"Off The Grid" Can Mean Money

"The Grid" was a 2004 TV mini-series starring Dylan McDermott, but that's not why the phrase is so popular in the media and on the web.

The Grid can refer to mainstream life ("The loner abandoned creature comforts and was living off the grid"), the nation's energy infrastructure ("Obama is betting on a smart grid, a futuristic mix of information technology and traditional power lines"), the next-generation Internet ("Researchers say the Grid is the future of collaborative problem-solving") and many other things.

Ever heard of Off the Grid Sports, Off the Grid Entertainment,or Off the Grid Energy? Those phrases have already been registered as .coms, but the possibilities for additional domains are infinite.

Also consider domains like gridquick.com, gridgrease.com, gridgrabber.com, bestgridsites.com, gridgripper.com, gridgrins.com and kidzgrid.com.

REMINDER: LIVE DOMAIN AUCTION TODAY - FEB 5

The Moniker DomainFest Global internet auction of some 4500 domain names continues into February 5. Check out the list and bid on the ones you like. And use the list to come up with your own new domains! Go to https://www.snapnames.com/apps/search.jsp.

Sports Stats Domains

I was reading the sports section of the paper the other day and saw an item about a university athletics department employee who developed a way to transmit team statistics to cell phones. This allows fans and bettors to stay on top of games in real time.

I immediately reached for my keyboard and grabbed a bunch of short, and therefore attractive, domains:

http://www.pac10stats.com/
http://www.uclastats.com/
http://www.calstats.com/
http://www.asustats.com/
http://www.ncsstats.com/
http://www.vastats.com/
http://www.baylorstats.com/
http://www.ksustats.com/
http://www.texasstats.com/
http://www.bigeaststats.com/
http://www.pittstats.com/
http://www.big10stats.com/
http://www.illstats.com/
http://www.uabstats.com/

You see the pattern. There are lots more similar domains waiting to be created -- by YOU?

Good Health Domains Are Good for Your Wallet

The health benefits of red wine are making headlines again, as they have every six months or so for the last several years. This news can make you rich, not just healthy.

The red wine media frenzy this time was kicked off by a report on the TV show 60 Minutes on January 25. New research suggests that the antioxidant resveratrol that is found in wine grapes, blueberries and cranberries not only reduces weight, fights heart disease, Alzheimer’s and cancer, but also significantly extends your life. (Sirtris Pharmaceuticals is a leading researcher on resveratrol.)

How does that make you rich? Fresh attention to this health issue creates fresh opportunities to cash in by creating and selling Internet domains (web addresses) relating to red wine and resveratrol. Examples of these domains include:

http://www.resveratrx.com/
http://www.resveratrex.com/
http://www.theantiagingpill.com/
http://www.thefitpill.com/
http://www.thebrainpill.com/
http://www.brainteque.com/
http://www.firstsignsofaging.com/
http://www.slowingalzheimers.com/

The market in domain names is booming, despite or maybe because of the otherwise depressed economy. Anyone can register a new domain for around $10 at Dotster, GoDaddy or Google, then immediately turn around and sell it for hundreds or tens of thousands of dollars. Who’s buying these newly minted domains? Investors hoping to resell them for a profit in the future, and companies eager to attract web surfers to their products and services.

Recent domain sales have included HealthCareSolutions.com for $55,000; SanJuan.com for $150,000; and Irene.com for $19,388.

An on-line auction, DomainFest Global, runs from January 29 to February 5 at http://marketplacepro.moniker.com/auction/detail.html?auction_id=197. Anyone can bid on some 5,000 domain names. Among the best are:

http://www.obamatini.com/
http://www.sarahsixpack.com/
http://www.whocanwesue.com/
http://www.funnyclips.com/
http://www.poptop.com/
http://www.charitypoker.com/
http://www.celljammers.com/
http://www.tomorrowshotstocks.com/
http://www.calienteslots.com/
http://www.breakfastshortcuts.com/
http://www.darkcircleremedies.com/

DomainFest Auction Underway!

A huge auction of some 5,000 domains is underway in Hollywood, with the on-line portion of the auction running into the afternoon of February 5. It's called DOMAINfest Global. (Click on those green words to get to the site, then check out the full list and enter your bids.)

Among the better domains being sold are:

Sleep.com
Funding.com
FunnyClips.com
Obamatini.com
SarahSixPack.com
CharityPoker.com
ReliableDNAtests.com
AfterDinnerCigars.com
Kathy.com

If you want to avoid the risk of prices running away from your budget during the auction, you can submit offers to buy most of these domains at their www websites; there's usually a "Submit Offer Here" link somewhere on the site.

Capitalize on Breaking News

In an earlier post, I gave one tip on how to find inspiration for new domain names. Here's another way -- scan the latest news reports. Last Sunday provided a prime example of how to do this.

I spotted a story in the on-line version of the London (England) Daily Mail headlined "Now You Can CATCH Obesity .. spreading fat cells are linked to a virus." The paper used the common word "bug" to refer the virus.

At that point, this British tabloid article was the only fat bug story on Google News.

I immediately registered TheFatBug.com and set up the page, at no charge, at Revenue Direct, showing an asking price of "$3500 or Best Offer". Revenue Direct creates a web page full of advertising links; when a visitor clicks on a link, I get paid anything from pennies to a couple dollars, depending on the advertiser. It's a good way to generate some small cash while you're waiting for somebody to come along and offer serious money to buy the domain outright.

By Monday, Google News was loaded with links to Fat Bug stories, from all the TV networks and major dailies to small town papers and zillions of websites.

I figure TheFatBug.com will be a great magnet for a diet pill or diet plan marketer, eager to draw consumers to its primary selling site. It's a no-brainer!

By the way, here's a great website for the inside scoop on domaineering - Domain Name Wire.

Domains Ending in .in, Rather than .com

Recently, it became possible to register domains ending in .in, rather than .com, .net, etc.

The .in suffix actually stands for India, but its practical value is totally unrelated to that fact. Since .in looks and reads as the word "in", you can create an infinite number of domain names that read as phrases ending with the word "in".

As in... (too bad, somebody already bought www.as.in, but now you get the idea).

I picked up Luxuriate.in, a good marketing vehicle for any company selling spa goods and services, expensive clothing or other luxe goods and services.

I checked out about 20 "in" phrases, and nearly all were taken. TheFixIs.In was still available, and if you put your mind to it, you can surely think of many valuable .in domains worth investing a few dollars "in".

Just today, as a GodDaddy customer, I received a special offer -- $14.99 for a one-year .in domain registration. That's more than the $10 or so you can register a .com domain for, but about half the price normally charged for a foreign domain. A good deal!