Webwork - 12:08 pm on Sep 1, 2006 (gmt 0)

I think this is an example of a multiple domain network model that makes perfect sense. This is also a perfect match for .US since zip codes ARE US, as in USPS United States Postal Service.

This was an opportunity just sitting there in the domain realm.

This is also an intelligent play in the emerging local search realm. Nothing quite so local as zip codes. It's not a perfect model but it has legs.

Price for a shot a significant penetration in the local search market? Less than $200,000 in domain acquisition costs. (25,000 x ~$7.00). Less than the cost of a single significant City Dot Com.

I'd say that in the big money game this play is small change, significant risk, big potential gain. Sooner or later the big players in local search will be lookinig to consolidate the field, gain traction, hold their position, etc. This is a buy out candidate right out of the starting gate.

A big problem that the local search players have is the challenge of search engines and mounting PPC costs to play the search engine game. This is a "the heck with search engine love" play. This model is easy enough to promote, inexpensively, in a variety of media or in guerilla fashion. It's easy enough to master as a search concept: You know mom's zip code. Want flowers delivered to mom? ######.US.

"The search system" is easy to master. It works.

[edited by: Webwork at 12:23 pm (utc) on Sep. 1, 2006]