There was an interesting post today by Andrew Allemann of DomainNameWire. He wrote about having gone to visit a relative near St. Louis, Missouri and driving for some distance on I-70 away from St. Louis.

Dotted along the highway were numerous billboards owned by Porlier Outdoor Advertising. Billboard advertising has become a mainstay in the advertising world as they offer a unique opportunity for companies to reach drivers while they cruise the open road.

Of interest to me was Porlier’s use of the .BIZ domain name for their official website at www.Porlier.biz. The .biz extension was originally released and successfully branded as the official business web address of the internet. Porlier’s use of .biz is certainly a perfect fit for the .biz domain’s intended use.

The company’s billboards are focused on roads between St. Louis and Kansas City, and they have over 440 available billboards for local and national advertisers to use. Several of these are of the electronic type with colorful messages that rotate every 10 seconds.

Porlier can utilize a customer’s own creative designs or develop something unique in-house to suit a customer’s taste.

.BIZ Domain Names .biz, advertising

2009 was a relatively good year for the domain name industry compared to the rest of the economy. Domainers still re-evaluated their portfolios and trimmed their domain name collections. This was partly driven by declining PPC revenues as companies scaled back their advertising expenditures.

The USA faces a number of challenges in order to get the economy rolling again. Internet growth will somewhat coincide with the larger economy’s movement. And internet growth is the central mechanism pushing the adoption and use of domain names as business portals.

Two of the most prominent drags on economic recovery have been: 1. lack of job creation, and 2. a pervasive fear that massive commercial real estate defaults would re-ignite another financial crisis and meltdown.

On the positive side, recent news points to indications that the feared commercial real estate meltdown may actually be more manageable than was predicted. The Wall Street Journal has published an article quoting Morgan Stanley analysts who suggest that commercial real estate concerns are now …

only a moderate headwind for the economy,

Another article by Reuters further supports this contention quoting a top Federal Reserve official who says …

Community and regional banks can probably manage their exposure to souring commercial real estate loans.

These sentiments suggest that some of Wall Street’s apprehension is being replaced by a more clear view of America’s financial health. However, the last ingredient in a full recovery is the much needed expansion of America’s manufacturing base.

Jobs, jobs, jobs is indeed the cliche’ of the day. But more than that, they are the true driving force behind a robust economy. To some extent, domain name utilization and further internet assimilation will likely move forward regardless of the immediate job situation.

Many companies have survived this economic recession, and they will be preparing themselves to push their products and services out to the online global consumer. That means having a quality internet presence … which will be part of strategy 101 for 2010 and beyond.

Internet Domains advertising, domain names

AdMob is a top advertising platform for the mobile internet and Google is buying them for $750 million. The acquisition will provide Google with an immediate 30-40% of mobile advertising market share as stated in this Bloomberg article on the forthcoming purchase.

Many of the proposed ads will be delivered inside of iPhone apps available to mobile users. Typically in the form of a banner located at the bottom of the app or page. Ads will also be embedded in search results for popular products searched online.

Obviously fueling Google’s move is the incredible growth in mobile internet. CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, is quoted as saying …

Our mobile revenue is growing faster than our regular revenue

The AdMob acquisition is Google’s largest since the buyout of YouTube for $1.65 billion in 2006. Google is also hiring again in preparation for their expansion into mobile internet advertising.

For more information, read this open letter to the public by Omar Hamoui, Founder and CEO of AdMob. Interesting in Omar’s comments is his statement about how slowly mobile advertising initially proceeded. He attributes rapid growth to the introduction of the iPhone.

The official mobile web address of the internet is .mobi. For information on mobile web addresses, visit www.mtld.mobi.

.MOBI domain names for sale -> PremiumDomains.US

.MOBI Domain Names, Internet Domains .mobi, AdMob, advertising

From a personal point of view, I like the internet experience to be easy and convenient. One of my pet peeves in navigating a website are ads which hijack control of the browser and which momentarily interfere with your viewing experience.

Examples of irritating ads are:

• Pop-up’s -> an ad that opens on top of your target window blocking your view
• Pop-under’s -> an ad which is open on your computer but under the target window
• Floaters -> an ad box which dances across the PC screen blocking your view
• Drop-down’s -> large video or text ads which open when you scroll over them
• Auto-Play -> a video ad that plays automatically when you arrive on the page
• Blinking -> The old neon green strobe ad which screams “Over here, look now!”

These ads are annoying and interfere with your visitor’s experience. Patrons typically come to websites looking for specific content. Bombarding them with advertisements actually discourages repeat visits and can undermine user loyalty by wasting users’ time.

Many of the information sites I enjoy display their ads to the left or right of the main content. This allows users to focus on the content they were seeking without being hammered with intrusive advertising.

Another important consideration for domain developers is designing a logical & intuitive layout to the site. Content sections benefit from substantial empty space between sections as well as visual prompts (simple graphics or color coded text) to help users distinguish different topics and site areas.

Many of the geodomain and local newspaper sites are switching to the WordPress format. These sites usually organize and display content sections in a clean manner avoiding clutter and thereby increasing viewer satisfaction.

Google for some time now has allowed Adsense partners to customize the appearance of Google ads. I recommend avoiding the placement of Google ads at the top of a page or in the middle of a content section unless the ad is out-of-the-way and inconspicuous.

In closing, do your quality domain name some justice. Even if it is only a parked page. Disable pop-up and pop-under ads, and keep advertising subtly blended into the background or on the sidebar. As has been said many times before … “There is only one chance to make a good first impression”.

Site Development advertising

Edwin Hayward is a long time domain investor who specializes in the .co.uk (United Kingdom country code) domain space. He just published a nicely designed study to test the hypothesis that generic domain names perform better than non-generic domains in eliciting user click-throughs when viewing identical ads triggered from identical keywords.

He used Google Adwords which allowed for multiple comparisons between domain names via their click-through rates (CTR) & other measures. The domains used for the study were:

• ElectricBicycles.co.uk (matching generic)
• YourBikes.co.uk (somewhat generic)
• InAHurry.co.uk (non-generic)

Achieving a good click-through rate means that advertisers are successfully reaching consumers in search of their products and services. This is monumentally important.

Edwin wrote in his conclusions –>

A generic domain name outperforms a non-generic name by delivering a higher CTR and an even higher number of total clicks.

More specifically, he found that the generic domain received 45% more clicks than the somewhat generic competitor. Most impressive, the generic domain achieved 105% more clicks than the non-generic domain.

Experienced domainers have known this for a long time, but Edwin has now provided some statistical evidence to support this very important distinction. Generic domain names have always commanded a premium above the ocean of inferior domain alternatives, and for good reason.

I hope to see more compelling examples of Edwin’s work as the larger business community discovers the powerful advantage of generics in capturing consumer attention.

Fact: Targeted generic domain names outperform other domains in eliciting consumer interest and consumer behavior.

Internet Domains advertising, generic domain names

Just over one month ago, I informed readers of the decline of American newspapers and the reported $661 million debt of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, which led to their declaration of bankruptcy (article here). Ad revenues had fallen off dramatically as a result of advertisers channeling their dollars to the internet.

Today, the Associated Press reported that McClatchy Co. (owner of the Sacramento Bee), have cut another 1600 jobs in their ongoing push to reduce staff numbers. McClatchy Co. have eliminated nearly one-third of their workforce in less than a year! A significant reason …

Classified ads have shifted to the Internet in recent years, and the recession has been siphoning away more revenue in all ad categories since last summer.

The publisher owns 30 daily newspapers, including the Miami Herald, and have let go of 4150 employees since June 2008 consequently saving around $300 milllion in total. It is noted that McClatchy Co. have also reduced wages across the board, including the CEO, whose annual salary has been trimmed by 15%.

Even more alarming, the company’s stock has plunged by almost $40 per share closing recently at just 41 cents. Unbelievable! This is evidence that eyeballs are looking elsewhere for news & information. The internet is the new medium of choice, make no mistake.

The AP writer notes that McClatchy Co. have adopted a bare-bones approach for sustaining their hardcopy newspaper, and alternatively refocused efforts toward building their online format. The problem, however, is that there are now many internet portals for both global and local news. The monopoly is over. The game has changed.

I wonder where traditional newspapers will be in another year or two?

Interestingly, the Sacramento Bee appear to be utilizing a yellow pages only search function for Sacramento.com. No news, no sports, no headlines, or other content is provided there. I find this very odd. However, they have their online news site still located at SacBee.com, an obviously inferior domain name to Sacramento.com. There is no reason that the Sacramento Bee cannot consolidate their yellow pages search & news site all on the superior Sacramento.com domain name.

I’m wondering who’s making strategic decisions for the Sacramento Bee. Time will tell the story. Some companies can have a major asset right under their nose, and yet fail to properly utilize it.

Internet Domains advertising, newspaper, sacramento

I hate to say I told you so. Because good people work at America’s newspapers in every city across the country. And that’s the part that bothers my heart about the slow disintegration of the black and white.

The flip side is that some of the most ruthless, cutthroat competitors you’ll ever meet in the world of business work for these same newspapers. I consider myself a generous and fair individual by most standards. But often in the business world, generous and fair, will get you nothing but a bloody nose.

I’ve had my fair share of let downs and hurt feelings trying to work with my local newspaper. If nothing else, they fed me a dose of reality. If they want to shut you out, they’ll shut you out. And your journey of 10 miles becomes 50. Lesson learned. But times change, and tables turn. Perhaps there is a thing called karma after all.

Reality check: There is a steady decline occurring year after year in newspaper circulation and advertising revenue. The paper is a static, somewhat outdated rendering of news that occurred yesterday. No video or sound, no hi-definition picture, no reader comment or interactive component … at all.

Hello, internet technology! Just as the 8-track surrendered to the cassette tape, and the horse & buggy gave way to the automobile, such is the fate of the traditional newspaper company.

Now, it’s not like they didn’t have fair warning. In fact, some of the age-old papers secured their city’s geodomain. Take Boston.com (The Boston Globe) for example. Nearly 4 million visitors per month and a 52% increase in online viewership in the past year. That’s saying something. The shift is more like an earthquake and approaching tidal wave.

All of this leads to one conclusion –> geo domains. To have the city in .com is a literal gold mine of opportunity. No question about it. Now, it won’t be cheap either as city geodomains in .com are like owning the holy grail.  But, there are several excellent alternatives that will also feed the dream and perhaps still leave one above water financially speaking. My favorites for geodomain development are .biz (business), .US (United States), .info (information), and .TV (television/online media). Also for the mobile phone market is .mobi which provides standards for displaying the internet on mobile phones …  growing in popularity by the minute.

Some domainers have looked ahead, made the investment, and laid the proper groundwork for becoming the center of the universe in their corner of the domain world. Hard working domain investor & blogger, Elliot Silver, acquired Burbank.com recently and launched into development. He holds the keys to the city, as do brothers Michael & David Castello with PalmSprings.com, or Skip Hoagland with Atlanta.com. Let’s not forget state geodomains and even countries such as Spain.info. These geodomain websites are the future. They are connected to the entire world via the internet. And unless my dog eats through my internet cable, they’ll be receiving my patronage, my business, my revenue, and my recommendation. Will there still be a newspaper floating about in those cities 5 years from now? Perhaps, lining the parakeet cage.

Goodbye newspapers of the world. I no longer need you. I have my own media empire at my disposal. Strange irony.

Almost forgot to post the story that fueled tonight’s writing. It is the bankruptcy declaration of the Minneapolis Star Tribune who presently are claiming $661 million dollars in debt. Something about a “severe decline in advertising revenue”.

I read all about it … on the internet!

Humor, Internet Domains advertising, geodomain, newspaper