If ever there was a time for domainers to think seriously about becoming domainer-developers, that time is now.
Pure domaining usually involves buying quality domains and parking them with one of a number of parking companies such as NameDrive.com and Sedo.com. The problem is that domaining world is changing – in fact it always has been changing – and its clear that domainers who fail to adapt will be left behind.
The solution is simple – goodbye pure domaining and hello domain developing.
There are many changes that could influence domaining in quite significant ways but my main concern is ‘more difficult trading conditions’ predicted by financial experts. I am old enough to remember the economic problems of the 1980 s and 1990s. Whether we are headed for a world recession or a 1930s style depression is far from clear at this point of time. What is clear is that we are going to be hearing a lot more about ‘problems with the economy’ over the next 2 – 5 years, and very little of it is going to be good news! Just about everyone, who thought that they could buy quality domains and live off the parking revenue for the rest of their lives is probably in for a big shock.
What the domaining industry will look like after 3 or 4 years of economic recession is anyones guess. In a recession we would see lots of things happening that have not happened for a long time – increased unemployment, falling financial markets, people having less disposable income and lots of bankruptcies. Domainers should expect domains to take longer to sell and lower sales prices when they do sell (only good news if you are buying, not selling). PPC revenue is likely to be affected as companies attempt to save money by cutting back on advertising costs. If people are generally spending less then affiliate ad revenue is likely to be affected too. On the positive side buyers will see more quality domains dropping and cheaper domain sales prices.
If ever there was a time for domainers to become domainer-developers, that time is now. Even basic websites will make more revenue than domain parking. Developing out domains just makes good business sense.
Basic web development skills are reasonably easy to acquire and there are many shortcuts and templates to make things easier for you. A simple minisite or niche site consisting of no more that 5 – 25 pages can be set up quickly using free templates or by using Wordpress (Wordpress.org). I am not saying the domain parking industry is finished – far from it – but developing sites is just such a better option. In times of economic difficulty the pressure to maximize revenue is even greater than it used to be – goodbye pure domaining and hello domain developing!