Generic domain names new search engine gold mine

[gonzo]

Search engines use mathematical algorithms to perfect the accuracy of their listings.

But a much less high-tech search method is growing in popularity: typing a query with a ''.com'' in a browser's address bar, a process known as direct navigation.

Michael Berkens, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer, has bet his business, Worldwide Media, on the concept.

He owns 50,000 website names and hopes the next time someone wants their prayers answered, for example, they will visit one of his websites -- specifically answermyprayer.com or hearmyprayer.com -- rather than invoke Google or Yahoo.

On each of his myriad websites, which range from www.freshorchids.com to names that cannot be printed in this newspaper, he has posted a series of pay-per-click ads related to the topic. Every time someone clicks on an ad, Berkens pockets a few cents.

INCREASED AD SPENDING
Those cents add up because people are increasingly turning to websites with generic titles in their search for information, analysts said. This year, advertisers will spend between $400 million and $800 million advertising on direct navigation sites, said Malindi Davies, an analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group in New York.

''People automatically assume that there must be a website for everything,'' she said.

Berkens said roughly 300,000 people reach his sites each day. And he's only one of ''hundreds and hundreds'' of companies operating in the business, according to Jordan Rohan, an Internet analyst at RBC Capital Markets.
Among the largest, NameMedia and Oversee.net claim to run more than a million websites. Seattle-based Marchex, a publicly traded firm that operates direct navigation sites, notched $11.3 million in sales from its 200,000 sites last quarter.

Denise Garcia, an Internet analyst at WR Hambrecht, said the websites are increasingly competing with search engines.

''The Internet is so new and searching for information is so important that I just don't see that the search engine is the only way to find information online,'' she said.

GROWING MARKET
Overall, 70 percent of Internet surfers type a name in an address bar to reach a destination, according to WebSideStory, an Internet analytics firm in San Diego. That's up from 53 percent four years ago, although those numbers include visits to sites known to users. Most of the rest use search engines.
The revenue-generating side of the business is relatively new. Berkens said he started registering sites in 1997 as an investment -- back when it was not easy to attract advertisers.

''I thought it would be good to have,'' he said. ``I didn't know what we were going to do with them.''

Berkens posted some ads early on -- often to adult sites, catching some by surprise.

In 1998, Lynn Carlton, a marketing assistant for an outlet center in Georgia, typed ''outletmalls.com'' in her browser and to her dismay, according to Value Retail News, found ''about as graphic a page as the Internet has to offer.'' Outletmalls.com is owned by Berkens.

Worldwide Media still owns sites with adult links (he owns 8,022 sites with adult-oriented names), but the ads are much more toned down. Google and Yahoo now provide the advertising on Worldwide Media's sites.
Even without ads, the domain names themselves are a valuable commodity. Marchex purchased more than 100,000 sites for $164 million in early 2005 (the company now owns websites that include ZIP Codes for 96 percent of the United States), and private equity firms are reportedly in the market to purchase portfolios.

Just last week, CD.com sold for $277,750, and blue.com sold for $500,000 in March.

CATCHING BIG CLIENTS
Right now, blue.com is a direct navigation site, but if a company that hypes the color, such as American Express or JetBlue Airways, wants it, its value could jump, RBC Capital's Rohan said.

''Blue.com? What the heck is that?'' he asked. ``It's nothing until American Express . . . decides that's how they're going to advertise.''
Berkens said he rarely sells his domain names unless the offer is extraordinary. He's asking $5 million for malls.com and outlet
malls.com together.

Many direct navigation sites are taking a different tact -- they're adding simple content to their pages to get visitors to return those sites. At Marchex's newyork dining.com, for example, visitors can post reviews for restaurants in Manhattan.

Marchex wants to move beyond just posting listings, according to spokesman Mark Peterson.

''Our long-term goal is not to flip domain names but to create bona fide destinations that have a great deal of user utility,'' he said.

[Hammer]

They think this is a new concept?

[Mike AI]

See Sig

[LadyMischief]

I notice a lot of companies are advertising using these generic domains. I think it's Chevrolet in canada is using the adventures of Johnny in their commercials and the website they advertise is not chevoletcanada.com, but johnny.ca. I think the topper for the "generic domain" campaign would be the Toronto Zoo, who point to the www.jealousanimals.com domain in their commercials, which are hilarious (you can see them on the site) and it's fabulous advertising for the zoo.