(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!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It has been quite a while since the last GeoView on the blog.  There have been a variety of professionals who have been fully engaged and unable to complete their previous GeoViews.  I apologize for the delay, but work definitely comes first and it is totally understandable. 

However, we have stayed busy lining up some outstanding interviews.  Confirmed interviews in the works; Mike Mann of WashingtonVC.com, Neal Polachek of Kelsey Group, Bryan Allison of Vegas.com, Fred Mercaldo of Scottsdale.com, and Josh Metnik of Chicago.com.  I am sure I forgot a few, however, they will all be published in the coming months.

The plan will be to publish an interview once a week starting next month.  These professionals have a wealth of knowledge to offer and I think readers will really enjoy their perspective of the industry.  We will continue to line up key interviews for your reading pleasure. 

We are going to start picking things up as we announce some major events in the coming weeks.

Thank you for your continued support.

The Geo domain industry will continue to make unknown people, into popular internet rock stars in local media as great geo domains are developed.  This industry is great and SimplyGeo.com is doing all it can to help promote its growth, along with AssociatedCities.com and other sites to come SOON. 

AssociatedCities.com recently published an interview with the owners of SantaFe.com.  It is a great interview that gives you some insight as to what it takes to build your geo site up from scratch.  From my understanding, the site was launched this year.

There will be many great stories and interviews published as the Geo domain industry continues to mature.  

(via AssociatedCities.com) 

Associated Cities: What are the advantages and challenges of operating within a network like Associated Cities?
P/MF: The advantages of being with Associated Cities became obvious when we attended its San Francisco conference in 2007. We met a lot of innovative owners and managers (particularly from Scottsdale, San Diego, Chicago and New York City) who are a lot further down the road than we are. It was great sharing ideas and getting inspired. As our background is in real estate, we’re planning something special with that component.

This is something we’d like to share at the next Associated Cities meeting. Another bonus of the Associated Cities network is the access to talent. We hired out current president (Bob Shaffer) from Richmond.com. He told us he was ready for a change and he has been a gem to work with.

Associated Cities: What are your day-to-day responsibilities? How much of your energy is devoted to sales and marketing versus content and production?
P/MF: At this moment, our full-time staff is small: eight including the two of us. Pat and I do everything from marketing and selling ads to writing content and implementing growth strategies.

The eight of us work well together. In terms of specialization, Pat has been in sales and marketing for 30 years. That was the engine that drove our real estate company. I’ve published 20 novels and have written a business and real estate column for the last 10 years. Writing and editing come easily to me.
   

The Geo domain industry is developing into a main stream industry niche.  Recently, there has been alot of major news covering the industry.  DNJournal has just released their cover story for February.  The story is Dan Pulcrano.  He owns one of the most elite city.com domains in the world.  Alot of Geopreneurs have been waiting for this article to be released by DNJournal.  Ron continues to do a great job with his writing skills covering Dan and the geo industry.  Please check out the story and post comments about the article on the blog for readers.  

This is great for the industry and we will see much more to come in 2008.

(via DNJournal.com)

Elliot has completed his branded “5 with” interview with the famous Rick Latona.  Rick owns a large portfolio of prime internet realestate.  He owns some outstanding Geo domains as well, and recently sold the following; Melbourne.com for $700k, Brisbane.com for $100k, and finally Elliot’s Lowell.com for $50k.  He is a very strategic domain investor and consistently reinvest profits into acquiring domains that will generate a larger profit in the years to come. 

Elliot continues to do a great job with his blog and this is a must read!

Skip Hoagland is a pioneer in the geodomain industry.  He is one of the largest city.com owners in the world.  He is a marketing genius and continues to set the standard for city.com branding and site development.  Skip is Co-Founder of the infamous AssociatedCities.com network.  In the near future, he will continue to promote the Geo domain niche by launching AssociatedStates.com and AssociatedCountries.com.  Some of the names he owns are Atlanta.com, BuenosAires.com, Edinburgh.com, Savannah.com, Hiltonhead.com, MyrtleBeach.com, Cuba.com, Fishing.com and approx 2000 others  in many other categories.  He is among a group of level headed professionals that I have had the pleasure of meeting in the domain industry.  It was a true pleasure working with Skip to provide this GeoView for readers of the blog.   

(SMO) When did you register your first geo domain?

(SKIP) I do not remember exactly, I just know when a person who worked for my company told me in 1995 that the Internet might adversely effect my tourist magazine business one day, I started to look into it. Another old friend of mine recommended to me to start buying domain names. I have never looked back nor cared for any other type of business since then. It has been hard work, but it has been fun, rewarding, and the best 10 years of my life.

(SMO) Why did you decide to pursue the geo domain industry?

(SKIP) I entered this industry because I already owned and operated several of tourist magazines in some of our markets like Hilton Head, Charleston, Savannah and many others. We already had the content, sales force, design capabilities, and offices. We took our magazines online which proved to be a smart and rewarding move for us. I like Coke’s business fundamentals; they don’t care what people drink, just as long as they own what people are drinking. In our case, we own both print and online brands. This has given us a huge advantage over the competition. Additionally, when you own the City.com brand, traffic is pure and consistently growing. We have grown every year with our online city.com brands/strategies and do not see an end in site. I see all city.com owners who take the time to develop their site correctly, having the same success and growth. We are profitable on every site we own. We are also successful in the areas we own local media services and this gives us a great advantage over our competitors.

(SMO) How have things changed over the years and what city.com name are you most proud of?

(SKIP) In the early days, domains cost $200 each to register. Now with cheaper registrations, WIFI, Skype, different technologies, and legal protections we are now capable of operating from anywhere in the world. Things have gotten so much better since the old days. We now operate offshore in Argentina for many of our projects and have moved about 80% of our company there. It is a great country and my partner Gaston Piarrette is doing a great job. I feel www.BuenosAires.com is one of the best designed City.com sites in the world right now.

(SMO) What are some things you have to focus on to become successful with your city.com?

(SKIP) I think many city.com owners in this industry have strong technical backgrounds, but lack essential Marketing, Sales, Content and Management skills. You also need to have financial resources available to make it all work. All 6 of these traits are mandatory if you want to develop your geo domain into a revenue generating machine. The main play for me has always been to stay focused on making great brand acquisitions. I always knew great things would come with this strategy. This is a full time job. I also have focused on Strategic Alliances as we have expanded.

(SMO) How has development of your geo domains affected traffic and revenue growth over the years? Do you recommend geo domains to be parked?

(SKIP) Like any product, the more you develop it, the better it becomes. Parking domains is a business for people who do not want to work or do not have the ability to build a real company. Honestly, Parking domains to me helps to destroy the Internet, not build it. It helps send more traffic to Google.com and other sources of information for what people are looking for.If people want to build real value for their brand and company they have to run it like a real business, with real offices, people, phones, sales, marketing etc etc etc. Isn’t it funny the harder you work the luckier you get. Don’t get me wrong, I also do some parking and consider myself a Google monetizer at times. I don’t like it, but with almost 2000 names to develop we have no choice. Unlike many others however, we have about 400 websites launched and 5 making a nice profit for us. I see this getting much better for us this year as we launch 30 more mostly Geo names.

(SMO) How do you feel about geo domains that cover an industry, such as HoustonApartments.com?

(SKIP) I think all sub domains are good and we have a few ourselves, but again they have to be built out and run like a business as well. Some Subs will certainly grow, however it will be hard for the owners to run them like a real business because of just being able to sell one category, versus many. Also the city.com sites can also rank high in all the categories and once someone visits a portal and gets the information they are looking for they will come back. The bottom line is no matter if you own a city.com or sub domain, you must serve a great meal to the visitor. If the food is bad you will lose many customers to Google and others.

(SMO) How did AssociatedCities.com come about?

(SKIP) Josh Metnick owner of Chicago.com and I co founded Associated Cities a number of years back, in fact I was in the middle of starting an association for Country owners with Juan Noreagas who owns Barcelona.com when Josh called me and asked me if I wanted to help him. I dropped the project with Juan and put my time on AC with Josh. It has been great and I think it has been a big help to many city.com owners and the industry as a whole.

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

(SKIP) I see the City.com’s becoming the New Media companies of the future offering every category imaginable both local and Tourism. We simply have no limits. The world has become very small now with only 200 major cities, 200 countries and 52 states. All these Geo Names are controlled by a very elite group now of 400 owners. Once these owners continue to get together as a cross linking and advertising force, it will become one of the most powerful networks in the world for city, country and State information.

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

(SKIP) I would like to see many of our sites become more local and start to replace Newspapers, Yellow Pages, TV, Radio, and Local Magazines for Local information. I am sure we will be able to do this in many of our markets. We are already starting to hire xnewspaper employees and will continue to do this when we can. I see Classified ads being great for us in many Categories. The Internet as a whole, not just Geo owners, will continue to shift the money away from old medias into new media pockets. It is happening in big number’s already and has just begun.

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

(SKIP) My advice for new Entrepreneurs entering this industry is look at those who are successful and try to follow their lead. If you can not do this, try and partner with someone who can do this for you. You have options. Sell your names for a great profit, lease it for 20% of all gross revenues for a 20yr deal, do a 50/50 partnership with 100% unanimous decisions, and perhaps the best course of action for someone who can not operate it themselves is simply sell the name 100% and retain a 5-10 % of the gross revenues in perpetuity with a lesser sales price. The bottom line is there are many options available. Be creative and select one that best fits your needs. Develop and unlock the power of a great geo domain instead of sending traffic to Google and other sites by having an undeveloped geo domain.

Today, Ron at DNJournal.com recommended reading the Castello Brothers Interview with SimplyGeo.com on the daily LowDown.  As you know, DNJournal is the top magazine in the domain industry.  It is not very often that DNJournal recommends reading an article covered on a blog, especially a new one.  I would like to thank the Castello Brothers for an excellent interview and for putting SimplyGeo.com on the map.  A little over a month ago, I launched the blog to cover the Geodomain niche with little resources and a rough draft game plan.  Since then, the blog and the game plan have conitnued to evolve and excel on many levels. 

Please stay tuned as new developments and features are announced on the blog that will assist in exploiting the Geodomain Niche.

Thank you DNJournal, Readers, and the Castello Brothers for the opportunity to blog!  If it wasn’t for you guys and gals, the blog and forum would not have evolved into education platforms.

-Godspeed-