I want to have a look at domain names associated with diseases and what to look for in those domain names. Domain names associated with diseases may be worth investing in.

In the latest issue of Science, there is a paper on genes linked to inherited susceptibility to autism. A subscription is needed to read the articles in most of these journals but may be available through your public library or college. They are a great source of ideas for such domain names.

Autism

Autism is a brain development disorder that impairs social interaction and communication, and causes restricted and repetitive behavior, all starting before a child is three years old. This set of signs distinguishes autism from milder autism spectrum disorders (ASD) such as Asperger syndrome.

The incidence of autism appears to be increasing though it is unclear whether this is because of better detection or an actual increase in the number of people affected. It mainly occurs in males and requires considerable support services and can have quite an impact on the family both emotionally and financially.

Autism has been linked in the media to vaccination especially those with thimersal, a mercury containing preservative but no good scientific evidence backs this connection. Vaccinations have been thimersal-free for some time but no decrease in autism incidence has been noted.

Autism and Domaining

Autism related domain names benefit from the following characteristics

• Increased incidence
• Strong media coverage
• Controversy
• Activism by family, lawyers etc
• Associated support services e.g. speech therapy, behavioral therapy etc
• Strong impact on family both emotional and financial

Disease related domain names benefit from these characteristics. Google trends is one tool that helps evaluate some of these factors e.g. autism. The associated treatments and services will provide the revenue when the domain name is parked or developed. 

Ethics of disease domaining

You may question the ethics of benefiting financially from disease related domain names. In my opinion, this is a matter of finding your own level of comfort. If I receive an inquiry from a nonprofit/charity for a disease related domain name, I am more likely to part with it for a nominal sum or even give it away depending on the circumstances. You may be able to write off the amount against your taxes but consult your financial adviser first.

I have less issues with developed domains where information on the disease, treatment and services are provided. You can even develop the domain into a referral service, collecting the money from the service providers rather than patients or families of patients.

Summary

Look for disease related domains that have these characteristics

• associated with increasing incidence of the disease
• may have controversy associated with the disease or treatment
• the disease has a strong impact on patient, family and support services
• gets media coverage

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Google Labs - Google Suggest

I always like taking a look at what Google is testing out. Google Labs Suggest tool is an interesting concept. As you type in your search term, it will suggest terms to you. Even better is the list of terms also comes with the number of results in a Google search.

So instead of having to run each search to find out the number of results, you have it presented to you immediately where you can do direct comparisons.

Why do you need to know the number of results in Google?

The number of results can give you an idea of the level of interest and competition. Also in the tool, you will see various combination of terms which will give you an idea of the coverage of those terms or spark some new ideas.

Google Labs - Google Sets

Google Sets tries to predict related terms based on the combination of terms you enter. This can be a handy tool to help you brainstorm around an idea. I would love if there were check boxes beside the found terms so I could choose a new set of terms to run from the set of terms previously found. This could lead you in unpredictable directions.

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OK, I am going to do something I have not done up to now and that is vent a little.

I was interested in one domain name from the new .asia domains because I had a generic name across a range of extensions and a significant Asian cohort of visitors. It wasn’t essential to me but i thought it would be a nice addition especially to refer my Asian visitors to.

So back in February, I register the name and wait. It turns out more than one person bid on the name and it will go to auction. Then there are several weeks of silence during which the registrar and pool.com who are handling the auction cannot shed any light on whats happening.

finally I am notified of the auction and I bid $10 when it opens. A few days into the auction and no other bid and I receive an email that the auction is extended to what was almost a month because of vacation etc. Over  the whole time, no one else bid and the auction closed a few weeks ago with me winning the name for $10.

Now the waiting begins again. Details will be sent to me on how to pay, I am told. Today I get an email telling me to pay the $10 which I do and now I am waiting for that to be finalized and ownership transferred to me.

Why has it taken from February to May to go through this simple process?  I have seen many complaints about this horrible process scattered around the web. When there is already some doubt about the value of the .asia domain to start with, why would you further devalue it by badly messing up the registration and distribution?

There are less popular extensions that hold some value because they are well managed. Clearly .asia is not going to fall into that category. Still when I eventually get my hands on this domain, I will continue with my development plans and am not worried about resale value.

I do pity those that speculated on .asia though. Unless there is a much better management system put into place, this tld will fall by the wayside.

OK, end of my rant. I haven’t been posting much lately because I have been out photographing the spring migration of neotropical birds and i can thank domaining for paying for my equipment.

Anyway back to regular topics coming up soon.

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Now we return to our regular programming about predictive domaining and speaking of TV, do you change the channel when the ads come on or leave the room? It might be worth paying attention to get some ideas for domains.

TV advertising

TV ads are big business with vast amounts of money in play. Behind this is the vast amount of market research that is carried out and so you too can benefit from that research.

Have a look at the 2007 TV ad statistics which also includes a link to ad categories and money spent.

Sanitizing products

Lets take an example. I have noticed a big trend in pushing sanitizing products. It is quite clear that consumers are quite concerned about microbes in their home environment and especially in relation to their children. Antibacterial and antimicrobial ingredients are being added to all sorts of household products and being marketed.

Someone I know has taken this information and developed a product for the offline world. Basically it is an antibacterial wash for pets feet. Again playing on the public’s fear of contamination, pets may track in more than mud on their feet so by adding an antimicrobial ingredient to a soap solution, you have a product that benefits from the public perception and advertising research and marketing.

So try paying attention to the themes seen with TV ads and in other ad media and see if you can find domain names that reflect related generic products.

Ads affect perceptions

I also want to point out how advertising heightens and molds such perceptions. Again using the example of hygiene, much of this promotion has built upon a natural concern for cleanliness and care for our children. However advertising has heightened this awareness and plays on those natural concerns beyond what may be an appropriate level of concern.

In the medical community, the Hygiene Hypothesis actually proposes that such heightened concerns may actually be hurting our children and us. It proposes that exposure to microbes helps children to build natural immunity and prevent allergic reactions especially chronic ones such as asthma. There is some epidemiological data that supports this.

Secondly one of the largest population-based studies of airway diseases ever conducted published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine points to spray cleaning products as contributing to the development of asthma.

The use of cleaning sprays at least once a week was associated with a roughly 50% increase in asthma symptoms or use of asthma medication and a roughly 40% increase in wheezing.

Use of spray cleaners and air fresheners at least four days a week was associated with a doubling of the risk of physician-diagnosed asthma.

Predicting Risk

So what is my point? Reality may differ from perception and advertising works with people’s perceptions. Therefore choose your domain name carefully taking into account these perceptions. I consider the difference between reality and perception for a topic as a risk factor. If that difference is large, then the possibility of a “reality check” along the way is higher and so your domain may become worthless.

Saving a domain

Sometimes you can save a domain name by turning to the opposite point of view. For example if you owned SprayCleaners.com and tomorrow there was a ban on spray cleaning products, would your domain name be worthless?

Not necessarily. You could develop to present the issues around spray cleaners and suggest alternatives and advertise such alternatives. With some thought, you can save a domain that you had predicted would become popular.

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