Can any one company turn a domain into a business?

[mediawizard]

It takes more than just sweat equity to develop a high end domain into a business, most domain owners choose to ignore this fact.

We can take a domain and make a business out of it, but you better be prepared to spend a lot more than 'a percentage of a future uncertain sale price' to make it happen.

Sweat equity is all very fine at the design or even website development stage, for SEO, traffic, sales, marketing, administration, accounting and management there are costs involved and no developer can be expected to bear those without substantial inputs from the business owner.

 

[Jeroen]

It is probably not a favorite domainers' choice because it may take a lot of time and money to develop the name properly.

However, I'm convinced that a domainname + development + good SEO can be a good start to build a business. Eventually, if you are able to capture leads with the site you developed, you will then be in a better position to further expand your business. It is all about eating an elephant.

Building a site around keywords in the long tail can create sales leads. If there's something that you cannot do yourself, you will have to outsource until you have enough experience and/or contacts. Continue to invest in domains higher up the tail can lead to even more leads. I think in this case exact match domain will help significantly.

We as domainers and webmaster have a huge advantage over regular business owners. Domainers know their way around the internet, understand the power of domainnames. If we also know how to perform proper seo -perhaps outsource it a bit-, then we can blow our non internet savvy competition away.

But, you have to like domaining, being a webmaster and being a business owner. At the moment i'm having two basic sites built myself and both have captured the first leads only recently. I've been working on these for months, one is around an exact match domain for an industry i don't know much about and the other is just a brandable name utilizing long tail keywords (domains and articles for example) in an industry i have some experience with.

I feel a lot of domains have potential without the owners realizing it.

 

[Mazkel]

We decided to turn Pizzerias.com into a business. Although it hasn't officially launched, it's been a long 4 months of working with our developers. We formed an LLC, wrote a business plan, started marketing locally, made a "How to" video for pizzeria owners, learned about merchant accounts and payment gateways, made promo marketing materials, partnered with pizzerias, planned our booth at the International Pizza Expo in Vegas next March, hired employees, got a toll-free number, etc...the list goes on. It takes time, money and energy to get a real business off the ground.

 

[gingeman]

As others have said, domainers are incredibly lazy on the whole and have little concept of how much work is required to operate a "proper" business. As a whole, we are the epitomy of people who want to get rich quick without actually doing any hard graft. I am constantly amazed by the number of people in this industry who wouldn't even pick up the phone to close a deal as it is too much effort...

If there was a company that offered the service, I'll bet few domainers would stump up the money required to go ahead with it. Offering a share of a "premium name" in return for the development of a fully fledged business assumes that the premium name is the highest cost/outlay in the setting up, which is frankly a laughable concept and hardly ever true.

 

[domainrock]

It depends on what you mean by a business. I really do not consider making $100 a month on a website a business but more of a hobby yet some people think $100 is a business and that is fair enough. However for discussion lets define a website business as one which can provide a full or part time income.

The word business (to me) is a plan that starts with a website but is ultimately part of a larger puzzle that slowly comes together. Build a site, publish content, monetize, build more content, engage users, monetize a little more, publish more content, compliment the website with other websites, make users want to visit your site (not stumble upon) and on and on.

Making a website a business takes almost the same effort as a brick and mortar store with regards to time ... at least initially.

The problem with some domainers are they are dreamers and have great visions of what a site could be but still have not yet learned even how to spell html 10 years later. This is ok if your really never plan to develop but business is about more than just engaging the best people and services around you to help create your vision if you are on a limited budget.

Too often we look within our industry for the answers to problems. People are focused heavily on mass development however the only thing about mass development is well... its really never going to happen on a large scale without a ton of original, consistent and relavant content .. unless you have domains with natural type in traffic (which btw are the domains which constitue the majority of revenue for any mass development platform)

The amount of time and effort it goes into really building out one site is enormous and trying to build 1,000 out at the same time takes a superman amount of time to do it right.

Secondly, the comradeship in the domain industry is admirable and pleasureable but there has been much more development success from people in the SEO and affiliate marketing worlds. While domainers hold the gold the other teams have developed the silver and made it into gold. Sometimes its ok to realize help is better asked from the other side.

Adam’s question was if you had a high end domain to develop, who would you turn to do build out the property?

The answer to the question of who is best to build out a SINGLE high end domain really has no answer. The reason is even the best developers around usually have limited areas of focus... insurance, weight loss, finance etc and that’s what makes them succesful. Pick and choose your battles is not a bad approach.

Much like a car salesman trying to sell you a new car everybody will try to develop your domain and why not? If the domain is premium enough its certainly a win for their resume.

There are some great developers around but domain owners should also be expected to learn much of the process themselves.

Think of real estate – how often does a developer want to partner with a land owner who doesn’t know how to pick up a hammer?

Hardly ever. They would rather just buy them out.

Now if the landowner had something to contribute other than the land itself its a whole other story and a more valuable and attractive potential partnership for both sides.

I think at the end of the day any domain owner serious about developments needs to dedicate every hour in the day to develop a SINGLE site for at least 90 days.

Most of the process (outside of graphic design skills) can be learned in 90 days. From link building to SEO to best practices to monetization to social media it is possible to learn a lot of this knowledge very quickly if you dedicate yourself to it and the beauty is its information you can use for development of all your domains.

It seems overwhelming at first but every day many domainers spend hours searching through drop lists buying domains that just end up adding more to the to-do list. If you are purely a domain investor this is part of your job but if you are serious about development then its time to dedicate the same amount every day to learning about development.

So Adam said: Can anyone in this industry really build out a business and not just a website?”

There are lots of people who can but if you have to rely on others for everything you are probably not the best business person around

 

[Zorro]

If you had a high end domain to develop, who would you turn to do build out the property?

Can anyone in this industry really build out a business and not just a website?

Most companies I have seen cannot.

Who can?

This should spark a great debate.

-=DCG=-

Yes We Can

 

[Gerry]

Q. Can any one company turn a domain into a business?
A. I would think YES if the domain is a business already...like insurance.com or your mortgages.com or rates.com.

Having such a domain would certainly make it much easier. I think the original business model was insurance comparison based on user profiles and needs.

---------- Post added at 12:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:16 PM ----------

It

I'm impressed with your avatar...the NewF & Labrador Flag.

 

[domainrock]

Doc com ... no better place in the world but I'm biased - born and raised there.

 

[dn-101]

Domainers have very little understanding of valuing web's real estate. Even in clear cases like major GEO's we have no clue about the real earning potential.
And of course Twitter.com is not the only example of selling on the cheap: $7,000.

 

[staffjam]

I've been a domain investor for a while now and also developed some popular sites which are growing quickly. This has led me to believe that the domain is important - but not that important.
There is no way on earth i would pay $500k+ for Logo.com - when i could get LogoShark.com, GreatLogos.com, etc... for a fraction of the price and spend under $100k building widgets, content and other link development strategies which will more than overcome the natural advantage Logo.com has - it just doesn't make sense.
I think the companies are now understanding this - that they don't need to shell out millions for a domain name - sure some "Category Killers" do go on to become very successful sites - but i'm certain the entrepreneur in that case could have done it with a less premium name.

This is why it's very difficult to find a developer and proven entrepreneur - who will put all of the sweat into a project for only a % of the equity. If the idea is that good they will do it with a lesser name. A good hustler/businessman, just doesn't need the premium domain - This is my opinion and i'm sure you'll disagree, but i know a lot of successful web entrepreneurs and none are too fussed about owning the Premium name in their space - they can work around it and for much less $$$ than the name would cost.

This is why i think generics will decrerase in value and the next few years will show a pickup in brandable names value (only the premium ones though)

 

[Gerry]

Doc com ... no better place in the world but I'm biased - born and raised there.

Well, we're quite partial to the dog breeds that hail from that region of the world.

Had a trip planned to Nova Scotia. Maybe when we reschedule we'll go a little further into the continent.

 

[A D]

There are some great posts in this thread.

-=DCG=-

 

[jaugusto]

You're either a domainer or a web entrepreneur. Can't be both.

 

[ngconcepts]

I've been a domain investor for a while now and also developed some popular sites which are growing quickly. This has led me to believe that the domain is important - but not that important.
There is no way on earth i would pay $500k+ for Logo.com - when i could get LogoShark.com, GreatLogos.com, etc... for a fraction of the price and spend under $100k building widgets, content and other link development strategies which will more than overcome the natural advantage Logo.com has - it just doesn't make sense.
I think the companies are now understanding this - that they don't need to shell out millions for a domain name - sure some "Category Killers" do go on to become very successful sites - but i'm certain the entrepreneur in that case could have done it with a less premium name.

This is why it's very difficult to find a developer and proven entrepreneur - who will put all of the sweat into a project for only a % of the equity. If the idea is that good they will do it with a lesser name. A good hustler/businessman, just doesn't need the premium domain - This is my opinion and i'm sure you'll disagree, but i know a lot of successful web entrepreneurs and none are too fussed about owning the Premium name in their space - they can work around it and for much less $$$ than the name would cost.

This is why i think generics will decrerase in value and the next few years will show a pickup in brandable names value (only the premium ones though)

I agree completely with what you said. I don't think we have to wait a few years, it is already happening now. Savvy web entrepreneurs are getting around generic names by using typos or phonetically sounding domain names to the generic. It also allows a company to use that name in a trademark because it is no longer a generic name.

However, there will ALWAYS be venture capitalists & big shots who know nothing else than to throw money at an idea see if it sticks. That is why there will continue to be a demand for generic names..

---------- Post added at 09:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:30 PM ----------

You're either a domainer or a web entrepreneur. Can't be both.

How come you can't be both? My interest in domaining came from the fact that I was into the web as a developer and entrepreneur. I think a domainer can kick some serious butt if they used one of their valuable names and turned it into a true business.. utilizing their skills in SEO.

 

[Gerry]

You're either a domainer or a web entrepreneur. Can't be both.

I am certainly both and I know many more who are.

The domaining part came first. Then the study to build, construct, montitize, optimize my own sites came later.

Both support each other in the sense of a stream of income.

I view myself as my own biggest end-user.

 

[Deleted member 111831]

Anybody able to build a website and a business on a domain is probably going to find a different domain to build it on rather than partnering with somebody who owns a domain unless we are talking about a xxx,xxx+ category killer domain. Even then a lot of people would still rather go it alone.

Poker.com is the only domain I can think of that I'd be willing to turn into a business for somebody else.

---------- Post added at 02:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:15 AM ----------

You're either a domainer or a web entrepreneur. Can't be both.

I guess I am breaking the rules then...

 

[Deleted member 111831]

Maybe we overestimate what we are bringing to the table with just a domain name or a domain name plus some cash? The folks that are good at doing what you are looking for don't need you.

He said it better. As sites like formspring.me, google, godaddy, askjeeves and many many others have proven, there is a helluva lot more to building a successful business online than a domain name. A great domain can help, but is not necessary. A great idea and better execution is what matters most.

 

[petrosc]

You're either a domainer or a web entrepreneur. Can't be both.

You are overgeneralizing, even though there might be some truth to that

 

[Onward]

You're either a domainer or a web entrepreneur. Can't be both.

Huh?

Domainers are Web entrepreneurs.

 

[draggar]

"Can you develop a domain into a business" - I think the first question asked should be "what do you mean by a business"?

According to dictionary.com a business is (and I'll just stick with the nouns):

1: an occupation, profession, or trade: His business is poultry farming.

Can you turn a domain into an occupation? I think so.

2: the purchase and sale of goods in an attempt to make a profit.

Buying and selling - isn't that what most domainers do? We buy domains and hosting and then sell advertising on them. Some even buy and sell physical goods on their sites.

3: a person, partnership, or corporation engaged in commerce, manufacturing, or a service; profit-seeking enterprise or concern.

Amazon.com is a great example of this one.

4. volume of trade; patronage: Most of the store's business comes from local families.

This one isn't very relevant.

5. a building or site where commercial work is carried on, as a factory, store, or office; place of work: His business is on the corner of Broadway and Elm Street.

While domains and websites aren't like traditional B&M stores at a physical location, domains (and web sites) are at cyber-locations.

6.that with which a person is principally and seriously concerned: Words are a writer's business.

If you're a domainer and you sell domains though a domain (like any registrar or reseller), this can fit.

7. something with which a person is rightfully concerned: What they are doing is none of my business.

This is how some domainers feel.

8. affair; project: We were exasperated by the whole business.

This is how most domainers feel after a long auction.

9. an assignment or task; chore: It's your business to wash the dishes now.

While not fitting the initial description, it still fits with basic development.

10. Also called piece of business, stage business. Theater . a movement or gesture, esp. a minor one, used by an actor to give expressiveness, drama, detail, etc., to a scene or to help portray a character.

Couldn't this be part of the selling technique?

11. excrement: used as a euphemism.

I'm sure this is how we all feel when we spend too much on a domain! :lol:

On the basic level - defining a "business" is offering goods or services in order to make a profit, attempts are made every day - some succeed, others don't. Why do we put up web sites (and I'm not talking about parked sites)? To offer information, sell goods and/or services, all while offering (hopefully relative) advertisements on our sites to help people get what they want / need.