Local is the Fresh Black

Marchex thinks “Local is the Fresh Black”. Is it right?

2008 has been a hot year for geo domain names as internet advertising experts push local advertising as the next wave of internet advertising. Call it a coming out party: people have been successful with geo domains for over a decade but are finally getting recognition.

Perhaps it’s fitting that local-centric domain name and advertising firm Marchex (NASDAQ: MCHX) filed a trademark for the term “Local is the Fresh Black” earlier this year.

Is local really the fresh black? This year was the year geo domains finally received wide scale recognition. A geo-specific blog network launched. Attendance at the GeoDomain Expo surpassed that of some of the mainstream domain conferences. There’s even a geo-domain specific domain sales list.

And geo domains have been selling well, too. Here are some examples of both geo location and long- tail geo domain sales in 2007:

SanJuan.com $150,000
Bellevue.com $150,000
MyrtleBeachCondos.com $120,107
EdistoBeach.com $115,000
Sevilla.com $102,000
Yemen.com $100,000
FollyBeach.com $98,000

(Sources: RickLatona.com and DNJournal)

I’ve bought in, too. I’m working on launching a geo domain, Lakeway.com, to cater to the affluent city outside of Austin. eDirectory is right now working on customizations. Although it’s taking longer than I’d hoped to launch, it ought to be done by year end.

What do you think? Is local really “the fresh black”? How will it fair in 2009 compared to this year?

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