About 3 months ago, I had the privilege of sitting around with a few fellow domainers to discuss the possible upcoming domain trends in store for 2008 and beyond. The conversation covered all aspects of domaining which include: the future of domain parking, the evolving of security for reverse domain hijacking and the explosion of fractional domain ownership. Everyone agreed that domaining has grown into a major global marketplace with no signs of stopping.
But out of all this conversation and sharing came one topic that seemed to have everyone dazed with intrigue and the excitement of stumbling upon something bigger than us. That subject was the trend of registering domain names with reverse spellings to allow a new resource for Internet search. We didn't know what to call it so I accidentally used the word Backwording, and for the rest of the night, backwording was used to describe it and a new domaining term was created. That night I went home and registered Backwording.com.
A few weeks went by and a fellow domainer who was part of that previous group called me up to inform me that he couldn't get the idea of "backwording" off of his mind and noticed that I was the one who registered the term. We decided to meet again and discuss more of this.
When we met, he brought with him one piece of tattered notebook paper that had a bunch of scribbling on it. He opened it up and unveiled an impressive list of sites that utilized backwording already. I was stunned. How did this slip under the domain radar? We hurriedly finished our lunch and headed back to the house for some brainstorming.
This is what we've came up with that night:
1. If a domain name utilized backwording, the last letter of the domain would be capitalized to indicate the domain is reversed. Example: Parking.com would become gnikraP.com
2. In essence, backwording would instantly "double" the amount of search results for a given search inquiry and therefore it would double the amount of potential informational resources associated with a certain keyword. Example: If a person was searching for books, instead of using the word books to search, they could type in the backworded version, skooB and an alternate path of resources would be found. They are no longer limited to just the regular keyword search.
3. Having two different platforms to search the Internet poses some questions such as TM issues, page rank issues, backlinking possibilities, SEO optimization and branding complications. Even though someone would have to actually type in the search term backwords, there might be considered association with the regular domain name. This would change the entire landscape of Internet search. The list of questions keeps growing daily.
4. The thought of a possible search engine dedicated solely to backwording came up.
5. Backwording could be used as a brand new marketing technique by companies since the new domain trend would mean the opposite of the regular domain name. Example: Reverse the way you think about Vacations, visit snoitacaV.com.
6. Domain registars would totally love the trend of backwording since it allows them to double their possible revenue. Not only would they offer popular tld extensions with a purchase, but they could offer the backworded domain also.
7. A possibly new, fresh and lucrative domain marketplace could be created using backwording. This trend breathes new life in the dwindling generic domain business since tons of generic domains can still to this day (maybe not for long) be registered using backwording.
8. This creates an entirely new advertising medium for monetizing programs such as Google Adsense and Google Adwords. Maybe even the creation of a new program just for backworded domains.
The day finally ended, but the obsession with backwording did not. I registered a few more backworded domains that night and tried to sleep. It didn't work. I woke up and registered a few more.
Today, my friend called me to tell me that someone registered BarackObama.com using backwording and the site is pointing to a John McCain website.
http://www.amabokcarab.com/
Welcome to the beginning of something huge.
-Rudy
But out of all this conversation and sharing came one topic that seemed to have everyone dazed with intrigue and the excitement of stumbling upon something bigger than us. That subject was the trend of registering domain names with reverse spellings to allow a new resource for Internet search. We didn't know what to call it so I accidentally used the word Backwording, and for the rest of the night, backwording was used to describe it and a new domaining term was created. That night I went home and registered Backwording.com.
A few weeks went by and a fellow domainer who was part of that previous group called me up to inform me that he couldn't get the idea of "backwording" off of his mind and noticed that I was the one who registered the term. We decided to meet again and discuss more of this.
When we met, he brought with him one piece of tattered notebook paper that had a bunch of scribbling on it. He opened it up and unveiled an impressive list of sites that utilized backwording already. I was stunned. How did this slip under the domain radar? We hurriedly finished our lunch and headed back to the house for some brainstorming.
This is what we've came up with that night:
1. If a domain name utilized backwording, the last letter of the domain would be capitalized to indicate the domain is reversed. Example: Parking.com would become gnikraP.com
2. In essence, backwording would instantly "double" the amount of search results for a given search inquiry and therefore it would double the amount of potential informational resources associated with a certain keyword. Example: If a person was searching for books, instead of using the word books to search, they could type in the backworded version, skooB and an alternate path of resources would be found. They are no longer limited to just the regular keyword search.
3. Having two different platforms to search the Internet poses some questions such as TM issues, page rank issues, backlinking possibilities, SEO optimization and branding complications. Even though someone would have to actually type in the search term backwords, there might be considered association with the regular domain name. This would change the entire landscape of Internet search. The list of questions keeps growing daily.
4. The thought of a possible search engine dedicated solely to backwording came up.
5. Backwording could be used as a brand new marketing technique by companies since the new domain trend would mean the opposite of the regular domain name. Example: Reverse the way you think about Vacations, visit snoitacaV.com.
6. Domain registars would totally love the trend of backwording since it allows them to double their possible revenue. Not only would they offer popular tld extensions with a purchase, but they could offer the backworded domain also.
7. A possibly new, fresh and lucrative domain marketplace could be created using backwording. This trend breathes new life in the dwindling generic domain business since tons of generic domains can still to this day (maybe not for long) be registered using backwording.
8. This creates an entirely new advertising medium for monetizing programs such as Google Adsense and Google Adwords. Maybe even the creation of a new program just for backworded domains.
The day finally ended, but the obsession with backwording did not. I registered a few more backworded domains that night and tried to sleep. It didn't work. I woke up and registered a few more.
Today, my friend called me to tell me that someone registered BarackObama.com using backwording and the site is pointing to a John McCain website.
http://www.amabokcarab.com/
Welcome to the beginning of something huge.
-Rudy
