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

Morning Folks!!

The Domain Industry is at a pivotal moment. I want my thoughts ON RECORD and CLEAR as this is the single biggest moment EVER in what we all do. I don't want to have to defend what I see. Take it or leave it. I just am doing this for ME to be on RECORD just like I have been on record since 1995. My name, my words, my thoughts, my vision. I see FIRST what others see much later or not at all.

There is a volcano of change coming and some don't like it. Many 'Domainers' are going to be washed away. Some companies are going to have to reinvent themselves or may not survive. The new tide is going to devour some. Like the tsunami in Japan, what is happening now is going to re-draw the map in what we do and the way we do it. It's sometimes not visible to the naked or untrained eye.

I have long said it would take 20 years for domains to become an 'Overnight success'. We are coming to that point right now. The tree has grown up and it is about to bear fruit.

There are less than 500 true domainers in the sense that we are talking about. That number will only grow 1 at a time in an industry that will attract many from every walk of life. Some will hit big, most won't.

There are more folks working at just 1 company 6x over than all the domain investors out there. There is a stadium full of folks that have things for the 500 domainers that invest for a living and the millions that have just 1 website. That is ok. But please recognize how the landscape has changed. How we are a small minority in a big stakes money game where BILLIONS are at stake.

You need MONEY to play the new game that is coming. Deep pockets. Or you need to find an untapped path or you can use what is tried and true by putting one foot in front of the other. Without CASH, there are few shortcuts.

I posted this weekend and defined traffic sources that are worthless but are disguised as type ins. Mixed together. Shit and gold. The problem is domainers have been overwhelmed by allied companies with motives and they could care less about traffic quality or the end user or domainers.

The biggest group next to the employees of all these companies seems to be the 'Chatter Class' as I call them. They have few accomplishments if any under their belts but are blathering experts on domains and traffic and everything else. They seldom put their name on their words and when they do, sometimes it proves my point. They think I am wrong regardless of the RECORD and I think they are clueless because of the RECORD.

So it has been refreshing to keep my thoughts on track. To be able to post without worrying about the blowback from blowhards. But that does not mean I don't want to hear your comments. Your responsible comments. Your constructive comments. Your intelligent comments. So I am thinking of doing something a bit different. I will open comments but may only choose a few from time to time to post that I feel ADD to the conversation and it will be done at my sole digression. More like 'Letters to the Editor' in which just a snapshot of comments are chosen to share. My train, my locomotive, my thoughts, my destination.

Dozens or more of you are blathering idiot wannabes and you crowd out the real folks with something to share. Them days are over.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

It started that I had a vision of EXACTLY how the Internet would unfold based on human nature, history and parallels. Once I had the vision I had to match a timeline with that vision so I could match things up. Those that think they got a raw deal for getting in late are only 50% right. They also got a head start that many of us did not get. You got to copy success, we had to INVENT success.

At that time less than 5% of folks were online. It was new and barren. But that would change. I bet that would change. Then I figured out how many years to hit critical mass. Then how long before they would go online every day. Then how many minutes a day they would go online for. When would it turn into an hour? When would it turn into 2 hours and 3 and so on? When would it overtake the TV as the #1 device in the universe? How long would it be before we could no longer live without it?

Then I had to ask when would they use TV to advertise? When would it replace the 800 number as the life line of a business? When would folks learn to operate a computer efficiently? When? When? When? Everything started with WHEN because there was no NOW. Now you have now. Then you had when. Confused? Why?

So I realized it would take a generation for the 'When'. 20 years. 20 years to evolve to the stage that what I saw was no longer laughed at and could be easily understood and embraced. I have sold 12 domains and as of last year, I doubt I will be selling any more in the traditional manner. I have attached myself to each transaction from last year on. Dollars alone won't get ANY deal done. Want a domain? I may give it away for free. I may 'Build to Suit'. I may do a lot of things to bring in continual and growing income.

But I can say that now without laughter. I have been saying it for many years. But the difference is then it was met with laughter. Today it is met with offers and new partners. Today things are different. Today we are just a tad ahead of the 20 year plan. We could hit critical mass in the way I envisioned as early as this fall. We have evolved to the point that if an end user does not want to settle for .whatever, then he has to make some concessions to get the .com.

There is Montana Real Estate and there is Times Square Real Estate. My advice is to get a 'New York state of mind' even if you are in Montana. Don't just sell your domains, grab a piece of the action. The ONLY one that can do that is YOU and you do that by not doing deals that don't fit the criteria. You do it by saying 'No' and never looking back and never thinking twice.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Let's correct that. The End User that has a website is not getting 'Fooled' he is getting 'F*cked! But I could not use that in the title. If you have a website or you buy traffic, reading this will tell you how much you are getting 'F*cked' for and who is doing the 'F*cking'. If you just typed in a domain name and wondering WTF am I doing here? Keep reading. It will all come together.

So I read Mike Berkens Post yesterday about the snapname auction of domains “that were recently registered by SnapNames due to their high VeriSign Data Analyzer Traffic Score and Generic Word strength!”

So I look at the list. (some printed below) PURE PIGEON SHIT! I mean PLEASE!!! Insulting! Waste of time. This is total bullshit. IMHO! Disagree at your own peril.

I make the following comment on Mike's blog:

'I think this list illustrates the difference in traffic. While these domains may get traffic from old links, spam and whatever, they are not type ins.

A 'type in' is a person behind a computer that actually types in their destination for a reason. They have a specific intent and reason. (You may be an example depending on how YOU got here)

That is different than taking a wrong turn on a dead end by clicking a link that no longer goes where you thought it would or is just misleading or worse. One is very valuable and one is worthless. WHY mix the 2 together and treat them equally?? Who does that benefit? Certainly not the end user. He is paying the same and not knowing or understanding the difference between targeted traffic and general traffic at best. That is my issue with PPC, Google & Yahoo. Just because they don’t know the difference either or more likely don’t care, does not make them equal.'

But I did not want it just as a comment. This was way too important. This was an opportunity to define WORTHLESS domains and WORTHLESS traffic at one time with one arrow. And it is worthless. Untargeted vs targeted. Can some untargeted traffic have value? Sure, even a stopped clock is right 2x a day, every day. But that does not mean it has the value of a fully functional clock. And in my world, it has no value at all. It takes up space and wastes resources. The same space that a perfectly working clock can sit.

So the search engines don't know the difference between the traffic. I sure as hell do and you sure as hell do and anyone who reads this sure as hell should. But the end user, the customer for all of us is getting SCREWED! We should all be aware that if they get screwed, we get screwed. Label the damn traffic. It is NOT EQUAL> It never has been and never will be. I have a lot of end users reading my blog and it is up to THEM to DEMAND they know the SOURCE of the traffic they get. Your future depends on that. You want a leg up on your competition? You want more sales? You want to grow your business bigger and stronger? Not one thing you can do more than what I just described and change things overnight. Do you want a million visitors or 5 paying new customers?

Below are the top domains on the list. They don't mean anything. They are not easy to remember. Not easy to spell. They make no sense. Compare the list below with powerful keyword domains that DO mean something and get REAL people looking to make purchases. Like CubicZirconia.com. When somebody types that in, and spells it right, do you think they are just goofing off? That is a RIPE and TARGETED customer. That is superior to anything on that list. The traffic the list below gives (if any) is worthless. Do you know what ANY of them are actually looking for??? With TRUE type in traffic from a domain there is no guessing. They are targeted. Don't sell cubiczirconia.com traffic to someone looking for info on football. Sell that traffic to end users and don't mix it with the PIGEON SHIT below and call them EQUAL. They are not and they will never be.

UPDATE: And as I wrote this, Mike did a Follow up post that is quite interesting and asks for specifics.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Let's go back a few years. This is not a 'Franky' post. This is a story I have never told before but it is time to see the world the way I do and the REASONS I see the world the way I do.

When I know personally that certain information is correct or not am I supposed to just sit idly by when that information is not even known? Or misrepresented? Or worse? Well I have. The peer pressure is like a secret vault.

It's not really a secret because it is MY private information and I am at not obligated to say or reveal anything. So I’ll tell you why I say what I do and what I see using information only known to me. BUT FACT!

Most folks know I test, test, test. That allowed me to make 100x the revenue of others early on. I thought my calculator was broken until the checks started coming in during 1996. Every one else was making 1/10 of a penny per click when adult just started and I was making 10 cents a click. How as that possible?? TESTING!!! So I started TESTING in 1996 and NEVER stopped TESTING!

What if I told you a had a certain domain group with ppc company “A” several years ago and that group was earning just a tad under $2000/day. When I moved that group to ppc company “B” it started making over $8000/day, peaked at $11,000 and it did that for over a YEAR. So what lipstick would you like to put on THAT pig??

Since I test and few others test like I do, I find things out based not only on traffic but numbers and dollars as well. How much BULLSHIT am I supposed to swallow? You can swallow as much as you like but I get an “I told you so” out if it. That’s about it.

It’s always easiest to attack the messenger when all you have is an agenda and are on the wrong side of an issue. So these fools try and create a smoke screen, a diversion, go nameless. Nothing more, nothing less. BUT I KNOW WHAT I KNOW and TO HELL with ANYONE that EXPECTS me to do or say what THEY want.

There are 3 new companies on the scene as I described the other day. I have been using and testing all 3 for as much as several months now. Each has strengths. All still getting better at what they do. The key is to exploit the strengths and avoid the weaknesses. How do you do that? You learn to TEST! You learn to test METHODICALLY. You learn about your domain names and the traffic they get.

Of course if you have no traffic, there is nothing to test. Maybe that is why so many rant and rave. But I have said from day #1 that the key to all this is traffic. Focus on domains with some sort of traffic. 1 a day is infinitely better than zero. 1 a day, 5 a day of type ins is NOT a high bar. It is VALIDATION of VALUE.

So don't believe, don't agree, but the way to climb the ladder is earning $1 dollar more today than you did yesterday. On the net it is daily income not monthly or annual income. Grow the daily because you can CONTROL the daily. You can focus on the daily. That takes care of the monthly and the annual all by itself. Focus on the month and you lose 30 opportunities to grow your income. Annual, and you lose 365 opportunities.

Yeah, I know, you don't believe this or that and many think I am wrong. So what's new? How's your way working out for ya?

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

What's it like being me? Well from my first job at 100% commission in 1966 to my first product I marketed to my first 800 number to my first domain name to my first whatever......I was always met with something much more than skepticism. More like 'that's just a stupid thing to do and I was a moron for trying'. It's a familiar spot I find myself in time and time again.I am sure I am not the only one. I imagine what the guy with the Pet Rock must have gone thru. lol

My social skills are not always the best. I went to 3 high schools the last 3 semesters of high school and then another new school with college after that. 3 semesters at one place before I dropped out. Almost a record for me. I went to a total of 9 schools in 12 years as my dad worked on top secret stuff for the government and then went into private industry also working on sensitive things. The school systems all had different curriculums. So sometimes I was lost and sometimes I was ahead of things. But seldom was I in sync.

Making friends was difficult sometimes. Always the outsider and the new kid. What worked in New York, did not work in Maryland. What worked in Maryland, did not work in New Hampshire. What worked in New Hampshire did not work in California. And so on. You can add Texas, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts to the mix.

But that prepared me for my 15 years on the road. The road became one of my longest homes and an education money could never buy. The stories I heard and the events I witnessed. But I was an underachiever in those days. I would earn enough to live on. I would work 2 days a week, take off 5 days. I retired for 18 months at one point. I used about 10% of what God gave me.

I was unorganized, unprepared and still one of the best out there. Half the age of almost everyone else i worked with. But I had more energy on Monday and Tuesday to make sales than the 'Average' guy did in a week. So I coasted. I did that for most of my life.

That changed when I went broke and I realized that you only get a second chance one time. From that day on I changed how I looked at the world. Then I became motivated to do better. I asked more of myself. I dug deep and found out just what I could do and what I could accomplish if I was organized.

The world did not change, I did. I was the same person, I just looked at things differently and when I did I was able to do bigger and better things. So if you traveled in my shoes, you would see what I see. But since you can't, the best I can do is try and put it into words. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. But willing minds look for reasons to figure it out and unwilling minds look for reasons not to figure it out.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

.

Afternoon Folks!!

The most Repeated Phrase in the World is “Dot Com”. Want to argue the point? It’s a fact! How do I know? Who reported it? I know because I know and I am the first to report it. Maybe. But that does not change the FACTS regardless if they are known or even proven. Maybe put that in the “Gut” column. But it is FACT! Fact because I believe it and business and life is based on beliefs.

Want to talk me out of it? Is 2+2=4?

So with those UNPROVEN FACTS that I totally BELIEVE I move forward. I look at every commercial. I look at every magazine ad. I listen to every radio ad. I look at every brochure. I look at every flyer. I listen to everything. The ONE THING they all have in common is their web address. Used to be the phone number. Now it is dot com. It’s a dot com world.

Maybe the most repeated phase in history. Probably neck and neck with “F*ck you”. That’s what you call looking at the world from both sides.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

So after giving others heartburn and sleepless nights Frank Schilling finally makes his first real public in depth statement via an interview with DomainSherpa. It's top notch and I wish I was as articulate as Frank. Well worth the time and while I may be a bull in a china shop, Frank is a bit calmer and smooth as silk. lol. But the message is the same and the changes that are happening are profound and disruptive and there is more disruption to come.

As I said in My original post, Frank does not even have to sell his program to be a success. Now just 2 weeks later and well on the way to 500,000 of the purest type in domains on the planet, Frank breaks his silence.

Strength is disruping an industry with two sentences.

A no-frills monetization platform for experience type-in operators. 'If you want to make more money, try us out.'

If you are a domainer or you deal in traffic or are reading this....it's a must.

What he does not do....Back the truck up to 'Problem Names' and THAT is the key. No trademarked portfolios and other such domains. Will some get in? Sure. But they will eventually be filtered out. Anyone that has a large portfolio may have a few names that are challenged. But that is a far cry to those that back up the truck and just load up on those type names.

All I am saying is different type traffic should not be mixed together any longer. Frank describes it as buckets and that is a perfect way.

I would have One bucket for type ins, one bucket for the various other types of traffic. One for the 'Forbidden fruit' of trademark traffic. One for typos. One for link traffic. One for SE and SEM and garbitrage. And if you are within that group of 'Various other traffic' and you think what you have is superior, then it is YOUR job to make another bucket. Make a bucket marked with what you have.

The simple take away. Low overhead, no hand holding and 2 buckets. 1 bucket that he has created and wants to attract pure type in traffic and one bucket that he has no interest in for all others to share. Simple, brilliant and long overdue. Now just sit back and watch what happens when you take pure type in traffic without being mixed in with ANY other type of traffic.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Afternoon Folks!!

I mentioned a couple weeks back that besides John Ferber's new platform another solution would also be coming to domains and the news release just came to me a few minutes ago. With InternetTraffic.com, that makes 3 NEW AGE parking companies in the space ALL run by domainers. You are watching YOUR industry get disrupted in real time.

“This is the end of PPC for domainers as we know it,” said Jenny Johnson, Vice President of Media Breakaway, LLC. “We are going beyond basic domain parking solutions and creating a superior alternative with automated landing page and offer optimization which ultimately can increase revenue for our clients.”

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Is there a 'Domain Spring'? I think there is. Besides the emergence of InternetTraffic.com, May was my single biggest deal making month since I have been online.

At last count, 12 deals done in May with several still pending to open up June. Not a one involved selling a domain. 6 were in house. The others included launching new businesses on domains I owned with 6 individual folks with an IDEA. Folks that know that their idea married with my domain name would give them the best shot at success. All much more talented and technical than I could ever dream to be.

So these are very exciting times that have blossomed when folks across the spectrum get challenged to reach higher. Having a working model that can be copied over and over again with just marginal changes to fit the circumstance is the first step. For me that was the Candy.com deal. For me that deal cracked the door open from only being able to sell a domain to share in the new enterprise as well.

So in 2011 I have not sold a domain nor do I plan to sell any. But I will have dozens of partnerships each bringing in monthly revenues far beyond anything that I could do myself, no time involved AND a ticket to the 'Big Show' if ANY of those puppies break out into something we can only dream about.

It's sometimes been frustrating to wait for things to evolve. But that wait is over because of mainstream articles like this from Forbes.com. My vision has won the day because I believed in it for going on 16 years and seldom if ever wavered from it. Just knew that in TIME things would unfold in a manner that I saw clearly then as I do now and no longer alone in that vision. If you own the DIRT, you can own some of what the next guy wants to build on it. It's just got to be a RULE before you even start the dialogue. PERIOD!

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Less than 20% of the domain owners send 80%-90% of all the pure type in traffic. 80% of the domainers send trademarked traffic, typo traffic, and manufactured traffic that would not even exist without faking out Google to pay you on what they already had.

That’s like going into Wal-Mart and picking an item off THEIR shelf and going to the cash register and getting MONEY from Wal-Mart instead of PAYING! You best read that example again because that is just how fucked up this gaming of the system is. That is just how STUPID this MESS is. Google please pay attention. End users please pay attention. This all off your bottom line. This is a double whammy and more.

Just in case.....

That’s like going into Wal-Mart and picking an item off THEIR shelf and going to the cash register and getting MONEY from Wal-Mart instead of PAYING! Get it this time?

This all ties into the SEO guys and the shady side of things. Their job is to fake out everyone. You don't do SEO for a type in UNLESS there is a real site there. And remember, these are the same guys that said no domain was worth $100 in 1995. How did that work out for them? Been dealing with this since Day #1. Why anyone would give credence to it now just shows either desperation or ignorance of domain history.

In life there is the 80/20 rule. It does not apply to SEO guys. It is more like 98/2. There can be thousands of folks running around saying they are SEO experts because there is no barrier to entry. So I salute the 2% of real SEO experts. .

See there is a reason these SEO guys are always running around ragging on domains. This started the DAY type ins were discovered because that was always a threat. They are on a slippery slope and about to be meaningless. The way to be #1 on Google is to be relevant. A parked page is not relevant but the type in traffic is. And it is reliable. And it is consistent. And it is potent.

And for the record, I don't believe in trying to optimize a domain with type in traffic. I don't believe in optimizing any parked domains.

Up was always up and down was always down. Only difference is some got it upside down and when they get it right, everything around them COLLAPSES!

So there are about 350 folks or less that send 90% of the PURE type in traffic and there are literally thousands of folks disguised as domainers that do something quite different. These two groups will have less and less in common as time goes on.

Then the parking companies pick up any shit they could possibly find to make the shit traffic look good compared to WORTHLESS traffic.

Don’t know what worthless traffic looks like? Show me a domain, tell me how much traffic it gets and I will tell you if it is REAL type in traffic or manufactured MANURE.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz