Hot Trends: Cloud domain names in 2011

A lot of writers are predicting hot trends for 2011 and one trend in particular that seems to stand out among many of the stories is “cloud computing”, a term that refers to accessing computer services over the internet or “cloud”.   The terms internet and cloud are interchangeable. 

Google Docs is a well known example of a cloud computing service.

While some critics say cloud computing is overhyped, it’s hard to argue against it with major service providers like Google and SalesForce.com taking to the cloud.  Earlier this month, SalesForce.com unveiled Database.com, the enterprise cloud database. 

Domain bloggers Andrew Allemann of Domain Name Wire and Mike Sullivan of Sully’s Blog have written about the Cloud.com domain.  The domain Cloud.com was purchased earlier this year by VMOps after it was put up for sale by Meetup Co-founder Scott Hieferman. 

Back in September, Peter Ulander, Chief Marketing Officer at Cloud.com (formerly VMOps) spent time answering Mike Sullivan’s questions on the domain and the business, which Mike posted online.  According to Peter Ulander, the decision to acquire the name has been paying dividends with traffic: “While I can’t share the specific volume, we are pleased with the increase in traffic since launching under the cloud.com domain.  Our core traffic increased by more that 500% and, when compared to similar companies in our space, we are outperforming them on inbound traffic and time spent on site – meaning that we are hitting the decision makers in our space.”

Will Cloud domains be a hot trend in 2011?

Though the price of Cloud.com remains undisclosed, there were dozens of domain sales in 2010, with many looking to be bargain buys.  It will be interesting to see whether any of these names end up selling for a bigger return in 2011. 

Do you own any cloud domains?  The only “cloud” name I own is CloudShapes.com, which I purchased on NameJet back in June 2008 after it had expired.