There is a piece of advice that I've given aspiring domain investor/developers ever since I got into this business over 12 years ago. That is take a domain related to a subject you are really passionate about and build a website devoted to that topic. While developing is a long, time consuming task with no guarantees, if you get lucky and hit one home run it can generate more revenue for you than a portfolio of hundreds or even thousands of undeveloped domain names. 

Website Under Construction graphic from Bigstock

This site, originally started as a hobby rather than something I expected to turn into a business, is a prime example of that and why I encourage so many others to do it. I place heavy emphasis on making sure you pick something you love because constantly writing and generating content is tedious work that you will quickly grow tired of and abandon unless the topic is something you love so much you just can't stop talking about it.

ClubUpGolf.com logo	With that being a core belief of mine, you can imagine my delight when I learned that my son-in-law, David McCreery, recently launched his first website devoted to something he eats, sleeps and breathes - the game of golf - on a hand-registered domain, ClubUpGolf.com ("Club up" is a term golfers will readily recognize, making this a quite nice hand reg considering the ultra popular golf category has just about been mined out).  Though David, a Drexel University graduate, is a financial analyst by trade he thought running his own golf website would be a perfect
avocation that could grow into something more. When you couple a golf nut who is also a hard worker and excellent writer with a domain name and an inexpensive hosting account, all of the ingredients are in place for something very good to happen.

In fact, though David just launched the site a few weeks ago, good things are already happening. Some equipment manufacturers, both here and in Japan,  have already taken notice of what he is doing and have started sending him sample balls, clubs, gloves and
accessories to review. David understood that in an extremely crowded field he needed to find a niche so uncovering and spotlighting little known but very high quality equipment makers has become a specialty of his - one that is appreciated by companies trying to make headway in a highly competitive field of their own. With that in common, relationships being formed now could result in those companies supporting his efforts for years to come and at least a couple of those companies could evolve into giants in their field.

That happened with me as well - a company that started the same year I did became my first advertiser and after 11 years they are still here. Today they are a public company and one of the best known global players in our space - Sedo.  The same thing happened with a lot of other startups that followed, so I think David has mapped out a very wise plan and it will be very interesting to watch how he executes it and grows in the years ahead. Of course, he has added the social media element as well with a ClubUpGolf page at Facebook.

David & Brittany McCreery earlier this week in Orlando, Florida.

David just got another edge last week when he and his wife, my daughter Dr. Brittany McCreery, moved from Philadelphia to Orlando where they settled into the Lake Nona area, a community where several PGA golf pros also make their home. Nothing like having interesting internationally known content living just down the street!  After a long winter in Philadelphia writing and dreaming about being on the course, being back in Florida, where he and Brittany both grew up, will give David a chance to play year around and do research for his site at the same time. That's a guy's dream come true. Whatever your dream is, a relevant domain name and cheap hosting account could make it happen - but don't forget the most important ingredient - make sure you are passionate about whatever it is you decide to do!