My friend and I were talking a few days ago and the conversation got into web sites/Internet marketing stuff, so I am posting snippets of our conversation here. I am posting this to show some things to think about when starting a website. (I changed the domain names and other personal information we were talking about.)
Friend:
Search Google for "xyzzy.com" and tell me if there is already a place being used with that domain
So I know if it's copyrighted or something...
Me:
Yeah it's taken
Just checked
Friend:
So I need to think of new name?
Me:
You can't use the domain "xyzzy.com" but you can use a similar domain, as long as you don't violate any trademarks or copyrights
Friend:
OK
I want something unique
Me:
When thinking of a domain name, try to base it off of your theme or purpose in the venture, or what you are trying to do, or what you have to offer....
What category are you targeting
Friend:
Got any ideas?
Me:
I would start in a small category that you like rather than try to do to much at once. so instead of targeting "Cell Phones" , you could target "hard rock ring tones".
It gets really hard to try to do too much at once
Friend:
OK. I'm gonna base it on the keyword "xyzzy" for now then
Me:
Once you get well known and get better skilled in that area you can expand to into other areas of that market
Friend:
Sounds good to me
Me:
When you do expand, you don't have to use the same website
Friend:
And when should I start putting ad's on the side of my website to make money?
Me:
Once you get the main content into the web pages
What kind of content are you looking at doing?
Friend:
Do you have to pay for the ads?
And what do you mean by content?
Me:
If you are advertising for your site / company it costs money. If you are showing ads on your site for someone else, you get paid.
Content is:
- text
- audio
- images
- video
Yeah ads on site, so I get paid....
Me:
Correct!
Friend:
I'm trying to think of a generic name for the future, so when I do change topics, I don't have to change the domain name
Me:
Having a generic name can be a good idea, but for your first site try doing just 1 topic, because it would be easier to manage and more targetted to you traffic. Then, register another domain name for any other topics you get into.
