Great ideas come in the moments you least expect them. I am sure every developer has had one of those moment of enlightenment. The first few steps after getting the idea can be crucial for the success or at least seeing the project even progress.
The first thing that might come to mind after coming up with the next big idea is to research whether it has been done before and how well it has been done. You could be wasting your time if the idea you have envisioned has already been done the exact same way you had picture it. It is completely ok to still pursue your idea even it has been done before. At the end of the day what matters most is the execution.
When I come up with an idea the first thing I would do is look for a good available domain. This is before I even do anything else to vet weather it is a good idea to pursue. My top priority was always to get a good or clever .com domain. It had to be .com and it would have to make some sense when you read it. Mind you that this this was before we had all this TLDs we have today. Looking back now I realized how useless this way of thinking was. The visibility of your projects in the web goes beyond having a good domain name.
Over the years I must have accumulated dozens and dozens of domains. I never accomplished anything for most of these domains. They were lucky to even get a "coming soon" page. After some light research I would come to the conclusion that the project was not worth the time, weather there wasn't a real need or it had already been done even better than what I had envision it. I did manage to sell some of the domains for a profit but for most I just let the registration expire. There are a few domains which I really like and I will probably keep holding on to them. One day I will give them meaning.
I got to finish very few of the projects I have wanted to do. There are some projects you do for yourself and there are others you want be something more than just your hobby. It can be discouraging when those projects you had high hopes for just flop. They just don't attract the interest of the users you want.
Don't do what I did for years. Don't get useless domain names for your projects that are still ideas or are in their infancy. Nowadays your projects can live anywhere in the web and people don't need to remember their unique domain names. In terms of visibility all that matters is how you spread the word and drive attention to your project. A domain name can always come later.
Let me know if you can relate in anyway in the comments. My next post will probably be how one of my domains is finally getting a "coming soon" page after 8 years of ownership.
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