2009 Predictions From Various Domainers That You Can’t Live Without!
I had an idea to get the opinions of a bunch of domainers on what they feel were solid upcoming trends for 2009. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be much interest in participating, as only 11 of 29 replied. To those 11, many thanks and I appreciate your time. To the other 18… party poopers!
Anyways, I received a good variety of trend predictions for 2009. Many, including mine, seem to focus on technology. Part of that is because domainers tend to be tech savvy, the other part is that I think most people feel we’re in for a big exciting year in technology.
Reece over at LLLL.com posted his over on his blog, check them out here.
I will get things started with my own predictions:
- Portable/Mobile Computing/Tech. Not necessarily netbooks, but GPS, Google Phone, Android, PicoP and Kindle. I think Android can be absolutely monstrous. Netbooks will be big for a year perhaps, but will quickly lose popularity when people realize the one and only benefit is their smaller size. When they can’t multi-task or use those intense web apps, or get sick of the small keyboard/screen, they’ll go back to regular laptops. Throw in the disgustingly fast USB 3.0, and data transfer to these devices will be quick.
- Green IT and Solid-State Drives. Prices for just about anything related to the home PC have come down; RAM is sick cheap, dual core processors won’t be outdated as fast. About the only revolution we’re waiting for is getting these things to use less energy. SSD’s utilize the same technology that you find in USB flash drives, as opposed to the rotating platters of the now old-fashioned HDD. They made a big splash in the second half of 2008, and should be one of the top stories of 2009. Checking over at Newegg, you will see that they already have more than 50 SSD’s in their catalog. Some of the larger capacity SSD’s are still quite expensive, but you can get 30GB for under $100. These are ideal for OS installations since they are fast and silent.
- HTPC, Home Streaming and On-Demand Video. I think there will eventually be a home server or box in every household that will either store your movie library or give you access to one in the cloud. Home servers, or home theater PCs (HTPC) will become big keywords. Putting together an HTPC is not terribly expensive, especially now that storage is outrageously cheap.
- Retail Stores and Malls Will Close Up and Move Online. I think with the end of the Harry Potter series, book stores are doomed. May as well throw in video game and movie rental stores. With inexpensive mail rental options, these stores have no chance. I can see warehouses popping up where they store inventory, or perhaps mini-storefronts put on existing warehouses, where people can “manually” return their rentals/purchases to speed up the process. I think the only thing keeping toy stores alive is the simple fact that kids can touch and play with the toys. Otherwise, may as well buy them online. As for malls, I’m sure you live near one where only 30% of the spaces are being rented; these will start dropping like flies.
- Mashups Explode in Popularity. A mashup is a web application that provides it’s own content/data as well as content/data from other sources into one cohesive service. Examples of mashups are Zillow, WikiCrimes, SkiBonk, Big Contacts, and WiiNearby.
- Small Business and Freelance Explosion. Ok, I’m cheating with a 6th. With the recession on, unemployment is going to continue to rise. Some expect it to hit double digits nationwide. Think about that. What will all those unemployed people do? They will have no choice but to freelance or start their own business. This helps feed the local trend.
Andrew Allemann
Domain Name Wire
- De-leveraging . The trend toward unwinding debt, and all of the bad repercussions, will continue.
- Keeping Down with the Joneses. It used to be that people “kept up with the Joneses” by buying more stuff on credit and leasing cars. It will become fashionable to live within your means.
- Prefab Homes. I’ve been on this trend for a while and think it will take off when real estate rebounds. May not be until 2010-2011.
- Mistrust. Mistrust of government, mistrust of companies. Think extended due-diligence in the wake of Madoff. No more “Jeff is involved, so it must be good.”
- Tiny gadgets. Explosion in purchases of Flip camcorders, GPS units, etc.
James
Namecake.com
- More domainers start developing names - but this isn’t necessarily a positive move for them or the web as a whole. As the majority will be built with poor quality content and they will also find it very difficult to monetize them. People who just focus on one or two projects will also realize it’s a very tough job to build a site into a popular destination.
- SEO and SEM companies will experience a boom as companies, individuals realise this is a much more coste effective way to reach customers. Many people will get ripped off in this area as they search for the magic SEM campaign and company, when all they need is quality content and good links.
- Domains will continue to fall in value. There will be the odd big sale, but they will be few and far between. Now this doesn’t need to be negative as i think the new tld’s are nothing to worry about - they will in fact bring more people to the industry and lay the foundation for a boom in future years.
- Google will grab even more of the search market, but instead of acting with arrogance towards their customers and domainers - i feel they will try to work with us, as we are worth a lot of money to them in Ad revenues.
- The general economy will continue to deteriorate and domainers in need of cash will let go of some superb names very cheap. 2009 will be the year of the bargain. After meeting with various Hedge fund managers (the few remaining) quite a few are bullish on Q4 09, as the various economic stimulatory packages finally filter through to the economy - how long this will last is anyone’s guess as the the fundamental issues still remain and the average man in the street is short of savings and up to his neck in debt.
Jamie Parks
Domain Developer and Live Domainer
- Masses of unemployed and self-employed people all across the world will start seriously questioning all aspects of their lives. Governments, Gods, and what it means to truly do ‘Good’ will be intensely re-examined.
- Socialism will rise via Social Capital Investing. The movement currently driving the Semantic, Social and Mobile webs will expand at an unprecedented rate. Going ‘local’ will continue to foster the ‘green’ energy revolution. RFID, BioMetric, NANO and Ai technologies will be used in various widespread commercial applications.
- Hollywood will be dismantled. Famous people will denounce their ‘fame’ in droves and embrace the Internet despite their contractual agreements. Lots of major chain stores will go out of business and be bought up by realestate speculators.
- The SEC will be investigated. All bailouts will fail. New currencies and monetary systems will be explored. The structure of the American Tax system will be radically re-designed to distribute the national wealth more fairly, starting with health care.
- The citizens of the world will continue to revolt until the illegal occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan ends. Veterans of all wars will use the web to speak out and share their experiences and opinions. Ideas of the devolution of WAR will be mentioned in the mainstream traditional medias. The U.S. Military will re-define it’s foreign policy. The Revolution will continue to be televised. Truth + Transparency + Accountability + Action = REAL CHANGE. Quite simple really…
Stephen Douglas
Vice President of Business Development
WhyPark.com - “Domain Content Development Leader”
President
Successclick.com
“Successful Domain Management™”
- The focus on building content and customization on domains in order to get them indexed on search engines.
- New niche technologies that have yet to be defined in the popular vernacular - pay attention and nab the generic descriptive domains for big payouts!
- Parking services expanding to include multiple revenue resources and features beyond simple PPC links from Google and Yahoo.
- More involvement from end user buyers, based on increased domainers’ efforts to educate the ad and marketing industry on domain name value.
- The dedicated and smart domainers surviving, and the “want to be rich quick” domain investors disappearing. Serious domainers will rise to great profits based on smart thinking, education, evaluation of opportunities, and understanding the total concept of a domain’s assets.
thevirtual
Member of DNForum
- Alternative energy
- Mobile internet
- GPS
- Wifi
- Space travel
Krossat
Krossat’s Blog
- Wireless Technology / IT
- Fashion & Lifestyle
- Loans and Mortgages (wrt 2009)
- Tourism & Travel (New locations)
- Alternative Energy / Green Solutions
Neal R. Voron
FractionalDomainingBlog.com
- Social Net Marketing. I expect the growth of Twitter and other social media to accelerate as the Internet marketing community becomes more knowledgeable about it and gets involved. More and more Twitter applications and Twitter-like sites (such as Musebin.com) seem to be launching recently… I see opportunities involving “Social Net Optimization” and social net applications.
- Personal Social Community Building. More people will be developing ongoing interactive communities on Twitter, etc. based upon their ability to personally connect with people… BTW, the key to effectively utilizing social communities like Twitter is to make meaningful connections with people — not just building a high number of followers, according to Warren Whitlock (@WarrenWhitlock), co-author of “Twitter Revolution”. Personal interaction and offering value is important.
- Tagging. When did online tags start being used? It doesn’t seem that long ago, and the practice accelerated in 2008. I expect the trend to explode in 2009 as Internet marketers and others see opportunities in philanthropic tag, reciprocal tagging, blog-tag, and many aspects that have not been addressed yet. (I’ve got some great tagging-related domains if anyone has grand visions of addressing this area!)
- Generic Personal Branding. When people do not know you by name, it’s often easier to attract attention to yourself and your niche by using a name like “Mr. Positive” (MrPositive.com), or more recently, “Girl In Your Shirt” (GirlInYourShirt.com). I expect this trend to continue in 2009 as more people seek ways to make a statement, stand out, and draw targeted attention to themselves.
- Investment Scrutiny. In the aftermath of government bailouts of various companies and sectors in 2008, as well the Madoff investment scheme scandal, it’s perhaps more evident than ever how important investment scrutiny is, and it’s a trend that will surely get a lot more media attention throughout 2009.
Owen Frager
Frager Factor
- To compete for consumer dollars, hardware manufacturers will have to contend with the new kid on the block: cloud computing. Under this model, consumers “rent” storage space through a service provider, such as Amazon’s (Nasdaq: AMZN) Elastic Compute Cloud or Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) MobileMe service. Earlier this year, EMC (NYSE: EMC) heralded its intentions to enter the consumer cloud computing space when it acquired Pi, a developer of personal information management software.
- Even in a down market, the need for storage continues to rise. Think of all the resumes and virtual home tours being posted right now. Longer-term investors who take the time to research which companies are best able to capitalize on this trend may find some bargains at today’s price levels.
Sammy Ashouri
Fka200
- Bigger Economic Crisis. I just don’t see the mess we’re in ending. I think parts of 2009 are going to be bad considering that it’s harder to find a job and gas prices are slowly going back up.
- Some new revolutionary Apple product. Not exactly sure what it might do/be, but I think Apple might release some cool tech this year.
- The Large Hadron Collider. I think that we’re going to see something REALLY interesting with this once it’s operated.
- Americans will be a bit more united. I’m not exactly sure why, but I have this belief (or small hope?) that we as Americans will just unify in some way. There’s been a lot of separation amongst different groups, but seriously… with all the events going on around us, I think Americans will realize that we need to support one another to remain the strongest nation in the world.
- Year of the Green. I’ve been noticing a lot more “go green” advertisements/companies following along. I think 2009 is going to be a huge year for this “new trend” of being environmentally friendly. And I’m not saying just like somewhat noticeable, I’m really thinking some big explosion where all of a sudden it’s extremely cool to be “green”.
Kevin Jackson
eBusinessDomains
- Increased Demand Geo Domains. As more and more local newspapers shut down their operations due to increased cost and decreasing revenues, the focus will shift to an online presence. Locals will turn to websites serving their own communities, with news, products and services. This will result in an increased demand for geo domains.
- Web Development Will Be More Popular. With the demise of domain parking revenues, domainers will seek to find alternatives to domain parking. This will result in the development of more full scale websites, as well as mini sites, for those with huge domain portfolios.
- Domain Aftermarket Will Still Flourish. Domains will continue to be in high demand. However, we will see more domains selling in the low $x,xxx than in the high $xx,xxx, as this demand will be from Small Business Enterprises or home business entrepreneurs.
- Domain Auctions. Domain auctions will continue to be a very popular way of marketing and selling domain names. As more domainers seek liquidity than profits, we will see more great domain names being offered at zero-reserve.
Special thanks to you guys for taking the time to participate.
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My Thoughts On The Domain Game By Kesmodel
Published back in May, I finally got around to reading The Domain Game: How People Get Rich From Internet Domain Names by David Kesmodel. I’ll start right off by saying it was worth every penny. The book has already received a good deal of praise from various names in our industry. I wouldn’t be writing about it today if I wasn’t adding it to my list of recommended domain name research tools. Remember, I only recommend tools that I myself use or have used. I’ll never recommend a product just for a sale.
I still get a chuckle over all the ‘exclusive‘ interviews Kesmodel did for everyone. I’m not making fun of Kesmodel or the bloggers as the interviews were certainly excellent. I’m making fun of the abuse of the word ‘exclusive.’ Because they weren’t…
Anyone who intends on being serious in the domain game should purchase this book, though I highly recommend it to those newer to the industry. It’s priceless information, really. Any time you can get a detailed account of the birth of your industry along with stories told by the pioneers who were involved first hand, is absolutely valuable, if not inspiring. I say inspiring because I could relate to many of the figures that were early investors, and who are now enjoying life to its fullest (at least, I hope they are).
Since you can read loads of praise about the book in the links provided, I’ll offer a bit of criticism. The Domain Game has a completely misleading subtitle: How People Get Rich From Internet Domain Names. You will not learn how people get rich from domain names. A more appropriate, perhaps candid, subtitle would have been:
- How early pioneers GOT rich from internet domain names
- Extremely detailed individual accounts of early domain name investors beaten like a dead horse
- How you missed out on an opportunity of a lifetime, and how the tactics of the pioneers won’t work today (besides the hard work part)
In all seriousness, A brief and fascinating history of internet domain names and the pioneers of the industry would have described it accurately, if not too long. Almost the entire book is just stories of pioneering domainers, not current strategies and tactics.
I suppose I understand why the actual subtitle was ultimately chosen, as it’s a more friendly and familiar phrase to those unfamiliar with our industry. But it’s still misleading.
Of course, hard work and perseverance are general necessities that apply at all times. Ultimately, the book doesn’t really provide many specific tactics that one can use today. The strategies may be the same, but the tactics do not really apply in a market that’s not much like the one eight years ago.
That’s why I feel it’s not about how people GET rich from internet domain names.
Perhaps I am the only one who was bothered by this, and perhaps this is nitpicking, but I was completely annoyed and distracted by the way domain names were treated when at the end of a line and where the next line begins. The extension wasn’t treated as part of the word. So there were scores of domains where the domain itself is at the end of the line, and the extension is at the beginning of the next line. I just found it highly distracting. It took the smooth out of the way our minds work when reading.
There was also an instance or two where a longer domain name was at the end of the line and did not fit, so it was hyphenated and brought to the next line. Which domain were they talking about, ComputerGames.com or Computer-Games.com? I know what you’re thinking: obviously they were talking about the non-hyphenated version. The reason the doubt was there was because Kesmodel did reference hyphenated names too.
Again, this may be nitpicking; and I may be the only one who feels this way, but it made for a not-so-smooth read for me. In the end, though, it had nothing to do with the actual content of the book.
One particular section I would like to point out is in Chapter 9: The Future. You know where this is going. On page 182, a section called Exploiting New Term and Technologies talks about how watching emerging trends and registering the relevant domain names is more important now than ever. It gives a supporting comment by Rick Schwartz and a couple paragraphs of how Andrew Allemann does trend domaining.
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I’m Back! And I Have A Couple Great New Tools
I have electricity once again after Ike took it from us for 11 days. The site was also down today. Apparently the Google positioner plugin I use stopped working and made the entire site go poof. It’s gone and the site is back.
I’m a bit out of touch at the moment; haven’t been able to keep up on news and trends very easily. What I do have, however, are a couple great tools recently released by Name.com.
To start, they now have Domain Suggestions, Expiring Names and a Recently Deleted section.
The Domain Suggestion feature isn’t terribly special; it seems like any other suggestion engine. Though, I was able to find a couple decent names using it.
The Expiring section lets you buy names for $19.99 before they get deleted. Again, not terribly special but I did find a decent name or two.
Now the Recently Deleted section is a different story. I was able to find plenty of decent names here for the bargain price of reg fee. Eliminating hyphens, numbers, .nets and dropping the length below 20 yields some nice domain names for the keywords you enter. I love how you can search back X amount of days as well, but beware: the searches can take a long time (and I hate the location of the checkout button; my mousehand loves to click on it).
Let’s take some recent trends reported here on TrendDomaining.com and search the Recently Deleted feature on Name.com
- BambooTips.com
- TattooFinder.com
- RobotMachinery.com
- KyotoCarbonCredit.com
- CheckCarbon.com
- CarbonNeutralising.com (Yes, I know this is British)
- CarbonActivist.com
- ReduceOurFootprint.com (Call-to-action is the in-thing)
- CharlotteDayTrips.com
- SolarHerald.com (what a great name for a solar news site)
- OntarioSolarPower.com
- HomeEnergySolutions.com
Enter broken record: Yes, these aren’t CarbonCredit.com, SolarPower.com and Robotics.com, but these are worth reg fee and would do an end user well.
There is one last tool Name.com has given us: e-mail alerts for deleted names that contain your hand picked keywords. You can reach there through a not so subtle link on the Recently Deleted section called Get email notification of newly deleted names.
You can enter as many keywords as you like, such as Houston, Chicago, NewYork, Bamboo, etc. Then choose a max length, hyphens, numbers and e-mail frequency and Name.com will send you a notice as soon as the domain gets deleted.
Like Google Alerts though, this thing can spam ya. Do not leave the max length at 63 unless you really are interested in xomphoenixnightlifewhiteoutparty.com. Yes, I did receive an e-mail alert for that.
I really like how it will bundle your alerts into one e-mail instead of one for each name or even each keyword. Excellent idea.
These are a couple nice tools to add to your ever-growing arsenal. They need some polishing, but it’s a good start for Name.com in bringing in new features.
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Social Trendcasting Site Is Great Tool For Domainers
Ran across a nifty site today; I have no idea how it slipped by me. It’s called Edopter.com and they brand it as social trendcasting. You are able to browse and follow trends, even submitting some yourself (requires free registration). As a member, you can comment on submitted trends and even help hype them. You are given credit for discovering trends and can give credit to others.
The popularity of a trend can rise and fall, and it will show you the difference from the previous weeks popularity.
The site does use information that you enter to help define trends. For instance, you enter your date of birth, zip code and gender upon registering. The site will keep track of the trends you submit and support. So if a certain trend is wildly popular among 20-24 year old men, the site will say that.
I spent a good deal browsing the site and found some interesting trends and clever start-ups. A few examples:
- Spikeball - Like volleyball, only different… just $50 and enjoyed by males ages 25 to 30 from Chicago. Being the curious fella that I am, I checked in with Google Trends. The trend report for “Spike Ball” supports this claim. Check out the cities: LA is first, with Chicago second. Pretty neat. (ChicagoSpikeball.com is available Spikeball is the name of a product, not a sport. So it’s trademarked)
- OLED’s - Organic LED’s are more efficient and powerful.
- Coworking - The idea of work-at-home employees getting together in a community area such as a cafe or a shared office.
I even found one related to domaining: Backwards-spelled domain names. Sorry, not sold.
Taking a look at the most popular trends and you will see a watered down list of obvious things like the iPhone, Obama, Apple, Firefox, etc. The real treasure is found from browsing the trends.
Plenty of stuff here for domainers to sniff out. Some of these trends are quite early, which is a great time to get in on it. Let’s go back to the Coworking trend: If people are searching out comfortable places to work, a directory could be worth building. How much competition will you have? LocalCoworking.com is available.
Check the site out, spot anything that has potential?
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TrendWatching.com Releases July/Aug Briefing, TrendDomaining.com Had A Few Right
TrendWatching.com has posted it’s bi-monthly briefing early this morning. These briefings are free and every domainer should check them out when they are released. It is an essential tool as far as I’m concerned. This edition is INNOVATION AVALANCHE (link fixed), as they claim there is more innovation happening right now than ever before. This report discusses 41 copy-worthy innovative ideas.
This is a great site. I’ve used a couple of their reported trends to register domain names. They have a huge trend report that they put out at the end of every year predicting all of the next years trends. At $800, it isn’t for the average Joe. But it would be a wise investment if you could afford it.
So, if you’re in a lazy mood, here is the Cliff’s Notes version of the briefing:
The first 3 innovative ideas are based on the premiumization trend. You take every day normal products or brands and, well, pimp them. For instance, stylish fire extinguishers or the Hi-Q tire company. Premiumization was predicted to be a top trend in 2008, and it’s living up to the prediction.
Ideas 3 and 4 are hyperlocal trends. Sound familiar eh? That’s because I’ve blogged about hyperlocal dating. They go on to say that we spend 49 weeks a year in our local worlds, making the hyperlocal trends inevitable. I agree 100%.
Ideas 6 through 11 are based on the “crowd” or “crowdfunding” trend. These companies are using scores of people to execute their business platform. From a community-managed brewery that donates one third to charity, to rewarding companies that “do good” with mobs of shoppers. This trend is focused on empowering the public, and there are some pretty nifty ideas listed in this report.
Ideas 12-14 focus on the “FREE” trend. Companies are looking for ways to profit off of free products, and a few of them have made it work. Universities are giving away free notebooks that are plastered with advertising. The students get free materials, the University makes a little profit (or breaks even) and the advertisers get impressions; 96 a semester if you’re counting.
Ideas 15-18 are “ItGredients.” This is predicting the next it-ism in the food and beverage industry, such as red espresso; made from red tea and much healthier than regular espresso. Also featured: chocolate covered ants. Yum. They also talk about high-end juices. I almost wrote a post about high-end juice a couple months ago. I figured it wasn’t a trend that domainers could not capitalize on enough to warrant a full post.
Ideas 19-23 are “Tryvertising.” Along with premiumization, this trend was expected to be one of the biggest for 2008. This is another trend I almost wrote a post on. SeatGuru is an example; they have detailed info on the seating layouts of commercial airplanes. This will help you choose the best seat for your next flight. Other examples would be a site that helps you find hotel rooms with the best views and restaurant ratings not for restaurants themselves, but individual dishes they serve. That way, you can “try” them out before you actually purchase.
Ideas 24-28 are based off of making radical eco-friendly decisions that can greatly benefit your company. Examples given were pedal-powered street vendors, solar powered kiosks, mattresses made from recycled materials and something I blogged about: First Look. First Look sells detailed reports to businesses that wish to generate their own power using wind, solar or whatever. This can be extra helpful to domainers who are looking for green geodomain names.
Ideas 29-32 are the “Meconomy.” Not only did I think about blogging about this trend, I have a half-written post on it already. This trend is the personalization of EVERY-FREAKIN-THING: Baby movies, M&M’s, magazines, etc. This is a trend domainers would be interested in as you can plop a “me” or “my” on just about any domain name.
Ideas 33-36 are the convenience economy. This trend focuses on doing things faster, simpler and better. Things like bike stations, they say. They also talk about press-on eyeshadow. This is another topic that I have a working post on. It’s not totally focused on eyeshadow, but is about a bigger, different trend.
Ideas 37-39 are feeder businesses. These are businesses that feed off of other businesses and/or trends. For instance, a company that will put your items on eBay for you. Without eBay the company doesn’t exist.
Idea 40 is the “Eco-Iconic.” We’ve gone from eco-ugly to eco-chic to eco-iconic: proudly showing off your trendy, efficient personal eco-friendly goods. They give a solar-powered lawnmower as an example. I’ve I blogged about personal solar power here.
Idea 41 is “Off=On.” The success of the online revolution is leading to many companies taking advantage of it. Some of them are even mirroring the online world in their offline manufacturing processes and procedures. They give a chocolate company as an example.
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