We are the idiots ...

TheBaldOne · May 22, 2020

That's right 'we are the idiots'.

Why is it that the vast majority of us do not develop our domains into websites.

- Is it cost?
- Is it time?
- Is it lack of knowledge on the domain subject?
- Is it not knowing where to start building a website?
- Or is it because of laziness and just after a quick buck by reselling the domain name without doing any work?

Of course there is another option that should be added to the list, or is it because we do not think our domain names are not as good as we try to convince others that they are and 'they' should develop them into a website?

Of course we all know that a developed website with visitors is worth far more from affiliate income or even the sale of the website than just the domain name by itself that might be able to be turned into such, but very few domainers actually go on to develop websites on their domain.

Even if you cannot develop a website yourself through lack of knowledge on the subject (which can be learned anyway), or lack the ability to build a website (there are loads of programs to help you on the web), then you can hire people to do it for you from website designers to content writers they are all available for hire.

Come on be honest. Why do you not develop the domains you own?

BlackCatsAreNice · May 22, 2020

Yes! I have been preaching this all along.

Development is the KEY to wealth and GIRLS.

Girls love a guy who has a big Development.

Jv1999 · May 22, 2020

some of my domains are for personal use but tbh too many directions can't dedicate time for dev+update

Blueforever · May 23, 2020

I’ve had a number of domains developed, my latest is aijobs.com
Hasn’t made it any easier to sell though.

Anne L. · May 23, 2020

TheBaldOne said:
That's right 'we are the idiots'.

Why is it that the vast majority of us do not develop our domains into websites.

- Is it cost?
- Is it time?
- Is it lack of knowledge on the domain subject?
- Is it not knowing where to start building a website?
- Or is it because of laziness and just after a quick buck by reselling the domain name without doing any work?

Of course there is another option that should be added to the list, or is it because we do not think our domain names are not as good as we try to convince others that they are and 'they' should develop them into a website?

Of course we all know that a developed website with visitors is worth far more from affiliate income or even the sale of the website than just the domain name by itself that might be able to be turned into such, but very few domainers actually go on to develop websites on their domain.

Even if you cannot develop a website yourself through lack of knowledge on the subject (which can be learned anyway), or lack the ability to build a website (there are loads of programs to help you on the web), then you can hire people to do it for you from website designers to content writers they are all available for hire.

Come on be honest. Why do you not develop the domains you own?

I buy domains thinking at first that I'll develop them but in the end I get caught up with web development hiccups like datafeed integration or affiliate merchant approval, etc. I sure hope there's a template out there for non-programmers like me which will automate datafeed integration of affiliate products (publishing of which is pre-approved or approved immediately).

MadAboutDomains · May 23, 2020

Tldr: Good websites take a lot of time expertise and knowledge, it's hard, but no trickery required. Learn to develop one site and make it good and it will be rewarding.

I am a software developer by trade. I'm lucky in that sense because as mentioned by a few here already - developing any software can be one hell of a time drain. It's even more of a time drain when you don't have the expertise required in many different areas as is required in website development.

You need to know about front end languages, back end languages, cloud based infrastructure management, security, best practices, at least a basic knowledge of website design. Then you need the knowledge of how to troubleshoot issues, how to make issues visible to you, how write robust code that won't break the moment you edit it.

The alternative to this is to be at the mercy of others for their expertise so you have to hire someone or settle for a free website builder that allows for nothing in terms of bespoke functionality. To me bespoke functionality is the key to a useful website. I guess that's why a lot of people on here have mentioned about 'generating articles' to slap on their websites, because it's an easy default purpose for a website. But to me just the thought of creating a site that has generated articles on it about things that I'm not interested in taking the time to learn about and write myself sounds utterly soul destroying on the face of it.

As for SEO... It's not a dark art that you can just be an "expert in" in my opinion and experience. If your site has good content and you at least follow the basic guidelines of how to layout a website document AKA HTML then your content will be found by those that are looking for it.

If your content is a lot of gibberish then yes, you might need to start playing tricks on it, but most normal websites don't. They have titles, descriptions, meta tags, og tags and then a sensible and structured layout of the page using HTML tags that most logically describes the content that they are showing (header tags, main tag, aside tag) and this is because it makes sense for maintainability. There's no trickery involved or scripts to make it happen.

As for me. I buy domains in two categories, ones that I believe I could develop one day and ones that I believe have inherent worth.

I have one main site that I develop as a side project. I am lucky because I can draw from the stuff that I get exposed to in my day job as a software developer like the latest software development trends that make development quicker and hosting a site leaner and less expensive. But despite all of this I have only realised modest financial reward and its one hell of a tiring endeavour.

I spend pretty much all of my spare time working on my site. Even then my inbox is full of people moaning about how offended they are by something someone posted on my site or they're asking for features that the site doesn't provide yet. It's one hell of a drain, but I manage to draw some reward from it because I've put so much effort into it. It's something I can be proud of.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you want to make a decent website that's worth visiting then it takes a lot of time and knowledge. Unless you have a combination that works for you that you know reliably makes money with minimal effort and minimal outlay then you'd be better off focusing on one domain to develop and making it something you can be proud of and that in itself is rewarding for you and your visitors.

Recons.Com · May 23, 2020

So I have 5000 domains. Are you suggesting I develop those all? Can you imagine amount of work and investment? At minimum 10 hour of work, that is 50 000 hours. With 50 hours a week that will take 20 years if I do nothing else. Plus 10 articles for each average at $5 each, I will need $250k for that.

And the benefits are dubious. A buyer might have different idea and might change his mind once he sees what is there. You will have to deal with upgrades, hacks, ddos attacks etc.

I am developing some domains but not for sale. As a business, as a passion etc.

Shojib · May 23, 2020

mpls said:
I've developed hundreds domains.
You can develop how many domains you want, but without SEO, they will make the same traffic as parking.
My last 10 projects, due to lack time, I've not work on SEO, those domains make 2/3 unique per day.
Don't forget the niche, if you'll develop a site in competitive niche like insurance, travel, crypto, .... , you need $XXXX every month in order to try to compete with other sites.
Don't forget the google sandbox. If a domain has been parked for years and then moved to development, 99% will be placed in the sandbox.
This sandbox can last for 3, 6, 12 months.
Maybe forever.
Develop domains could be easy, have organic traffic is very difficult in 2020.
Last but not the least, Google is releasing update on weekly basis, your domain can perform good this week, the next week will be tanked.
I had read crazy stories, 15 yo white hat sites completely tanked, XXX people have lost his job due the update and many many horror stories.
My 2 cents: do not develop any domains if you don't know what you are doing.

just awesome. Thank you

NickB · May 23, 2020

NickB said:
That is it - You need a good looking site, great content, social media posts & engagement, plus high quality backlinks

Do this and you should be on the right track.....

It has taken me a lot of reading to understand what needs to be done and why - now it is a case of putting it all together

I like Neil Patel's blog, Sprout Social and Hubspot blogs - worth checking them out, loads of good tips, practical advice and actionable steps for newbies (like myself!)

Forgot to add another blog that I have bookmarked - moz

My morning reading has been: https://moz.com/blog/best-free-seo-tools

golan · May 23, 2020

TheBaldOne said:
So just 5 articles a month costs a maximum of $250, from that it is likely I will attract over 1,000 visitors in the first month and growing to circa. 10,000 per month by the end of the year, and these are direct visitors.

Stop dreaming, man. It's not year 2015 anymore.

And most important, please stop posting these theories, or, okay, experience from the past years, as facts that work today. Some noob may read it and get inspired and dump their money and time and other resources in this, only to found a damn huge hole in their family budget.

Domaining and development are two very different businesses. Can one combine them? Sure, but only if he knows what he's doing. One can't just become a successful developer without some crazy knowledge in SEO, not in 2020.

Disclaimer: I'm in SEO since 2006.

equity78 · May 23, 2020

Blueforever said:
I’ve had a number of domains developed, my latest is aijobs.com
Hasn’t made it any easier to sell though.

It probably won't.

People see a developed website, they think it's for sale.
Website buyers want to buy on your multiple of revenue and profit
Other buyers may feel that they don't want to buy because the site is developed in a manner they don't like, or that it has been used in a shady way or has a bad link profile.

A lot of other variables, if you are developing 98% of the time you are the end user.

alcy · May 23, 2020

if it sunds too good to be true, then it is..
if making money was this simple for all, without catches, extra costs etc... then every domaienr would be building sites.

Anne L. · May 23, 2020

golan said:
Stop dreaming, man. It's not year 2015 anymore.

And most important, please stop posting these theories, or, okay, experience from the past years, as facts that work today. Some noob may read it and get inspired and dump their money and time and other resources in this, only to found a damn huge hole in their family budget.

Domaining and development are two very different businesses. Can one combine them? Sure, but only if he knows what he's doing. One can't just become a successful developer without some crazy knowledge in SEO, not in 2020.

Disclaimer: I'm in SEO since 2006.

Just wondering: shouldn't your knowledge of SEO encourage you more to go the development route since you have an ace up your sleeve not all domainers and end-users have? ( I mean, if I could only develop datafeed-driven affiliate sites, I would. )

Curiously, the very strength most domainers should place their marketing pitch on: that of the search volume of the keywords in their domains isn't given much importance in domaining.

For the end-user, he has to understand that the search volume of these Exact Match Domains (EMDs) or Partial Match Domains (PMDs) is the very indication that he already has a ready market, ready to be tapped. Coupled with a sound SEO program, the SEO-intuitive domains will place his site on the top of the SERPs (Search Engine Ranking Pages/Positions), right where the money is.

You, as an SEO, know how you can access such important data.

You've seen the trend in domaining though. Keyword-centric .NETs, .ORGs, .COs or .IOs are given way less value than brandable .COMs or two word .COMs that are not SEO-intuitive.

In domaining, the imprimatur is on the .com tld, even when there are way, way better .NETs, .ORGs, .COs around. Is this the right thing to do if you really want to help your end-user? If you really want your end-user to earn?

You - as an SEO - what would you choose - the non SEO-intuitive .COMs? or the keyword-centric .NETs, .ORGs, .COs, .IOs?

As a domainer/domain investor though, would you go for the same option? Or would you not since you know that in domaining the tld is given more emphasis over the SEO weight of the domain name? There's a better chance that you would be able to sell your domains if they were .COMs.

Maybe that's what @TheBaldOne means with:

is it because we do not think our domain names are not as good as we try to convince others that they are and 'they' should develop them into a website?

Will you buy the same domains as an SEO as you would buy them as a domainer (for domain reselling)?

@TheBaldOne states:

Of course we all know that a developed website with visitors is worth far more from affiliate income or even the sale of the website than just the domain name by itself that might be able to be turned into such, but very few domainers actually go on to develop websites on their domain.

Indeed, if you curate domains with an SEO's eye and you develop them even just as an affiliate site or a dropshipper's site you can earn millions from your website - way more than you would had you sold your domains at a price you wouldn't be happy with if you know their SEO value.

To answer @TheBaldOne 's question:

Come on be honest. Why do you not develop the domains you own?

Because I am not a coder/programmer. Affiliate marketing is where I've witnessed home-based publishers earn most. I've seen the symbiosis of e-commerce merchants and affiliate publishers and I know how they have both oiled each other's money machines so that's the path I wanna take if I want a business that will surely earn. Home-based affiliate publishing, then who knows, be an e-commerce merchant later.

I step on a stop-gap though when it comes to datafeed integration of affiliate products since I haven't seen a ready template or platform yet which caters to non-programmers who wanna be affiliate publishers like me.

koolishman · May 23, 2020

I have developed a couple of my domains.

I plan to develop 3 more at the minimum.

Doron Vermaat · May 23, 2020

Website development and domain name investing are two very different things and require a completely different set of skills. Most of those who give investing in domains a shot aren't able to turn a profit, let alone know how to build and market a website. Advising them to start developing domains is a recipe for disaster most of the time.

ecalc · May 23, 2020

golan said:
... please stop posting these theories ...

Bad advice/theories echo from every NP street corner, that’s the price of soap box oration. Members such as the OP and that guy who has been naming businesses for 50 years spawn some of the richest material on NP. Their unvarnished brand of wishful thinking descends like smog over the best intentioned ivory tower hot air. OP’s classic “My little portfolio” deserves a Pulitzer Prize. Without drive by tagging it's all we have left. Moar!

CraigD · May 23, 2020

lock said:
If you need a Journo @CraigD just ask for his credentials.

Many thanks for the plug lock, but to be honest and transparent, I was not actually a journo but a news producer - the boundaries do cross over as I did do a fair amount of writing & editing, but it is not my forte.

There are many journos out there who are very talented writers. Sadly, I am not one of them.

iKhalyfah · May 23, 2020

TheBaldOne said:
That's right 'we are the idiots'.

Why is it that the vast majority of us do not develop our domains into websites.

- Is it cost?
- Is it time?
- Is it lack of knowledge on the domain subject?
- Is it not knowing where to start building a website?
- Or is it because of laziness and just after a quick buck by reselling the domain name without doing any work?

Of course there is another option that should be added to the list, or is it because we do not think our domain names are not as good as we try to convince others that they are and 'they' should develop them into a website?

Of course we all know that a developed website with visitors is worth far more from affiliate income or even the sale of the website than just the domain name by itself that might be able to be turned into such, but very few domainers actually go on to develop websites on their domain.

Even if you cannot develop a website yourself through lack of knowledge on the subject (which can be learned anyway), or lack the ability to build a website (there are loads of programs to help you on the web), then you can hire people to do it for you from website designers to content writers they are all available for hire.

Come on be honest. Why do you not develop the domains you own?

I think because it's called Domaining not webdesigning

iKhalyfah · May 23, 2020

wildomains said:
I don't want to put a lot of money into developing sites only to find they still don't sell.

Thank you for this.
Average STR for domaining is 1-2%
I can't imagine all the web development effort only to still find out that my STR will not be 70-80%

iKhalyfah · May 23, 2020

Peak.Domains said:
now all of a sudden you can flip it for $3k.

Or all of a sudden, u wasted your time

iKhalyfah · May 23, 2020

mpls said:
Develop domains could be easy, have organic traffic is very difficult in 2020.

iKhalyfah · May 23, 2020

equity78 said:
Several domainers have tried to develop websites and failed miserably, lost money and never sold the sites.

This is not new and in 2020 it's a lot more competitive Google is 1000 times smarter today than it was 10 years ago. Spinning articles not going to work. Negative SEO tactics by established players to zonk your website.

You need to make it your focus and really know what you are doing, and have some cash behind you because it won't be cheap to have anything developed that's worthwhile.

I am on the net 16 to 20 hours a day and spend 0 time on little, poorly developed websites. You need to learn SEO and keep up with it, social media you better have a following of real followers.

Unless you have above average knowledge/expertise on a topic what's the point?

The other thing you do is check out any topic you think you know and how much effort you are willing to put in, then go check out the top sites out there in that niche and see if you can match it, because if you can't, you are wasting your time.

People want to sell stuff, they think tshirts for example:

Oh I got really cool sayings, I am a wordsmith, snarky, funny, My friends tell me I'm really smart.

Cool story bro, there are thousands of people just like you with already established tshirt websites, so you better be prepared to be working night and day, hitting on SEO, social, spending money on advertising, because if not, again you are wasting your time.

Featue snippets and other Google tools have taken businesses away I remember the guy from CelebrityNetWorth how Google took away a big part of their revenue.

You want to start a website, read this article first, https://theoutline.com/post/1399/how-google-ate-celebritynetworth-com?zd=4&zi=hntnwhwu

Half assed development worked in 2006 not in 2020. So you better be looking to start a whole new business and have the skills and resources that go with doing that in the proper way.

Traffic doesn’t just “show up” at your website
Alas, in the business of websites and online marketing, traffic does not just simply “show up” at your website.

Dreams and Hope do not drive traffic. The digital landscape is littered with hundreds of thousands (millions, really) of well-intentioned websites that are ghost-towns. No one goes to them. At all. Sad.

Sadder still is the business who has gone through an amazing website rebuild, only to discover that after the excitement of day 1 of the website launch, there isn’t really any more traffic coming to their website than there was last week.

https://www.cmo4hire.com/blog/if-you-build-it-they-wont-come/

So make sure you do a lot of reading first.

Best of luck

Please if you are a newbie like me, and u start thinking of developing your domains so they can sell big. Please read this post above

TCK · May 23, 2020

You have to think of developing domains in the same terms as developing a business.

It starts with a commonsense domain that would make a good business name.

Then you have to have an idea as to the possible realistic business models that the site can thrive under and build it accordingly.

Then there is the incubation period. As mentioned, this can be as little as 6 months or as long as 24.

This, in a nutshell, is domain development at its simplest explanation.

TCK · May 23, 2020

Also, never park domains you plan to develop. Parking will impede your development timeline and efforts. Better is to create a coming soon page with a subscription form.

NLP · May 23, 2020

It's incredibly time consuming to do properly.

I used to buy names and think, "I'll launch a site on this someday," but now I'd rather sell the empty plot of land. It's less work, and more fun (to me).

Adwords, affiliate programs, and advertising is down across all industries right now. I have friends with blogs (outside of the domain space) that are freaking out. Although some ecommerce sites are doing well, others are not.

Good design takes time, SEO and dealing with Google's constant updates takes time, ecommerce and drop shipping take time, and it's all time I don't have.

A lot of times, when someone emails me about a domain, it's because they noticed it isn't developed.

I'd rather sell to an end user, so that they can build THEIR vision.

TCK · May 23, 2020

NLP said:
A lot of times, when someone emails me about a domain, it's because they noticed it isn't developed.

I'd rather sell to an end user, so that they can build THEIR vision.

It all depends on your business model. If you only want to sell domains then development may be too resource intensive.

If you want to make recurring revenue and selling domains is secondary then development makes sense.

I only register or buy domains that I want to sit on for a long time, until the right buyer comes along. Sometimes that buyer wants to buy a domain just for the traffic. My main stream of revenue comes from developed domains (i.e. businesses). However, domain sales also figure into the year end.

We are the idiots ...

Are you going to develop some of your domains? Sort by votes

Definitely plan to develop my domains

Perhaps develop some of my domains

Might try to develop one domain to see how it goes

No, just after selling my domains

Why work when domaining is so easy and it will make me a millionaire within the year

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