About a decade ago a term dominated the internet: Webmaster. To be a webmaster was to be the master of your domain. Most webmasters were not domainers and most domainers were not webmasters. Most webmasters owned a domain or two and most domainers owned many. Each character was almost unaware of each other. This continued for many years until we reach our current destination of today and the topic of development regurgitation.
Imagine, if you will, a small candy store on the corner of Baker Road and Renway nestled among downtown with its pink and white shutters, grey tiles and red countertops. Covering every inch of those countertops were the darkest homemade chocolate morsels made by “Granny” which produced a rich creamy smell when one walked by the shop causing the mouths of hundreds to water uncontrollably. The candy store on the corner of Baker and Renway grew to become a success, opening several chains across the country in several medium size towns.
This caught the eye of several real estate investors. One in particular was a man with good intentions who had moderate success in several prior investments. He stated to himself that the small candy store, even with its several chains, was limiting itself to cheap geographical locations. He theorized if the store had chains in big cities like New York and Hollywood that sales would boom and revenue would blossom.
He developed his plans copying the small Baker & Renway store down to the last grey tile. However, he wanted to somewhat modernize his candy shop to make it really hip. He employed several teenagers fresh out of high school to complete his look. Creating his own chocolate recipe, he smiled thinking how he saved money by going a tad cheaper on some ingredients. He boosted believing he created the perfect profit machine…or so he thought.
Six months later, he was forced to file bankruptcy. As he shook his head in shame, he asked his adviser: “Is there anything I could have done different?”
“It’s not what you did,” answered his advisor. “But what you didn’t have.”
“And what’s that?” asked the investor.
“Granny.”
You see, so many domainers attempt to copy the success of others, yet fail miserably. They forget the hard work, sacrifice, originality and “umph” that goes into each successful website. Granny’s delicious chocolate was only part of her success. Yet, what kept people addicted was what Granny was; a warm soul who treated everyone like family. She did what she loved and it showed.
The same reflects with domain developing. Don’t try to imitate what others have done. You will not become the next YouTube, Myspace or Google. It’s already been done. But what you can do is create your own original twist to bring fresh solutions to the marketplace. How about YouTube meets eBay where buyers bid for the rights of amateur films? Or combining a niche market with an existing idea such as a search engine for automotive professionals to diagnose repairs.
Whatever you choose to do, make sure it’s more than a carbon copy of regurgitated ideas. Give it the twist that deserves your attention, time and works hard for your target audiences’ eyeballs.
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A very valid point however, in my opinion, there are times that copying a successful business model could be a good idea if the original business has obvious flaws or if you think something can be done better. Alta Vista was successful and big before Google. Yet, Google was able to beat them at their own game by doing the job better and providing more relevant search results. The next giant ripe for falling is eBay. They have survived by the grace of luck that no capable competitor has decided to put in the resources to beat them at their own game. Perhaps because the model is not as profitable as other endeavors that capable competitors such as Google can venture in. Amazon and Yahoo tried and they could have been very successful but they simply did not put in the required effort.
Great post Tia!
The power of branding is just now starting to be a factor in domain names themselves. Some of the most valuable web names incorporate either a branding handle or some other form of branding that sets them a part from just simply a generic category. We as domainers often overlook the power of branding and choose generic traffic names,which by the way everybody is copying.
Creating your own brand and image can often give your company a competitive edge. The ad companies know this and that is why they shun traffic names. We need to attract the ad firms to our names for maximum valuations to be realized. At USeBiz.com we have married traffic names with branding and have created a niche market we call Target Market Branding. Is it the future? We are betting it is.
Stay Tuned this may be a strategy we can use to build our own brands.