Blank Czech, using Ask Lord Brar service, asks:

If I have a good domain, do you think it’s worth fooling around with if it’s my first real domain? Or do you think I should try and make a long term (>3 months) development plan for the domain. It currently gets 20-30 hits a month.

Blank, the answer is a Resounding Yes!

There is no reason to be scared of screw-ups. Remember the old saying — “Life is a Lesson You’ll Learn When You are Through“. That is more than true when it comes to domaining or, for that matter, any other business in this world.

I am a proud graduate of the University of Hard-Knocks and I can tell you that the best way to learn something is to go head-on and experiment.

To quote my friend Jon — Being too Careful is Just Plain Gay.

Remember — I may be telling a lot of stuff but do you think I want more competition in my best markets by disclosing those ideas here. I discovered what works by hard-work and hit and trial. You can discover those ideas too if you stop worrying about the results and start experimenting.

I know you are scared because you think that the name you have may lose its value if you develop it. However, if the name has type-in traffic, it is not going to go anywhere just because you have put up a site. It will only grow because now you will also get search-engine traffic.

And in case you don’t do well with the site, you always have an option of switching it back to the parking services — but I am sure you wouldn’t as development always beats parking in terms of traffic and revenue.

What I will recommend to you right now is that you choose a web host, setup a blog, write some articles, setup adsense, add affiliate links, build some links and let it ferment for some months. Mind you — SEO is not instant and takes some time to show results. Patience, my friend, is a virtue.

In summary — Yes, “fool around” with your domains. It doesn’t matter if it is your first one or one thousandth. You will learn something new every time you try out something .

If you don’t try out things because of the fear of breaking things, you will be losing out to those who are out there and discovering what works before anyone else does.

Yes, you can minimize your risk by reading how others do it but that comes with a disclaimer — reading too much can result in “paralysis by analysis” and you don’t ever want that. Whenever you see an idea that you think can work, try it yourself and see if it actually works.

Good Luck with your development effort!