Find more videos like this on Magicians.com
Via Ning’s Blog:
Good magicians never reveal their tricks. However, that doesn’t stop them from networking.
Ryan Ogaard pulled back the curtain in December 2007 and unveiled Magicians.com in the hope of giving magicians a place to exchange tips and stories. The network has since seen steady growth. It’s now sporting more than 140 members from all over the globe and has even been featured on Conceptualist.com.
“The best part has been in seeing my dream for the past decade become reality by creating an online community for magic enthusiasts from around the world at Magicians.com,” said Ogaard. “It has truly been a magical experience developing Magicians.com on such a powerful social network platform like Ning!”
One of the reasons I like this venture is the personal touch and true passion Ryan brings to the table. From visiting the site you can quickly get a feel that this isn’t just a good domain, it isn’t just another group, it isn’t just another site, it isn’t just another business. What Ryan is doing is uniting a like-minded group all over the globe, a group he has personal interest in - magicians. That passion, that personal touch, is a great start. What I would suggest to Ryan is 1. make sure you have FAITH and 2. Massive unstoppable action. Combine those two elements with your existing passion and you will have a winner. Guaranteed.
It looks like fun, but from a business perspective (ie making money long or short term), what is the value of creating a Ning community on a nice keyword domain like this?
1) Is it to build up the authority of that domain for eventual sale (bolstered by a community, contact list and more inbound links)?
2) Do you monetize it later with ads and affiliate links?
3) Do you eventually charge for membership?
Any other thoughts on the benefits beyond these?… I’m considering the Ning option for some of my KW domains, too.
I too have been curious about Ning for some time, and the possibility of creating networks to add value to my domains. I think I’ll develop one of them using Ning as an experiment.