Strategy

[Rigg]

Hello,

I would be very interested in responses to this question and would appreciate any feedback received.

Given the following scenario what would you say is the best strategy for someone just starting out?


• No website development knowledge & quite limited SEO knowledge
• Career in sales/marketing
• 5+ years stock market experience, understand risk, money management
• Not risk averse but want calculated risk
• First few years would be happy with modest profits - sponge stage
• Initially available £1k-£2k and happy to add to this going forward
• Slow and steady suits my personality
• This area has always interested me so it will be both enjoyable and a potential new revenue stream

Initial thoughts are to buy a couple of domain names in commercial categories with proven traffic & revenue and go from there. I believe seeing an opportunity is more realistic than creating one.

Thanks for reading.

 

[namealot]

Wouldn’t bother investing atm learn to develop sites..? Doesnt have to be brilliant just how to change the od bit of code, upload your site, take payments, etc pretty likely there will be a lot of 1k - 2k valued names atm will be free to reg in the new uk cctld make list of ones to go for when the new .uk domain comes out...

If you had design knowledge etc you could pop something up to claw back some of your investment prior to the release if not then that’s unlikely "G" have hit affiliates and emd a lot over the past few mths so what may have been making xxx over the last few years is likely not now so you could end up with magic beans...

Get something free to reg or low xxx set up some hosting learn about affiliate etc and web design and with luck you'll be able to hit the ground running when the new .uk is finally sorted… If you must buy sure some kind domainer will help alleviate you of your monies lol

 

[Rigg]

thanks for your reply namealot

not sure about the proposed uk cctld - i am so new to this i don't have an opinion but i think i'd prefer that picture to be clearer before doing anything

could you or anyone suggest any decent sites to look at who hold your hand on the development side or at least make the task easier??

tks

 

[martin-s]

Consider broking domains for others?

 

[Rigg]

would really appreciate it if you could just expand that out a bit please Martin so i fully understand what you are saying - tks

 

[stellar73]

Don't break the bank initially, spend no more than £50-£100 on 1 or 2 names in areas that interest you (perhaps post in Wanted category here if you cant find free to reg ones of any quality)

Then, invest in a book on Wordpress and choose some appropriate templates to practice customising.

Create content for your site and experiment! Perhaps start by creating a simple adsense site first off then move on to affiliate products.

If you 'muddle through' like this for while you'll quickly work out what your strengths and weaknesses are and learn from any mistakes you make along the way. Better to do this before spending too much money on something you may later regret.

 

[accelerator]

For learning try:

domainsherpa.com

theartofthename.com

dnjournal.com

Rgds

 

[Rigg]

Thank you for your responses - I have been soaking up the blogs including the 3 mentioned.

I see the temptation to buy cr*p but I also see some of the cr*p on sale which acts as a warning. I'm not interested in hoarding lots of domain names but initially thought I might be able to buy a handful with some traffic and get some revenue through ppc/affiliates - even in a struggling market.

I see the benefit in developing one or two key domains but my concern is my lack of knowledge in this area will mean I do build half-arsed sites with poor quality content, eventually running out of steam.

My preference would be to come at this from a commercial angle rather than a technical but that may be a worn out path - maybe I could see a niche and do something different.

Any further thoughts would be really welcome.

Thanks again.

 

[Edwin]

I'm not interested in hoarding lots of domain names but initially thought I might be able to buy a handful with some traffic and get some revenue through ppc/affiliates - even in a struggling market.

That boat has sailed. PPC rates have plunged and keep on falling. Google does everything in its power to stomp on affiliate sites, especially thin ones.

Realistically, as a "newcomer" to the market, you're extremely unlikely to spot the ever-decreasing number of "diamonds" in the ever-bigger heap of "coal".

Pick a topic you're passionate about, and consider spending some of your budget to get the best possible domain name (within your financial constraints) for that subject, then build a REAL site on it. Even that's no guarantee of success, but it's more likely than wishing/hoping/aiming to get a bunch of names that will drip valuable traffic from here on forward.

 

[Rigg]

Thanks Edwin.

The feedback is loud and clear, develop a site (that interests me) on the back of a decent domain name and look for a commercial end game.

A partnership may have to be an option, either way the picture is clearer even if its not the one I had in mind.