Domain Owl

Looking at the recent issue of PCWorld and its cover story, the “52 Incredibly Useful Sites” article,  I was inspired to start  a new one myself. I saw the future of domaining get a second wind. Online users, internet browsers, and surfers of the next wave of technology (of all ages) are becoming more and more expectant when typing in domain names for Internet solution sites.

New websites may seem redundant to the uninformed observer, but to the avid domainers with savvy tech consciousness, the next big thing carries with it the need for the next big solution. All of the sites on the 52 Incredibly Useful Sites list were formed by a tertiary concern tasking itself with providing an online platform for a user need. And today, online Internet users want their solution provided online.

Domains are the brands for these online solutions. The keyword formation of the website name makes for some creative domaining. Needs for these users start from pain points with existing schedules, resources, challenges and clicks and mortar office space. The cloud computing and social networking age has hastened the advent on the online user of what were formerly onsite or computer networked group applications.

Each of these 52 sites was born of a new domain that forged a brand. These domains were born of domain algebra, the combination of keywords and easily remembered base words. Some of them follow the noun plus animal name, like Grooveshark. Sometimes a simple verb that defines a new activity brands the domain, such as ‘proxify’ at Proxify.com and Citrify (for photos).

Huddle.com is  the extension of the spoken word, the adoption of a business use of a sports term for project management online. Yammer also employs the associative slang use of a word for a practical solution site online. Yammer functions like an informal intranet or social network within company or organizational boundaries. This is a great way around all those strangers sniffing around on Facebook into your chats between work colleagues.

Some words to make up the domains had simply had been adopted as a website and brand in a departure from their meaning, like at Mint. Humyo.com doesn’t mean anything in English, but the site offers ten MB of free online storage, something anyone who works online can appreciate the use of. That’s a short, easily typeable word people will remember.

Drop.io shows the ingenious use of a newer TLD to deliver one stop drops online for files.  Smart.fm is another one with a distinctive sub-TLD finish but a calling card for an app nobody can turn down.  Bubbl.us mind-maps the brainstorm instinct for when Internet users are away from their laptops or just freethinking on the go. Droolr is a gear shopping site for nerds.

Zoho.com sounds like a nonsense word, but the collaborative small business tools at the site are no joke. Qik is a fantastic use of a three letter domain name and this site provides resources for live streaming. Iphone streaming, Blackberry streaming, personal video streaming that turns the man on the street into a globally accessible media reporter. CutMP3 is a site I’ve been waiting for, a portal to transition any tune into a ringtone.

These type of sites should give hope to those domainers who spot the short nonsense words in the drop lists or deleting domains spreadsheets and have a light bulb go on over their head. There is market and an audience for these sites, as well as a critical host of reviewers waiting to discover them. The resale value of any of these domains would be an interesting metric to track.

RetailMeNot.com finds coupons, a much needed site when so many Google searches for coupons end up at adsense-driven text clickjackers.  OpenTable.com is a known resource, but SeatExpert.com gets the best seat on any plane. Passpack.com and Topicfire also show how the basic keywords married to a verb or noun can make any domain name that becomes a full fledged website.