Travel Companies Benefit From Descriptive Domain Names

By Jeremiah Johnston, COO, Sedo.com — Hotels, February 8, 2010

More than ever, travel companies are exploring new and creative ways to reach customers. With more consumers turning to the Internet for the best deals and the most convenient service, it isn’t surprising to see these travel companies starting to invest in descriptive and generic domain names to draw in new business.

According to Forrester Research, online leisure and business travel spending will reach $158 billion by 2013. Owning the ideal descriptive domain name — or a portfolio of these domains — can help travel companies tap into this huge revenue pool.

Descriptive or generic domain names present an excellent opportunity for travel companies to expand their reach and ultimately bring more customers to their doorstep. That’s because more and more consumers are bypassing the search engine and typing in terms relevant to their searches directly into the web browsers, which is also known as direct domain navigation. Descriptive domains generate tremendous natural type-in traffic that can be redirected to a company’s primary Web site.

Let’s take TravelZoo, which recently purchased the Fly.com domain name, or Concord Private Jets, which recently purchased the Jets.com domain name to strengthen the company’s brand. After consulting with the leading online marketplace for domain names, Sedo, Concord Private Jets was able to see the value in Jets.com for its rebranding strategy. By working with Sedo to secure this highly valuable domain, the company now has a competitive edge that is tremendously powerful for its industry and the service it is offering. Domains like Fly.com and Jets.com are considered highly valuable because of the direct navigation traffic they innately offer.

While descriptive domains may be a smart investment for existing businesses, they are downright crucial for new businesses looking to make their mark on the industry. For example, GetaRoom.com, which was also purchased through Sedo.com, is being successfully used as a search engine for great deals on hotel rooms.

“We are extremely happy with our purchase of the domain name getaroom.com. It is easy to remember and stands out from the crowd. We have been advertising getaroom.com to build brand awareness, but the name itself has been driving visitors to our competitive hotel rates,” said Bob Diener, founder of Getaroom.com.

In addition, other high profile brands that have successfully employed this descriptive domain strategy, include Toys R Us (www.toys.com), Calvin Klein (www.underwear.com), H&R Block (www.taxcut.com), and Johnson & Johnson (www.baby.com).
This growing interest in acquiring additional descriptive domain names has been encouraged by newer and easier methods of attaining them. In the past, the process of obtaining a premium domain name would often result in companies haggling for a fair price and executing risky transactions with private parties, in order to meet their branding goals. Now, with the support of domain marketplaces such as Sedo, organizations like Concord Jets and TravelZoo can tap into the secondary domain market to find and obtain the name they desire, even if the name is already owned.
What if your desired descriptive domain name is already taken?

If your desired descriptive domain name is already registered by someone else, it’s still possible to obtain that name. Trying to acquire the domain name directly is often time-consuming and expensive. On the other hand, working with an expert domain brokerage company, such as Sedo.com, speeds up the process significantly. Moreover, with a domain brokerage expert, your company can ensure the legitimacy and credibility of the domain seller, and avoid being overcharged for the domain.

When choosing a descriptive domain online marketing strategy, you may want to follow these helpful tips:

• Think like a Web surfer. In order to maximize their web presence, think like a consumer typing away on their computer. Why? People type in the generic domain expecting to find goods related to that subject. So, if a company has that domain, they will receive the benefit of natural, type-in traffic. This effective online marketing strategy is being employed by large and small businesses alike. Bice’s Florist, a Fort Worth, Texas-based flower shop that has been around for over 30 years, 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. Keith Riewe, owner of Bice’s, worked closely with Sedo to purchase approximately 20 related domain names, including fortworthflowers.com, eflowersite.com, nationalfloraldelivery.com and blossomlink.com. Riewe says that since he is able to track the hits from each domain, he can understand which are performing and which aren’t. Website traffic increased by 47 percent as a result of his domain portfolio.

• Obtain variations on a company’s name because web shoppers often
mistype. If a business name ends in “s,” for instance, it makes good sense to
also purchase the domain name without the “s.” Entrepreneur Warren Royal
saw immediate benefits from owning both the bobbleheads.com and
bobblehead.com domain names, when launching his Bobbleheads business.
Royal was able to purchase these domains from the owners through Sedo.com. With the amount of natural, type-in traffic the site receives, almost no additional advertising cost is required to sell the product.

By understanding the overall tremendous value and importance of owning the right domain name for their business and harnessing the power of descriptive domains, travel industry organizations can implement an effective online marketing strategy that drives more traffic to their doorstep, save money on search engine marketing and improve their position in search rankings.

Travel companies can acquire premium domain names in Sedo.com’s upcoming online Travel Auction, which will take place from March 5th through 12th. Sedo’s ongoing “Buy it Now” inventory is available anytime at www.sedo.com/travel.
About the Author
Jeremiah Johnston is Chief Operating Officer of the online domain name and website marketplace, Sedo. Johnston oversees a variety of responsibilities for Sedo including marketing, legal and strategy. He represents Sedo as a founding member of the Internet Commerce Association and sits on the Board of Directors in the role of association President, helping to shape the future of domain names in the political space.

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