real Estate and Lawyers. You can now register. .realty .realtor .house .law .lawyer .attorney and who knows what. Why would these companies want to fork out a good amount of money for a .com if they have the freedom of choice of buying their domain of their choosing. .com are simply good for the type in traffic that the few selective premium ones offer.

I am pretty sure to see a steep decrease in more than 2 word .com demand for where a new gtld exists. I let my 3 word geo lawyer domains drop do to this.

You're right with regards to type in traffic. If someone hears via word of mouth about this great company/website called TorontoRealtors, you can be sure when they get home or when they think of it next, they will assume it's TorontoRealtors.com and type that in. I know I do this as do my family and friends.

When someone sees an ad or hears about a website, most of the time they will just remember the keywords so this is how the new gtlds are losing to .com. Also, it's still far too early in the game for the general public to even know other domain extensions exist.

Google has said they favor .com, .net and .org over any others still and the search results you see usually reflect this. In this regard, .com is still far better for online marketing and ranking purposes than any gtld IMO.

When you have a .com such as TorontoRealtors.com, the public just automatically assumes you are THE Authority on the subject within that geographical area.

I'd still go with .com over anything else for the simple reasons of: SEO, Type-in Traffic & Public Perception.

 

[WebInvestments]

Why would these companies want to fork out a good amount of money for a .com if they have the freedom of choice of buying their domain of their choosing.

End user will continue to choose .com and spend $xxx simply because:
1. .com is the King
2. .com is more popular than any new gTLD so far, and the majority of gTLDs aren't even known to end users yet
3. .com is the King (oh, I said that already, lol).

 

[headsupp]

End user will continue to choose .com and spend $xxx simply because:
1. .com is the King
2. .com is more popular than any new gTLD so far, and the majority of gTLDs aren't even known to end users yet
3. .com is the King (oh, I said that already, lol).

Same ol' story. .com is King. .com will Only, and let me rephase, Only stay king for mostly one word / short domains. This is evolution. You telling me, you work in the domain industry and you think things will not evolve?

Yes, it will take time.

Let me ask you this. Are you telling me that Real Estate Domains and Lawyer .com domains in general are not and will not loose out to the new gtlds in the years to come????

 

[WebInvestments]

Same ol' story. .com is King. .com will Only, and let me rephase, Only stay king for mostly one word / short domains. This is evolution. You telling me, you work in the domain industry and you think things will not evolve?

Yes, it will take time.

Let me ask you this. Are you telling me that Real Estate Domains and Lawyer .com domains in general are not and will not loose out to the new gtlds in the years to come????

Yes, there will be action in the new gTLDs but like you said, it will take time, huge time before general users get to know (and trust) the new gTLDs. And No, .com will not loose out to the new gTLDs because .com has a history and present with a proven success and trust (among general users).

Yes, there will be a demand and supply thingy (as we often see), when businesses would settle for a substitute domain extension just because they can not afford the .com extension. But in the end, even startup companies who had launched their businesses with .io or any other domain extension would later prefer to acquire their business domain in .com. And do you know why my friend, because there's more authority in .com.

Apart from that, what I can tell is that .com will be the premier choice for the majority of businesses in the coming years. gTLDs does have a charm of their own, but there's little to that side, at least for couple of years to go.

 

[Topvalue]

Ok. This thread I have been searching for everywhere, finally found! Awesome idea.

My Question
How do I get emails of end-users ??

 

[New2Domaining]

If I owned an existing real estate company in Miami and had the choice to own MiamiRealEstate.com or Miami.RealEstate (and the prices were the same) I would choose MiamiRealEstate.com without hesitation for all the reasons other people have stated. However if MiamiRealEstate.com cost $50,000 and Miami.RealEstate cost $10,000 - $15,000, Miami.RealEstate might be the better (only) option, depending on my budget.


The new gTLDs may or may not become well-known and popular among general consumers but .com is popular and well-known right now. Even if the new gTLDs really take off and are wildly successful I don’t think that will make all (good) .com domains worthless. If more people choose to use the new gtlds that will decrease the value of some .coms a bit but there should be room for any solid domain whether it’s a .com or a new gtld.


The domain pioneers who invest in the new gtlds early will reap rewards if they really take off but domainers who are currently able to flip geo domains for $XX - $X,XXX should still be able to do so at least for the foreseeable future. I don’t think many domainers who hand register or buy low cost geo domains to flip are thinking of them as long-term investments.

 

[WebInvestments]

Ok. This thread I have been searching for everywhere, finally found! Awesome idea.

My Question
How do I get emails of end-users ??

Two ways I currently use:

1. Google Search

Step 1. Search your Geo domain Place + Service/Product in Google (example, if you own SeattlePlumber.com then Google search <Seattle Plumber> without <> of course). Gather companies from organic listings and paid ads (as highlighted on the top and right-side of Google search results). REMEMBER, only collect companies that are relevant to your offered domain, do not collect plumbing blogs, article sites, and etc. as they may not be your target buyers.

Step 2: Create an Excel Sheet and make 4 columns: S. No., Domain Name, Emails, Contact Person Name.

Step 3: Use who.godaddy.com to collect site owners/admin emails and note them down in the Excel Sheet.

Step 4: Use Whoisology.com to search the buyers' domains and to see what other similar domains they own. This will give you a precise idea how potential a buyer is and whether they are Internet savvy when it comes to websites and domains.

2. ZFBot.com

Step 1: Search your domain keywords in ZFBot.com and see how many relevant domains are registered.

Step 2: Check whois info and note down emails of only those domains that are either parked with Godaddy parking page (new registrations) or are relevant sites matching your domain name. Do not send emails to domains that are parked on marketplaces like Sedo/Afternic etc. as most probably such domains belong to domainers, like you, lol.

Hope it was helpful.

 

[cdnbigd]

Great write up @WebInvestments. I'll have to try ZFBot.com next time. It would be great to find a tool which would pull up all of the sites on the top 10 google pages for a certain search term along with their contact email address. Has anyone found a tool like this yet?

I'm a bit old skool it seems. I just go through all the Local Search Results, then go through the results in the top 10 organic pages and finally the advertisers by looking at spyfu.com

Sometimes it does take a lot of work to find an actual email address and contact name (IF you can even find a name)

 

[headsupp]

Yes, there will be action in the new gTLDs but like you said, it will take time, huge time before general users get to know (and trust) the new gTLDs. And No, .com will not loose out to the new gTLDs because .com has a history and present with a proven success and trust (among general users).

Yes, there will be a demand and supply thingy (as we often see), when businesses would settle for a substitute domain extension just because they can not afford the .com extension. But in the end, even startup companies who had launched their businesses with .io or any other domain extension would later prefer to acquire their business domain in .com. And do you know why my friend, because there's more authority in .com.

Apart from that, what I can tell is that .com will be the premier choice for the majority of businesses in the coming years. gTLDs does have a charm of their own, but there's little to that side, at least for couple of years to go.

When people bought the .com's in 1997, did they hit it big right away? No. No Marketplace.

.com was King since it was a Top Level Domain for many years with everything else being supar to it, not including the country codes. Now these new gtlds are a huge improvement compared to these subpar tld such as .net .info. org since they offer these business with a simpler / shorter URL that they can market with.

History? You can compare these new gtld's to the those supar extensions such as .net. Of course they seemed second hand. However the new gtlds are a whole new breed.

www.Stockphoto.com
www.Stockphoto.net
www.Stock.photo

The market wants short, precise website addresses. Like Frank Schiling stated, there will come a time where www.stock.photo will be more sought out of and maybe even worth more than www.stockphoto.com

I will take his word and opinion over yours anytime. If a company insist to have their name be "Stock Photo" the new gtlds will be the next in line if the .com is already taken or someone wants millions of dollars for it. The new gtlds will place pressure on the inflated prices the .com have.

 

[JB Lions]

The market wants short, precise website addresses. Like Frank Schiling stated, there will come a time where www.stock.photo will be more sought out of and maybe even worth more than www.stockphoto.com

Why are people so gullible all the time. You do realize Frank is selling new gtlds? I also saw some of this other recommendations on blogs, some crappy .sexys that were available in .com for hand reg. That anyone brings up what a registry/registrar/whoever opinion on new gtlds, when they make money selling new gtlds, is ridiculous. It's pretty obvious what they're going to say.

 

[WebInvestments]

The market wants short, precise website addresses. Like Frank Schiling stated, there will come a time where www.stock.photo will be more sought out of and maybe even worth more than www.stockphoto.com

I will take his word and opinion over yours anytime. If a company insist to have their name be "Stock Photo" the new gtlds will be the next in line if the .com is already taken or someone wants millions of dollars for it. The new gtlds will place pressure on the inflated prices the .com have.

Exactly, but we both agree that there's a huge time factor involved till the new gTLDs becomes popular enough so that they can be businesses' primary choice, other than .com.

About Frank's words on the new gTLDs gaining popularity, I am sure it reflects his commercial interest (after all he's the guy behind Uniregistry.com - new gTLDs domain registrar).

I'll take Rick Schwartz's words and opinion over yours anytime, that new gTLDs have no future (I'm rephrasing but I remember I have read about it in couple of blogs/forums).

 

[artstar]

Great thread!

Well I'm into .Miami now just because its available to anyone anywhere no it like dot nyc for example.

I like the fact its a geo related gtld and so new as well.

I was concerned about using the word city Miami on the left as its redundant when used along with the .Miami ext.

However ive restricted my use of the city name to only 3 domains you can see in my signature.

The one real estate Geo I had to reg is :

MiamiProperty.Miami

Even tho it is repetitive it made sense to reg anyhow.

So what is your thoughts on Geo gtld extensions like .Miami and would you registerr domains with the word Miami and a keryword included left of the dot or not?

 

[JB Lions]

So what is your thoughts on Geo gtld extensions like .Miami and would you registerr domains with the word Miami and a keryword included left of the dot or not?

It's redundant. Don't think you'll see many/if any sales like that. If it was miami.property, it would have a better chance.

 

[artstar]

It's redundant. Don't think you'll see many/if any sales like that. If it was miami.property, it would have a better chance.

I figured u would say that but we will see as its not a bad domain redundant yes bad no.

By the way if Miami.property was available would u buy it? I dont think so as its not a com!

Better chance at selling u mean? Better chance at traffic?

Have no chance to sell?

U don't think ???

Well your opinion is noted , hope to prove it wrong tho!

 

[NetworkPearl]

Atm i'd suggest focusing on . Coms unless you're able to acquire a perfect gtld domain like Houston.RealState for a small pric else it's not worth as the prices for such Gtlds is too high.

 

[Branded Domains]

some llll.net geo-hq domains are still there
I just register aeHQ.net after your post:P
most of the HQ domains are gone like UKHQ.net USHQ.net CaHQ.net INHQ.net etc
geo-HD .net domains are also gone

 

[NetworkPearl]

some llll.net geo-hq domains are still there
I just register aeHQ.net after your post:P
most of the HQ domains are gone like UKHQ.net USHQ.net CaHQ.net INHQ.net etc
geo-HD .net domains are also gone

Hello, I think you're confused , we're discussing about Geo domain and HQ was meanr to represent this thread as the main place of discussion related to geo domains.

 

[headsupp]

I'll take Rick Schwartz's words and opinion over yours anytime, that new gTLDs have no future (I'm rephrasing but I remember I have read about it in couple of blogs/forums).

Than why did he register a bunch of new gtlds about 3-4 months ago?

 

[azanmi]

So I've been building out CaribbeanIslands.org. There are 40mil full time residents, millions more in visitors each year so there is an incredible amount of tourism ad potential I think. I am just beginning by discussing the Island groups with custom articles. We are seeing some good traffic already but it will amp up as the content grows. Not sure which way to go on monetization for this site though. I previously co-owned visitUSA.com so the I'm familiar with the big travel affiliate groups but I was hoping maybe to pursue direct relationships and sponsorships this time around using DFP to manage campaigns.

Thoughts?

 

[WebInvestments]

Than why did he register a bunch of new gtlds about 3-4 months ago?

Most probably for the secondary market, where buyers can't afford to pay for .com domains.

Just my 2cents though.

 

[headsupp]

Here is mine. Just a few that i copied from Rick. There are many more. I don't see a pattern. You let me know if you see one.

 

[WebInvestments]

@headsupp thought this would be a good read for you. Read Rick's "comments" about the new gTLDs he has bought and why.

http://www.thedomains.com/2014/05/3...tz-now-owns-more-new-gtlds-domains-than-i-do/

 

[Domain Lead Finder]

If you want to make more geo+location sales you should put up a website template, not the usual "buy now" page. Most normal people do not know what to do with a domain name. Its like I was to offer one of you guys a truck full of industrial pellets. Domain+custom website gets me more sales than just domains. I throw a wider net. Regardless of whether the buyers needs a website (he may already have one) when you offer a complete package you will interest more people or "Throw a wider net" as I already said :D

My time is my money and I do not mind closing more sales and doing the extra work on the website, compared to doing less work and less sales. After the sale I offer them SEO and Adwords promotion. The SEO work I delegate to somebody else. I do the webdesign myself and the Adwords.

Just my approach to geo+location. I do not have a particular sales strategy in picking up what town + what profession or service. Its pure luck what sells IMO.