- A painting starts on a canvas
- A house starts on a foundation (land)
- A website starts on a domain.
No matter what is created, the start factor will always remain the key element.
- Canvas
- Foundation (land)
- Domain
With that in mind, it's also easier to digest that the value of each start factor will go up in association to what is designed, built, developed, etc. On it.
The more genuine value the product, service, information, or association has, the greater the value of the start factor rises, too.
While traffic is one factor in a developed domain value total, you have to consider all the other valuing factors in association to the start factor, or in this case, the domain.
As I've said for many years, it's nice when a domain can pay it's own renewals and the cherry on top if it brings profits exceeding overhead maintenance costs.
Perspective would be 10 years renewals x a discounted $9 renewal cost = $90 x 10 domains = $900.
Larger portfolio holders may look more like 10 years renewals x a discounted $9 renewal cost = $90 x 100 domains = $9,000
I'm using 10 years as a general aging and market shift target. Most times, it can take 20 to 30 years to mature as a trend or niche going viral. And even more common, no amount of time helps value rise.
At least with developments on a core start factor, any investment can be influenced to generate revenue with more time and investment into it.
The biggest killer of developed domain assets is spam score and scam reports.
Any startup with a decent investigative acquisitions team will take note of that and immediately look at alternatives.
Those types of reports/scores can set back a companies launch by months or even years trying to get off blacklists, supplemental indexes, etc. Not to mention, the scam association to the domain on 3rd party report sites could devastate any chance of a new business building trust in their respective markets.
In short, developing a domain can hurt a domain forever or increase its value and authority. It can be a tightrope walk at times trying not to tip too far to one side and lose balance.
That's just my opinion anyways.
What works for one may not work for others.