Key search words on the net

By Jonathan Camp

Do you ever want to check to see if you can make some money on the web?

The following web sites may help you in that quest. These web sites and search engines show you the top keywords searched on the internet. Obviously if you can make a domain name out of these and register it before anyone else does you may stand to make some money by selling that domain.

Domain Name Warehousing as its termed, refers to the practice of registrars of domains controlling domain names by bulk purchasing domain names with the intent of using or selling those domains for profit. Can you beat them? It would be difficult given their wealth of tools available to them but it can be done. In fact it regularly does! Can you think of an up and coming technology that everyone will want to get into? Perhaps the new fashion or fad. You will have problems registering company names as they will usually beat you in court when it comes to the ‘who is the rightful owner’, but if you can find a generic name you will be onto a winner.

Look out for domain tasting or domain kiting as it’s also called. This exploits a loophole in the 5 day “grace period” at the beginning of a domain registration where the suitability or marketability of a domain name is tested. (See also domain parking).

You could also use the domain name as a form of portal (see domain parking) where you register the domain name and because of its popularity you create links on that domain to other web sites. Using the “pay per click” model of advertising you can then earn money due to the number of visits to those sites by people clicking on your web page or portal. After all millions do that with Google Adsense every day. Some even make a living at it!

• Yahoo! Buzz [read review]
  Take a look at what’s hot on Yahoo!
  www.buzz.yahoo.com
• Google Zeitgeist
  Google feature on search patterns, trends, and surprises with charts and top 10 lists.
  www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html
• Lycos 50
  Reflects the 50 most popular user searches for the week.
  www.50.lycos.com
• eBay Pulse
  Provides a daily snapshot of current trends, top searches, and most watched items on eBay.
  www.pulse.ebay.com
• Google Trends
  Explore Google users’ interest in search topics. Compare search terms, find out how popular searches are in particular regions, see related news stories, and look at the history of a query’s popularity.
  www.google.com/trends
• 000search.com
  Provides suggested categories to search the web and a keyword search box with a link exchange program available.
  www.000search.com
• Technorati: Popular
  Find out which searches, tags, blogs, videos, and news stories are currently popular.
  www.technorati.com/pop
• Dogpile: SearchSpy
  View family-friendly or unfiltered real-time Web popular searches.
  www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl/searchspy
• AltaVista Search Trends
  Examines trends in the millions of terms that people enter in the AltaVista search engine every day.
  www.altavista.com/about/trends
• AOL Buzzline
  AOL takes the pulse of today’s topics and trends.
  www.peopleconnection.aol.com/buzzline
• Ask.com IQ (Interesting Queries)
  Highlights top searches and popular queries from Ask.com the question answering and web search service.
  www.static.wc.ask.com/en/docs/iq/iq.shtml

Jonathan Camp

Jonathan Camp runs Micro Update Ltd a Professional Web Design, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Mobile Application Development in Devon. He has been actively involved with the IT and Web Services areas for over 30 years. He is a PRINCE2 Practitioner and manages a very technical team at Micro Update. The business is built on the ethic of providing a practical solution for local businesses in Devon.