Although this has changed in the last couple of years, the domain industry has been a fairly secretive industry. People have been reluctant to give advice, and while that might have benefited individuals and companies, I don’t think it was necessarily in the best interest of the industry. The crux of this was that everyone was essentially a competitor, and it doesn’t make sense to give away a competitive advantage.
One reason why I particularly like the geodomain industry is that people interact and share more than in any other niche in the domain industry in which I have been involved. Instead of treating each other like competitors, most geo domain owners are very happy to give advice and share their knowledge, helping others grow their geo websites. People like David and Michael Castello, Dan Pulcrano, Jess Bookstaff, Rob Grant, and others I am forgetting about at the moment have given me great advice to help me with Lowell.com and Burbank.com.
When I meet with geodomainers, our business conversations are centered around how we can improve our websites and marketing strategies to maximize our revenue. I’ve found that business conversations with people outside the geodomain industry tend to revolve more around making deals, which isn’t a bad thing, but from a learning perspective, geodomain conversations are usually more fruitful. For some people who might not have the time to devote to a geodomain, it doesn’t make sense to jump into this part of the industry. However, for those looking for a rewarding business, it might be something worth considering (BTW, Rick Latona is selling NewRochelle.com, which I think is a great name and growing city right outside of Manhattan).
In a sense, .com city, state, regional and other geodomain owners aren’t competitors of each other. Each of us has a different market and strategy, and it makes sense to share and learn with each other. In my limited experience, I’ve done things good and bad, and I am happy to help others so they don’t make similar mistakes, and I am eager to learn from others as well. Typically newspapers and tourism departments are our largest competitors (and not happy about it), as they didn’t buy these important names before we did.
In this vein, if you are going to the Geo Domain Expo next Thursday in Chicago and we haven’t made plans to meet yet, please get in touch with me. If you are new to the industry, I am happy to introduce you to the people I’ve come to know over the past several months, and I know they will be happy to share with you. This is going to be a great learning experience, and I know it’s going to be fun. I am still hearing rumors about a Michael Seven concert…
