It’s Saturday, again!!!

Where is the time going?

I have been saying that web development is hard work. But the truth is, web development is damn easy. There is an orgy of tools (even free ones) that you could use to build web pages and even multi-page websites without even writing the opening html tags.

You don’t have to be geeky to build and maintain websites these days. So why do I keep preaching that web development is hard then? I am programmed to think “ebusiness”. Why build a website if it is not going to make you money, or provide supporting services to a branded website?

Now turning a website into a profitable ebusiness is the hard bit. One of the simplest ways to do this is via branding. Nonetheless, I am going to stop preaching the branding message. I now realise that a lot of people don’t get branding. Given that I am now fully engaged in full-scale web development across many niches, it might be in my best interest to keep my branding philosophies close to my heart.

You can’t afford to let the competition learn how you think and/or what you are planning.

Frank Schilling said it perfectly: “I lose a tactical advantage by openly espousing my ideas and beliefs about business. If I tell everyone everything I’m up to, I lose a competitive edge.”

As a matter of fact, when I read that statement I immediately decided to go ahead with my plan to cut blogging to a bare minimum.

Late last year, I blogged about my intentions to launch an affiliate program here at eBusinessDomains.com. Months later, at least 2 big domain industry players launched their affiliate programs. I don’t have any proof that I inspired any of their moves, but I am certain that there businesses out there incorporating every possible ideas floating about in domainer land.

Anyway, back to branding.

Here is a story, I will try to make it short…

I remember, some years ago I was providing consultancy services in the Caribbean to a client that wanted to set up remittance services. The client, who at the time was an ex-banker, shared this story with me about how this very-well known multi-national bank a few years back had tried relentlessly to sell the local banks a software that would enable them to easily and readily provide remittance services.

A remittance is a transfer of money by a foreign worker to his home country. Of course you must have heard about Western Union and MoneyGram. When this US based multinational bank was offering the software the Internet and ebusiness (online) was just about getting popular. The technology would allow the person overseas to send the money, and within minutes, the recipient could collect it from one of many locations, locally.

The banks rejected the software. It was expensive. They didn’t need it. They wouldn’t be able to recoup their costs. They didn’t fully grasp the concept. Blah, blah, blah…

Just a few years later, a private sector company signed up with Western Union and started offering remittance services locally. Now, money sent home by migrants constitutes the second largest financial inflow (foreign currency) to many developing countries, exceeding international aid (the number one financial inflow is tourism).

The local banks suddenly realize that they had had a gold spoon shoved in their mouths but they spat it out. When they tried to get a piece of the action, put their tails between their legs and approached the US multi-national bank, they were simply shown the door.

They had to spend many times over the cost of the US bank’s software to acquire or develop their own technology. This was happening while the private sector (non-banking) company was reaping sweet success and inevitably becoming the market leader.

It’s a long story. But what I am trying to show domainers here is that branding is where the money is. I feel like the US bank relentlessly trying to sell what was obviously a golden spoon. The sooner you understand the concept of branding and learn how to fully analyze the scalability of brands; you will stop wasting money in your domain efforts.

Some domains and niches are fantastic! Great! They are category killers. But you just can’t brand them. Some will need the strongest of end-users to turn them into successful ebusinesses.

I read somewhere earlier this week where BottledWater.com which recently sold for $45,000 is now a blog. $45,000 to start a blog???! The domain name would be worth millions to a company like Evian, but to a normal person/investor, not much. That’s even when they have loads of cash to build any pimped out website.

Some domains are asset rich, but cash poor. They cost a lot to acquire and can be flipped easily. However, developing them successfully will be no easy task! Invest in domains and ebusinesses that can produce revenue.

Anyway, I need to get some sleep. I have a very long day tomorrow, (or later UK time).

Have a great weekend!!

PS. I will fix any spelling or grammatical errors tomorrow .