I came across Eliot Silver’s blog today on his endeavor to build Lowell.com - a geodomain dedicated to all things in Lowell, Massachusetts (blog.lowell.com). I think it is a true expression of the steps and challenges inherent in creating a business that has both uniqueness and sustainability:

1. A solid, domain name (how good is Lowell.com for Lowell, Mass?).
2. Business planning that includes uniqueness, problem solving and revenue.
3. Resourcefulness in finding solutions to development problems (ala the business directory issue, payment issue, cart issues, etc.).
4. Consideration for adding value to the advertisers while keeping prices within reason.
5. Consideration of legal issues - specifically the thoughts around the logo and how it might look like someone elses.
6. Business partnerships - working with the photographer for example.
7. Planning for traffic generation via search engines. This is also better done at the beginning of a design than at the end when an SEO retro fit is in order.

So far, Eliot is on the right track and I wish him good luck and two pieces of additional advice:

1. The recommendations and links he offers on his blog should be tied to the affiliate programs of the various vendors so he could make some money on referrals.
2. He should look to partner with other cities in the region to either help them develop their sites or work to cross-promote their content to draw a bigger crowd.

Good luck Eliot, we’re pulling for you!