The Rick Schwartz Domain Name and Traffic Blog: RicksBlog.com – Home of The Domain King®

Stop comparing domain names to the wrong things. What sets Domains apart from ALL other investments is CONTROL. Let me show the important differences.

CONTROL!! what does that mean?

When you buy a stock or gold, do you have control of the price? No! NONE!

Same thing with Bitcoin. Do you have any control? No! NONE!

Learn the difference between assets you can control and grow and those that you have to depend on the market and have no say so whatsoever in the direction it might take or when.

And that is what sets domains apart as the greatest investment in my lifetime by far. You have control. So let me explain and delve deeper.

With great dotcom domain names it’s within your power to build a skyscraper or something fun, or just sell the traffic and make money when you sleep. You can invent and reinvent. Build and rebuild. Expand without limits. How does that compare with any of the other buckets? And that’s what they are. Buckets versus investment. I will show the difference and why your focus should be on acquiring great domain names.

The only control you have on these other items is when you buy and when you sell. The only control you have is at the beginning and at the end but you have no control of anything that happens during the cycle of ownership. Think about that!

What’s not to understand? It can’t be any simpler!

I have plenty of all of the above. But I know the difference between a bucket and investing in something with expansion potential. Great potential! Unlimited potential! Great demand! And unique!

My financial safety is diversification on the one hand and plunging into the areas that I know on the other hand.

I own 6-figures of Gold & Silver. Am I a proponent of Gold & Silver as an investment? Hell no!

I own 7-figures in Diamonds. Am I a proponent of owning Diamonds as an investment? Hell, no! 

I own 7-figures of Bitcoin. Am I a proponent of owning Bitcoin as an investment? Hell no! 

I own 7-figures of art. Am I a proponent of owning Art as an investment? Hell no! 

I own 7- figures of watches. Am I a proponent of owning watches as an investment? Hell no!

I own mid 8-figures in Real Estate. Am I a proponent of owning Real Estate as an investment? Hell yes!

I own priceless Domain Names. Am I a proponent of owning Domain Names as an investment? Hell yes! 1000 times over!!!

The only two on that list that are income-producing are the last two. Real Estate and Domain Names. The others are one-dimensional, and not income-producing. You are at the mercy of the market. You have no control. 

Making that distinction is paramount. 

Ignoring that distinction could be the kiss of death. 

And that has always been my point. Making the distinction. They are not the same. It’s all about diversification because that’s the greatest safety. 

They are all different buckets. None are bad. I just realized the difference in the distinction between them. So, no matter how things unfold I have protection. 

Domains were the vehicle that allowed me to buy all of these other assets, not the other way around!! That is the point!

And I will post the following every chance I get! Domains are multi-dimensional and multi-faceted. What is the value of the following that are all elements of a domain name? Stop being cheap. It's a dotcom world. The unrecognizable new extensions have failed and have been very costly because of consumer confusion and lost traffic. So if you think great domains are expensive, failing and going broke or being forced to rebrand is much more expensive! Stop being shortsighted!

Your World Headquarters

Your Location

Your Brand

Your Front Door

Your Cash Register

Your Information Portal

Your #1 Sales Tool

Domains provide Unlimited Expansion!

If you have a GREAT idea why would ANYONE launch it on a 2nd rate domain or location?? Why would they diminish or annihilate their chances of success?

Please note; ALL of my comments on this blog since 2007 ONLY apply to great DOTCOM domains. They DO NOT and NEVER WILL apply to any other extension. The Dotcom franchise is the largest most successful franchise the world has ever known!! The single greatest economic equalizer the world has ever known!

Rick Schwartz

I try to lead by example. Look at the Domains I buy & look at the prices I pay for them and what I sell them for. $655 for TurboTutor *com meets my criteria. Let me go over it point by point.

So let me share my thought process. I don’t have to worry about when I’m going to sell it. All I have to know is that it’s salable. It’s brandable. It’s demandable.

Can someone build their dream on my domain name? That’s the #1 question I ask.

If this was the only domain name that I had, can I build my dream on it? That is the 2nd question I ask and most of the time it is the first question I ask before I actually pull the trigger.

YES!

Is it meaningful?

YES!

Does it communicate what you’re going to get or do I have to guess?

YES!

Is it easy to spell and easy to remember, does it pass the radio test?

YES!

Can this domain be the next World Headquarters for an important company or even my own?

YES!

Is this domain worth at least six or seven figures?

YES!! It already is!

Lastly, does it sound good and have a good ring?. Easy to remember so it's easy to tell others? Regardless of what techies believe, word-of-mouth is still the number one advertising medium in the universe. Online or Anywhere. If you want to amplify, you actually need a great domain to amplify. If it does not make sense or is confusing, GAME OVER!

The Domain game is about picking domains. Meaningful DOTCOM domains. Dotcom domains are the biggest and greatest franchise the world has ever known. Think about that. Let that marinate for a moment before dismissing or disagreeing. If you do, you lose!

No other item or government in the history of the world has leveled the playing field economically more than dotcom domain names. No matter where you are or who you are you can plant your dream for as little as a Happy Meal and be on the Main Street of the business universe!!

It’s a game of accumulation of gems. If you pick your gems right, the sales will follow. You don’t have to get desperate. 

Value is determined by who you’re selling it to!! If you’re selling it to a local tutor that makes $30 an hour he or she will not be able to pay you too much. That’s a hard pass! Run! Don’t even answer. Disappear.

On the other hand, if you’re selling it to a company that’s going to make something life-changing that’s where the value comes in. You find that out by the conversation.

I just believe everyone who contacts me is Amazon. I ignore mom-and-pops. I don’t care about mom-and-pops. They are not my target audience. They shouldn’t be yours either! I target those end-users that want to join the Fortune 500. Those that have dreams and want to shoot for the stars. Those that wake up breathing what they do. No passion = NO SALE!! I only deal with end-users!

They may even fool you into believing they are a mom & pop. Don’t fall for it! It’s not for the kid either! Don’t believe any of it. 

They are Amazon, Apple, and Netflix. Assume they are a Fortune 500 or 1000 company 100% of the time. You shouldn’t believe anything but that. That’s how you should be answering every inquiry. That's how I answer every inquiry if I answer at all. You are NOT compelled to answer everyone. It would be a waste of time to engage 98% of those inquiries. But if you do.....

Their job is to get a price. Your job is to start a conversation. You must win here or you lose. VERY SIMPLE!!

But you have to be 100% consistent and 100% determined, 100% of the time!!

If you can’t get a conversation going, here’s an easy one. Tell them your plans. Tell them you have plans for the domain. You did buy it for a reason! Right? It has value to you! Right? I don't buy a domain unless I can attach a money-making idea to it. So start building the value for you! That helps build value for them.

When the value is too much & they are out of their league, that’s when you simply walk away. You say no and walk away cuz you’re looking for someone with a passionate dream. A BIG dream based on reality not fantasy. Pretty easy to tell the difference if you pay attention to what they say and how they say it. The words they use and the thoughts they have.

Now, if I was a flipper, you don’t think I can turn TurboTutor around pretty quickly for a lot more than what I paid for it? 

And if a domainer were to sell something like that for $5000, they are insane and also would also be celebrating. And that would be insane. How many dollars are you willing to leave on the table?

I buy things for $500 that are worth $100,000 or Millions. That’s the domain game. It's a true gut ability few have to see such things. But that is my gift and I recognized it early on and have exploited it.

It isn’t about what you paid for it. I learned that antiquing. You can buy a Picasso for $2. It doesn’t mean you sell it for $5. People buy things for very little money and sell them for fortunes. That’s the Domain game if you play it right. That's Real Estate and stocks and all types of commodities if you play it right. The difference here is you are selling or buying a unique asset that can not be replaced or reproduced. You are buying or selling something that can come to life and be life-changing. You are buying something that you can turn to priceless as it becomes your recognized World Headquarters.

So, just worry about collecting the gold & the gems & everything else will fall into place. Domain game is about acquisitions, not sales. Sales are the residue of great acquisitions. But 95% of domainers have that equation upside down.

They let valuable domains slip through their hands cuz they don’t know what the hell they’re doing, and they end up buying Pigeonshit and worthless extensions for more money than I buy my priceless gems for. Go figure!!

They NEVER tell the buyer about the pitfalls and extra costs of attempting to put their World Headquarters on a non-dot-com extension. That is why they are forced to upgrade and the rebranding process is long and expensive. By the time they figure it out, they have lost a LOT of business via confusion that often leads to the competitor. The competition gets stronger while they get weaker and actually work against themselves.

I try to teach them how to become wealthy, they try to convince me that they have to sell/buy for chump change. Cheap buyers and know-nothing sellers are a recipe for disaster.

They have a chance to learn a chance to advance, instead, they reinforce their past failed ways.

I cannot help those people. They are stuck & they’re never going to progress. They are arguing & reinforcing failure instead of jumping on success. That’s why I say I know what they’re going to do before they know what they’re going to do.

And to get to the true value of a domain name you MUST be able to ask this question and the potential buyer needs to know the answer. Without that info, everyone is flying in the blind. "What is the lifetime value of a new customer?" It ALL starts there!

As you can see, I am talking to both buyers and sellers. There is nothing to hide. It's about laying your cards on the table and putting a winning hand together for both parties. If you do it right, it won't be adversarial. You will both seek and find common ground as you build value.

If not, you simply walk away. The domain you pick for your World Headquarters will make you look brilliant if you do it right or will make you look like a cheap fool if you do it wrong. Both will reflect heavily in your sales and whether your company makes good decisions or not. Companies that make bad decisions usually disappear.

And lastly, let me leave you with this. A company can lease a GREAT domain with an option to buy for as little as a lease on one of their Mercedes. So if their Mercedes is more important than the longevity and health of their company......RUN!!!!! A Founder knows the difference, a CEO might not!!

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Down, dirty, raw. I callout CEOs by name. I explain the difference between a hard-working Founder and a CEO looking for a 2-5 year gig. Explosive interview. I'll let the video do the talking.

I will note that the discussion about the $2.8 Billion company was about the sale of Bird.com and noting that the CEO of Bird.co passed up this once in a lifetime opportunity. I simply did the math and noted he was losing a MINIMUM of $140 million ANNUALLY in lost revenue simply because of confusion at only a 5% loss from the .co to .com. DUMB!!!

Enjoy!!

YouTube Link

I really don't care if you agree with my steps or not and I am used to it. Most won't. But if you are not making MILLIONS with your domains then maybe, just maybe, take it seriously. This is my suggested path. There are many other paths but again, if you're not making millions on that path, don't argue.

Best is to have one domain and build a successful business not a "Feel Good" site. One is being a business person and the other is being a starving artist. Sorry, but I DO make that distinction and before you just dismiss it, you should think about it too. Businesses have a cash register.

1.* Focus on .COM domains that are easy to spell and pass the radio test.

2. Make sure you have another source of income to support your investments.

3. Target with a rifle not a shotgun. Your first purchase may be your most important. 

4. Each purchase should be like it was your first except armed with more knowledge

5. Hook up the new domain to PPC and see if it has traffic and who is bidding on that traffic.

6. Select secure registrar.

7. Make sure your whois is public. 

8. Test, Test, Test.

9. Patience. Patience. Patience. You are not selling umbrellas in a rain storm. You are selling the most important decision they ever made. 

10. Learn how to sell.

11. Learn how to write an effective email.

12. Learn to personalize.

13. Learn how to stay focused on their needs, not yours!

14. LISTEN to them and stop talking. 

15. Answer their questions honestly and truthfully.

16. POINT OUT PITFALLS before they even ask!! That is STRONG selling!

17. Protect them as well as sell them! That's STRONG selling

Side note: That's what pisses me off about the GTLD guys and how weak they are at selling is this:
At least have the BALLS and the DECENCY to tell them to add the WWW before the domain until it is recognized. Alert them to the confusion so they can avoid the confusion. But they are weak and they don't do that and the only thing they can do is bash .com's. That's weak! So until they do that, it's just a fraud to me.

18. Stop talking about Escrow.com. It won't help you close a sale and you are wasting time and space to actually add value. BIG MISTAKE!

19. Stop talking about how old the domain is. It won't help you close the sale and you are wasting time and space to actually add value.n BIG MISTAKE

20. Stop talking about PRICE and talk about USE! Their use, not your needs. Not your desperation.

21. Don't send out another email the same day or even the next day asking if they got your email. BIG MISTAKE. Send it in a few weeks with some news and value. Send them an article. But wait a few WEEKS or more.

22. Watch my twitter videos and allow yourself to change bad habits into good ones.

23. Filter out all the noise. There are only a handful of credible sources in the domain industry. If they have something to sell you, question their credibility. Start with DNJournal.com and focus on a few credible blogs.

24. Success in Domains is about longevity and the future. Lasting power. Focusing on domains of value because they have the right elements.

25. Create income streams early and often.

These are such basic elements and folks that skip steps on a ladder always fall off the ladder. Take it, leave it or post it and follow it. Your choice. It's as valuable as you make it or just discard and forget.

And for the first time ever, I am not allowing comments on this post. It will remain in its pure form. There are many more points I can make. But this is a decent start.

GOOD LUCK!!

Rick Schwartz

*If you want to ignore, resist or argue about this, there is nothing I can do for you. Working at Denny's vs owning Capital Grille. I don't do Denny's. Can't help you until you figure out for yourself. Good Luck on the journey.

Morning Folks!!

So how can you tell a company is going to go out of business when they are barely in business? Pretty simple for me. It's football. And in football you have an offense and a defense. You need both to win games.

In business, your offense is sales and marketing. Companies that minimize that scare me! Nobody survives without sales. But some will even argue that point. DUH!

The other is defense. Defend your name and brand and market share in the marketplace. Companies that minimize that scares me too. A company with no sales quarterback loses. A company with no defense loses.

So, if you have a company that is bad at both.....FORGET ABOUT IT! That's why it is so easy to pick out the losers. They are the low hanging crap not fruit.

The defense part is what I focus on with new GTLD's. May as well get a neon billboard saying "I am going to increase my chances of failing and I am going to ignore all and every pitfall." "I have no defense and, I have no backup plan. I am just going to close my eyes and believe it's not there." DUH!

The defense is any type of leaks. On the Internet, leaks come in the form of typos, confusion and poor advertising materials.

And of course, as a defensive move, you have to prevent interceptions like the O.co debacles. Had O.com been a business competitor, that would be like throwing an interception. A sale destined for your company ends up in the hands of your competition. What could be worse in business?? NOTHING! I am sure some fool will argue that point as well.

So, there you are, business made simple. News flash, you can't bowl a perfect 300 game without strikes! You can't score a touchdown without sales, and you can't prevent your competitor from eating your lunch if you throw interceptions you by not following the simplest, most common, most basic rules of business.

As a captain of YOUR business, ANY LEAK has to be discovered and known. They may not all be able to be fixed, but a captain that ignores leaks and PRETENDS they are not there is a fool and his ship or business is destined to sink!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

When it comes to my outlook on the value of a great domain, few have stuck to their guns like I have over the years. But there are reasons for that far outside the goal lines of domaining. That's just the surface to me. Buy let's drill a bit.

There are certain domains I would not sell without a piece of the action. They are akin to the flawless diamond. Rare and unique flawless diamonds. In demand and important diamonds. Diamonds that are large. Diamonds that represent and identify. Diamonds that no others have.

Originally my idea was simple, I bring the domain to the table, 50% and other entity brings it's knowhow to the table, 50%. Ok, did not work that way. That equation most likely won't work in MOST cases. It will in some cases.

What is the value of perpetual income? How many perpetual income streams can you create? How do you recognize a domain that fits in this class to begin with?

How do you recognize a domain that fits in this class to begin with? Let's start and end there. That's the single biggest challenge domainers seem to have. Most are no diamond experts and they should be. At this stage of the game those domains should be recognizable to the naked eye at a GLANCE. A glance at a list of 100 or 1000. It should jump out like a freight train. If that does not happen, and you are not making $$$, why are you here?

Domains are about advertising and branding and memorizing easily, and word of mouth or making a point, or having street cred in the eyes of consumers NOT techies. Drill down to see the importance and value and the vehicle it provides. There are more variables. Think of ALL of them.

And some truly great names may be invisible to the naked eye. In time advertisers will use FUNNY domain names to advertise. You'll see.

Yesterday I saw 2 different commercials by 2 different companies (possibly the same entity advertising the same credit card product) but you could see they were possibly TESTING two domain names and 2 commercials or they were competitors. Maybe you know. But the commercials seemed like they were done by same company . One was a generic 2 word, CompareCards.com and and one was a brandable, Nerdwallet.com. Maybe they are going to measure the different results!! They are testing. THAT IS THE WAY YOU DO IT!! BRAVO!! If true! That space also has KreditKarma.com.

So you have many entities advertising and competing. That's a big tipoff. There is something worthy of drilling down.

Ya know, when I talk about Sears or Malls or anything outside domains and domainers and sales prices, most domainers don't pay attention. They should! Their eye glaze over They are so busy talking to domainers that they have a domainer mentality. Good for you but not smart.

You need a consumer mentality. You need a manufacturing mentality. You need a retail mentality. You need a wholesale mentality. You need a business mentality. You need an end user mentality. You need a historical mentality. You need an attorney mentality. You need to be a student of Human Nature. Instead so many are stuck in either a pond or even a cesspool with other domainers and can't see the forrest thru the trees.

You can flip mobile homes or mansions. One is VERY hard and VERY unrewarding. The other is so easy and rewarding you wonder why everyone does not do it!? So if you want a truly GREAT domain name, STOP buying mobile homes and STOP listening to other domainers that have an agenda. How do you figure that part out? BE SMART!

Remember, the #1 game in domaining is not buying domains, it's buying time to afford to keep those domains until the proper buyer comes along. Domains have to be part of a revenue engine or you need a day job to support your babies.

A GREAT domain will end in .Com. A GREAT domain will be easy to spell. A GREAT domain will mean something whether it is short or long. A GREAT domain has so many attributes that it blows me away that PIGEON SHIT rules most portfolios. A GREAT domain can be a phrase that people know and can remember. But the GREATEST domains are one or two words. Matter of fact, DNJournal.com has only ONE reported sale of anything more than 2 words since at least 2015. UsedCarsForSale.com and sold for $100k. In 2014 there were two sales of 3 word domains. Going back to 2006, I found only NINE other 3 word domain sales.

To recap, their has not been a 3 word domain make the top 100 list since 2015. In TOTAL from 2006 thru 2018, we are talking about 15 total domains more that 2 words to make the list. Only ONE with 4 words. That said, even 2 worders are not in as much demand as they were in past years. However they still retain great value when they mean something! Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives!

Now that does not mean a 3 word domain does not have value. It just probably does not have GREAT value unless it truly means something special or common phrase. I own ShopTilYouDrop.com. But it's a common phrase. Has some value and has demand which means I get offers. But I focus on 1 an 2 word .com domains. That's my bread and butter. Tried and true.

Listen, the IDN guys were and are much smarter than me. Really. They and techies have a much broader and deeper understanding of the Internet. I am just the common man using the Internet.

Even the GTLD guys I assume must be much smarter than me. They have money to burn, I don't. Not only can they pick the winner in a 1000 horse race, they can go on to pick the winner of the winner in an infinite collection of .whatever and then they are so smart they can figure out and rely on the demand for that particular domain of that particular extension that FEW even know about. WOW!!! I am IMPRESSED!!!! Pure Genius!! (with a few pitfalls that they don't want to talk about and turn a blind eye to)

Focus on one and two word domains that mean something or are brandable but they MUST pass a set of guidelines that YOU form yourself. If it does not pass YOUR TEST, pass on the domain.

My list includes: Easy to spell. ALWAYS! Easy to communicate without confusion. ALWAYS! .COM ALWAYS! One or two words. ALWAYS.

There are other factors. Size of the audience. If all you have targeted were domains for the domain industry, to sell, you targeted a TINY sector. Good luck with that. The audience, the size of the market. The size of the market that is still up for grabs. Is it an emerging market? A saturated market? A competitive market?

How much do they advertise? Where do they advertise? Who do they advertise to? What is their advertising budget? Is the budget growing? Is the sector growing?

I talk about digging deep and drilling down. This is all part of the process. And the more expensive the domain, the more you drill down. These are MY processes that I still use and have never varied from. This is the path I use. This is a safe way to buy domains. This is the way to always have domains that others want and are in demand. This is how I sleep comfortably at night knowing I have assets that are among the world's most sought after! Buying one domain at a time when I see one worth getting.

Did I mention is MUST be a .com name???? Not sure. I am very inconsistent and very forgetful. Well, in case I did not mention it, stick with .COM ONLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rick Schwartz

Afternoon Folks,

So I decided that Pigeon sh*t is a term that should be reserved for low or no value single domains of current extensions to avoid any confusion in the future with their bigger cousins as they bring some large dung to market.

Limited quality gTLD's of low or no value  need some clarity, color and personality of their own. So from this day on I will refer to low or no value extensions as Horse.Shit. Not to be confused with their smaller dung cousin Pigeon Shit. But can be interchanged with the more popular usage of "Horse Shit" known as meaningless or insincere talk, action or nonsense.

I hope this clarification makes your lives simpler in the future.

And gives everyone a really good chuckle.

Now back to your regularly scheduled much more interesting life.

:-) Ho! Ho! Ho!

Rick Schwartz

P.S. My sincere apologies to those like Domain Gang that could have done a much better job rolling out this new terminology out.

Morning Folks!!

My defining last ever post on gTLD's.

I love how people trying to sell something try to speak for everyone. I am told people will adapt to the new gTLD's. Now I agree that society is very adaptable. The keyword there is adaptable. They can learn anything. Even flying jets. So without doubt that power is there.

Here is the side of the equation that they may have a very hard time with. ADOPTION. Before you adapt, you have to adopt. If there is no reason to adopt, there is no reason to adapt. Got that??

Adapt : to change your behavior so that it is easier to live in a particular place or situation

: to change (something) so that it functions better or is better suited for a purpose

So you might ask the question "Is confusion something I want to adapt to and adopt as a new way to navigate the net?"

That might be the question.

See, if it were done methodically and logically to INDEX the Internet to find what you want quicker, you might adopt and adapt. When you find out it may be the opposite, do you still get the same result? Come on!

That directly connects to need, want and desire. That chain breaks every time.

Everyone raise your hands that want to be confused? What is the need, want and desire level on confusion?

Some do make a living out of confusion.

I talk to as many people about this as possible. Smart people. People seeing both sides. But I swear there is the disconnect and I think it gets to the entire motive of all this.

I am sure you are all bored and would be happy for me never to mention those 3 words. Need, want desire. But whenever I ask that question and fill in the buckets, the end-user ain't in the equation. They get run over by those 3 words.

1. ICANN. Yes, they DO have need, want, desire because they are making money! Loads of money. They also keep themselves relevant by their control. So when it comes to ICANN, they CLEARLY make the bar of all 3. NEED, WANT, DESIRE and that is what those three little words mean when attached to REALITY! So let's never lose track of the REAL reason this is happening. End users? They could give a rats ass. The more confusion there is the more important ICANN is. So I hope you see the picture. CONTROL and MONEY. They need it, they want it, they desire it. They pass the test.

2. Lawyers. Yes, they have a need a want and a desire because they can make money. The crossfire is going to be off the charts. They pass the test.

3. The Registry. Yes, they have a need a want and a desire because they can make money. They pass the test.

4. Registrars. Yes, they have a need a want and a desire because they can make money. They pass the test.

5. End users. Can you really answer the same way? We agree they need to make money. That's why they are in business. But the need, want and desire can be met in different ways and their way may not work the way some have painted the future. I just don't see that vision. I am really struggling to see it or I would not put my thoughts out like this. They DO NOT pass the test. But they sure are being spoken for.

What I have been doing is sharing my thought process as I come to conclusions and decisions. I think that most would have to agree that if there are a 1000 of any new item coming to market you might want to focus on the winners. The top 3. The top 10. Wouldn't it be logical to eliminate the ones you think have little merit?

I am sure there will be a success or two or 10.  Maybe.

But I am also sure of another thing.

If this is the Kentucky Derby and they squished 1000 horses in a starting gate meant for 18, then chances are many get trampled right out of the gate.

When an application is withdrawn and nobody picks up that gTLD, we can't even say died on the vine. It was aborted. How many have been aborted so far? Why?

As I stated in an earlier post, all we need to do is figure out the top 3. The top 10. The top whatever you deem you need. But do they really all matter?? I don't think so.

There is no question you can create need, want and desire. That's a very tall order in an arena where there will be NO ORDER. Lots of intersections. Lots of crashes. Lots of confusion. Lots of overlapping. Lots of underlapping. Lots of crossfire.

I have never been afraid to be on record. And as I mull this over, I see dead ends for end users. Ya know, the end-user that everyone cares so much about.

$100k for a .whatever. Really? $250k? Really? What will be the premium on auto.parts?

And you mean to tell me for $100k a company can not find a .com to fill their need and do it safer with less risk? Really?

I keep looking for this dog to hunt and I keep coming up with a skinny and hungry dog. But I will keep looking. My ONLY objective is to find answers. But I will say one thing, I do feel like I have been wasting valuable time talking about this when I could be hunting around for those $100k .coms that the .whatever guy is gonna need, want and desire with any degree of success or even lack of it.

I think it a much safer $100k to invest. Maybe I will overpay for that .com. It may only be worth $75k. The other might be worth $75. My stomach can't handle gambles like that.

Rick Schwartz

PS: And on the title of the post about "Last Ever",  Just Kidding. :-)

Here is tomorrow's post.

Morning Folks!!

Each new gTLD I will review with the following lens and I will rate in each category.

NEED

WANT

DESIRE

VALUE (And for now, let's stipulate that value is limited until it can be measured in a more meaningful way)

I can score them on a 1-10 basis but seldom will I have to.

So let's start with .London

Let me also make the following blanket statement. Geo's and Brands may be exceptions.

Brands have nothing to do with us as investors. The only relevance is if they will use it, when they will use it and how they will use it. So let's stipulate that .brand is a separate issue. If I were working for .brand I would get the .brand gtld. Maybe never use it, but secure it nonetheless depending on the brand. Some brands can take their time. .CocaCola for example is not in jeopardy. However .apple or .delta could be. So there would be more of a sense of urgency.

.Geo tlds will be determined by how it is embraced locally and whether it is a turn off or a turn on internationally. Gucci.Rome? Maybe. Fendi.Paris. But the "." is very confusing and sometimes catalogued.

Point is, these are different from the generics. I can't say which way it may go. But it is still limited. But there is opportunity depending on the restrictions and adaptation. It may or may not be embraced. The public has the final vote. None of us do. Our job is to predict what will unfold and bet on the outcome.

So then we get to the generics and those are the ones I will focus on.

Let's do .Club

First of all when I apply my test of Need, Want and Desire, almost all will rate very low on "Need". There is little "Need" for any of this. So let's not make false foundations. Need is universally LOW! Bullshit is about to become universally high trying to overcome the FACT that there is no need! We already heard some of it. We are running out of .coms. Bullshit! .Com is your fathers extension. More bullshit. And friend or foe, I am allergic to bullshit and I will point it out each time. If you like stepping in it, then by all means don't let me stop you.

Then we get to WANT! Want is another story. And .Club actually ranks rather well on want. I could see clubs wanting their name. So let's discuss the most valuable .clubs. Those will be famous and trademarked .clubs and that has no meaning to you and me. However there are a number of generic clubs. Problem is most clubs like that would not have a lot of money as a general rule. Now there are exceptions and it will be those exceptions that you would have to focus on. So Bridge.club to a women's Thursday condo club has no value. You need a national bridge club to WANT that domain for a lot of money. Do they WANT it? That is the question?? They certainly don't need it.

Then we go to desire. You really need to desire something before you even get to want. I don't know that folks are going to desire these. They may. There are enough clubs so it could have a basis and a foundation. Will they desire it in time is the only question?

You can take a gtld like that and stand it next to .tatoo for example. Given those two, I would bet on .club. But of course, we have many more choices, so keep your wallet in your pockets for the time being.

Then .sexy is the last one for today. There is only one thing I am 100% certain of when it comes to .sexy. I am certain that sexy.com is the immediate and big winner. There is no gamble there whatsoever. Sexy.com does not have to do a thing. On the other hand the .Sexy registry, needs many thousands of what comes down to "Sub-domains".  That loops right back around to co.com. They seem to be betting that the .com is imperative on the end and are going to be there to take advantage of the confusion factor if that materializes. But don't mind me. I am a simple man who is easily confused. Luckily hundreds of millions know how I feel.

I will match each one against .web. Why .web? Because so far that would seem the one that makes the most sense for any type of wide adaptation in which ANY word or phrase can be used in conjunction with it.

But .web could be another .biz or .net. Could be. I am not certain. I can see scenarios for either. And that is what our job is. Be certain about what we are certain of and be flexible on what we are not certain of. With each new bit of info, even certain has to be looked at again and recalculated. You either become more or less certain. But this is still a process that must be done mentally to get to a conclusion and an answer before others do.

So .web if it had some broad support and advertising could be an extension that puts .net on their heels. A good case could be made to abandon a .net and use a .web if it were to be embraced by the public. My comments on .web go back years and as Franky pointed out during our debate last month, they opted for .info instead. That was a HUGE mistake. Had they used .web at that time, I think things would look a lot different today.

Need, want, desire.

Need to me is universally 1 on the 1-10 scale. It may decline from there. ;-)

Want, comes down to the audience it will attract. .Club could do well on want. .web could do well on want. .London could do well on want. When it comes to desire, that is what they need to instill in folks and that is a TALL order. To instill desire on something you don't actually need. Tough mountain. Depends how the locals embrace and use it. Depends if the locals are not the ones that own the domains. Depends on all types of restrictions that could be in play. That applies to all the geos universally. We know the city is behind .nyc. But what we don't know is who and how many will adapt to it and who basically will reside there. Who will or will not advertise it. All unknowns and most of the unknowns don't end well. And the confusion factor is always there.

Brands are separate and the only thing we need to watch for and be aware of is adaptation and advertising. Whether it will be used as an internal or external platform. Without that, it is nothing more than a patent in a drawer that may or may not have useful value.

Look, I enjoy talking about the unknown. Comparing notes, thoughts and ideas. The elbows will eventually fly with 700 horses in a derby meant for 15-20. They will contradict each other. Stumble over each other and basically do damage to each other. More than my thoughts could ever do. Sorry, that's the way it is likely to unfold. I can't control any of that. I can just see it before it materializes and articulate it beforehand. Tell me next Christmas how wrong I am. Kumbya won't be in the top 100.

Sales are hard to make. But sales make the world go around. Without sales all the 700 die on the vine. No 2 ways about it. A true catch 22. Domainers looking for the second coming are likely to snap up whatever they can afford and if that smothers the end-user out, game over! On the other hand if they are depending on the end-user and startups to support them, could be the same result. A balancing act for sure. It will take a few years to see who survives. There is simply not enough oxygen out there to support them all. Each collapse can only hurt those that remain. Can only cast a shadow on the others. That is why there will be a lot of turmoil to come.

And they will be FORCED to resort to bullshit as we have already seen. They must paint a blue sky or who in their right mind would invest? When selling, there is allowable bullshit and bullshit that is to the point of misleading and lying. See when you have to mislead and lie to sell, that is a very weak sale. That is a sale that may bounce. That is a sale riddled with problems.  That may not be a sale at all. I think we have all been fooled enough with the promises of riches with extensions that have done nothing but suck up investors money.

I really do want to see what they see. Just don't pee on my leg and tell me it is raining. Tell me the benefits of your .whatever without having to resort to silly stuff that will never filter down to your target audience anyways and alienates domainers that could actually invest if they did not think they were getting bullshitted AGAIN! It's all about the .whatever and what value it has to offer. The same people saying this and that didn't see the recovery and BOOM we are in now just a few months back when I started pointing to the reasons we would be where we are now. But it is not about now, it's about where we will be in a year from now.

I really don't care who runs the registry. Network Solutions was perhaps the worst company I ever had the pleasure to do business with. They were so inept back in 1995 and 1996 tat they forgot to put in a cash register and actually charge for each domain name. Did not seem to hurt .com and they were like an angel investor to me. By the time the first bill actually came, I was making money online and I had more income than bills.

This is fun and exciting times for us. However the new registries are under the gun to make money. They have overhead, staffs, rent, attorney bills, ICANN bills and then they have to suffer delay after delay after delay. That is very costly and some of them are in a world of pain. So when I hear domainers say for $185k they could have owned a registry, not so fast. And since we are ging to have 700 under the gun at virtually the same time, IMAGINE the bullshit they and their folks are about to spew. I have written about it for 18 months and now we are seeing it.

Besides that, 75% of "Domainers" and "Domain Flippers" that we all know, will be working for these companies. So friend or foe, it is about the viability of each extension and the opportunity to make money that will be my driving force and the only thing that gets in the way of that is BULLSHIT and that is why you will NEVER see me relent when it comes to BS. No way Jose!

So my advice for each gTLD, is stick with the facts, don't make up sales and don't try to marginalize something else in order to make your case. That dog won't hunt. It's weak and transparent. Really.

Just one last promise.

If you like your .Com, you can keep your .Com. Period! See I think when it comes to bullshit, we have all heard quite enough. So become Joe Friday from Dragnet. Nothing but the FACTS. I point to EMPIRICAL evidence backed by numbers. Ignoring that is not the road to make a sale.

Rick Schwartz