There is no doubt the geo domain industry has become red hot in 2008. Already, we have seen a variety of geo domains come to auction and on the after market, with most selling for top dollar. However, there are a variety of geo domains that were listed on auction since January that did not sell.

This is not stopping the owners of America.com and Israel.com from listing their geo domains on auction. These are two amazing and valuable geo domains that have already turned heads. Both have been registered since 1994!

Here is the break down:

America.com will be auctioned from 22-28 May (though the press release states 18-22 May) on Greatdomains.com and Sedo.com platforms. There is an unset reserve price at this time and it is in excess of $1 million + according to the greatdomains.com listing. America.com was appraised by independent evaluators like Duff & Phelps, Sedo and Afternic within a range from $3.5 to $7.3 million. According to compete.com statistics for the month of April, America.com received 10,866 unique visitors. Because of the recent announcement of America.com being place on auction, the owners have had to increase bandwidth on the site. Already, they have received a large volume of interest as you can imagine. America.com may break domain industry records, even in a troubling economy if it does sell. I am doing my best to get an interview with the owners and awaiting a response.

Next on the list is Israel.com. It is listed in the upcoming Traffic Auction on 23 May with a reserve of $5 million. This is another amazing geo domain with many characteristics that make it priceless. This is the holy land for many religions. According to compete.com statistics for the month of April, Israel.com received 4,081 unique visitors. Do not let the amount of traffic take away from the value of this name. The true value of any geo domain is unlocked when it is effectively developed with content. When this happens with Israel.com, it will be embraced by the world.

These geo domains will set new standards for the geo domain industry, if indeed they do sell on auction. As a side note to the Israel.com listing, I have just completed an interview with Michael Weiss, owner of Jerusalem.com. It will be an enjoyable read. Well have to wait and see if any domain industry records are shattered.

We officially launched the GeoDomainer.com Social Network on 3 May and have already recruited some of the most powerful domain owners on the internet.  While GeoDomainer.com is somewhat of a targeted community, it is open to all professionals in the domain industry.  I wanted to take a little time explaining the benefits of this social network.  It is not the average social network you are used to reading about or using.  Before I do, please make sure to read the articles I have published in the past on this social network here, here, and here.

GeoDomainer.com will help transform the way domainers do business with associates, peers, partners, and clients on the internet.  Traditionally, business transactions and communications were done with people you knew nothing about, except what they told you via email and phone conversations.  This process manifested when domain conferences went main stream, however, professionals still did not know how credible an individual was while negotiating business deals and networking.

Now, you will be able to validate professionals, as well as become validated by peers, associates and clients based off their experiences with you through the social network.   By using the tools available to build quality friend/associate lists, commenting on profiles, and applying kudos(coming soon) to individuals through the site.  This was a void in the industry and many depended on word of mouth validation of a person you were conducting business with.  This can be very misleading as a professional may act one way with this guy/gal and another with a different group.

There was no accountability for the actions of professionals both good and bad.  Professionals had to depend on word of mouth validation.  Transformation is eliminating this problematic practice and the social network will allow you to conduct research on the individual you want to do business with if they have signed up.  It will also allow you to post comments in your blog, forum, or group of people who are good and bad if they have not signed up.  This will help others when they conduct research on the site.

This is an essential tool for professionals who are conducting hundreds, thousands, and millions of dollars in business transactions.  Historically, big deals were only saved for attendance at domain conferences.  With the tools we are implementing into Geodomainer.com, you will be able to video conference and video email professionals without having to attend a conference to complete a transaction.  Although, attending conferences is still a must as it broadens your networking capabilities.

GeoDomainer.com will become a centralized business portal for the domain industry.  The biggest resource it will deliver  is a unified front of professionals moving the industry forward united.  The days of being selfish and secretive are coming to an end and it has only damaged the domain industry from exponential growth.  Additionally, it will become the largest educational platform in the domain industry by users contributing personalized content and comments.

Users can develop their own blog, groups, forums and create a personalized targeted network. Think about the power of these tools and how they can impact/promote your business and networking potential.  Additionally, users  are able to network  through live chat,  email,  video conferencing(coming soon), sharing videos and photos, etc.

There are still may great tools to come to assist domainers.  Take advantage of GeoDomainer.com and use it to promote and push your business to the next level.  The opportunities are endless with what you can do with a targeted domain industry social network.  Get the word out and join!

GeoDomainer.com, Connecting Professionals For Success

This was a great week for geo domain sales. It seems there were a lot of investors and end users ready to spend top dollar to acquire geo domains. RickLatona.com has done an outstanding job selling some of his geo domain portfolio through his daily newsletter filled with domains for sale. He is responsible for many of the top geo domain sales for 2008. Shaun Pilfold and Robert Montgomery broke the industry record for ccTLD geo domain sales when they acquired jobs.ca for $600,000. Congrats to both! ccTLD geo domain sales totaled $734,419 for a grand total of $935,012.

AssociatedCities.com has published a great article on how city.com geo domains have evolved in the last couple of years and their values.  David Castello and Jessica Bookstaff provide insight on this journey.   2008 has already proven to be a big year in the transformation of traditional media outlets embracing the internet.  With advertising revenue dropping drastically and newspaper circulation at an all time low, traditional media is in search for solutions.

We will continue to see articles of traditional media print publications spiraling down in the months to come.  Some have already begun to embrace their geo domain to deliver what the print publications once did in the past.  Yesterday, I reported that the LATimes.com is expected to bring in $25 million in advertising revenue this year.  Traditional media is figuring it out, as they are attending many of the local shows/expos already executed this year.

Overall, it will be interesting to see some of these city.com owners become powerhouses in the media world as the industry continues to evolve.  These geo domains have enabled them to become key players/leaders in a coveted industry that took decades to build wealth for traditional print media.  It is amazing that this is made possible by owning a great geo domain.

(Via AssociatedCities.com) 

There are a variety of people who believe building a business around a geo domain is limiting the global concept of the internet. The little piece of the local pie is not appealing to these individuals. The great thing about the domain industry is that it is a multifaceted industry full of revenue streams with those who have the right game plan.

The LATimes.com reported that they will bring in close to $25 million in online display revenue this year. They have accomplished this success by delivering to a local market for the most part. Based on these results, owning a piece of the pie is not so bad and can be very rewarding. Of course, the LA Times is a well established media outlet and much of this revenue has been earned based on this important fact. However, these results can be duplicated by owning a great geo domain and a solid development plan.

The article is a must read and delivers good information.

LATimes.com generated $6 million in display ad dollars in 2005, and is on track to bring in closer to $25 million in online display revenue this year, according to Rob Barrett, SVP interactive media and GM at LATimes.com. He expects the Web site to represent 20 percent of LA Times cash flow by 2011, and appealing to local audiences by building content representative of LA’s local flavor is part of the path towards getting there.

“We’re trying to create the best targeting machine to the Los Angeles DMA,” said Barrett, speaking at this week’s Kelsey Group local media conference in Seattle. Recognizing LA and California are identified with certain topics such as environmentalism, Hollywood, car culture, and immigration, they are central to his content redevelopment scheme. That entails a locally-focused travel section redesign and a behind-the-scenes film site set to launch soon called HollywoodBacklot.com.

(via Clickz.com)

I was watching a show on tv yesterday, and a commercial came on. It was a Utah commercial promoting their site Utah.travel.  It is a well developed site that has great content for a visitor traveling to Utah in my opinion. The group behind the site is the state of Utah. While there are a variety of issues that .travel has had up to this point, this is an amazing break through for the registry. This once again reinforces how powerful geo domains are to media companies trying to recruit consumers to their destinations. It will be interesting to see if the .travel registry can rebound after so many set backs.

While it more than likely means nothing for .travel, it is still great to see our industry in the spot light, on national tv channels. The future of traveling/moving to destinations will all start with an online search. Those who embrace the geo domain industry with quality investments, will reap large rewards once the full power of geo domains is unleashed.

(Interact with Fred on Geodomainer.com)

This week, we bring you the GeoView with Fred Mercaldo, owner of Scottsdale.com and Tempe.com. Fred is a proven business professional and owner to a variety of businesses. His other companies include Hospitality Tee Times (HTT), Butts In Seats Marketing, LLC which includes their brands LunchClub.com and DineSmart.com, and OutingSource, LLC, a golf and technology company in partnership with PGA Tour player Chris Perry and Desert Golf & Vacation Rentals, a 200 unit luxury property management company in North Scottsdale.(SMO) When did you register your first geo domain and what name was it?

(FM) Although we did a large portion of our golf vacation and tee time business via the internet since the late 90’s, we didn’t enter the geo domain industry until August, 2004. Scottsdale.com was made available to me exclusively from its previous and original owner. He felt that since we were well established in the Scottsdale market, we had an excellent chance of making the site and business successful.

(SMO) Why did you decide to pursue the geo domain industry, instead of focusing a 100% of your time acquiring generic domain names?

(FM) I think, like many of us, registering major city.com names was not a priority or obvious opportunity. All of our other businesses had strong dot com names that properly described us…we always strived for a strong web presence, but I must admit, until the opportunity was presented to me, the geo domain industry was not a priority.

(SMO) Last year at the GeoDomain Expo, Scottsdale.com won best small-medium sized geo site. How has Scottsdale.com grown since then?

(FM) Our “to do” list is always growing and changing. We are in the middle of adding many new features designed to bring our visitors back numerous times each month. We are very pleased with the design and ease of maneuverability on our site. Believe it or not, there are 40,000 pages behind Scottsdale.com, yet we are still scratching the surface with our business directory and partnerships we continue to develop.

(SMO) The Super Bowl was in your area this year. How did this impact the traffic and advertising on your sites?

(FM) It was an incredible time for Scottsdale, as Super Bowl week was the same week we have our FBR Open, one of the most popular events on the PGA Tour. The traffic impact was strong, yet the advertising impact was consistent with other peak periods. We did however have our best month ever for hotel/attraction/travel and ticket revenue.

(SMO) How has development of your geo domains affected traffic and revenue growth over the years?

(FM) Businesses and advertisers are starting to “get it”. First, we had to build it. When we first took over the site, it received 7,000 unique visitors per month…we are now 100,000 PLUS uniques each month. Businesses are actually starting to budget a decent percentage of their advertising budget towards online advertising. We are developing “partnerships” by which a business will sponsor, or “partner” with us in a specific category…we even allow them to sell advertising within their category, and we do a 50-50 revenue share with them. This builds content, brings in new advertisers, and allows our “partners” to offset their costs to us.

(SMO) Since becoming a member of AssociatedCities.com, how has the geo domain industry grown?

(FM) We have been a member for over 2 years now, and I was fortunate enough to be elected to the Board of Directors this past year. With all of the responsibilities in all the ventures we have, Scottsdale.com and the future of Associated Cities is what I’m most fascinated with. I get to interact and work with The Castello Brothers, Dan Pulcrano and his Boulevards group, Josh Metnick of Chicago.com, Skip Hoaglund of Atlanta.com and MyrtleBeach.com fame, Sean Miller of NewYorkCity.com, Barry Hodge who is responsible for the incredible success of Richmond.com, Jessica Bookstaff of Durango.com and PigeonForge.com…these people are among the most talented and brilliant executives in our industry today. They are all visionaries, and they all share a strong work ethic. Their accomplishments are impressive. I am now firmly committed to the Geo Domain industry, and with these and many other “partners”, I predict that this industry is just scratching the surface of where we will be in 5 years time.

(SMO) What added features do you plan on adding to your geo domains in the near future?

(FM) We added Tempe.com last year, and recently purchased FountainHills.com last October, which we are in the process of developing. We continue to add daily editorial content, along with the most complete Event Planning calendar available in our market. We are in a unique position with Scottsdale.com…it is both a major city AND a vacation destination. So besides continuing to build local content, we also must concentrate on our out of state visitors, which make up 50% of our traffic. Along with many interactive services designed to have our visitors more “involved” with us, we may actually launch Scottsdale.com Realty in the coming year…maybe one of the first times a “brick and mortar” business evolves from an actual website rather than the other way around!!!

(SMO) What role do you think geo domains will evolve into as the internet continues to grow and more consumers come online?

(FM) Steven…that’s a great question. I continue to look at declining print advertising revenue at major newspapers, and wonder exactly what our world will be like in 10-15 years from now. Because of the Internet, we have become impatient and spoiled…not willing to wait until the morning paper to find out information…we go directly online. I expect this to continue, and major Geo Domainers have a serious responsibility to accommodate our customers, both advertisers and viewers, in order to maximize our potential.

(SMO) What are some future goals and where would you like to be in 5 years with your geo domains?

(FM) Regarding our geo domains, my goal is to have our Scottsdale.com and Tempe.com brands dominate our market for everything media related. I embrace what David and Michael Castello have told us…that we “own the brand” in each of our cities, and we need to take the responsibility seriously, and develop our sites to the best of our potential.

In the coming 5 years I would like to play a significant role in helping other geo domain businesses attain profitability. LunchClub and DineSmart are 2 brands that we operate locally, and we are in the process of taking nationally. These are businesses that can easily be incorporated into the day to day operations of most city.com sites, and generate much needed income. We can talk about development of our sites all day long, but if resources are lacking, it becomes a difficult task. I would like to make a difference.

(SMO) Any advice you can give to new Geopreneurs entering the geo domain industry?

(FM) Yes. It is important to have the right people. Everyone needs to go find a “Becky Kelley” in their city. Becky has been an incredible asset in our growth and progress. Also, our technology group includes some of the best talent in the country. Michael Goldfarb and Mike McCallister worked tirelessly over the years to build our sites. Our sales managers, Brett Mitnick and Jennifer Shaw, are also very special and dedicated people.

You need to develop the site properly. Each city has their own specific identity and personality; you must identify exactly what these characteristics are, and build the site accordingly. You must be well financed, dedicated, and patient. Other than that, it’s easy!!!!!!!!!!!!!