This is Part 2 of this article. If you haven't read Part 1, please read it first.

5. Online Data Storage

If you need to store data you can establish a domain name and simply transfer files to your site. This could be used to backup your computer files or to deposit some other data like video or audio files that would otherwise take up a lot of space on your own hard disk drive.

If others needed access to the data, you could allow them access either with or without a passport.

6. Provide Information About Your Club

This option is similar to some of the others, but focuses on one club (or even a group of related clubs) eg, if you had a small club called "Al Ain Ladies Walking Club" you could obtain a domain name "al-ain-ladies-walking-club.ws" and provide information about the club including perhaps contact details of the members, meeting times, membership rules and photos of club events.

7. Create a Directory

Creating a directory is a good way to get people to a site and monetize it with Google AdSense advertisements. Say for example you decided to set up a directory for Sydney commercial lawyers. You choose the domain name "sydney-commercial-lawyers.ws", place three groups of AdSense adverts on each site (and perhaps some affiliate links to topics that would interest lawyers) and then sit back and wait for visitors.

You could begin with free listings for the first say, 200 lawyers and then charge an annual fee for each listing thereafter. You make money on the listings and the AdSense advertisements.

8. Use Your Domain Name as a Portal to Other Sites

This is different from the directory sites in that you line up a number of colleagues who sell say, ebooks and place links to them at your portal. Call your portal "Ebooks for All Ages" or something that will interest visitors and work to get it a high listing in the search engines. You can also advertise this type of site. When people come to your portal and click to visit the ebook sites, guess what? They click your affiliate link and you get a commission on anything they buy at the other end.

Such a portal can be divided by genre eg, children's books, Internet marketing books, recreation books etc. So the service you provide is a one stop shop for people seeking ebooks. This is preferable for them than having a site with 500 ebooks.

9. Gathering Email Addresses for a List

So, you are the owner of several Internet sites and you want to capture email addresses to up-sell those who have visited or purchased your site. On your other sites you place a link asking visitors to sign up to your monthly stocks and shares advice newsletter which is free. Rather than having a sign-up box on each of your sites, you direct them to your sign-up page which has details of your newsletter, perhaps a bonus for signing up and the sign up boxes.

You can call this site the name of your newsletter ie, "Stocks-and-shares-newsletter". This enables others who have not necessarily visited your other sites to surf onto your newsletter site and sign up.

10. Your Articles Site

You are a rocket scientist researching the benefits of using zinc hydroxide propellant in conjunction with a special mixture of ammonium nitrate to propel rockets farther and faster than ever. You want people to read your research articles so you set up a site called "Dr Erikson's Propellant Research".

You download your research files, in Adobe PDF format and perhaps charge a small handling fee for each download or give them away free. You could even collect email addresses so that you could keep interested people up-to-date.

Conclusion

There are many things you can do with your own domain name. I've mentioned a few to try to stimulate interest ... maybe you can think of a few more. The fact is that it is now very inexpensive to have your own domain name and use it for all or any of the above. So what's holding you back?

Copyright Robin Henry 2007