As the whole economy pointed down last year I have been more and more focused on my local business opportunities. The reason was two fold: First there was the clients I was working with who no longer could sustain their online presence and business models. This led to some of my regular work disappearing. Secondly, I really thought it was time for me to start thinking about how to help out my local community get their businesses online. Yes, it has been exciting working nationally and internationally from my home office and I will not give that up entirely. I still have a few contacts and clients located in the Mid-West and East-Coast and love that have figured out ways to keep turning a profit and offering me work, but local is where it is at. You know the saying, Think Global Act Local? Well, time to apply that to more than the green movement.
Living in Eugene Oregon I have seen how slow the great technology change is happing here vs a larger city. Eugene is more laid back, lots of face to face business, small local businesses, and even the wonderful Saturday Market where you can truly see the display of what this town is really all about: Community. They almost seem to resist the change that is happening all around, or not taking it very serious. I have noticed a shift recently. The change is taking hold and more people are looking for a web developer with graphic design skills.
Now to the focus of this post. Being in the domain market for the past 8 years I have seen the power of domain names shift and grow. First it was big keywords like Cars.com, then long-tail-key-words LeatherCarSeats.com, (both still holding strong value) but Google and other search engine understood the shift happing too. People wanted to know how to find the local businesses. How to find what is offered right in one’s town and city, even a broad search to cover a whole state. So getting those types of domains was the next big kick to getting some addition rank to your website. Get the Keyword and your local town’s name together. Makes sense right?
I prefer TownKeyword.com vs. KeywordTown because it has a logical sound that sticks in the brain. For example:
AdvertisingEugene.com vs. EugeneAdvertising.com
The sound of putting the proper noun in-front of the adjective is the natural flow of the English Language. Or take a product like Carpets. Would you type in Carpets Eugene into the search or address bar? Maybe, but the more natural flow is EugeneCarpets.com
Even greater than the natural linguistic flow of the domain name is the authoritative power that is conveyed.
It’s a verbal demonstration that takes place in the brain that you are THE PLACE to go for your product and/or service. That you are THE Town’s or City’s resources when it come to that specific niche.
That being said, I’m happy to have watched my Local Advertising Domain name Eugene Advertising climb to the top of the ranks. It has taken around 5 weeks, including developing the domain, providing unique content, and working some linking strategies. I was happy before when people entered Eugene Advertising and I came up #1 UNDER the list of names displayed on the local map. A few weeks later I got the top 2 spots, still UNDER that map. Now, a little over a month later working on it a few times a week, I am #2 on the map and hold the top 2 listings under the map. Nice 🙂
There is a certain amount of satisfaction that comes with dominating 3 spots at the top of the first page of google search results for Eugene Advertising ( G says: Results 1 – 10 of about 3,140,000 for eugene advertising. (0.27 seconds)
The power of domains is really a something people may still be overlooking in my town, but I’m out there more and more doing my part to help the local small business understand the value of a good domain and website. I’m starting to get calls for a range of advertising services like BillBoards. Cool.
I took the below screenshot today and highlighted my placements: