Morning Folks!!
Ok, let's start here year #5 with this. Content ain’t shit without a “Mousetrap” attached to it that can produce dollars. You can spam the engines for a living and try to fake folks out or you can build a business.
You can have the entire content of the universe on your site and it is meaningless if you have little or no traffic or even if you have masses of traffic and no way to turn a profit. The “Mousetrap” that I used to talk about in the 1990’s is not talked about in domaining and now is the time to do it.
What is content? Content are keys to locks. Answers to questions. Depending how you use your content, you will either be giving something away for free or creating a “Mousetrap” that has a purpose behind the content. An idea behind the content. A profit making business behind the content. A Cash Register! Without that, you have a content page to spam the engines and basically hustle like a waitress for the rest of your life.
You can CHASE mice and hunt them with a shotgun or you can TRAP them. If you hunt them you have to work hard and your job is never done. Plus your home will be riddled with holes from the buckshot. But when you set a “Mousetrap”, you can go about your life and come back periodically to see if your “Hunt” was successful. You could even do that at multiple locations simultaneously. That's called working smarter not harder. Working less to get more. Cloning your work. Thinking is the work. It is hard work. But with thought you can jump from last to first even if you come late.
Domain + Traffic + Something traffic wants + Mousetrap = Sales + Dollars + Profit + Building a business.
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
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Dawn Mentzer
Fabulously candid post! Meaningful (to site visitors)content is crucial and is all too often made a low priority.
Duane
With a pimp like you, you should be referring to a brothel :)
andy kelly
Uncannily I’m in need of a mousetrap, a humane one and I have no desire to shoot Elephants either. I now (reluctantly) have a pet mouse in ma hoose !
He’s now called Bertie. If it had been a rat I would have rang Parsons.
Com is King and so is content imo. The mini sites argument should be buried. Mini sites are ok as a temporary stop gap. Much better to use a model such as DDF. Those guys really are on the ball re what to do with top domains.
steve
Would be nice to have same example websites with smart mouse traps.
Tia Wood
Something to think about. Thanks for the post, Rick.
Guywhocooks
Could not agree more and a subscriber list is the first we should all be building.
FestivalsInEurope.com
Superb. Will be lovely to see sample and we can compare it what some of us has.
Ryan
I think he is talking about Epik, what a disaster!
BullShitWebsites
That what I have been preaching all the time.
Uzoma
How come Godaddy didn’t read this first before going after that elephant with a shotgun?
DR.VEGAS
Makes sense.So…got any examples? Who does it well?
UFO
And Rick is going to sell you the cheese… :)
domain guy
the domain with traffic is home.co, you can add content,blogs,twitter whatever you want to the page. then you add a module to capture the names and email address of the prospective clients. you then sell off the leads.
there it is real simple so everyone can now understand it.
David Carter
Spot on! Developing web sites in order to make money from the likes of Adsense or similar may have worked well a few years ago, but now, unless you develop with a view to selling something (whether your own product or service, or somebody else’s), you probably won’t make real money.
Developed domains should act as laser targeted weapons – the content should be aimed at the”ideal customer”, answering their needs and questions and then have a big call to action that leads directly to the money.
There is more money in niches than you might think.
max
good post, rick. i think most of the website owners realize what you’ve talked about in the post, but it’s hard to apply it sometimes
George
Whay else is new?
Maybe your next posting shoulbe:
“Don’t forget to take in air repeatedly and
alternately in order to stay alive”.
steve cheatham
I have been on it, doing it and having success with it for over 12 years.
If you don’t know what a”mousetrap” is and how to work it you might not be a business person.
DR.VEGAS
@STEVE CHEATHAM:
Excellent.Tell us less enlightened non-business types what is working for you along these lines.I’m always looking for a new learning experience.Let’s hear it.
Joseph Slabaugh
My trap is a site that gets Chinese traffic, and yes the money is great. I am going to create a few more of these sites!
Blueprint Domains
Is the mousetrap a subscriber list Rick?
Brett Napoli
This could be the greatest and only necessary tidbit of advice needed by somebody looking to develop a website.
“Thinking is the work. It is hard work. But with thought you can jump from last to first even if you come late.”
Killer post