It’s no secret that I like exact match keyword domain names (EMD). When shopping for something where I don’t have a particular brand in mind, I will frequently visit the .com EMD to see who owns it and if I might be able to purchase something there. I also use it as an acquisition opportunity in case it’s available for a good price.
I want to share a EMD success story with you.
I was in New Orleans with some friends this past weekend. We decided we would rent a balcony on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, and I did some research to find a place to rent. I opted not to use Google and found two sites using direct navigation: BourbonStreetBalcony.com and BourbonBalcony.com. As luck would have it, both domain names have websites advertising balconies, and we used one of them for the rental.
In my opinion, it’s a great idea for a company to use an exact match keyword domain name to advertise a product or service. It’s even more beneficial when there isn’t a well known brand in that space because Google tends to rank well known brands better even for unbranded keyword searches. Without a major brand, EMDs tend to rank higher from what I’ve noticed. For instance, BourbonStreetBalcony.com ranks #1 in Google for the search.
If it wasn’t for the EMD, I probably wouldn’t have known about this balcony, especially because a friend had found another balcony through a concierge referral.
Most people don’t search like I did, but direct navigation traffic continues to produce qualified leads, and if the owner of the domain name I found tracks his referrals, he’ll notice that this converted lead was organic and not from a search engine.
Hi Elliot:
Interesting post.
Any current thoughts on plural vs. singular EMD’s?
Thanks.
Depends on the situation. The owner of the plural domain name in this case owns multiple balconies on Bourbon Street, so his plural domain name is appropriate.
What’s up with the second domain?
Good catch… was actually BourbonBalcony.com. I wrote the post on the plane from memory without wifi.
I think they should be using .co and forget the .com
LOL.
Elliott, you mentioned that most people don’t do direct navigation like you did. Just comparing these two: Do you think more of your sales have resulted from buyers doing direct nav using type-in EMDs, than have come from your buyers using search engines?
Just saw my typo. My apologies, Elliot.
I (we) call them exact search terms
more accurate I think…
They do seem to work!
I just regged RentABalcony.com
This is why I read your blog everyday Elliot.I always learn from the pros.
I love these type of posts Elliot. I think you should add a new segment to your blog called Exact Match Success Stories and profile a name or two each week.
Neat idea… SkiGloves.com would be another, although the owner is using it as a forward instead of a developed website 🙂
Wrigley Field roof top tickets http://www.wrigleyrooftops.com/
Nice one
I should ask people to submit great names like this
How about Rooftop Parks? I own RooftopParks.com have yet the funds to finance a website on that piece if Internet real estate. Rooftop Parks are very popular in New York in Summer months. I’d be open to joint venture if anyone would be interested http://gizmodo.com/5710177/a-rooftop-park-in-the-middle-of-new-york
Thanks Elliot.
I lived in Manhattan for 10 years and never heard of a rooftop park. I actually lived 7 blocks from Lincoln Center (where the park in that article is located), and I had never heard of it until now. I’ve been to rooftop bars but not parks.
Learn something new every day! I believe this domain will be worth a lot when people become more green to urban living. However till then I day dream of the Rooftop Parks in Google image search between lunch breaks. Haha one day! Hong Kong has pretty amazing Rooftop Parks aswell. I hope you do go visit the park. As where I live most buildings are not more than two storeys high however I’m lucky to still have real parks.
Good post Elliot. Would like to know how many search results should an Exact match should deliver through Google’s keyword tool sufficiently enough to register a domain?
Good post Elliot. Would like to know how many search results an Exact match should deliver through Google’s keyword tool sufficiently enough to register a domain?
Have you gone to the Rooftop park yet?
Nope… I moved to the Boston area a few months ago.