Originally posted by devolution
The chaff is steadily growing in the Whois field - it's harder and harder to promote the true useful utilities. It is really becoming very saturated - to the extent that people like me end up feeling that they can't be bothered spending any time on their site anymore, even though it may contain some good ideas and functions, because we just don't get any recognition or recompense.
Define what you WANT to DO with your website and DO it. If the end-all-and-be-all to the reason you created your site was to be THE MOST DEFINITIVE Whois OF ALL TiiiiiimME... then I think that is
unrealistic.
So... I have the
NameSpider expired names search on FreeWho.com, but that's an extra (not the mainstay of the website). I'm offering Whois searches... and I'm trying to make it as EASY to use and accurate as possible (note: still in development). To be perfectly honest, the site I'm starting is supposed to be a launching point that branches farther into areas that I PERSONALLY find very important, and unaddressed on the net in the way I want to see it done. Only time and my own determination will tell if I make my site a worthwhile venture, but my primary responsibility is TO MYSELF not "the Internet" at large. As such any perceived "glut" doesn't affect me.
Honestly speaking... before starting ANY website, there should be some passion for it within the person creating it (existing independant from what anyone thinks). Some people look at web ventures as purely "
build it and they will come". When the deeper truth is IMHO that people/visitors can tell if a website has a "SOUL" or if its something hastily thrown up as some expression of vanity or misguided capitalism (IE: "Look at me! I'm so cool!" or "Now legions will pour money into my pockets!") Popularity doesn't pay the bills
or nurture the soul.
I don't think there will EVER be a "glut" of websites/services done extremely well. Those that show a measure of dedication and professionality will always attract fans that swear by them (like any production.) It's how brands are born.
For FreeWho.com, the Whois is just a starting point for me. I am looking to combine the tools I care about into one place, and answer many questions I've had over the years so that others don't need to ask them or grope around like I've had to. That's why I'm putting in the Glossary, FAQs, and a number of other tools out there as soon as I can finish developing them. I think the day when someone can just throw-up an Open Source whois script and smile with satisfaction at a job well done, should be over if it ever truly existed. I don't think that's what people need.
The BIG question is... what VALUE-ADDED do you bring to people visiting your website. Are you a one-trick pony? Maybe you bring simplicity? That's certainly important. But, if you think your service needs more to be "OF SERVICE", don't hesitate to pour yourself into it. I think the Internet is still a place where the enterprising can make their mark.
I'm still proud that About.com deemed one of my websites "Best of the Web" in its category. I was shocked when I ran across it. The truth of the matter was... I just made a website I wanted to see. If someone else had already done it ("just right"), I wouldn't have even bothered.
Whois-Search.com is Andrew's labor of love, and his dedication and craftsmanship has come through in a website that many people greatly appreciate (even companies like SnapNames)! I'd already been working on a whois site just for myself (I'd actually had it up for a year with no promotion or intention to it), but when I saw his, I was impressed so much I knew I couldn't continue doing something that simply duplicated an existing website (one much better than my simple one).
I don't see the point in that. If I hadn't come up with other things I wanted to see in a website, that would have been the end of that!
Being windy and
opinionated as usual,
W|Z
