There are essentially five domain investment strategies that work better than most others. This is not information most people would be willing to share, but I thought I’d let it out there – if it helps one person register better domains, all the better.
Investment Strategy # 1: Geo Domains
City names, state names, country names in any tld are called Geo domains. Such names might be tough to monetize without development, but resale values are usually substantial and most extensions will get traffic and thus revenues. Generally locations with population greater than 100,000 are considered worthy of owning, but high value niche locations can be just as lucrative.
These domains are tough to hand register, but you can pick up drops here and there and when new TLDs are introduced these are the first to get sold out, specially if its a ccTLD or a TLD that matches the geo location.
I’ll give a few examples of core geo domains – NewYork.com, NewDelhi.com or even Mumbai.in would be core geo domains.
Second rung geo domains are of the type CityState.tld or CityCountry.tld or even CityStateabbreviation.tld – such domains are best restricted to the top 3 gtlds – .com / .net / .org or their local ccTLDs; Examples of such names would be MumbaiIndia.com or MumbaiMH.com;
Valuations of such domains are tough to ascertain and thus extreme care should be taken to ensure that you do not overpay for such domains as traffic is usually extremely restricted to these.
The third rung of Geo domains are what are known as Keyword Geo domains.These only make sense for extremely high population areas like Capital cities and Major Metros. Again, these are best in .com / .net / .org or geo matching tlds.
A lot of these are still available and in some locations end users love them as it allows them to get to the top of the SEO heap pretty easily. I’ve seen quite a few end user and bulk sales of these type of domains to brick and mortar companies or professionals who get the whole PPC game.
Examples of Geo Keyword domains are AttorneySeattle.com or DoctorsLondon.com or CarDealerNewYork.com or MumbaiMart.com and ChaloIndia.com – which are the first domains I ever registered back in 1998. They are still developed sites though due for a makeover soon.
Even developed, these are tough to monetize, though the amount of local goodwill one can gather from these is tremendous and this creates a good amount of leads for other related service offerings.
I will say here that my Geo Domain holdings are extremely minute and only represent less than 1% of my domain portfolio and are only limited to my own Geo location and sphere of work.
To learn more about Geo Domains please visit:
http://simplygeo.com
http://www.elliotsblog.com
http://domainnamewire.com
http://brucemarler.com/
http://www.conceptualist.com
http://www.domainnews.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geodomain
http://www.geodomains.com.au
Always nice to see expeirienced domainers sharing knowledge. It would do well for many a new member to take alittle time to read this and be more selective in registrations.
Regards
Thanks Michelle, I plan to make this a five part series, but only if there is any interest. :p
Nice post, good to know people are still willing to share a few secrets, just as long as you don’t share your dark secrets with us
I don’t have dark secrets. Think you’re mistaking me for someone else, lol.
Geo names are always nice to have in any extension. You could always develop them to get traffic, then pitch Ad space out to local businesses in the region. Quick way to turn a buck.
True Daniel, though convincing local business is not as easy as you’d like it to be. Worthwhile though as I’ve said.
Great info, Geo domains, especially the third tier you mention, can be easily developed and many businesses love the fact they can advertise on their Geo/Keyword domain and for resell they typically understand the value of owning that as well.
Good stuff.
Thanks Bruce,
I know you’re really into Geo Domains and am glad you concur with my views.
Cheers!
Great information! I look part to reading the rest of this series!
Since I am a Canadian and into domains, your article gives me something to think about..and research!
Sure would love to read more of your postings!
(briguy @namepros)
What a great read!
Gave me a better understanding of the how/why of Geo’s.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Dear Samit,
Great Read,
Awaiting for Next one.
Kedaar
This has really helped me understand geo names a lot more, cant wait for the other parts! I am going to use this content and put it to good use!
hi, this is great article on your blog, I continue on seeking in investments, and do not leave to remain sharp in looking at opportunities.
Totally agree with Bruce’s comment – second and third tier geo domain extensions can be developed into lucrative sites, but they have to be good.
Smallish geo sites on secondary extensions don’t do much – they need to become authority sites about their local area.
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