I may be a little bias to one of the best tag lines I have seen used for a GEO domain name in advertising that I have seen lately (I live in Wisconsin, which borders Michigan). It’s so simple, yet so strong and being attached to a great domain name makes it even all that much stronger!
Michigan.org takes the cake when it comes to what I have seen in awhile when it comes to GEO advertising and I really do not think this could be done without a domain and the exact match domain of the state! People love info before a trip and love the internet!
4 simple words, followed by the GEO domain.
Your Trip Begins At Michigan.org Top Notch
Your Trip Begins At 1-800-111-1111 Not So Hot
Your Trip Begins At MichiganTouristCenter.net Not So Hot
I am a big fan of GEO domains, but the most powerful ones have to be State GEO’s. I also think it gives the domain owner the most options with subdomains and breaking down the states cities for more "local" info.
I enjoy the .org as it gives the customer the "Trust" feeling and many also attach .org to Information. Don’t get me wrong, .com is king, but many times I really like the .org and this is a great example.
Currently, Michigan.com does not resolve, but www.Michigan.com does forward to Freep.com and is owned by Gannett Newspaper, so it’s hard to compare the .com to the .org based on SERP’s. (Shame on Gannett for not catching the error on the domain without www.)
For me, and using the search term michigan.. Michigan.gov ranks 1 & 2 followed by uMich.edu ranks 3rd and then followed by Michigan.org 4th on Google.com .
Based on people looking to travel to Michigan, they will likely skip over the .gov and .edu and hit the next rank, which is Michigan.org. BTW, .gov and .edu are hard TLD’s to outrank on search engines.
Michigan.org is owned by Michigan Economic Development Corporation and has been registered since 1997. According to Compete.com, get’s over 340,000 monthly unique visitors.
Michigan.com was first registered in 1995 and according to Compete.com has a little over 5,800 unique visitors per month. These visitors are likely all Direct Navigation IMO.
