I was chatting with fellow domain investor, Peter Davis, about my DogWalker.com project, and we started discussing the opportunity cost of my working on this project. Peter knows that walking my dog is part of my daily routine, so it’s not really costing me much, but it could be difficult for my blog readers to do the same type of project.
“What might seem like fun stuff you do in your daily routine would be real work to other people,” said Peter.
I absolutely agree with what he is saying here, and it is certainly something you need to consider before embarking on a project such as the one I started. My reply to Peter was that “I hope people see that if you have a hobby or are passionate about something, you can turn that passion into a business opportunity.”
Starting a business is tough – it can take a lot of time and effort to do it right, and even if you do it right, it might not be successful. If you are building a website related to something you are passionate about, it’s less like work and more pleasurable.
This is probably the primary reason why I am making little money on TropicalBirds.com, which gets close to 5,000 visitors per month, and why the project is stalled. I am not passionate about birds and really have no interest in them. It’s a domain name and website I believe someone will want to buy and better monetize, but until that time it was stay as is.
The importance of having interest in a site’s theme is even more important if one is dependent on Adsense and Affiliate links for monetization. I enjoy exercising and have several exercise-related sites. But Adsense earnings for those sites do not compensate me for the time I put into developing those sites. Affiliate commissions for those sites are zero to date. So while I continue going to the gymn I pretty much have put those developments on hold. One’s time has to be compensated or else you pursue other avenues.
I would assume most of the revenue from the site would be from leads you’d collect for the sale of tropical birds, a short form on each of the bird pages, interested in owning a cockatoo or other exotic bird, fill out the short form and receive info on pricing, laws, etc…add short general form to home page too. then you can approach pet stores with business in hand.
As for affiliate sites, soo much to say about them, not good.
Tropical Birds is not a good lead gen category IMHO. Respond tried to do lead gen for dog breeders. It didn’t work.
I think that’s right George, it’s not a “money” niche. It’s the type of subject that someone who’s totally involved in it would excel with, and outside of enthusiasts it’s just going to be more work than it’s worth. I do applaud Elliot though for doing it, (and I think the site is very well done), and taking the time to lay it all out there for us to learn from his experience. I do think he’ll have better luck with the dog walking site, as he’s very involved on a personal level. Can’t say I predict it would be a big revenue generator, but I think he’ll do very well and find it rewarding on other levels.
This post really hits home. I own around 1,700 domains with only a fraction of them being developed. The majority of the sites I have developed have been fun because I have an interest in the particular topic.
Maybe it’s time to cut some fat and sell some of the domains which are just sitting around.
J.R.
J.R.,
Here is my advice. Everyday that you have hundreds of websites just collecting dust is a lost opportunity. If you have money saved, hire someone full-time to work for you and help you develop and market the websites.
whoknows
I disagree with your advice. If JR doesn’t have a solid biz plan for each, he might as well go to Vegas and play Blackjack. The odds of making money simply by hiring someone to do that without an actual plan of attack are slim to none.
I agree with the business plan. I should have included that in the post I made. Sorry about that. Keep up the good work.
I appreciate all of the feedback.
While I do have plans for every domain I purchase I simply have not taken the time to develop each site.
I have thought of hiring someone to build out some of the more desirable domains.
J.R.