Understanding The Value of a Website & The Reality of Online Real Estate
Hopefully this article will help you understand the value of a website and the reality of online real estate.
People used to call it virtual real estate or a virtue shop/business but online real estate is no longer any more virtue then your physical brick and mortar free standing structure. Both are there and have value and both can cease to exist within seconds for any number of reasons.
The Real Estate Analogy
When dealing with websites and “online real estate” I think it is best to take the approach of looking at the subject as one-in-the-same.
The Virtual Real Estate Has Become Real!
Location, Location, Location…
So you make a decision to open up a new business. You then need to find a piece of land to build the physical structure on and you need to come up with a name for that store/business. The first thing we have all heard is location, location, location, Right? You have heard this a million times. When buying real estate one of the most important factors to help determine the value of that property is location.
Well this is the same thing for your online website. Only that location is not a piece of land that you walk on, it is a URL or Domain Name that you buy which you will find in the search engines when searching for desired information. The better the domain name you secure will make it easier for more people to find you and potentially help you to get found easier in the search engines too.
Therefore in this analogy you are seeing the the physical land and business name are the same as a domain name for your website online.
The Only Thing Guaranteed in Life is Death and Taxes
Whenever you buy land, you have land taxes. No one can avoid this, if you own land, even if you paid it off in cash, you still have to pay some tax each year. If you don’t pay your taxes, someone will eventually take your land from you. Well your domain name is the same. Each year you have to pay a fee to keep that domain name. If you don’t pay the yearly fee you will lose your website name/location/address. Someone will take your online land away from you.
So look at a Domain Name as Land.
Blue Prints Architectural Designs
When you decide to build a house or building, the first thing you are going to need is a blue print. This will tell the people building the house what needs to be done and prepare them for the tools they are going to need. Well the same is true for a website. Prior to building the website you need a template or graphical spec and wire framing to understand and create the vision of what your website is going to look like.
So the sample provided by a graphic artist with wire framing is the same as the blue print provided by the architect.
Check back for more information and examples on how website real estate and real world real estate relate.
