Rush for bank and money related blogs shows herd mentality.

When bank blog Bankaholic.com sold for nearly $15 million a couple weeks ago, I knew what was coming. Within days, domainers everywhere were registering bank related blog names. Some internet marketers even started money related blogs. I got an email from someone who thought he could easily start a blog like Bankaholic and turn it into $2 or $3 million within a couple years.

This reminds me of when Pizza.com “sold” and everyone started registering and trying to sell pizza related domain names. I don’t think any of them sold. People would market CrappyPizzaDomain.com and then post it to forums saying “Pizza.com sold for $2.6 million, so this domain is worth at least 1% of that.

If you want to really make it in the online world, you need to lead the trends, not follow. Jumping on the back of one success won’t get you ahead. And blogging about something you don’t enjoy — perhaps banking — won’t make you successful either.

I recommend thinking about what you’re passionate about and then trying to start a business or domain strategy around that. Do a market analysis, but start with the ideas and then the market analysis.