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We are the idiots ...

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Are you going to develop some of your domains?

  • This poll is still running and the standings may change.
  • Definitely plan to develop my domains

    47 
    votes
    32.2%
  • Perhaps develop some of my domains

    38 
    votes
    26.0%
  • Might try to develop one domain to see how it goes

    18 
    votes
    12.3%
  • No, just after selling my domains

    33 
    votes
    22.6%
  • Why work when domaining is so easy and it will make me a millionaire within the year

    10 
    votes
    6.8%
  • This poll is still running and the standings may change.

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?
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
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.

IMHO, these are very limited ways of generating revenue (adwords, affiliate programs, etc). They can work but there are many other ways to generate revenue. You have to be industrious and not afraid of hard work (and patience).
 
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IMHO, these are very limited ways of generating revenue. They can work but there are many other ways to generate revenue. You have to be industrious and not afraid of hard work (and patience).

They are, but it's important to acknowledge that the landscape has changed. As someone stated earlier, it isn't 2015 anymore. It's not easy to get organic traffic anymore. Meticulously developed sites with fresh content, social signals, and a solid brand can rank well — but that isn't always what domain investors think of when they think "development." Some do that very well. Others are looking for fast, cheap options, and have no idea what it takes to launch and run an actual business.

I used to code by hand, before everything was on content management systems. Development is absolutely the way to go if someone has an aptitude for it, the right names, and that's how they want to spend their time.

Personally, I enjoy the design aspect and *some* coding, but not the daily and monthly maintenance, especially if it isn't a subject I'm interested in. I understand how it is a labor of love and immensely profitable for some, but I get bigger thrill from negotiation, and pure selling.

That is my business model, and what I enjoy the most. To each his/her own.
 
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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.
If you ask me, i started from e-comm, then pure SEO, have developed lot of sites, from there i moved to SEO domaining, and only few years back i also entered the name domains game, so i'm bit of lucky because SEO domains cashflow allowed me to finance my first name experiments.

If you are really about SEO, as your avatar and signature imply, you very well know that having keyword in url is close to nill by its importance factor for ranking now. Unlike 5, let alone 15 years ago. EMD and PMD game is an ancient history.

No offense, it's like your post is written in 2012.
 
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They are, but it's important to acknowledge that the landscape has changed. As someone stated earlier, it isn't 2015 anymore. It's not easy to get organic traffic anymore.

You make a lot of sense. Today, if you are considering development, you have to think at least 2 years ahead and keep "watering". There is so much depth in this subject and I apologize for over simplifying things here.
 
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If you ask me, i started from e-comm, then pure SEO, have developed lot of sites, from there i moved to SEO domaining, and only few years back i also entered the name domains game, so i'm bit of lucky because SEO domains cashflow allowed me to finance my first name experiments.

If you are really about SEO, as your avatar and signature imply, you very well know that having keyword in url is close to nill by its importance factor for ranking now. Unlike 5, let alone 15 years ago. EMD and PMD game is an ancient history.

No offense, it's like your post is written in 2012.

You can view the discussion and the SEO ranking factors here: https://www.namepros.com/threads/seo-does-google-prefer-shorter-domains.1157650/#post-7430272 . Updated articles of experienced SEOs still show EMDs (as long as it's not too long) and PMDs as a ranking factor.

https://seoresellerscanada.ca/heres-what-you-should-know-about-exact-match-domains/

https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2020/03/26/comprehensive-guide-to-exact-match-domains-in-2020/
- don't overstuff keywords. If you have an EMD, don't use redundant keywords on the landing pages.

http://www.web-push.com/exact-match-domain-seo-is-it-still-working/

https://www.themediacaptain.com/choosing-a-good-domain-name-for-seo/

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-tld-bias/344658/#close

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-choose-domain-name/252285/#close
 
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Well, my first foray into domaining was through development.

A friend and I were looking for another venture to occupy our spare time outside of work. So, we came up with this idea to develop a site.

We had already picked the name but here was the thing - we didn't have the development skills. Not even a knowledge of WordPress.

However, that didn't deter us. Now, what did deter us was the fact that finding the right domain name was this frustrating task as practically everything was already registered.

Eventually, my partner got busier with work and dropped out of the project. I went ahead to learn WordPress with basic HTML and CSS by building mini websites on cheap hosting and throwaway domains.

As expected, the websites didn't go anywhere as they were just a way to learn hands-on instead of taking one course after the other, without really building anything.

At the time, I didn't really put much thought into why all those domain names were registered until I read an article about domaining by chance.

For me, I am a technical person so I like making things, even websites. But, I am a firm believer on quality. Hence, I would rather have 2-3 well-rounded websites than 20 that are mediocre.

PS: It's still amazing that domaining isn't really a word.
 
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I think it's very troublesome, difficult and expensive to build a website with business model,except for a few web pages.
 
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I've founded two Alexa top 100,000 websites, ditched them both.

They took up a hell of a lot of time and neither offered sufficient financial reward to make it worth the effort.

Next time I'll build an eCommerce site rather than one which relies on Adsense & Amazon affiliate earnings, I feel like the ad economy peaked somewhere around 2011 and has been in decline ever since.

I mean... its quite demoralising when you build a site getting 15,000 visitors a day and 55% of them have adblock installed.

My next project will be eCommerce.
 
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They are, but it's important to acknowledge that the landscape has changed. As someone stated earlier, it isn't 2015 anymore. It's not easy to get organic traffic anymore.

Then when you get that organic traffic its not guaranteed that it will be as profitable as you hope.

The ad economy has collapsed with more money going to video ads on YouTube and less on traditional text content.

A ridiculous number of people have adblocker installed.

Affiliate cookies seem to have shrunk loads, where merchants would offer 60 day cookies and now offer 7 day etc.

Getting the traffic is only part of the problem. Twice I've succeeded in getting a hell of a lot of traffic to websites, but monetising it was the more difficult part.

I will have one more crack at a large content site soon though.
 
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If you have a big portfolio then it's impossible to develop every name into a website.

I believe the time and effort you spend in development isn't going to increase the domain's value by much.

If a company is really willing to spend big money they will just throw away your website and build it how THEY want.

Plus (and this is the most important thing) if your domain is showing a website when someone is landing and they don't see a sale page they might think it's an existing company and won't make you an offer or will be available to purchase.

IMO
 
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As an expeiment, I started out on FB in the cultural niche, and now have 910 friends and 760 page followers in a year, woking in my spare time to scale it to 3x this year and about 5x in about 2 years, once the customer base is ready,I'll plan to provide them a website. I feel the website income is far more predictable than domaining, though both have their inherent challenges.
 
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Profit/hour. That's why I don't develop anything. A good domain will find a buyer without a website. Yes, a website could be a good addition, but if you're the seller who's outreaching immediately after acquiring the name - it's just not worth it. Why stop a sale of let's say $200 that can happen in 1 day? Let's say you would develop a website on that domain, do some SEO stuff & so on & then wait for half year, so it has at least some type of traffic.. And then you sell it for let's say $1000... So, what's more profitable, $200 in one day, or $1000 in 6 months?
 
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Does this model work?

There are many authoritative resources that provide both crypto news and token rates, so I wonder how do you manage to attract user to your website (which is one of thousands of similar websites, I’d guess)?

And even if you do manage to get some traffic, how do you monetize it, considering all the above mentioned concerns (Adsense revenue is down, etc)?
 
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I have failed 2 times by developing such cheap site. If you want develop a site focus big and invest big. In my opinion domain will be better and hope so as I have failed on website thing so I started to see what domain business is like.
 
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Does this model work?

There are many authoritative resources that provide both crypto news and token rates, so I wonder how do you manage to attract user to your website (which is one of thousands of similar websites, I’d guess)?

And even if you do manage to get some traffic, how do you monetize it, considering all the above mentioned concerns (Adsense revenue is down, etc)?

Of course, this is a drop in the ocean of such sites. Just a hobby level ) I didn’t promote it. I think that visitors come through Sedo. Come, include in favorites and visit ) So far, the goal is to sell this domain name :)

Here is another example. blog format. also for offers
 
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I see there is still a high level of animosity within the industry. I simply asked a question and reasoning why 'I' think we as domainers are letting money all too often slip through our fingers and some responders demonstrate such inward and negative, indeed almost defeatist, attitudes in their replies. So be it, it does me no harm whatsoever, and perhaps it is a relief mechanism for them whilst those posters suffer under the various lockdowns around the globe. (Yes, that was said tongue in cheek. LOL)

One misunderstanding is that some people think I am trying to somehow dictate that both all domainers should develop their domains and secondly that all domainers are capable of such and make a success of doing so. I am not though doing this. I am postulating that development is an option that domainers should seriously consider. Such consideration could be developing the domains into sites by themselves, hire someone to do it for them, or even work with a developer on a revenue sharing scheme. You see there are many ways to develop domains into sites.


What does please me though are the poll results so far:

73% of domainers plan to develop one or more of their domains. :xf.smile:

However,

6% have replied that they think domaining will make them millionaires within the year. :xf.eek: Someone should explain to these voters that the majority of gold mining prospectors end up broke and not millionaires (gold prospectors are a good analogy for domainers), and do this for their own good.
 
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I see there is still a high level of animosity within the industry. I simply asked a question and reasoning why 'I' think we as domainers are letting money all too often slip through our fingers and some responders demonstrate such inward and negative, indeed almost defeatist, attitudes in their replies. So be it, it does me no harm whatsoever, and perhaps it is a relief mechanism for them whilst those posters suffer under the various lockdowns around the globe. (Yes, that was said tongue in cheek. LOL)

One misunderstanding is that some people think I am trying to somehow dictate that both all domainers should develop their sites and secondly that all domainers are capable of such and make a success of doing so. I am not though doing this. I am postulating that development is an option that domainers should seriously consider. Such consideration could be developing the domains into sites by themselves, hire someone to do it for them, or even work with a developer on a revenue sharing scheme. You see there are many ways to develop domains into sites.


What does please me though are the poll results so far:

73% of domainers plan to develop one or more of their domains. :xf.smile:

However,

6% have replied that they think domaining will make them millionaires within the year. :xf.eek: Someone should explain to these voters that the majority of gold mining prospectors end up broke and not millionaires (gold prospectors are a good analogy for domainers), and do this for their own good.

I think it's kind of stupid not to have an option "I will not develop my domains & keep on selling only domain names" WITHOUT BECOMING A MILLIONAIRE IN A YEAR. Very few people can make millions in profit from domains, no matter if that's developed or undeveloped website.
 
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I think it's kind of stupid not to have an option "I will not develop my domains & keep on selling only domain names" WITHOUT BECOMING A MILLIONAIRE IN A YEAR. Very few people can make millions in profit from domains, no matter if that's developed or undeveloped website.

Surely option #4 "No, just after selling my domains" covers that?
 
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Surely option #4 "No, just after selling my domains" covers that?

I just don't get it why I should develop websites after selling my domains. If I suck at developing - I clearly won't do that after selling my domain names either. I just think that there should have been a simple "No, I'm going to resell domain names only" option. Sorry if I sound wrong, just my thoughts, thanks.
 
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I just don't get it why I should develop websites after selling my domains. If I suck at developing - I clearly won't do that after selling my domain names either. I just think that there should have been a simple "No, I'm going to resell domain names only" option. Sorry if I sound wrong, just my thoughts, thanks.

Who is suggesting that you develop your domains after selling them????
 
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Ah damn it, I completely misunderstood it.. The question is "Are you going to develop some of your domains?" and "No, just after selling my domains". It sounds like "I'm going to develop only after selling my domains.". I've forgotten that this "after" in the sentence stands as for "going after".
 
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@OhYeah - The English language is a wonderful thing, always evolving with nuances of usage (and even spelling of course). Few today even speak what is colloquially termed the 'Queen's English' let alone write it. As you see I am no different from the majority. LOL

My hat off to you though, good spot of the 'error'. :)
 
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Lol, no, it's all good, just I forgot about that & thought "Why this guy thinks that everyone should develop websites at some point of their life" :))
 
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