Geodomain Development

[retired_member34]

Not sure on the correct section of Acorn for this. For those interested in developing geodomains (there are a few here on Acorn, along with me), I found it interesting to discover Giant Games Ltd have entered the arena.

I know they made a purchase of a large list of geos, but assumed they held them for investment value as they appeared for sale individually on Sedo. They now appear to haver rolled out a system across them.

For an example, take a look at aberystwyth.co.uk.

Basically currently a business directory with free business listing, with user reviews, monetised by Adsense.

Good news or bad news?

 

[Edwin]

Any well-developed geos are good news for other geo holders, as they gradually educate visitors as to the value of visiting "their" town/city's domain. Nice to see that they're taking steps to turn their very extensive geo holdings into a business.

 

[retired_member34]

Any well-developed geos are good news for other geo holders, as they gradually educate visitors as to the value of visiting "their" town/city's domain.

I agree with this in principle, well developed sites are so sparse at the moment that anything that helps the market for them mature is a good thing. However I think it is also the case that smaller towns may not really support more than one local site, hence I have mixed feelings about a larger company doing this.

I'll be up against Giant in 2 towns so far, one .com vs. their .co.uk, one .net vs. their .co.uk.

Will be interesting to see how it goes, I think they'll run in parallel OK, as long as they stick to a passive revenue model (adsense). I'll be marketing mine offline far more, looking for active local advertisers.

 

[RSK3000]

Well, I'm not sure how many people type in "aberystwyth.co.uk" but I can't see it being that many per month.

If that is the case the key to making money with geos has to be getting good search engine results. With a first page slot on Google you can start selling ad space direct.

 

[Edwin]

Well, I'm not sure how many people type in "aberystwyth.co.uk" but I can't see it being that many per month.

If that is the case the key to making money with geos has to be getting good search engine results. With a first page slot on Google you can start selling ad space direct.

For comparison, about 2,000 people a month type in blackpool.co.uk (that's an average, it's higher in the summer and lower off-season).

 

[retired_member34]

For comparison, about 2,000 people a month type in blackpool.co.uk (that's an average, it's higher in the summer and lower off-season).

Back of a fag packet, that's about 1.5% of Google's quoted exact match local searches. On the same basis, Aberystwyth would get around 450. I get about the same ratio on my test sites.

Edwin, you should have some very interesting information. Which gets the most type-ins blackpool.co.uk or blackpool.com? For new visitors, not repeat, I know one is more built out and so has the ability to attract more repeat.

 

[Edwin]

Edwin, you should have some very interesting information. Which gets the most type-ins blackpool.co.uk or blackpool.com? For new visitors, not repeat, I know one is more built out and so has the ability to attract more repeat.

I don't have the ability at the moment to sort typein traffic out of all of the rest of the traffic hitting Blackpool.com unfortunately.

 

[retired_member34]

I don't have the ability at the moment to sort typein traffic out of all of the rest of the traffic hitting Blackpool.com unfortunately.

Ah, never mind. I note the .com has some very juicy inlinks (direct link from BBC R2!)

 

[RSK3000]

Thanks Edwin, this is the sort of thing we all wonder about so thanks for sharing this.

 

[retired_member34]

On a different tack, but still under geodomain development (I wish there was a forum for this), came across a very nice looking Wordpress theme for geodomains, or hyperlocal as everyone but us seems to refer to them.

Pro Theme Design | The Local for WordPress