To Buy & Develop or Not…

Elliot Silver
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20

I have an opportunity to buy a great domain name that is the name of an industry and profession (not Internet-services related). I am around these types of people often, and there is an abundance of them in my area, as well as throughout the country. Many of them advertise on a variety of websites, including their own, but there is no industry leader.

The domain name is expensive, and the price I pay would probably be considered more of an “end user” price. However, I would not be overpaying by so much that I couldn’t recoup the investment should my business plan not go as well as I believe it can. In other words, it might sell for a loss if I had to liquidate it.

The problem is that I have several projects on my plate right now (including the blog), and I am not sure the smartest move would be to outlay a handsome sum of cash to acquire the domain name and create another project for myself. There are competing websites that do what I would like to do, showing that there’s a market – but also showing that there’s competition.

Decisions, decisions… What would you do?

Rick is Right About Development

Elliot Silver
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11

When it comes to development, Rick made a good point yesterday. One of my biggest obstacles when it comes to development is myself. With domain sales down for me, I have been spreading myself thinly in an effort to build revenue generating businesses on my domain names.

  • In the last two years, my company has built Lowell.com, Burbank.com, and Newburyport.com into full-fledged businesses, which require frequent updates, client meetings, sales calls, and time devoted to city research.
  • I have my domain blog, which I update every day with news, advice, and commentary. This takes a considerable amount of time, but it’s a good outlet to share and learn.
  • I am in the process of building out Torah.com into a fully operational website, which will have a whole host of features that one would expect to find on a website of this nature.
  • I have a bunch of mini sites, which don’t take a whole lot of time to manage, but they do take some time adding content, testing layouts, researching topics…etc.
  • I spend time acquiring good domain names and looking to make deals to sell other domain names.

I find myself going in circles sometimes because it’s not easy to manage all of this. Building businesses takes time and effort, and I am finding myself having less time to do the things I enjoy. There is a fine balance between spending the right amount of time building a solid business and spending too much time getting few things done.

I completely disagree with Rick about his belief regarding search engine traffic, and I can’t understand how his domain names would lose traffic with mini-sites, because one would imagine the type-in traffic would at least stay consistent, however, that’s a topic for another day.

If you are a domain investor, you need to figure out what you want to do with your domain names before you do it, especially if they may be difficult to re-sell quickly. If you are planning to develop them into a business, it might be best to focus on one and make it into the best business possible before you start another project. Staying focused on one project is difficult, especially when you are working alone.

Take it from me, buying and selling great domain names isn’t difficult. Building a business on a domain name is a completely different story, and while I don’t regret any decisions I’ve made, I am finding it much more difficult to gain traction with some of my projects, since I can’t always focus on one project at a time.

Thoughts at the End of the Week

Elliot Silver
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4

As the week is coming to a close, I wanted to write a little bit about a few things that I thought about this past week. I bet some of you are thinking the same thing, and I welcome your thoughts in the comment section as always.

I booked my flight to New Orleans for Domainer Mardi Gras in February. For those of you from New York, Jet Blue is offering round trip tickets for around $229 after taxes – not a bad deal at all.

I wish DN Journal accepted comments. There are so many great articles and news stories posted by Ron, and it would be great if we had the ability to discuss some of them on site. I bet this would surely be a big traffic driver and would be interesting to many.

It really annoys me when bloggers and other news outlets have a comment section and don’t approve them – or they only approve the favorable comments. I wonder if these people are naive enough to think that nobody notices this – or if they simply don’t want to feel put down by people that disagree with what they are saying.

I don’t think people should develop domain names simply because others are doing it. The reason I develop mini sites is that I am a full time domain investor, and this is a way to build/add value to my domain assets in a down market. The reason I fully develop geodomains – and will be developing Torah.com (very soon) is to build businesses on them so. Anyone can sell a good domain name, but not everyone can build and manage a business. I want to challenge myself while building a revenue stream for the future, and this is an ongoing process.

If you are going to make it as a domain investor, you need to look outside of the typical domain “hang outs.” Check out webmaster forums, browse SEO websites, read up on new technology, and think about things differently than others.

I believe there are many good potential domain deals in the high end of the industry, but most of the low hanging fruit under six figures has been picked, and there aren’t nearly as many deals to be had in that area. You need to have steel stones to invest in 6 figure + domain names these days without a development/business plan, and you need a back up plan if your primary plan is to flip them.

    Names I Chose to Develop

    Elliot Silver
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    3

    I want to thank everyone for their feedback regarding my blog post a few days ago asking which domain investments I should develop. After some careful consideration, I decided to develop four of the names right now, and since I haven’t used the services of WannaDevelop.com before, I am going to use them for these four names.

    I like vacation domain names because people generally do quite a bit of research before traveling. I don’t expect people to book vacations through my site of course, but if they are looking to learn about excursions or fun things to do, they can find them on site, and hopefully visit my advertisers’ websites, earning me revenue.

    Here are the four names I chose and why:

    1) DubrovnikVacations.com – Having been in Dubrovnik, Croatia last year for my honeymoon, this one is almost a no-brainer for me. Before I went on the trip, I was very skeptical – just ask my wife! People who hadn’t been to Croatia or didn’t know someone who had were also questioning our decision to visit. However, everyone who had been there or know someone who went there told us how great it is. Dubrovnik did not disappoint us at all, and I think I can help create a website that will be reflective of this.

    2) JerusalemVacations.com – Jerusalem is considered a Holy City by different religions, and millions of people visit the city every year. It’s a special place with so much to do, that people spend a whole lot of time researching before they visit. People from around the world visit Jerusalem, and a vacation in the city has broad appeal.

    3) EasternCaribbean.com – Just about all of the major cruise companies have cruise itineraries for the Caribbean waters. Most of the cruise companies divide them between Eastern Caribbean cruises and Western Caribbean cruises when people search. This site will specialize in information about Eastern Caribbean cruises, which visit cities like San Juan, Puerto Rico; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Basseterre, St. Kitts; St. John’s, Antigua; Tortola, British Virgin Islands; and Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas; Labadee, Haiti (Royal Caribbean’s private island).

    4) ParabolicSkis.com – Someone mentioned about a potential trademark, which I didn’t realize when I bought the name. However, I believe the term has become generic enough to use, and I also believe there are defensible ways to use it. I love to ski, and it’s a big business, especially in the area where I live. I own a pair of Rossignol parabolic skis, and there is a huge difference between them and the non-parabolic design.

    I almost chose to develop DebtSettlementCounselors.com, with some good advice on building a lead generation site. The clicks are high value and it could pay off quite nicely. I’ve never done a lead generation site, and I don’t really have the time right now to research the ins and outs of one (privacy concerns are especially important to me). There is also considerable competition for decent SE positioning, and I wasn’t sure I could compete with the best sites, making monetization more difficult.

    I really appreciate all of the feedback. The other names I didn’t choose are still for sale. If you feel particularly strong about one of them, let me know and perhaps we can work out a deal.

    Blog Comment Spammer Trick

    Elliot Silver
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    3

    I came across a trick that’s been used by blog comment spammers in the hopes that they receive a back link on popular blogs that receive traffic. This trick is used on blogs that allow previous commenters to post comments without being moderated, something many bloggers prefer rather than having to moderate all comments.

    Spammers will post a comment that is related to the topic in discussion. While the comment may or not be entirely on target, the post is generally on-topic enough that it doesn’t raise any red flags to the blog owner. The blog owner will approve the comment, and with that approval, the spammer will have gained access to post unmoderated comments carte blanche using the email address with which he signed up.

    Although many blog administrators will see subsequent comments, including the URL, they can be easily missed, especially when a blog receives many comments. It’s amusing to see spammers try this method, especially because their keyword names are usually dead give aways, and most blogs use “no follow,” preventing them from receiving any search engine benefit.

    To Develop or Not to Develop

    Elliot Silver
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    28

    There is no question that certain domain names I own shouldn’t be developed by me. Purely and simply, they are domain investments, and the goal is to eventually sell them to an entity that does want to develop them.

    Some domain names I shouldn’t develop are in highly competitive verticals, and it would be virtually impossible to rank high enough in search engines to drive traffic and generate revenue in a cost-effective way. Other domain names are highly targeted and specific, so even with a high ranking website, there wouldn’t be much traffic or a great pay off with development.

    However, there are some domain names that I own that might make good candidates for smaller sites that can be monetized effectively with affiliate banners or Adsense, using the services of AEIOU, MiniSites.com, or WannaDevelop.com. Choosing what to develop in this manner is difficult.

    Out of the names below, on which would you develop mini sites, and on which would you hold simply as investments?

    BeerPairings.com
    DebtSettlementCounselors.com
    EasternCaribbean.com
    DubrovnikVacations.com
    JerusalemVacations.com
    MartiniqueVacations.com
    FatMetabolizers.com
    Metabolizers.com
    PaintHardener.com
    ParabolicSkis.com
    PopunderBlocker.com
    RedBelliedPiranha(s).com

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