How and Why You Should Treat Your Content and Blog Like Real Estate

By: Weston Bonnelle

Your domain and content has the potential to be parked on the World Wide Web for years, just like a house generally settles at a location for decades. There are articles that have been written years ago that still capture the first ranking on Google. Currently you can set up a free blog and purchase a cheap domain name.  However, the internet is evolving at a rapid pace therefore you want to get your prime spot while the barriers to entry are still low. Setting up your blog, getting a host, purchasing a cheap domain that hasn’t been discovered yet and capturing the first page on Google or other search engines for competitive keywords may not be this easy in the future. Future homeowners, landlords, brokers and developers view real estate as a long term investment. Professional bloggers and even domainers should view their blog, content or domains in the same manner. Lawrence Fishcher, vice president of business development at SmartName.com, a company that owns and manages thousands of domain names, explains in USA Today, "It's a long-term investment, like owning a home." 

If you take the right steps your blog and content can grow in value as you settle comfortably with a nice page rank, quality backlinks, profit from monetizing your content and a positive reputation in the neighbor (blogosphere).  Some people like to grow old in their homes while others view their property as real estate to be sold as a profit. For example most domainers buy and own names without any intention of producing in-depth content for the site. USA Today describes the process, “They "park" on sites, where they develop content in the form of Web links and ads, to generate income and increase the value of their virtual real estate.”  Either way you plan to use your blog and content, to sell your domain or become a long term blogger, your goal should to be implementing a keen strategy initially for a solid foundation and then building up as much value on your web estate as possible. I will be posting a series, Valuing Your Content Just Like You Would Value Real Estate Series, about this topic over the next week. I hope your enjoy!

Valuing Your Content and Blog Just Like You Would Value Real Estate Series: Part 1

Be the First!

Panning for Gold!

Think of the web and the blogosphere as the Wild West. Everyone is rushing and competing with each other to acquire gold and land. The reserves are drying up fast! The first settlers that were curious enough to discover the gold and the first pioneers that were willing to lay aside their routine to travel out West were generously rewarded. In the same way the first people to recognize the available “real estate” on the web and step outside of their 9-5 comfortable zone in the late 1990s and early 2000s were rewarded. They came in before the gold rush and secured the “gold” keywords before anyone noticed.

It is always helpful to recognize a “location” such as a profitable niche, stellar blogging platform, marketable domain name and etc. before other buyers. Shrewd realtors seek to purchase undiscovered land and quality homes while it is at a reduced price because they know how to make it appealing to future customers. When people purchase overlooked yet prized real estate they are able to secure an optimal location before the prices and the time needed to invest skyrocket. This goal applies whether you are a developer seeking out land that the next best kept secret, a potential homeowner investing in house a lesser known but high quality neighborhood or simply rushing to get “gold” such as a domain, that hasn’t been discovered yet. Less time is spending figuring out SEO, you get higher ranking on search engines, more exposure from other media sources, there are not as many restrictions since gaming the system hasn’t gain momentum and you get the privilege of appearing as an authority since you would have been around longer. All these factors result in more savings and larger profits. Have foresight to understand what customers want now and can’t find or will want in the future. Originality is always awarded. Be there for be there for new forms of social media and new forms of content. For example, those who strategically secured their plot on YouTube are also generously rewarded.  Rush to get the first story or put a spin or new insight into an old topic to reopen discussion. 

Warning: Be aware of fool’s gold. Investing funds and time into real estate that was inaccurately perceived to have potential can be costly and discouraging. You may rush to a new form of social media or content, just for it to not work out or you may run into unforeseen issues. In other instances, chasing after a new niche could be difficult to monetize or sustain since there is no prior knowledge on how to and once again you could face other general issues. It can be dangerous meddling in activities with no personal guidance or even other having other successful blogs to observe or bloggers to learn from their mistakes. For example, Benoit Deschenes was threatened with a lawsuit after approaching a health care conglomerate about selling them a domain that contained their name. Since he was an earlier domainer, he probably didn’t understand that he was overstepping his boundaries. Deschenes recounted to USA Today, in 2006, "I never imagined it could be like this. It's a crazy time." Past bloggers probably didn’t know the potential of blogs, so they didn’t put in the required effort. They were quickly usurped by new yet ambitious bloggers since they didn’t take blogging as far as possible and they weren't evolved enough to compete. Many who started blogging gave up because there were no precedents to guide them. The tools were probably limited and the amounts of resources or people who could answer questions were scarce. When you are going on uncharted territory make sure to take it slow. You may have to sacrifice being first. Once equipped with the right knowledge, you can always rise up and takeover like Facebook did with MySpace and Google with Yahoo. Even if you can’t get the gold niche you can still be like Levi and profit by targeting other bloggers in the current gold rush.  On the flip side don’t let your fear of failure or anxiety about being the first stop you indefinitely. Perhaps failure can propel you to success and the benefits of being the first typically outrank minor obstacles. Don’t let opportunities pass by if you feel that you are ready to take advantage of them.

Read More of the Series: How and Why You Should Treat Your Content

and Blog Like Real Estate

Upgrade and Remodel Your Content and Blog on a Regular Basis: Part 2

Choosing the Best Domain Name, Niche and Social Networks for Your Blog: Part 3

Photo Credit:  FreeDigitalPhotos.Net: Sujin Jetkasettakorn

Photo Credit:  WikiCommons

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