Of local domain names…based on a coupon book — The state

Almost all local businesses advertising in a coupon book included a website on their ad.

How many local firms promote their websites in ads, and what kind of domain names do they use?

A coupon book I received in the mail recently gives insight, even though it’s a fairly modest sample size.

I opened up a coupon mailer the other day from RSVP. It bills itself as “Upscale Offers for Life & Home” and most of the coupons are for the same firms you’ll find in other coupon mailers like ValPak. Almost all are local service providers and franchisees, although there are a couple national ads for services like security alarm monitoring.

Here’s what I found:

• 29 of the 33 coupons had both a phone and domain name on them.
• 3 only had a phone number.
• 1 only had a domain name, and it was for an upcoming event.
• Of those with domain names, 100% used .com domain names. Most had a local term, such as SunSpaceTexas.com or WestlakePowerWashing.com. (I’ve seen other TLDs used in local ads, notably .co, just not in this batch.)
• Three of the ads also had a Facebook logo.

Obviously, businesses that can afford a mailer like this are more sophisticated than most. That’s why I didn’t see any @yahoo.com or similar addresses that local contractors often use.