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"This post is part of Mashable\u2019s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.  The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.\nName: Root Orange\nQuick Pitch: Root Orange helps local small businesses get more traffic and customers with premium domain names.\nGenius Idea: One of the hardest parts of being a small, local business is getting to the top of search results for \"chiropractor\" for users in Bloomington or \"cupcakes\" for folks in Seattle. Root Orange is helping local business owners increase their presence online and thus the flow of foot traffic into their stores and offices.\nRootOrange allows business owners to lease a descriptive premium domain name for the specific geographic area in which they do business. For example, you could lease Chiropractors.com and get the traffic from around Bloomington, or Cupcakes.com for traffic from Seattle. You still get to keep AngelinasCupcakeEmporium.com \u2014 or whatever your original website domain is \u2014 but local traffic for the more highly ranked domains will be automatically routed to your website.\nHere's how it works:\n\n\n\n\nBusiness owners can search for domains by keyword and ZIP code or city and state. If a keyword returns no domain names, users can request the need be filled. Depending on how much a particular business has budgeted for Internet marketing, the domains can be incredibly powerful for SEO. What lawyer wouldn't kill to lease Attorney.com, for example?\n\nAny number of local businesses in any number of geographic areas can capitalize on a premium domain. Only one business per city or area can lease a domain at one time. Root Orange tells us this method increases traffic for their customers' websites by around 40%.\nIt's a very clever way to capitalize on a stockpile of premium domains, we think. And for many small businesses, it might be cheaper in the short term than conducting a complete SEO overhaul. What do you think of Root Orange? Will it change the way people search for and find local businesses?\nSponsored by Microsoft BizSpark\nBizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.\nEntrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platform for their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the \"new CloudApp()\" contest - use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHP app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines).\u201D\n\n\nFor more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2010/04/27/root-orange/>