Developing Domains Doesn’t Have to be Difficult

I’ve been involved in domaining for over 10 years now and for me, part of the fun is actually developing domain names.  Don’t get me wrong, pursuing the right name is exciting, and I have written several posts about that.  But taking a domain and turning it into something is also exciting.  I’ve built out a few different names in the past and it’s that creative piece that gets the juices flowing.

That said, I’ve been a professional web designer for over 20 years.   I worked with many different platforms and dozens of different types of design software.  Most of the sites my company designs are custom developed to unique specifications of my customers.  But the real secret is, it doesn’t have to be complicated.

Let me back up.  I had lunch with a friend the other day and she told me she was branching out on her own.  She came to me for advice about a website.  I was all geared up to be taking on the work when she told me she had started to build a website on Wix.com.  “Hey, that’s an option but have you considered something like WordPress?” I shot back feeling like I needed to defend something.   She said she found Wix much easier and just had some basic questions about her domain name and email.   She showed me the site and…umm… yeah, I was impressed.  I mean, she’s a marketing expert and she just showed me what looked like a professionally design site she made on her own.

Needless to say, I went home and did some digging into Wix.com.  It’s a pretty simple process to get started.  The site leads you through a few opening primer questions and gives you the option to start a site using their editor or to jump to a prebuilt site that will work for your needs.  I kid you not, I had an online store, one I just made-up with no products, that was 90% of the way there in under 2 minutes.

“But Mike, you’re a web designer, of course you it was easy for you.”  That’s the whole thing… It had nothing to do with knowing how to build a website.  The only thing you need to know is what you want.  What kind of site? What style do you like?  Wix shows you your options and make it simple.

But let’s say you want something more complex or you just don’t believe me as to how easy it really is. Well then, they provide you with web designers that are experts in developing Wix sites to take you that extra mile.  The Wix Arena is like the market place to find expert Wix designers that can build you whatever you need on the Wix platform.  There are hundreds of Wix experts to choose from and what’s really cool is that you can see portfolios of work these people have done.   So it’s not like you are going in blind and hiring someone from a crowd sourcing site.

The platform has all kinds of tools for SEO, Invoicing, etc. Everything is pretty much a step by step well guided process to walk you through.

Now that I have touted the platform, let me get back to the real reason it interests me so much.  I want to find a quick and easy method to develop dozens of my domains without dedicating the rest of my life to the building process.  With Wix, I don’t have to mess around with WordPress themes, plugin compatibility, hosting, etc.  I can just build the site and connect my domain name to it for $5 a month. Hosting included!

We all know that domain name parking pages are weak and look like crap for the most part.  But if you can quickly and easily build a professional looking site, not just a landing page, for $5 a month, your chances of flipping that name have increased.  You now have more to the offer than just the domain name.

If you are feeling ambitious and have a passion about a domain name you really want to develop into a business, you now have the tools to take things even further.  Make your small business page or your ecommerce site and save yourself thousand.  Why make that huge investment up front when there is a solid alternative?

I’m a professional web designer so why am I telling you about alternative options?  Because I am also a domainer and my job on this blog is to bring you tips and information that I have found helpful.  There are alternatives to high end web development firms that may very well fit your needs and have the same level of professionalism.  Keep your eyes open and try different approaches until you find what’s best for you.