Part 2 of 4: 'Trend Domaining' Presents Insights, Opportunities For Domainers, Fractional Domainers

In Part 2 of Fractional Domaining Blog's 4-part interview with Scott Griffes of TrendDomaining.com, Griffes discusses a wide range of topics, including: what kinds of domainers and businesses can benefit from learning about trends; how Trend Domaining can help both newbie and experienced domainers; how trend research has helped Scott with his own domain portfolio; examples of trends he has observed and valuable/potentially valuable names he has acquired as a result; how trend research can help to identify valuable -- and available -- domain names; what Scott looks for within identified trends and how he translates trend research into actual domain name registrations; what trends he has noticed with geo media and what opportunities he sees as a result; what trends he has noticed with .TV domains; and how readers have responded to his suggested domains...

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Neal R. Voron, of Fractional Domaining Blog:

Q6: What kinds of domainers and businesses can benefit from learning about trends? How can Trend Domaining help newbie domainers? experienced domainers?

Scott Griffes:

A6: All domainers can benefit from trends. The most obvious mainstream trend is the green movement. I’m not saying The Inconvenient Truth is solely responsible for it, but remember that this movie was not completely welcomed with open arms right away. Not everyone was sold. If it convinced you, you could immediately apply that knowledge to domaining. And if you did, you likely have some valuable green domains in your inventory right now. This is something all domainers already do. I just try to poke and prod into places most haven’t yet.

When I started my blog, I thought my readers would be all amateur domainers. The poll on my page shows roughly half of my readers have been in the industry for 2 years or more. That solidifies that trendwatching interests both amateurs and veterans alike. I think with my blog, amateur domainers may learn how to find trends, whereas experienced domainers are more interested in the actual niches. Either way, they both can benefit from adding names to their inventory that will hold great value in a month or year from now.

Neal R. Voron, of Fractional Domaining Blog:

Q7: How has your trend research helped you personally with your own domain portfolio? How many domains do you own? What topics or extensions do you focus on? Have you developed any of them? Please share some examples of trends you observed and valuable/potentially valuable names you have acquired as a result.

Scott Griffes:

A7: I do purchase some domains directly related to the articles I write before I post them. I own about 120 domains right now, many of which are geodomains and 95% are .coms. None are developed as I am not quite skilled in that (or have the time). But I do have plans in changing that.

Two examples of names I bought directly relating to my articles are:

ArizonaSolarFarm(s).com. I found a tool that showed the best places for wind and solar farms. Arizona was the best place for a solar farm.

Microtheaters.com. With everything going personal, I posted that one-screen theaters will gain in popularity. I own several other related domains.

A trend I haven’t posted about is option ARMs. I believe these are the next bust after subprimes. One major difference is that option ARMs are usually used by people with higher incomes. I own about 6 related domains including OptionARMMeltdown.com and OptionARM.info.

AussieTattoo.com. I believe it was a dropped name. I checked Google Trends and saw that Australia was the #1 country that searched for the word “tattoo.” This was one of my first that I registered by way of trend.

Neal R. Voron, of Fractional Domaining Blog:

Q8: Nowadays, many domainers believe it is difficult to acquire a valuable domain via hand registration because many of the most valuable domain names have already been registered and are only available via the secondary market – if they are available at all... How can trend research help identify available domain names that may be valuable?

Scott Griffes:

A8: One of the best ways is with new words since most easily-pronounceable words are registered. A short while ago an artist drew a realistic Mario, Homer and Jessica Rabbit. These were so popular that they hit Digg, Reddit and Fark and inspired others to do draw some. It was dubbed “Untooning.” Like any other domainer would, I checked to see if this new word was registered and it was not. It’s mine now. This won’t be worth a ton, but it’s just an example.

New words also come from science and medicine, both great places to keep an eye out for trends.

I think the other best way is with geodomains. Just about any trend can be applied geographically.

Neal R. Voron, of Fractional Domaining Blog:

Q9: How do you translate your trend research into actual domain name registrations? What are you looking for within the identified trends?

Scott Griffes:

A9: First I look for the category killer. With Microtheaters.com, I was able to get one of the two best domains for that niche (the other being the singular version). This rarely happens though, as by the time it has reached a news site, someone else has already registered it. Then I look for synonyms and other related strong keywords. For instance, OptionARM.com was obviously taken, so I had to look for very strong keywords related to the reason why it was a trend. People often refer to the current crisis as the “subprime meltdown,” so I applied that and got OptionARMMeltdown.com. And what will those affected need? OptionARMSolution(s).com.

Other opportunities are in geodomains. Many trends are geo-related in some way. Top 10 Tech Cities? Well that’s easy: AustinTech.com.

You can even combine trends: Dating Site + Gas Crisis = Hyperlocalized Dating. I think you can monetize LeagueCitySingles.com, UticaSingles.com and WestBoroughDating.com. Long distance relationships are hell. Throw in high gas/flight prices and wouldn’t it just be easier to date someone 2 miles away?

Neal R. Voron, of Fractional Domaining Blog:

Q10: What trends have you noticed with geo media, and what opportunities do you see as a result?

Scott Griffes:

A10: Geodomains are the easiest to register and, in my opinion, the closest to a guarantee of success for a well-developed site. There are always lists of the "Top 10 This" and "Top 10 That". I don’t care if you hate these lists, they are gold for geodomains.

EVERYTHING is going local, and you can take advantage of it in numerous ways. There are so many cities out there, combined with so many niches. I think you can turn almost anything into a geo site. And you should. That’s how big this trend is. I’ll pull a few from my giant list of available names: NebraskaGuys.com, AkronOrganic.com, LubbockRecreation.com (I did this list a few months ago). Of course these aren’t Houston.com, Miami.com or Detroit.com, but ANYONE can register these geodomains. ANYONE can get a piece of this pie right now. You can. So can Joe Domainer who started 2 days ago.

Neal R. Voron, of Fractional Domaining Blog:

Q11: What trends have you noticed with .TV domains, and what implications do those trends present to the domain industry?

Scott Griffes:

A11: This extension seems to be tied to the geodomain trend. That said, I would only buy city.tv’s as the .com version of any keyword+geo.tv or geo+keyword.tv would be better (and more likely to be available than city.com), in my opinion.

Neal R. Voron, of Fractional Domaining Blog:

Q12: You frequently list available non-registered domains that you feel are examples of domains that are appropriate for acquisition based upon your trend research. That’s being very generous to your readers, and I sometimes wonder why you don’t grab more of the domains you identify for yourself!... How have your readers responded to your suggested domains, and have you ever regretted not registering any of them yourself?

Scott Griffes:

A12: I posted a list a few times in my first week of blogging. I noticed that no one was registering them, so I stopped doing it. However, the hypermiling trend hit it big weeks after my post and those got registered. I actually receive a good deal of organic traffic from “hypermiling tips” and “hypermiling manual.” Hypermilingtips is now registered in .com, .net and .info! I should have registered it!

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[ Gulp! Guess WHO registered HypermilingTips.com after Scott told his blog readers of its availability? Hint: It was someone who agreed with Scott that he had identified a hot trend and who thought highly enough of Scott's blog to blog about it himself! ]

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Don't miss Part 3 of our interview on Wednesday when Fractional Domaining Blog and Scott Griffes of TrendDomaining.com discuss Fractional Domaining, including: whether "Fractional Domaining" is a trend; what Scott's prediction about Fractional Domaining is and why; what trends Fractional Domainers should be paying attention to; and what tools/resources he recommends that potential Fractional Domainers use.

Join me all week as Fractional Domaining Blog continues with Parts 3 and 4 of our interview, followed by my personal review of TrendDomaining.com!

Thanks!

-- Neal