The most recent poll on DotSauce Magazine asked readers if their domain portfolio is niche or diverse. The results show that 69% of respondents invest in domains from a variety of different categories while 31% choose to take a more selective approach.
Latest poll question, "Does your domain portfolio contain names from a specific category or a variety of categories?"
This week I’d like to ask an open-ended question. As there is no definitive answer, feel free to respond with your thoughts in the comments below the post.
Do you focus on domain names and website development projects that you are passion about or those with the highest profit margins?
I have noticed an over-reliance on domain analytics, automated appraisals, average CPC and other domaining metrics. While this data is interesting and helpful in many ways, it should not be viewed as your primary method for investing in domain names.
Keyword quality and the potential reach of a domain should be the main deciding factors for any registration or aftermarket domain purchase. If a great domain or brand has promising stats, the data can be used to enhance your domain sales marketing.
I believe that passion is more important than potential profits. It’s why I primarily focus on technology, internet and business related domain names as this is what interests me most. It’s also why 99.9% of my portfolio is composed of all .com domain names; I am passionate and confident about the success of the .COM TLD.
In the past, with domain parking still in its infancy, you could simply define a single keyword phrase for each domain. It was plausible to acquire decent domains en-mass and collect nickels and dimes all day.
Today, we know that content is becoming increasingly important for any web presence to be successful. This presents somewhat of a problem for those with diverse portfolios. Do you really want to write and devote your time and marketing efforts to products, services and ideas that you are not personally interested in? I’m guessing not.
Passion Leads to Profits
When we are passionate about a subject we can better manage and grow a web presence. Developing a website for something you are passionate about will be fun and rewarding. It doesn’t seem like work to write, share and learn about something you are interested in.
Because of these key benefits, projects you are passionate about will become more valuable and marketable than projects put together with the sole intention of making money.
There are ways to find a happy medium. I think a wise option is to not think about monetization until a website is well established. When you have a captive audience of fans and followers you should have no concerns about getting advertisers, selling products or otherwise profiting from your hard work.