Developing domains

[HappyTime]

I hear a lot that developing domains can significantly increase the value of the sale. My question is if the website doesn't generate any revenue how does that affect the value of the domain?

From what I understand the value of a website is typically 8x - 12x the monthly revenue and if it doesn't earn anything it's not worth much. If the domain alone is worth say around $500 and you try to develop it and by the end it doesn't generate any revenue will buyers still see the value? will it increase or decrease the value? Thanks

 

[ulterios]

Well, many people develop them to get pages indexed in the search engines, start a traffic flow, build some backlinks, etc. It's not always what it's making, some buyers like domains that are already getting traffic for example, other buyers want domains that are indexed in the search engines and/or have backlinks built up.

There are different reasons that make developing a domain more valuable. However, with some domains, it really wouldn't make a difference. It's kind of a case by case issue as to if developing them is good or not.

 

[HappyTime]

Thanks for your reply Ulterios.

Do you think it's usually best to just go light on the developing for example just get some content up depending on the niche and start building backlinks?

I guess what i'm thinking is if you put a lot of time into "developing the domain"" and it turns out to not generate any income the buyers focus is more on the website now then looking at the value of the domain and now it looks like a website with no income.

Am I just thinking this all wrong?

 

[ulterios]

You are most welcome, i'm always happy to help out.

In my opinion, if you are going to turn around and do a quick sell/flip, then I would do only a minimum of development. Just as you said, get some content up that's relevant to the niche and go from there.

If you are looking to maybe hold onto the name for a while and look for a higher profit and take time to do that, then I would put a little more development into it.

It all depends on the name though. Some domains really wouldn't fetch a higher price if developed. In my opinion, the premium names really don't need to go to big into development, if at all.

I think that development will help the lower quality and into the mid range names the most.

 

[aramyus]

It makes sense to develop a site if the domain name is self-explanatory. Most likely, it would be a keyword domain, but it could also be a nice misspelled/transformed name such as google (versus goggle).

Keep in mind that developing does not necessarily mean SEO. I have seen several examples of sites sold on flippa or else where the seller was buying services on fiverr and reselling them on his site. He was using simple ads to generate traffic and sales.

 

[vivaldi]

You have been getting good advice already only thing I could add is that it's always the buyers call if it's worth anything to him or her. Recently I sold a geo.cctld that I had developed into a travel website, the buyer couldn't care less because it was the name of his new design agency and I got paid 4x what I could get from most buyers in the travel niche. So it's not always so simple Case by case as stated by ulterios is a good view to have on developing domains

 

[JamesCrew]

Like @vivaldi said, it works different on case to case basis.

I would add that if you are specifically referring to developing geo domains, then such domains are easy to rank when developed as a proper website. After working on some basic SEO and backlinking, you can gradually start receiving traffic and leads (Note: the SEO part may require extra time to see results; depending on the industry and its competition on Google.)

Doesn't matter much (in the start) if you are not selling as long as you are successful in getting first page Google ranking and target traffic. That's something most buyers would love to see (first page ranking).

Hope it helps.