Despite the grim economic outlook, online marketing growth is expected to expand in 2009. In light of this, when planning your online marketing strategies for this year, brands should spend some time thinking like a consumer typing away on their computer at work or home to maximize your Web presence.
For instance, to complement a brand’s Web address, many companies are registering a series of descriptive or generic domain names to drive more traffic to your main site and ultimately acquire new customers. A good example of this would be with Vodka.com – a Web surfer interested in vodka may bypass a search engine and use direct navigation by typing the Web address www.vodka.com directly into a browser. This vodka company now has the direct attention of an interested vodka buyer on their Website. You may also be familiar with high profile examples, including Lane Bryant (www.therightfit.com), Calvin Klein (www.underwear.com), H&R Block (www.taxcut.com), and Johnson & Johnson (www.baby.com).
This growing interest in acquiring additional domain names has also been encouraged by newer and easier methods of attaining them. In the past, the process of obtaining a premium domain name would often deter companies from achieving their branding goals, as companies were left to haggle for a fair price and execute risky transactions, with private parties typically located in offshore destinations. Now, with the support of domain marketplaces such as Sedo.com , organizations can find and obtain the name they desire, even if the name is already owned. In addition, domain marketplaces can support the negotiation of a fair price, and can provide secure escrow services for the safe transfer of domain ownership.
We’ve seen a recent example of how failing to acquire your brand-related descriptive domains can be a costly missed opportunity. For its “Whopper Virgins” campaign and www.whoppervirgins.com Website, Burger King failed to also register the non-plural www.whoppervirgin.com. As a result, they are missing out on a ton of Web traffic. This is a mistake that Web-savvy marketers are less likely to make. Below are a few examples.
Small and medium-sized companies, such as Bice's Florist and Bobbleheads are also jumping on the bandwagon. Bice’s, a Fort Worth, Texas-based flower shop leveraged a domain name acquisition strategy to increase company sales by $1.5 million and reduce operational expenses -- all while closing four brick and mortar locations. Bice’s, which has been in business for more than 30 years, worked with Sedo to purchase approximately 20 related domain names, including eflowersite.com, nationalfloraldelivery.com and blossomlink.com. Keith Riewe, owner of Bice's, says that since he is able to track the hits from each domain, he can understand which are performing and which aren't. Riewe says Website traffic is up 47 percent as a result of his domain portfolio.
Georgia-based entrepreneur Warren Royal saw immediate benefits from owning both the bobbleheads.com and bobblehead.com domain names, when launching his Bobbleheads business. With the help of Sedo, Royal was able to purchase these domains from the owners, paying $29,112 for bobbleheads.com and $36,000 for bobblehead.com. Outside of any significant online advertising, after only five months of being “live,” the company was averaging nearly $6,000 in gross sales due in large part to the domain’s natural traffic. With the generic names consistently providing Web traffic, he only needs to spend a few hours a week on the site, with the traffic practically selling the bobbleheads themselves.
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