Yesterday in my attempt to weave a theme into two unrelated issues, Morgan Linton may have been hit by some unintended friendly fire. I apologize. I consider Morgan and friend, a teacher and an inspiration which I why we featured him on DomainSuccess.com. Morgan certainly passes the threshold of success to be blogging advice to others, that wasn't my issue.
My issue was with the model where you hunt for domains based on predictions of search volume and CPC income. These numbers are often misunderstood and over inflated yet seem to be the sole basis for someone making an investment then expecting that investment can deliver a lifetime return. I think this is short sighted.
I'm a voracious reader and therefore I monitor trends, user behavior, technology, legislation, demographics and a number of other drivers that should be, but are rarely considered in a domain purchase decision. A case in point is an article I read earlier on eMarketer:
“Consumers have already demonstrated that they like to research products online before buying them in a store,” said Jeffrey Grau, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report “Mobile Shopping from In-Store: A Potential Game-Changer.” “Until now, researching online and buying in a store have been sequential activities that take place hours, days or even weeks apart. But customers who bring their Web-enabled mobile phones with them into a store can do online research at the point of a purchase decision.”
Does this change the landscape and impact the business plan the domainer has embarked on? Are domainers making under informed decisions because all they read about are domains and miss all the news about business issues that drive them?
Wasn't the dotMOBI investment the same thing? Buying into hype from the domain side but never becoming self-educated or informed by doing due diligence on the Telco side?
Never before in history are things changing so fast. Are business models such they can shine one day and be obsolete the next.
Tread carefully. There's a reason someone said "knowledge is power." Good luck.
2 comments:
Thanks Owen - no hard feelings buddy! As I said I love your blog and enjoy reading it.
I think you have a lot of great knowledge and insight to share.
Really appreciate you reaching-out like this, it means a lot!
Witness the reversal of commonly held thinking. Instead of shoppers buying online in increasing numbers, shoppers are going to the same old brick and mortar stores and using apps to find coupons and the best deals. It's hard to break the tangible "shopping" feeling.
With the death of PPC and no real use for a mom and pop online store, we may be witnessing the beginning of the death of keyword domains.
The stat that I really want to see is what is the ratio of domainers to end users in regards to domain sales. I think domainers are still mainly just selling to themselves... Question is, does the end user care about domains? I don't think so.
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