Since, well, everybody is on the Internet these days, buying holiday gifts for your friends and family can be made easier by knowing what services they use on the ‘Net. You can buy presents online from a countless number of Internet-based vendors, but here are six ideas that make for more unique & personalized Internet gifts:
1) Game time cards
If a friend or family member plays an online game, a game time card makes a wonderful present. Nearly all of the most popular online games such as World of Warcraft have game-time cards you can buy in retail game stores or online. If the game your friend is playing does not offer game-time cards, a Visa or Mastercard gift card will cover costs just as well.
Many online games these days are using a “free-to-play” subscription, with an option to buy additional features such as extra game content, extra character slots, or in-game items. Again, gift credit cards even as low as $20 will give your gamer friend access to these game features.
2) A membership or donation to their favorite forum.
Most everyone on the Internet has a forum or two on which they engage in online conversations weekly or even daily. Many forums offer membership packages that are relatively inexpensive and give forum posters extra privileges. And even if your friend’s favourite forum is completely free to join, a donation to that forum in your friend’s name is often as good as buying a paid subscription.
3) A distinctive domain name.
A unique gift to a friend or family member is a domain name composed of their name, hobby, or other interest; you’d be surprised at the URLs available, especially for non-business use such as the .org or .net domains. If your friend’s name is Dave Smith, for example, try to see what variations of his name are available.
Buying a domain name is relatively cheap if it’s not in demand and you use the right domain services. Paying the yearly subscription fee can become a great gift you give to your friend or relative every holiday season.
4) Website server space.
If your gift recipient has a website, or plans to create one, buy them server space on a reputable website service. Matching a distinctive domain as mentioned above to the server space makes a wonderful combination gift, as it allows your friend or family member to get their website online much easier.
5) If they blog, buy them a year membership at a popular blogging service.
Many people choose to use a blogging service like WordPress for their “Internet Presence”. Purchasing a year or more subscription will give your loved ones access to many additional features, such as linking their blog to a distinctive domain, mobile posting, and increased storage space for journal photos.
6) If they podcast or plan to, a good quality microphone and a small audio mixing board.
If you have the money, buying your podcasting friend a good quality microphone and a small audio mixing board makes for a wonderful present. You can buy broadcast-quality microphones for around $50.00 and up. A small two- or four-channel audio mixing board is incredibly helpful to podcasters when mixing different audio sources, such as additional microphones and telephone/Skype audio feeds.
Simply by doing a little research on what your friends and family do on the Internet will give you many ideas on holiday gifts personalized for their use. And, of course, if you’re sending them their holiday gifts online, you can save money by sending them a free e-card, too. Happy holidays from Slackerdan!
Internet Slacker 