Everyone Else Has Them So Here Are My 10 Trends for 2011

Everyone has their opinions for trends for a given year so I might as well share mine.  They are not all completely domain or technology rated.  Some of them are where I think society is headed but when it comes to domaining it really doesn’t matter.  As long as people are doing it there are domains to follow.

1. Text/SMS driven websites and apps.  I think you’ll see most financial or personal information sites moving towards offering texted codes to log in as paypal does today.  Everyone has a phone on them at all time so texting info for immediate use is going to be commonplace.  I think you’ll also see a huge increase in daily or scheduled texts for various reasons.  From tracking your fitness to a daily diary, it’s a quick method to get them to do things.

2. The United States Starts Moving More. It’s no hidden secret.  America is made up of a bunch of fat asses.  It’s become a world of world of have and have nots when it comes to exercise.  This past year, marathons that took 6 months to sell out sold out in a day.  Triathlons that take 6 hours to complete sold out in 4 hours. Marathons,Triathlons, and races of all kinds are a HUGE business and this year you’ll see a surge never seen before.  I predict the number of people that run a race this year will increase 20% or more.  Big money to be made in this area and I know because I’m one of these nuts and it’s become a pain in the butt getting in to races that I easily used to enter.

3. The TV finally becomes part of the Internet. They’ve been talking about it for years but I think Apple TV finally takes off.  There were signs of it with 1 million units moving this fall.  While Apple TV still hasn’t drawn Apple’s focus, I see a dramatic jump in users hooking their TV up the net.  X-box, Playstation, and now Apple TV are all making the TV just another screen in the house that is fed from the Internet.

4. Freelance gets more personal. Quick sites decline while freelance increases.  I see a big increase in the general public using freelance, not just professionals. From making a logo to making a sweater, I think people are feeling more comfortable with hiring out duties over the Internet. That goes for site building as well.  As far as site building sites are starting to be concentrating on one aspect of the building process.  Logo maker, text writer, coding, seo and link building.  Each having it’s own site with even more competitive pricing.

5. You’re going to hear the word DLNA a TON.  DLNA stands for Digital Living Network Alliance and it’s a non profit group of 250 companies that allow their products to “talk” or share.  TVs released this year will be DNLA compliant and will allow them to share movies and photos with your computer.  Call it the “everybody but Apple” version of Apple TV.  The CES is going to have a ton of these and Best Buy is about to make a big push as well.

6. Tablets, tablets and more tablets. 60 million or more of them sold this year, 50 million by Apple alone.  Great buy on tablets.com but with a name of this value I wouldn’t use a free template (he probably working on it)  Tablets.com vs  Free Theme

7. Golf will continue to slide. I love the game but the number of rounds played has been in decline every year since 2000.  The reason I see the trend dropping even further is the lack of interest from the 18-30 population.  With all the opportunities for entertainment available, an event that take 4-5 hours and $40 plus a round may not be the first choice unless all your friends are doing it.  Meetings on the golf course are also in big decline.  This doesn’t mean that people don’t golf, it just means it’s a very saturated market that has less and less people each year. That being said, golfers are still die hard and a wealthy target market.

8. Google will tighten the clamps on “Made for Clicks” websites.  Consumers are begging for it.  People are growing weary of 5 of the top 10 results from Google being a pay for click site. Google is and will continue to concentrate on dropping sites.  While I fully support sites with useful information that are supported by ads, I also believe the culling of the hastily made sites will benefit the sites with value.  What’s the difference between a site made for clicks and a site that’s supported by ads? I’m not quite sure myself, but Google is going to try and figure it out with algorithms I can guarantee you. Either way it’s all data bait and many of my sites are both part of the good and part of the bad.

9.  Strong Keyword dot coms will continue to skyrocket. You will see some fantastic sales on these names this year.  Unfortunately most of us don’t own these and will merely have to watch and smile. There’s hope though.  I see dot coms continuing to increase and being the best investment in tlds.  The other tlds will have some big winners within but most of the consistent and big action this year will be in dot com. (I know it’s not a stretch it’s been this way for 15 years)

10. 3 letter and 4 letter numeric domains will increase by 50%.  I think this is the year for numerics.  The average bottom price of 4 letter numeric by the end of 2010 was $500.  I see this being $750 by the end of 2011.  I see 4.cn playing a big part in this as they roll out a new platform that caters to the English speaking market.