Everywhere you look online in technology forums, blogs, and advertising agencies the word “Geo” is found based off of geo location technology. It was nonexistent in 2007. Its amazing how fast technology is changing the way consumers interact with the internet and advertisers with the consumer. 2010 is going to be an interesting year for consumer based marketing/targeting. Be prepared to be marketed to in the near future via your cellphone.

This is an interesting article from AdAge that goes into depth on what to expect.

Source: AdAge.com

Just a few short years ago, if you had asked most marketers about the future of mobile, their nirvana most likely would have been a consumer strolling down the aisle of her local grocery store receiving text messages offering 50 cents off a bottle of ketchup or jar of peanut butter.

But not so much today, as industry heavyweights and upstarts like Google, Facebook, Twitter and SimpleGeo are racing to map out a digital, geo-tagged future where our physical and virtual worlds will increasingly collide. Soon a simple coupon delivered via SMS or Bluetooth will seem like an idea from a different era, like Pong or the Hula Hoop………….

RootOrange.com, winner of the prestigious, $35,000 Princeton University Business Plan Competition, has launched a new geo-based domain service where multiple advertisers/endusers can share a premium domain by sending visitors to the proper location based off of the visitors IP. This is an interesting concept and service for the domain industry that has not been served mainstream, although there are domainers who have tried this concept in the past.

However, this is nothing new to online advertising. This technology has been used for years with geo-targeted ads being served based off of consumer IPs. Advertisers are expected to spend $1.9 billion in revenue anually by 2013. RootOrange.com is entering the market at a perfect time when domainer’s are looking for alternative revenue sources due to PPC payouts declining. Additionally, they are entering the geo-targeted market in its infant stage where solid growth is projected for the next 3 years. Advertisers want to reach the local consumer and are willing to pay top dollar to reach these consumers eyeballs online.

It will be interesting to see if this service is embraced by the domain industry. Really, it is a brilliant idea for the domain investor. They can lease the domain to several businesses and advertisers in different locations, and never have to sell the domain. Meanwhile, earning consistent revenue from leasing and developing the website for each customer. I am not sure if RootOrange.com also offers website development for their clients. However, the revenue potential is there for the domain investor who does not want to part from their premium domains.

I predict we are going to see more services like this populate the domain industry in 2010. It makes perfect sense IMO for industry specific domains, category killer domains, and geodomains. The growth of the local online market continues to bring new innovations to the forefront.

Borrell Associates today issued its Top 5 recommendations for local online advertising in 2010 with an emphasis on the trends most worth watching.Williamsburg, VA (PRWEB) December 14, 2009 — Borrell Associates today issued its Top 5 online advertising recommendations for local online media in 2010, advising that next year will offer a clearer picture of local media companies being left behind in the digital media transition. These Top 5 recommendations are trends worth watching for companies looking for exponential ad revenue growth.

“The revenue division began occurring this year, and we think the gap will widen in 2010,” said CEO Gordon Borrell. “Local media that tied their ad sales too closely to their legacy broadcast and print businesses saw negative growth for online. Those that didn’t, saw terrific growth. Next year will be the year that many of them might be officially left behind.”

Borrell Associates’ No. 1 recommendation is to watch the fastest-growing companies and copy them. The Top 5 list is a precursor to Borrell Associates’ February conference in New York, where it has molded a conference agenda around companies exhibiting the highest growth.

“Look at legacy media companies such as Yellowbook.com and Yellowpages.com – already with hundreds of millions of dollars of online advertising – and LIN-TV and Nexstar Broadcasting,” Borrell added. “They all saw double-digit online growth this year. Even McClatchy, which is suffering horrible losses on the newspaper side, saw positive growth last quarter due to a brilliant Internet strategy.”

Other fast-growing local online advertising companies, according to Borrell, are Yodle.com (up 150%), Reply.com (up 50%+), and Local.com (up 46%). The CEOs of each of the companies, along with executives from LIN TV, McClatchy and Yellowpages.com, will be featured at Borrell’s 2010 Local Online Advertising Conference on Feb. 8-9 in New York.

Borrell distilled its traditional Top 10 list down to five, saying media managers were already mired in opportunity and might make better progress by cutting out the time-wasters. The company also noted that it didn’t plan on issuing predictions – but recommendations. “Predictions are interesting, but monitoring online ad trends and acting on them is more useful,” Borrell said. Its Top 5 recommendations in 2010 are:

1. Identify and copy the fastest-growing companies. Two-thirds of the companies Borrell monitors saw negative online advertising growth this year. The other third were offering break-out products. Reply.com, which works in the worst-hit categories of real estate and automotive, saw 50% growth in revenues this year.

2. Consider partnerships between local media and national pure-plays. These often rely on the technology strengths of the pure-play companies and the promotional, content and sales capabilities of local media. The Yahoo-newspaper deal alone may bring $200 million to $300 million in new sales in 2010. Other technology partnerships have propelled most of the Yellow Pages companies into double-digit growth this year.

3. Watch for less spending on local advertising, and be prepared to recapture it on the “promotions” side. Borrell expects total advertising expenditures to decrease 7.5% over the next five years, while the amount spent on promotions – things like social networking, coupons, samples, rebates, contests, etc. – will increase 24%. With coupon usage up 36% this year, the convergence of advertising circulars with the Web will undoubtedly intensify.

4. Be prepared for future mobile advertising growth. Mobile is the new disruptor. But moderation is the keyword here. Like the World Wide Web in the 1990s, we expect that many will rush in, only to find that the exciting results they have heard about are just experiments by a few daring advertisers. Small and medium-size advertisers are usually very conservative.

5. Capitalize on the transformation of the Web into a video medium. Comfort levels for Web-based video have skyrocketed, and local advertisers are likely to follow in much larger numbers – not only in pre-roll commercials, but also in longer “infomercial” type commercials embedded within online directories and inside banner advertisements.

Borrell’s Conference, “Local Online Advertising: The Business of Making Money Conference,” will be held Feb. 8-9 at the Grand Hyatt in New York City. For more information, visit www.borrellassociates.com/conference or call 757-221-6641.

About Borrell Associates: The local ad strategy and consulting firm, Borrell Associates, is the leading provider of local advertising research, data and strategic analysis along with consulting and sales-training services. The company provides detailed market advertising reports for hundreds of local interactive and traditional media companies, including local online ad spending, and customized reports for any U.S., Canadian or U.K. market and publishes annual online advertising reports and monthly analyses. For more information, visit our Web site http://www.borrellassociates.com.

Source: PRWeb

This is one of the most craziest call to action domains for a product I have ever seen. Chances are, it will be for you as well.It is a hilarious video, that is until they bring the kid into the commercial. They crossed the line in my opinion by doing this. Ok, so what is the domain they selected?

iNeedAHandJob.com, Yes you read that right. That is the domain that has been chosen for this product.

Yep, this is a real product. The “Hand Job” helps you open bottles and jars by gripping to the lids. The creators decided that despite the deeply unsexy nature of the item, they’d give it a lewd name and make a sexually suggestive ad in hopes that it would go viral. (It has.)

Another informative article I came across by the President of the Yellow Pages Association, Neg Norton. Local search is a super hot topic. This industry will continue to deliver new innovations that will impact the way people are used to doing business. Technology and evolving human behavior online are the driving force behind this industry.

(Via SearchEngineLand.com)  You can read the complete article on each of these predictions by the author.

Prediction 1: Mobile will drive local search growth
Prediction 2: Local search providers will vie for social
Prediction 3: Local print advertising will decline but won’t disappear
Prediction 4: A hybrid marketing approach will win

The little guy. Often, they are the unheard voice in every industry. However, they have the most impact in any industry when it comes to improving a service or  increasing the bottom line, with some of them becoming industry leaders due to their innovations and motivation. Now lets focus on the Domain Industry. Why is it that successful people/businesses ignore or do not place any value to the little guy’s words, advice, or opinions? Is it realistic to think that the little guy has nothing to bring to the table? There have been many instances if businesses/Mr Big listened to the little guy, that future success would have grown exponentially. The little guy’s voice may have a lot of  value if you train yourself to listen and think outside of the box/norm.

This is an article that I have wanted to publish for quite some time. Michael Berkens, the author of the popular blog, thedomains.com, inspired me to finally publish it with his latest article. Michael shared some great insight about the great one’s making mistakes. Guess what, everyone makes them whether your famous, successful or a failure. What I find important IMO, is that you learn from your mistakes, and those mistakes of others to help you on your path to live a successful life. Many people take history for granted and continue to make the same mistakes, its unfortunate. History provides all the answers in one shape or form IMO. By the way, Kevin from Bigticketdomains.com had a great comment that ties into this post that I hope Conferences start to execute. Anyways, moving along………

When I first launched this blog back in November 2007, I had short term goals to share information I came across regarding geodomains and to build a network that would assist others looking for assistance. As the blog grew in popularity within the domain industry, I was attacked both offline and online by many successful domainers for sharing my thoughts on geodomains. Things got so bad at one point with the direct attacks on my credibility being a little guy, that I almost gave up on the whole game plan. All I wanted to do was capture targeted readership interest by sharing articles and my opinion on geodomains. However, several big guys had a problem with it, as posted in many forums and on other blogs.

This scenario happens everyday, in every industry, minus the blog and forum drama. The little guy is hardly ever given opportunity to become successful without confrontation or being black listed. Especially, if they challenge how things have been done historically. Very few people like change. Almost every little guy with promise and potential brings ideals, opinions, and innovation, which result in change. I believe this is why most are challenged, ignored, and or black listed.

Why do many successful domainers and businesses in the industry treat the little guy as if they have nothing of value to contribute? Is arrogance a factor? I have no clue as to their reasoning. If we look at the most basic thing as an example, such as blogs, the little guy leaves the majority of the comments. Comments are what truly make a blog successful in case you did not know. However, you will hardly find any of the top bloggers or top domainers posting comments in any of the smaller blogs. Why is that? Is it really possible that no one else writes anything useful in the domain industry?

I find it a bit crazy. This of course is my opinion. The internet is evolving rapidly as consumers are now dictating what they want to use it for. I can honestly tell you, that some of the smartest guys on the internet are in the domain space. However, most of them are unknown because they are the “little guy” and have not been given opportunity.  Very few big timers and businesses want to associate with the little guy. It is only when you make it big that everyone wants to become an associate and support you. Unfortunately, once you become successful and  big time, the less support you need! Crazy world we live in.

Being the little guy has been a challenging, yet educational battle for me, but it has also been rewarding. I can only imagine how tuff it is for others in the same boat. What started out as a simple blog from the little guy, has turned out to become a platform to impact the domain industry. Geodomains are mainstream on almost all of the domain industry’s major platforms in 2009. Who would have imagined? Only the little guy.

I’ll invest time in anyone who shows promise and potential, regardless of their level of success. The “little guys” can be some of the most valuable people to invest your time in. I do it weekly via emails and phone calls. What matters to me most is being exposed to a different way of thinking that will assist me in becoming a well rounded business leader. Business is always evolving. You always have to keep in mind that all the big guys/gals in the world, were once the little guy. Someone listened to them along the way based on their promise and potential.

In closing, I would like to leave you with a few thoughts to digest.

TO THE LITTLE GUY: The level of your success should not be measured based off another person’s success or opinions. Each journey is a unique traveled path. I recommend you identify your goals, commit to them, and then measure your success based on how your goals were executed. The key is to learn from your failures and not repeat the same mistakes. If you stay true to yourself and committed to your game plan, you will become successful. You do not need anyone to tell you that you are successful. You are the only person who knows what you started with. Continue to stay focused and fight the little guy battle. Hard work pays off eventually.

TO THE BIG GUY: Next time you find yourself discarding the little guy, take a few seconds to ask yourself this one question, Would you have become successful if everyone discarded you when you were the little guy? Of course, their are a few macho business gurus who will tell you that they did it all on their own. However, the honest truth is people make people successful in business. No one does it alone. Open up your minds and listen to the little guys/gals that show promise and potential. They just might become founders that effect an internet industry, such as Jack Dorsey, Mark Zuckerberg, Tom Anderson, Frank Schilling, Kevin Ham, and the list goes on and on. One thing is certain, the “little guy” will never forget you when they become “big” and popular online.

I leave you with this motivational quote:

“It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you. Always.”
Oprah Winfrey

Signing off, The little guy,
Steve

Technology and innovation continue to make things easier on the internet. I came across an informative article written by Andria Krewson that identifies 5 tools to help you automate local advertising.

These tools can be useful to owners of developed Geodomains and websites trying to secure local business owners as advertisers.

“Experiments with new advertising technology are popping up everywhere. Websites are trying to reach smaller, local advertisers that have been underserved for years by legacy media. This local and hyper-local ad market will be a significant part the future of journalism, says Jeff Jarvis, author of “What Would Google Do?” and associate professor and director of the interactive journalism program at the City University of New York.”

You can view the 5 tools that may be of use to your business Here

(via MediaShift)