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Web Development

Having a Reliable Web Developer is Essential

I’ve pretty much retired from website development projects. I previously shared why I retired my pet websites, and I already sold all of the geodomain names I developed over the years (Lowell.com, Newburyport.com, Burbank.com, and several other smaller projects). The only websites I continue to operate are Embrace.com and DomainInvesting.com, and I intend to keep it that way.

Website development can be a challenging job. The owner needs to design the website and ensure the functionality is perfected to achieve various goals. The owner also needs to be sure the website is secure. Not only does the owner need to protect company and customer data, but also be sure the website isn’t sending spam and doesn’t get hacked. This isn’t always easy, but it does require regular attention.

Why I Retired My Pet Websites

For more than ten years, I operated a group of pet related directory websites. DogWalker.com was the most popular of the group, and I also operated DogPark.com, DogGroomers.com, and CatSitter.com. I closed down DogPark.com more than a year ago, and the other websites were shut down a month ago. I thought I would share why I decided to retire these websites.

DogWalker.com was the first of these pet directory websites I launched. I don’t know if I would call it an immediate success, but at its peak, there were several hundred paying advertisers. I later acquired DogGroomers.com and CatSitter.com, and launched websites using the same WordPress theme and customized design. Those two websites were not as commercially successful from an advertising perspective.

Namecheap Launches Visual.com Website Builder

During the NamesCon conference today, Namecheap announced that it launched its website builder, Visual, which can be found on the brand match Visual.com. The news was shared by a Namecheap’ representative, and since the news wasn’t announced via press release or through the Namecheap Twitter account, I am going to assume this was a soft launch:

(Tweet Deleted)

Peter Askew Starts GDDO Newsletter

Peter Askew has become one of the most well known domain investors through the successful businesses he has developed. I am a big fan of VidaliaOnions.com and the story behind this business, and Peter regularly shares background about his other web development projects, including BirthdayParties.com and DudeRanch.com.

Earlier this week on Twitter, Peter shared that he is starting a newsletter on GDDO.com, a domain name he recently acquired at auction:

How Peter Askew Sold Brevard.com

Peter Askew is a domain investor who I admire because of his knack for website and business development on nice domain names. Earlier this year, I wrote about his VidaliaOnions.com business, and I also wrote about the launch of BirthdayParties.com. In addition to these lines of business, Peter also found time to build and launch Brevard.com, a geodomain with a focus on the town of Brevard, North Carolina.

This afternoon, Peter shared the story of how he built, launched, and ultimately sold Brevard.com. Peter’s story was shared in a series of tweets, and it’s a pretty quick read.

Trying Out GoDaddy WordPress Premium Support (WPPS)

GoDaddy recently launched a new service called WordPress Premium Support. From what I understand, customers who use the service can have GoDaddy’s WordPress support team resolve a variety of issues related to their WordPress-based websites. They are also able to add various forms of functionality to existing websites. I just signed up for the Basic Subscription plan ($79.99/month) to fix some issues and make updates to my website.

As you may have noticed last Friday, DomainInvesting.com was not accessible for part of the day. I attempted to update one of my plugins, and for some unknown reason, it basically caused the website to crash. Everything below the header was missing. Even after I deactivated the plugin, my site was still unavailable. My guess is that it failed because I had waited a long time to update this one particular plugin. Luckily, GoDaddy’s support team was able to use a backup of my website to restore it with minimal loss (a few comments and a couple of articles).

On Monday, I decided to sign up for GoDaddy’s WordPress Premium Support program to give it a shot. I still need to have that plugin updated correctly, and I am hopeful the support team will be able to troubleshoot the issue and get the plugin updated and functioning correctly. I also need to have the Subscribe to Comments plugin updated and implemented like I had it before. When the subscribe box disappeared, I deactivated the plugin and have not reactivated it.

I am using GoDaddy for two reasons:

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