Geo Domains or Premium Keywords?

[Fka200]

Here's a question I've never really seen asked:

What would you rather have: A geo or a premium generic keyword? Geo domains are notorious for being able to be developed into great travel-type sites, but generic keyword domains can be developed into something where people actually come back to.

What do you think? I've e-mailed a couple geo-domain owners and the geo domains have ALWAYS been huge amounts of money compared to keyword domains--these are IDNs. Most expensive geo I've ran into thus far: $60,000 and keyword that I think is absolutely awesome: $20,000. Both .coms.

There can be different variations in the keyword, but a geo is a geo... one of a kind.

[mj]

Well of course it depends on what people (mis)label as "premium". The real question, from my perspective, is which one requires the least effort to make the most money.

Insurance.com or Tokyo.com in Japanese? Insurance.

Sofa.com or Tokyo.com in Japanese? Tokyo.


To make real money with geo domains, you need to establish and maintain relationships with local businesses (hotels, vacation rentals, etc) - hard to do without a native partner or if you don't speak the language yourself. Adsense is not really a solution IMO.

.

[touchring]

Why do people pay $xx,xxx for a nonsense, NL.com, LN.com or LLL.com? Do they earn PPC?

I think geos, especially cities are the safest bets because they are rare (you can have only that many cities), and you can play the patriotism card, which is really a big thing in Asia.

If anyone is not convinced, we can compare with ASCIIs. How often have you seen a city like miami.com, newyork.com, lasvegas.com go on sale?

[Fka200]

Originally Posted by touchring

Why do people pay $xx,xxx for a nonsense, NL.com, LN.com or LLL.com? Do they earn PPC?

I think geos, especially cities are the safest bets because they are rare (you can have only that many cities), and you can play the patriotism card, which is really a big thing in Asia.

If anyone is not convinced, we can compare with ASCIIs. How often have you seen a city like miami.com, newyork.com, lasvegas.com go on sale?

I enjoy having a premium keyword, but I was thinking along the same lines... you can value a great keyword with a $$$ sign, but geo domains seem to be priceless now-a-days.

Makes me sort of want to change the way I'm thinking about IDNs and start pursuing more geo domains... which at this point seem to be pretty held tight.

Thought it was a pretty good question to see and see what the community thought.

[Rubber Duck]

I think you should have been asking yourself this question this time last year.

[alexd]

I've voted for Geos.

Development wise, these can cover a really large scope - hotels, travel, local events, local business, the list is endless. With keywords, you are more limited to what you can do with them.

Just my thoughts though.

Alex

[Rubber Duck]

If you had listened to Rick, and some of what he says is sound despite the distortions, he would have told you that you need to have the balls to buy ahead of the market. There is little point whinging about how expensive things are after they have move out of your reach. Just as I will never be able to buy back what I have sold, those that should have dug deep and invested a year or two ago are really going to struggle to get on board at this stage unless they can find a buyer for the house, and even that ain't as easy as it was.

The lesson that people need to understand is that all opportunities have a time window. These windows are finite and they close without warning. It is down to personal choice and assessment of risk, but at the end of the day you are either a Player or a Dreamer. Very soon the Players won't even want to share the same forums as the Dreamers.

[touchring]

Originally Posted by Fka200

I enjoy having a premium keyword, but I was thinking along the same lines... you can value a great keyword with a $$$ sign, but geo domains seem to be priceless now-a-days.

Makes me sort of want to change the way I'm thinking about IDNs and start pursuing more geo domains... which at this point seem to be pretty held tight.

Geos carry intrinsic value regardless of what happens to the browser or PPC, and so they are the safest form of IDN investment.

If you stick to top 20 cities, top 5 languages, dot com, you are safe.

[touchring]

Originally Posted by alexd

I've voted for Geos.

Development wise, these can cover a really large scope - hotels, travel, local events, local business, the list is endless. With keywords, you are more limited to what you can do with them.

Just my thoughts though.

Alex

More than just business. Geos can be used for political, social, government or even for creating publicity - the newspaper writes about a patriotic businessmen pays $xxx,xxx for a city name and donates to the local government, newspaper, etc.

For commercial names, you're tied to PPC, and this makes them somewhat more risky and subject to the frills of Google, Microsoft, etc.

[clipper]

Originally Posted by Rubber Duck

These windows are finite and they close without warning. It is down to personal choice and assessment of risk, but at the end of the day you are either a Player or a Dreamer. Very soon the Players won't even want to share the same forums as the Dreamers.

You've wanted this for over a year now, maybe two or three. I'd be surprised if there isn't already an elite forum.

As for the poll, I'd rather a fantastic generic over a fantastic Geo, but it's so limited in that realm that it's not worth voting.