Rick Latona

You don’t develop domains, you develop businesses.

I know a little about developing websites. I’d like to think that aeiou had essentially started the mini-site boom and I’ve had outsourcing operations in either Panama or the Philippines for more than a decade. If I’ve learned anything from all of this experience it’s that you don’t develop domain names, you develop businesses.

When I shut down aeiou last year I threw up a now infamous blog post titled, there’s no money in web design. I believe that post was largely misunderstood and I never commented on that fact but I will now.

What I meant was there’s no money in selling project based design solutions. It’s hard. The customers are never happy because they expect the design company to deliver them a business. There’s a disconnect between the solution provider and the customer. I felt that we’d never be able to have happy customers and a profitable business at the same time so the best thing to do was just shut it down.

I’m getting back into the outsourcing business now but in a different way. This post isn’t about that though. You all will have to wait a couple of weeks for the launch to find out exactly what it is. I’ll get back to my point now.

I strongly believe that the mass-majority of domain owners have completely unrealistic expectations when it comes to web development. I believe that Epik and Wanna Develop have good intentions and ultimately, they probably add incremental value and revenue to the domains but I would never use the services personally. Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not trash talking them because I believe their services have a place in the domain industry and they are right for a majority of domainers.

I just want to get one very important point across and that’s that you don’t develop domains at all, you develop businesses. Let’s take a look at my last two ventures, WatchBrokers.com and AmericanOil.com. In both of those instances, the business came before the domains. We didn’t acquire the rights to those names until after the business plans were complete.

I don’t look to my portfolio when I want to decide what project to work on next, I look to my idea spreadsheet (which is updated daily).

To me, it isn’t worth spending time and money on development unless its worth spending time and money on it. Meaning, I wouldn’t spend time and money to get a $1 a day domain to make $10 per day. The opportunity cost is too high in that example.

To get a site ranked well in Google on not one but hundreds of search terms it takes a team of one to three link builders working on it for months, depending on the competitiveness of the terms.

To build a site that looks fantastic and will convert it takes time and effort. Then you have to build multiple landing pages and split test and do so many other things to make the site work.

What I’m getting at is to have a site that can be a real business you must treat it like a real business. It can’t be done in mass. That’s what I realized last year.

I urge all domainers to head this advice. Don’t develop a site unless you think you can have significant revenue off of it. If you do feel you can produce significant revenue, put significant time and resources into it. Otherwise, it isn’t worth it.

Start with a business plan. Study your competitors. etc, etc, etc. Start a business! Don’t just “develop a domain”.

Ok, my writing got weak at the end there and it turned into a rant. I think I got my point across, though.

Tags: Domains