Web Development

A discussion about the Geo Domain Expo turned into a lively discussion/debate about the merits of the .TV extension and developing .TV domain names. As most people know, I don’t care to own alternate extensions for a variety of reasons, with the most important being that consumers aren’t really aware of these alternate extensions. If I am going to buy a domain name for development, it will almost always be .com since they tend to get the type-ins, search engines seem to like them better, and when consumers tell a friend about the site, chances are good they will assume it’s .com. After some back and forth in the thread, someone made the comment:

“Since you own the .com, why bother with the .tv??? You are right…I understand you are developing oenophiles.com, so I registered oenophiles.tv today which will make a great video site of wine conneseurs [sp] talking about their passion for wine, grapes and wine making in general………….it will also include vine growing tips, videos of famous vineyards across the globe, where you will be able to book online tours of these establishments………
But hey no worries right??…No need to secure the .tv that means absolutely nothing to nobody”

Developing a website on any alternative non-.com TLD is probably the only way to make money (other than flipping it to another domain investor). I think it is much more difficult to rank well in the search engines with a non .com site – especially if the .com is developed. From my perspective, Google and Yahoo give more credence to .com names, so it probably takes less effort to rank well with the .com than it would to rank with a .TV or .Whatever. This will make it more challenging to make money, as it is far less likely that a consumer will type in .TV for a domain name than a .com, even if they are looking for video.
The real money from development comes from direct to business advertising sales. In fact, when I developed TropicalBirds.com, one of the people I spoke with about a free advertisement with a link back told me she wanted to buy my featured breeder section for 6 categories. She told me I had a great domain name and a great looking website, so it wasn’t a tough sale. I am sure it would be difficult to get less than Internet-savvy businesses to advertise on a non .com TLD because many people only know .com, .net, .org and .gov.
Without strong search engine rankings, driving traffic to a website is a more difficult job. It’s hard enough to get links to an established site, and I would think it would be made more difficult with a non-traditional TLD. Some words and phrases are so difficult to spell that type-in traffic is virtually non-existent. This is the case with Oenophiles.com, and it’s the reason I am developing it – (that and I drink quite a bit of wine!) I am going to need to rely on links and search engine optimization for my traffic.
Incidentally, I checked out the Whois information for the .TV name, and the owner has a Flatbush Brooklyn address, so I thought I would make a more poignant illustration. From a real estate point of view, owning Oenophiles.tv is like owning an apartment in Brooklyn, while owning Oenophiles.com is like owning an apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Sure Flatbush might be a nice place to live, but it will be more difficult convincing your friends to take the 2 or Q train to Brooklyn on a Saturday night than it will to get them to visit Manhattan. You can arguably have a great time in both places, but what fun is it if your friends aren’t enjoying the fun with you?
The bottom line is that I believe .Whatever have value if you develop them. Consumers for the most part aren’t aware of them, so the more that aren’t developed mean it will be tougher teaching consumers that they exist. I would think it is tougher to drive traffic to a non .com than a .com – especially if the .com is developed, so you need to determine if it’s worth the extra time and effort to develop a non .com TLD rather than trying to buy the .com.
I think the most vociferous supporters of non .com TLD are those who own them, clearly trying to make them relevant (and create liquid value).   If you need cash quickly, it’s obviously MUCH easier selling a .com domain name than a TLD domain name. If few people care (or know) about a TLD, it’s much more difficult to sell them.   It’s always amusing to see forum posts and blog posts of the most ardent .Whatever supporters who have a full page dedicated to selling these TLD.   Makes you go hmmm…

As the title of this post implies, I think some types of web development projects can be cost prohibitive. Although there are plenty of lower cost solutions for building an informational website (like TropicalBirds.com), things begin to get expensive when a database driven directory is needed. Oftentimes, I find myself looking to sell domain names that should be built into a directory website rather than undertaking the task of building, as the price is expensive.
The first cost you need to consider is for the programmer’s time. While I won’t even delve into the actual hourly fees since they vary so greatly depending on the skill level and location of the developer, I know the cost to be expensive. Even if you are able to secure fair rates for the work, it still takes time (at this hourly rate) to properly convey exactly what it is that you want. If there is a difference in language, you should add some hours in the back of your head since there will probably be some issues that get lost in translation.
In addition to the programmer’s time, you may also need to buy software or coding like phpMyDirectory or eDirectory. The prices on these programs are different, and they may also vary depending on how many licenses you purchase. Customization of the software is what gets to be expensive, as most people have something in mind when they buy a website, and the out of box solution won’t work. If you don’t go with a pre-built solution, you might run into problems as custom software is time consuming to build and can be more expensive to maintain, as you may need to rely on the people that built it rather than a fully staffed company like the folks at eDirectory.
Finally, as I’ve heard many times in many places, you shouldn’t count on your programmer/developer to be able to design your website for you. Most of the time, programmers are good with coding, but not as good with design, and visa versa. Sure, there are jacks of all trades, but if you choose to use one, it is likely that you are sacrificing talent somewhere. In my opinion, the coding is more critical than the design of the site, so if you need to sacrifice talent, it’s probably better to do it on the design side of house.
With all of these elements comes considerable expense. For a directory-based website, I’ve seen quotes of anywhere from $2,000 (not much customization) to much, much more depending on the concept and deliverables.   If you spend $8,000 for a great looking directory website, you need to keep in mind that you are going to have to earn this back – in addition to what you paid for the domain name – just to break even. The problem is that if you expect to earn just a few hundred dollars a month, you may never earn back your investment.
If you have a great domain name, at least your project will help appreciate the value of your domain name, as the content will presumably drive traffic, add links, and generate added revenue. Since you will probably be reliant on direct to advertiser sales, you can leverage your domain name to get business. Try getting the ear of a business owner with a poor domain name – good luck. If you call, email, or write with a category defining domain name (or a top geodomain), I think you will have a much better chance of making a sale. This is all very important if you just spent thousands of dollars building a directory website and need to start generating revenue.
With all the criticism to domain owners for parking their great domain names, criticizers need to realize that development can be cost prohibitive. In the end, it might be worth more to a domain owner to simply park or sell a domain name for a profit than to undertake an expensive and time consuming development project. As I said a few days ago, for those who do criticize, I recommend them ponying up to buy the parked domain name. If their idea is so good, they are the fools for not leveraging their personal assets to acquire the domain name.

So here I am bogged down in development. I am working on 3 development projects at the moment (all my own), not including Lowell.com, TropicalBirds.com, or my blog. I just acquired SushiRestaurants.com and Coffeehouses.com, and I think these names are best suited to be developed. My problem is that I don’t know when I am going to have the time to develop them.
For both of these names, I think a directory site should be built utilizing a database, but I don’t have the skills to manage a database at the moment. I have worked with databases before, but not related to a website. I also don’t have the time to really fully commit to developing both of these sites in addition to the sites I am currently building.
This has been the problem (albeit much, much greater) for some of the large portfolio holders. How do you develop your high value (but maybe low traffic) domain names when you are working alone? What do you do with the names you intend to develop while you are waiting to develop them?   Do you park them to earn a bit of revenue, but risk losing Google positioning?   I personally wouldn’t do the later, but what do you guys think?   What’s my best bet with these two domain names?