DomainBinge

I’ve written before about localized generic domains and the potential upside they provide for a new business:

“I like to think of these little gems as ‘instabrands.’ Imagine you’re a an entrepreneur opening a relatively modest local business…say, a tree care company in Toledo, OH. … You head on over to GoDaddy and start hunting for a great domain name.

Here’s where the savvy and not-so-savvy entrepreneurs part ways. The not-so will immediately think of (and probably be able to register) a unique domain based on his chosen company domain. Think “MadHatterTreeService.com.” He’ll rejoice in the fact that he was able to get the domain for 8 bucks and happily move on to setting up his website. What he won’t realize - probably for several years - is that the use of that brand-oriented domain will greatly increase the work he needs to do to educate his customers - and potential customers - about his services, and indeed about his existence.

The savvy entrepreneur, however, gladly seeks out a localized generic domain that accurately describes his business and the geographic area in which he operates. ToledoTreeCare.com is born and he’ll probably be rewarded with high localized search results.” (from the original instabrands post)

Just a couple of short weeks after writing that post, I came across a great example that illustrates my instabrand point:

The Sage has authored a guest post on Frank Schilling’s Seven Mile that will inspire everyone just starting to invest in domain names, or thinking about doing so.

One (of many) money quotes:

“Well, the opportunity is still there as it was seven years ago. I just talked to a guy who sold his domain name for $1.5M. He paid $35k for it two years ago. However, are you prepared to take out a loan, use your savings, mortgage your house, borrow money from your friends and family, max out all your credit cards, work 16 hour days, read a lot of books, blogs, forums and risk everything to build a business?”