Dealer Dan, pictured here with WWE Superstar Mick Foley, has been in internet marketing since 1996. He likes hugs, long walks on the beach, and making money while wearing his jammy jams. For more information, you can read all 
A couple of months ago I wrote an article entitled 5 Websites I’d Like To Build If I Had The Time.
That article was basically me looking at my list of potential website ideas and domain names that I had written down that I’d never actually create.
A few people asked me about this – am I NEVER going to build these websites? Do I just toss the ideas out the window and never think about them again?
Not necessarily.
Even though I’ll never build a lot of websites on my list – I don’t just throw the ideas out the window.
I look at implementing them into existing websites.
Here are two examples of this:
Example #1: Sports Trivia
I’m a huge fan of sports trivia. I can’t get enough of reading about teams who relocated, or curses in sports – that sort of thing.
I always wanted to create a website dedicated to that topic. I thought of creating a Q&A website. “Who were the Original Six?” “Who were the Hartford Whalers?” – that sort of thing.
I actually tested this out on a smaller scale with a website a few years ago. It was dedicated to relocated teams. It had their entire history, player bios etc and merchandise sections.
However it didn’t work out. It got decent traffic and solid backlinks – but the earnings were non-existent. I had a ton of old school merchandise being promoted figuring people would want to buy Quebec Nordiques hats, Baltimore Colts jerseys and St. Louis Bombers t-shirts. Zero interest other than some window browsing.
I also tried pushing sportsbooks. Great idea in theory – sports fans many of whom don’t have sports betting accounts. But again – it didn’t work out financially.
So I shelved the idea for a sports betting trivia site, and I recently let go the Q&A domain I was hanging onto.
But instead I’ve added a section to one of my websites – SportsBettingTips.org – entitled Sports Trivia. It’s everything that my potential website would have been – but contained within this website instead.
It’s helping enhance the quality of that website, has more potential to gain backlinks and references, and does have the option of additional monetization. While people weren’t googling the Madden Cover Curse and immediately signing up for online sportsbooks – they’re more likely to get hooked by the idea of daily sports tips. And the more they read, the more trust they build with the site – and the more likely they are to start signing up at sportsbooks we recommend.
Example #2: Top 10 Lists
This isn’t exactly the most unique idea – but I had a website planned around top 10 lists. Everyone loves top 10 lists. My plan was to have a top 10 list on anything and EVERYTHING.
It’d cover the most broad topics and then the most niche. You’d have an article on the “Top 10 US Sitcoms” and then an article on “Top 10 Seinfeld episodes from season 3”. You’d have the “Top 10 fiction authors” and then “Top 10 authors to read if you like Stephen King”.
The plan was to just FLOOD the site with content – as much as possible.
This would be a huge undertaking – and now with Buzzfeed having completely revolved the way lists work on the internet – I’ve let go of ever doing that.
However like with any website idea – I sit down and write content ideas for it as I come up with it. So I can fully visualize the site. And I had over 500 specific content ideas for this website, as well as many more broad ideas.
So I’ve been going through those lists and also a list of my current websites – and then seeing where they could fit in. With my book websites for example – I can add Top 10 Book To Movie Adaptations on it. Just one example.
Doing all of this is great for a couple of reasons: one big reason is it makes it a lot easier to let go of that idea of a website. I’m sure there are many websites you want to build that aren’t viable for many reasons – but it’s hard to let go. This really helps with that – and stops you wasting time on a project you know is destined to fail.
It also makes your existing websites better. And really as webmasters isn’t that our goal? Making the best website possible?
I know it’s mine.
This article was written on November 12, 2015 however all articles are looked at on a monthly basis and updated to keep them relevant.
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