Website Ideas: When to fold ‘em
Rarely does a day go by now days when I don’t come up with 5-10 website ideas that I think are really decent, in fact — it’s almost overwhelming. Having your mind racing this much makes it harder and harder to stay focused. Making money online really is adrenaline of sorts, you’re not risking huge amounts of money, but you do have quite a lot of time invested into a project, and it’s always an ego kill to see one of them not work out as intended.
The first thing that I force myself to do is write down the idea. Even if I ‘nix’ it now, in a month, or a year (it happens) I could go back through the binders that I keep related to web development and see something that seems possible now, or more realistic. You never want to really just throw an idea away, lots of people spend a lot of time trying to figure out a great idea for a website, you should never take them for granted! However, to stay focused you must get them out of your mind and finish the project at hand.
Once you have the ideas laying on the table, it becomes easy to separate yourself from them and get a clear perspective allowing you to do the necessary time and research at a later date. If you have 10 ideas, it will become obvious that there are one or two that will likely stick out to you, that you can simply visualize. Sketch it, make more notes — do whatever you have to do. The best thing that happens is when you find a way to take the other 8 ideas that are on the table, and find ways to integrate them into the 2 ideas, or other websites that you already have. Remember, you can easily recycle functionality from website to website — that isn’t a sin.
The biggest mistake that I made when I was just starting out is being far to eager, not doing the proper research, and estimating the “worth” of a site, instead rushing over to my favorite Domain Registrar (Dynadot) and purchasing a few domains. When you’re just starting out this can take a major hit on the bottom line. Domains that you don’t use are simply excess cost than you really need. Unless you are absolutely sure that the idea is a “go” or that the domain has some monetary value attached to itself, there really is no harm in waiting until you’re closer to being ready to start the project. Time really is money, and while it may be just a few cents per day but on a long term scale, it can be quite costly.
