Interesting thread going on at DNF right now, started by Adam Dicker. Great responses so far:

Onward: "The thing to realize (which I may not have realized earlier) is that on an original idea, you have to write a complete business plan, become the project manager, be the beta tester, and become the problem solver when you run into the daily problems that comes with an original idea...oh yeah...and be the bank as well. The developer basically does what you instruct them to do...If the developer could really take care of everything aside from the idea (and the bank)...that would be amazing and I would be willing to give up some equity there on a high end domain."

mediawizard: "Sweat equity is all very fine at the design or even website development stage, for SEO, traffic, sales, marketing, administration, accounting and management there are costs involved and no developer can be expected to bear those without substantial inputs from the business owner."

2gajgops: "Maybe we overestimate what we are bringing to the table with just a domain name or a domain name plus some cash? The folks that are good at doing what you are looking for don't need you."

Mazkel: "We decided to turn Pizzerias.com into a business. Although it hasn't officially launched, it's been a long 4 months of working with our developers. We formed an LLC, wrote a business plan, started marketing locally, made a "How to" video for pizzeria owners, learned about merchant accounts and payment gateways, made promo marketing materials, partnered with pizzerias, planned our booth at the International Pizza Expo in Vegas next March, hired employees, got a toll-free number, etc...the list goes on. It takes time, money and energy to get a real business off the ground."

See my response here.

This is an important topic because most domain investors fail to understand that you cannot 'just develop a site'. In those rare instances: you can. But I have seen plenty of top generic one word .coms FAIL at obtaining additional traffic, leads or revenue because they were not developed properly.

You do not have to run a business entity to approach your domain projects with a business mind. If you are trying to monetize a site: it is business, not a hobby. You have to do the foot work related to your project idea to ensure all bases are covered or risk losing time and money (maybe even sanity).

Ask any domainer who "hyper-develops": site popularity, revenue, traffic, etc. are almost never accidental. There was a time when these things were much easier but not anymore. Over time more and more people join the internet, search engines get smarter and change, user habits adapt and change, competition grows and saturates. Sure, you have your "Million Dollar Homepage" ideas, social network wannabes, etc. But these are exceptions of exceptional people and/or companies (and my guess is most "over night successful" websites have more blood, sweat and tears than you realize).

I would love to see your response on this topic. Please join in here or in the comments below.

Other Reads:

Hyper-Development, Net Illusions and the Domainer Focus

Comments (6)

Art

Tia, None of the DNForum links provided in your post work without paying money to them to become a Platinum member.

TWood October 29, 2010

I didn't realize that. I thought non-members could at least view the thread.

Dean

Great topic of conversation, so many different approaches one can take. For me it would overwhelm me if I had to sit down and list every little task that had to get done. Strictly coming from a business perspective would kill it for me. There has to be the passion first to motivate me, the alignment of creating good content, design and SEO follows and hopefully so does the traffic and money. I am not sure mass development will ever work, it just seems to go contrary to what Google's long term picture for the internet is and rightly so, as it would be a very boring place if every other site looked similar. What I am taking away from mass development is how to incorporate widgets and interactive things on my sites that engage the viewer more, but also make my sites more automated, more maintenance free. On some level, it just becomes a highly personal thing that has to do with your goals and vision of what you want to give and take away from the internet.

David Carter October 30, 2010

Turning a domain into a business isn't that difficult. Turning it into something that can make money using somebody else's business is actually easy, as I've been trying to tell the domaining world for years! Some don't want to hear though. They'd rather debate.

Danny Pryor October 30, 2010

To put it bluntly, if you're going to develop, you should be in the game for the long-haul. Short term, micro-dev is not the answer, and it almost never will be. Yes, a developer CAN develop on a good domain name, and a domainer with a solid name brings great property to the table. There are developers who understand a great deal about business, so a developer can create businesses online.

Rick Waters October 30, 2010

I am a developer who has had a number of successes, near misses and some unsuccessful attempts at developing premium domains into businesses. ( Skateboards com and Giftbaskets com are a couple of our successes ). Some quick tips - the better the name, the more you should plan. Map it all out with wire frames first before you start building. Know that you have to invest as much or more in marketing the site as you do in developing it. It's much easier to partner with an existing 'mortar' business and come in and handle the 'clicks' for them; but that being said - you can also have some success starting from scratch with no prior knowledge in the business I have found it's better to test before you invest. For instance - BlumHinges com has done millions from our e comm site and we enjoy a rev share but they had an existing business to build from. BackgammonSets com - we started from scratch with zero knowledge of the business but it's growing each year. Do a small test case and then ramp it up once you have generated some revenue or some other form of proof of concept.

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