Some of the top Geopreneurs in the industry make their 2008 forecast. 

(via AssociatedCities.com)

Skip Hoagland: Atlanta.com, HiltonHead.com, BuenosAires.com

It will be all about local as well as being able to run your business like a real business moving forward rather than a site with links. Those days are over.

If you don’t and can’t operate a real business with a real local operation, it will be not only best for you but our entire industry to find someone who can. The good news by owning the city dot-com brand is you have several great options available.

You can sell the name outright, partner with local media or another company in this business under a 50/50 LLC or management agreement based on gross revenue (not net revenue) or lease your name under a long-term license agreement for a flat percentage of gross revenue.

For those of us who have fully developed sites that are primarily geared toward the tourist market, it will be very important to start adding local content to attract and grow your site’s traffic and use. There is so much generic public domain content available to all of us that many of us are simply not using.

All you have to do is look at what’s offered in your local newspaper, local city magazines, the Yellow Pages or on city government sites to see what you’re missing in many categories.

By simply adding this content and categories, you will increase your traffic overnight and create another area for advertising with little work needed to do this. If you have a fully developed site, having local salespeople is a must. Our company will focus on this much more in 2008.

I further predict that tourism city dot-coms and GeoDomains will outperform larger, non-tourism city dot-coms until there is a major shift and effort of those who own these larger city dot-coms and GeoDomains to compete head on with newspapers and other local media companies.

I also predict that at least one local salesperson or representative minimum will be required for each city dot-com owner. Operating remotely will not work well.

Further affiliate programs and linking to other sources will continue to do more harm than good to any brand. The future belongs to those who run real companies with lots of content and are not simply satisfied in taking the easy path.

David J. Castello: Castello Cities Internet Network, Nashville.com, PalmSprings.com

The GeoDomain Industry has never been healthier. I would rank it a solid 10 on a scale of one to 10.

The 2007 GeoDomain Expo was a watershed moment for our industry. It demonstrated not only the extent to which GeoDomains have impacted the domain name business, but also that GeoDomains are the rising stars of local and national media. It is now generally accepted that we own the only intuitive media brand for our cities that is instantly recognizable on a national and international level.

This year will be the wake-up call for traditional media such a local newspapers, radio and television to align themselves and partner with the branding power and non-stop revenue-generation capabilities uniquely inherent only in GeoDomains.

Sara Mannix: Mannix Marketing, Albany.com 

In 2007, our company saw a 31 percent increase in advertising on our GeoDomains. Like all in our industry, we expect greater increases for 2008. We have only reached the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the potential of this valuable real estate.

As both the advertiser becomes savvier in tracking their ROI and we as an industry better track both online and offline conversions through Web and call tracking, we will see significant funds being diverted from traditional media to Internet media.

When Internet media is compared and tracked, it will be very obvious to the advertiser that GeoDomains have the most relevant traffic for local search.

Furthermore, as Internet usage grows through the proliferation of mobile, GeoDomains will see an even greater surge in traffic as we develop mobile versions of our sites. The health of the GeoDomain industry is an 11 on a scale of one to 10.

Here are four more predictions on the lighter side:

1. GeoDomainer Jessica Bookstaff is discovered by Hollywood and becomes the surprise hit on the talk-show circuit with ratings surpassing Oprah. The show is syndicated on PigeonForge.com.
2. The Tribune’s Sam Zell makes the best move of his career and fulfills his promise to unite TV, Internet and news under one brand: Chicago.com. Chicago.com goes down as the highest price ever paid for a domain.
3. Castro dies, the trade embargo ends, capitalism flourishes in Cuba and Cuba.com makes Skip Hoagland the fifth-richest man in the world.
4. Al Gore’s predictions come true and global warming brings New York City under water. Anticipating this, Sean Miller already sells NYC.com and buys Yonkers.com.

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