Morning Folks!!
Want to be in charge of your own destiny on the Internet? There is only ONE WAY to accomplish that. It starts with EVERYTHING revolving around your Domain Name. EVERYTHING!! I mean that IS your front door is it not?
Many of us have been talking about how big a mistake it is TRUSTING these 3rd parties with your content and with your future since Day 1. Now the world knows why.
So with the recent bannings and the fact that third parties control YOUR destiny has finally woken people up inquiries are going thru the roof. This was something I could see coming and my first post when I started to blog again may make a little more sense now. My shortest post ever:
The Life, The Death and The Rebirth of the Industry of Domains.
"Coming this summer."
Welcome to the rebirth! 8-8-18. Mark it on your calendar.
Sorry, but free speech is free speech and as we burn the books and words we don't like it sure reminds me of another time. I thought that was a lesson learned. I guess not.
But be that as it may, it is GREAT, for domain names. It is great for those that invested wisely in domains. It will also be a tough lesson for those on the sidelines trying to sell worthless crap.
Google, Facebook, Apple, and Twitter have "Re-Birthed" domain names. It won't do crappola for the "Domain Industry" but it is doing wonders for solid and in demand domains.
These events will challenge EVERY brand and entity to rethink their social online strategy. While first contact may be made on social media, follow up contact should be done within the confines of their own website. It is a HUGE business mistake to allow these third parties such control of your business and lives.
If you are opening an online business and you dependent on Google for your traffic, GOOD LUCK!! Google traffic is a BONUS. Your job is to use all other sources FIRST! If Facebook or Twitter is where you conduct customer service, it's FOOLISH at best! Their #1 job is to transition them off of these platforms and to their website!
These 3rd parties are TOOLS, they are not FOUNDATIONS! The domain name is the ONLY foundation you can control on the Internet.
This is a tough lesson that MILLIONS of businesses around the world are learning TODAY! It will take a while to manifest itself further. Many board meeting will be setting new agendas and that is ripe with the fall business boom!
The "Masters of the Universe" are they YOUR master? Do they control YOUR destiny? They do and will if you allow them. Unfortunately millions of businesses have been blind to it. But they are blind no more. They are TERRIFIED! As they should be.
GAME ON!
Rick Schwartz
Robert
The infowars effect?!
Snoopy
I assume it is about Fortnite’s decision to ditch google App Store. At least I want it to be about that!
Danny Pryor
We can say things like this until we’re blue in the face, our fingers are bleeding from repeatedly typing the same thing, ad infinitum: Facebook is not your website; Twitter is a feed; Instagram is not a sales platform; you need a website to control your own content without fear of it being taken down by some ‘bot or other “person” who got ‘offended’ by what you wrote. People don’t want their own website. People don’t want their own domain. It’s too much effort for them. It requires thinking and real commitment. You can only get a message like this across to a very small segment of the population who, examining the evidence for themselves, realize putting their destiny in someone else’s hands is not taking charge, after all. Few will ever realize this, though, because they bend to the rules of platforms, not even knowing they are doing it. People like me are called obstinate or rebellious or malcontents because we don’t accept the artificial world purveyed by those who claim to want “openness” on the internet, all while carefully curating the data and content, and corralling the people, into a tiny little box on a single domain.
sobrodomains
Very interesting post! If they are taken down what happens next? Your point is well stated ! thanks rick !
Ron Jackson
Amen, Rick! Short, sweet and 100% truth. Those who didn’t believe it (or didn’t know any better) are starting to learn the hard (and very expensive) way. It is no different than starting a brick and mortar business then handing the keys to a competitor without even keeping a spare key for yourself so you can get in after they lock you out!
gene
Excellent post, Rick.
In retrospect, the stupid advice given over the past 2 or 3 years to brands, i.e., minimize marketing efforts on your site, and maximize them on the major platforms (Insta, FB, T), was promoted by ad agencies and branding ‘experts.’
And, of course, the CMOs of the world bought that lie, because they believed the related lie about that path leading to Millennials’ wallets and lifetime customer value capture.
The platforms are very good for snack content and soundbites, but the moment you need real – deep – information on a brand, there’s no where else to turn BUT the website. And the UX is 100% controllable on your site, but far less so on a platform — and as we’ve recently seen, sometimes its completely uncontrollable.
Mark Thorpe
Having a foundation on top of another foundation doesn’t make sense.
You are only renting or leasing your business if you don’t own your domain name and website.
Operating your business with your domain name and website, is the only way you actual own your business online.
A tool or untility, that is all that Social Media and Apps are.
We’ve been telling business owners this for years, but they took the easy and cheap route, and piggy backed off of another businesses platform.
Now it’s going to cost business owners even more money to buy the domain name they need for their business, because the price of domains, like real estate, go up in value every year.
Backwards thinking IMO
Scott Alliy
Good point Rick,
There is another hidden gem here for those domainers with development experience.
As the tech giants ban advertising for crypto and other commodities and alienate other companies as seems the case of the Fortnite company that has decided to go it alone this opens the door for development and joint venture partnership opportunities for domainers with premium domain names.
Additionally other factors like government regulation or the threat of it in some industry sectors is causing business owners to look for alternative marketing and advertising sources. My latest development project is specifically ion response to one such industry regulation attempt.
As usual patience wins for those savvy enough and fortunate enough to be able to ride out the bad times.
DNS
Far as depending on Google for traffic I was just reading up on how Wikipedia has lost millions of visitors from Google search (ironically Wikipedia is more popular of a website than Google by numbers). I only found this topic because I just witnessed first hand a website with 135k traffic from Google and within a week (last week) it dropped to 5k traffic per month. They lost 96% of their traffic almost overnight and that would be terrifying for any business. I couldn’t believe the massive lost of traffic.
John
Interesting, link to article?
DNS
You should give your thoughts on leasing domain names
Jose
Joshua was a harmless computer until it became a real game and at the same time lethal to the world.
Happy day, Jose.
Dave Tyrer
Amazon sales are growing at a phenomenal pace and may now account for around 44 per cent of the e-commerce market in the US. And a huge factor in this growth is the dramatic and rapid rise of third-party merchants operating within the platform.
Here’s what a recent CNBC report called “Watch out, retailers. This is just how big Amazon is becoming” states:
“Amazon’s e-commerce sales in the U.S. are expected to reach a staggering $258.2 billion this year, up nearly 30 percent from a year ago, according to a new survey from eMarketer that looks at the company’s sales by product category…
“Sales generated from the marketplace will be more than double Amazon’s direct sales in the U.S. by the end of the year, eMarketer said.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/12/amazon-to-take-almost-50-percent-of-us-e-commerce-market-by-years-end.html
I have no idea how many third-party sellers there are or how many actually own a domain name. Presumably a large number successfully operate purely as an Amazon store without one. The marketplace is described as “exploding”.
You would have to expect or hope that many of those who don’t have a domain presence yet would be starting to realise the advantages of owning their own to be able to expand, become more independent, avoid commissions and have another source of income.
Sigma
Rick is the Nostradamus of the Domain Game. Not owning your domain name as a brand, company or content creator is pure foolishness in 2018. At least in the case of Alex Jones, he had http://www.InfoWars.com to keep is brand moving forward.
There are going to be serious constitutional implications of this censorship trend of these leviathan third party platforms over the next couple years.
Premium dot-Coms with commercial meaning will experience another Goolden Age over the next 3-5 years (especially if recession hits next year). During that period, companies will buy out large dot-Com portfolio holders and any 1-2 word dot-Coms with commercial meaning or EMD.
…stay tuned.
John
All so true, but I’m concerned most are still not going to care at all. They already don’t care about what Big G and others have done to domain names, competition and society to begin with. Will not most businesses think to themselves that they face no such risk from the online monopolists because it’s not like they are even remotely engaged in anything like AJ and InfoWars? Alcohol was outlawed, so that was the end of electric cars till now, and oil became the cheapest path of least resistance. The people were content with what that brought.
Steve
Obama gave away control of the domain name system root shortly before leaving office. Using Twitter, Facebook, etc. is dumb and domains are the best but someday they could take away your domain names too.
Frank
Rick has been right all along. infowars website just went down amid big tech censorship.
Tarik
Excellent article, Rick.
I knew this back in 2006 when I started my first WordPress site. You do not control social media pages or accounts. You cannot build a true business without controlling your assets.
But building a website is HARD WORK for most people. I get inquiries all the time from people asking me how to build a simple website.
Folks, you cannot start a business without basic skills. There are no shortcuts unless you have $$ and can pay someone else to do everything.
Good domains grow in value over time and will always be loyal to you. Social media doesn’t care about you at all. There are trying to increase ad dollars (Look at how Facebook is Pay to Play).
Get a good domain and stick with it. Use it as your main platform. Direct type-ins are your goal. Try to get people visiting your homepage on a regular basis. Much easier to control than 3rd party traffic.
Thomas
check this out
https://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2018/08/11/liberty-links-8-11-18-how-to-permanently-delete-your-facebook-account/