Somewhat a bit of a road warrior these days, my family and I have made a number of trips to both sides of the family since summer is officially here.
During one of these trips, I discovered a billboard using a geo domain to promote the 70th Annual Watermelon Festival and Car Show.
Located just East of Austin and Elgin sits the tight-knitted town of McDade, Texas — roughly 800-900 folks.
Truth be told, I would not have known McDade existed had I not encountered the billboard below about its festival and car show to be held tomorrow (Sat. July 14th).
Besides my mouth watering at the sight and thought of a cool slice of watermelon on a hot summer day in Texas, I was intrigued that the billboard advertised a “city+state” geo domain: McDadeTexas.com.
Most cities have long used .gov, and .org domains to represent their respective city’s digital presence.
But there has been a growing population of cities that have migrated to using .com addresses.
And although most .com city names have long been registered, many cities have gotten quite creative in promoting their city appending and prepending various adjectives:
- VisitCalifornia.com
- ThereSanDiego.com
- TourTexas.com
- VisitCorpusChristiTX.org
- LasVegas.com
- VisitLasVegas.com
- BainbridgeIsland.com
- VisitBainBridge.com
- AustinTexas.Gov
- HoustonTx.Gov
- VisitHoustonTexas.com
- SanAntonio.City
- VisitDallas.com
- ExploreDallasOregon.org
- PalmSprings.com
- VisitPalmSprings.com
- VisitGreaterPalmSprings.com
As one can see from the list above, this sample of domains is all over the place.
The most intriguing to me are the final three domains which represent Palm Springs in both Florida and California.
Personally, I suggest using “greater”, “visit”, “tour”, “explore”, and “discover” without combining additional descriptors such as “visitgreater”.
Another thing to note is the .CITY extension use by San Antonio, having recently launched SanAntonio.City a few months ago.
Nevertheless, I was intrigued to discover such a small city making good use of a domain name — although the website could stand to be upgraded from using GoDaddy’s Website Builder to WordPress.
But hey, at least they’re online and promoting a longstanding event that brings their community together for a day of good music, food, games, fun and good ole’ watermelon.
And although I like the use of “city+state” .com geo domain, I could help but wonder whether or not domains were available containing “watermelon festival” or “watermelon fest”.
At the time of this publication I researched and discovered the following (* denotes available for registration at time of publication):
- WatermelonFest.com – Registered and resolves to Watermelon Festival in Winterville, NC.
- WatermelonFestival.com – Registered and parked with paid links via a Uniregistry page.
- TexasWatermelon.com – Registered and redirected to TexasWatermelons.com (Texas Watermelon Association)
- TxWatermelon.com*
- TxWatermelonFest.com*
- TxWatermelonFestival.com*
- TexasWatermelonFest.com*
- TexasWatermelonFestival.com*
- McDadeWatermelon.com*
- McDadeWatermelonFest.com*
- McDadeWatermelonFestival.com*
The biggest find out of the list was WatermelonFest.com — a watermelon festival hosted in Winterville, NC the last 33 years and counting (see website screenshot below).
Although watermelon farming (Yes, WatermelonFarming.com is available) tends to be less tech and more manual labor, I was surprised to discover the aforementioned available domains available at both city and state levels.
But availability of said domains is likely due to McDade not being as populated like cities such as Houston, Austin, and Dallas. We’re talking less than 1,000 folks total (if that) versus millions of folks.
Most of the aforementioned domains could easily be developed into primary websites, directory websites listing various state-wide watermelon festivals or simply use them as redirect domains.
Nevertheless, whether big, small or in between, nothing beats coming together as a community to make memories over a day of good music, food, games, fun and good ole’ watermelon.
If you’re anywhere near tomorrow, stop on in for a good ole’ time! 😉
That’s all for now.
As a domain investor and business consultant, Alvin actively participates in daily domain auctions. Outside of auctions, he passionately shares his views, opinions, and vision for how businesses should and should not use domain names to generate greater customer growth and revenue.
