Don’t Get Into A Business Because You Own a Good Domain!!
April 11, 2008 by Rick Latona
Seriously folks, don’t do it. I get asked by people all the time if I want to fund a business “idea” of theirs. It usually turns out that they have a good domain so they’ve developed a business plan to work with that domain. They never wanted to be in that business of course, and they have no particular love for the industry. Yet, they feel obligated to enter the market because of their name.
In 1998 I purchased Spanish.com for 5000 dollars. On or around the year 2000 I decided I would develop it and attack the language learning market. After spending about 100,000 dollars on trying; I finally realized that all the traffic wanted to do was cheat on their Spanish homework. In 2004 I sold it to Kevin Ham for an undisclosed amount and never looked back. I won’t make that mistake again. (developing it being the mistake)
As I said in my blog entry before this one, you don’t actually NEED a great domain to succeed. Don’t fool yourself into thinking it is a necessity. A good name helps but only helps. And it only helps if you have a strong desire to be in that business and do everything else right to succeed in that market.
This isn’t to say that buying a name can’t inspire you and give you an idea. Heck that happens to me too.
Just don’t get into a business you don’t care about simply because you have the name.
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on the money - could not say it better.
Spot on…but do consider a joint venture with someone who has the knowledge, expertise, time and most importantly - the passion - to turn your vacant parking lot into a skyscraper. There are some folks who are really good at this type of thing; find them!
Great point Jeff. That’s a great option and I should have mentioned it.
I own a great domain name (generic Geo location) and have developped a Business Directory, will see if it work.
Thank you Rick to tell/remember us this clever rule:
“Just don’t get into a business you don’t care about simply because you have the name.”
You are doing the right thing, Rick. Even though it is not illegal to develop the site for those cheaters but you decided against it for ethical reasons.
Domainers need not to develop sites base on the good names alone. It has to be a PASSION! If you are a music junkie, you can develop a music related site and have fun making money out of it. The old career saying still goes: “do what you love doing and you wouldn’t have to work for the rest of your life.”
And Jeff is right too. However, many businessmen are not that sophisticated to let their gigs run by some experts.
Spanish is too strong a word; it touches hundreds of million people. I think Kevin could be more creative with that site than just letting it be a seating park. The PPC earned is a fraction of what a full development on Spanish.com could ever reap.
Seyi
I agree and disagree. Because you are not passionate about something does not mean you cant develop a site purely for future resale and do it right. I have a domain on cardiac hospitals. Not passionate about it in the least but several people I know have had heart attacks and heart problems and look for info online so I am having a directory site for cardiac hospitals designed as well as general treatments for various types of heart problems etc. hell no I am not passionate about it but a site like that on my very very solid domain name will be worth a fortune a year from now and will run itself once done
gentleman/lady above with his geo domain once it is done he does not need to be passionate about it. It runs on it’s own. Before I buy a domain (most of the time anyways) I have to see development potential in it and ask myself if it something a user would need/want to see and would they go to it. if I can come up with a development idea and see a use then I buy/reg if it is in the budget. There are exceptions like some LLLL.coms and some premium LLLL.nets and a few single letter IDN’s but otherwise I stick with .coms that I see development potential in. I normally dont develop though just park as funny as that may seem.
Now I agree if you are truly passionate about something the site will be better than if you are just making crappy sites to sell on ebay but if you have a great domain and you have a development idea that could be developed and sold at a large price you will do a better job than again making crappy sites to sell quickly on ebay
I wouldnt let a bad past experience dictate what you do or dont do in the future. I was going to buy sanjuan.com but someone beat me to it. You had done a great job developing that site. language sites are just that though people looking for a free translation for school or there asian mail order brides
Good advice - buying a domain and holding it is one thing. Developing a business around it takes such effort, time, and investment, that you better ‘love’ the business. The solution? Some of your domain purchases should be in your areas of interest. Some domains I buy just because I’m interested in the subject, even though I know they have little resale value. The thought is one day I may develop them, and if I’m interested in the subject it won’t be such a chore.
Hey great piece, succinct and to the point! It takes a risk taker to have a vision and value their time and money instead of blowing both.
Good observation there Rick. Personally I think it’s very hard to make good domain successful becuase if it’s not 100% good the surfers lose faith in that name easily, mainly because of high expectations. That’s on reason and the other is that most good domains are quite plain, just look at the Sex.com name for example. Hard to brand with a name that surfers have such expectations for and that just means a word… Sex.com
It’s not google, yahoo or msn. It’s sex and then, it can get quite boring.
Peace
Peace
If you had a name like that im sure the person would already be in the business lol. Anyways i agree with you. I have developed lots of site and honestly only a couple have stood the test of time because i had a desire and passion to keep them alive. Heck i have even developed a .net and is still running today.
[...] Like a Rick Latona saying : “You don’t actually NEED a great domain to succeed. Don’t fool yourself into thinking it is a necessity. A good name helps but only helps. And it only helps if you have a strong desire to be in that business and do everything else right to succeed in that market”. [...]
I agree, I had a website business I had no interest in before I opened http://www.JavaMedic.com. After I got out of a business I didn’t know because I thought I had a good domain name… I lost alot of money.
I got it back with something I knew, Coffee! http://www.JavaMedic.com
[...] Latona wrote last month that you shouldn’t get into a business just because you own a good domain. He’s speaking mainly to domainers, but the essential point is the same one that you hear [...]