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

Let's face it 98% of the domain industry is incestuous. That means that
most domain sales are to other domainers. Nothing wrong with that. But don't be
in denial either. The true test of 2009 and beyond is can the industry reach out
to end users? Now I am not putting down anyone flipping domains inside the
industry. Let's face it, that is one of the engines that run the ship. It's just not
the best engine and in time that engine will wear out. We already see evidence
of it happening. Don't fret. It's just another mile marker on an historical
path. This era may be the very last chance to get a great domain from other
domainers. Crap, crap you will always find and you will have a market for it. In times like these the last thing you want to buy is crap. Crap is a liability not
an asset! Crap does not produce income. Crap means you gotta find someone less
knowledgeable than you to buy it. Like I said, we won't run out of crap. On the
other hand great domains are less and less available. They are being used or
sold to end users and will likely never be on the market again. So every passing
day there are less great domains available and crap will become harder to sell.

Timing as I say often is everything. Babe Ruth may have been the best
baseball player of all time but he did not make the most money. Either did Roger
Maris or Mickey Mantle many years later. in the 1930's Babe Ruth made a lot of
money for the day. But he was not filthy rich like we find today. The superstars
today make tens of millions. Hundreds of millions.

TV took 40 years to really hit the big $$$. When expansion went from 3
channels to 500 channels they thought no way could they survive. They were quite
wrong. They survived and thrived.

I always look to history for the roadmap to the future. ALL the answers are
back there. Finding the parallel is where you can make lots of money. The best
thing with the Internet and domains is there are so many of those parallels.
Besides what I mentioned we have real estate, oil wells, commercial property, storefronts and
even migration of all things. Steve Jobs made the following statement and that validates my way of thinking. He said, 'You can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backward.'

Little by little the industry will break out of the incestuous upbringing
and take a role in the larger world of business and commerce. It will take 20
years for that to happen. May be a little less than that as we try and
accelerate things. Maybe less with the aid of a catastrophic financial meltdown.
How does that help you ask? New thinking equal new solutions and domains are one
of those solutions. In 2002 we witnessed the dot com crash, collapse and
meltdown. From the embers of that event, the domain industry was born. Today we
are witnessing the Main Street crash, collapse and meltdown. The Internet stands
strong to the surprise of many. Both sectors will emerge stronger after it is
all over. So prepare for the meltdown so that you can be ready for the
aftermath. But this time, domains and the Internet are taking on their proper rolls for the very first time. It is clear that Brick and Mortar is failing. It is also clear that the Internet is succeeding. Does Circuit City need 500 stores? Does Amazon? New thinking is required. Telecommuting has to be used by corporate America and embraced and those expensive offices downsized or even eliminated. If you want to survive from this day forward, you can't have your hand out. You have to sell more, make profit and put out a good product that people want.

Do you feel like you are on a roller coaster reading these posts? Good!
Because it is a roller coaster out there so hang on. There are very bad lows and bad things happening
and there are very high highs where great things are happening. You MUST be
focused on BOTH to navigate through times like this and seize any of the
opportunities that are out there. More opportunities and a tremendous amount of
pitfalls. Some pitfalls disguised as opportunity. So 2009 will either be your
best year or your worst year and it depends on you not the economy. More than
that, it may be based on your patience and timing. You don't need to do 100 or 1000
deals this year. You need to do just a selected handful that will change your
life. In times like this it is ok to slow down the pace and be selective. Pick your moments. Pick your targets. Fine tune what you are doing. The end user is out there. But as I have said, they will come one need and one project at a time. Our job is to let them know that a great domain name is their goal in life. The new standard in cool. The ultimate ego stroke. And unlike other 'Feel good' methods, that a great domain name will transform their business and leave their competition in the dust..

Have a GREAT day!

Rick Schwartz