Morning Folks!!
It was early in 2005. I Googled his name. Could not even find the right spelling back then. Nor his REAL name. I had to guess. This was a guy I started following years earlier when he took the olympics plagued with corruption and about to collapse and save it back in 2002. That got my attention. Being Governor of Massachusetts. The most liberal state in the USA, got my attention. I was a fan. But nobody really ever heard of him back then. I even remember when his father George Romney ran for President because in grade school I could name all the Governors, Senators and most world leaders and he was Governor of Michigan.
Willard is his REAL first name.I did not know how to spell his name. So I got MitRomney.com, MittRommney.com ElectRomney.com, ElectMittRomney.com, PresidentRomney.TV, MittRomney.TV, MittRomney.us and so on. A total of over 50 of them and different variations. Some are now 'Pigeon Shit' because they refer to 2008. At least they are not on auto renew as of today. lol
So here is a little quiz. Do you know which one gets the most type ins? Do you know which one earns the most? To me it is an exercise in Human Nature as I sat with these names for the last 7 1/2 years. I even had the audacity to register RomneyRice.com in 2005 and as we all saw, that almost came to be! How's that for a LONG ball??
But I have watched one of those domain names grow from no traffic for years to over 200/day right now and growing. I will see if it continues to grow and when it eventually plateaus. I can say this, it has been a very steady increase in traffic for several months. It is almost a barometer of how he is doing. Raw Human Nature hard at work from an embryo and my job is to observe the numbers and figure out what that means as those numbers change.
But the highlight of my week came in the form of JackKemp.com. Another guy I have followed for many years that ran for VP. I got that domain in 2002. He died a few years ago. I admired him. But this week I was able to make contact with his foundation I just learned about and have offered to transfer at no cost.
Come to think of it I got the names of many of my friends and brothers and others when they all thought I was crazy for doing it. I just knew how important it was to land in the right hands someday. Must of cost me thousands if I added it all up. But some gifts are priceless and I knew back then that their name may become their most important asset. They laughed, told me not to waste my money but I knew what I saw and refused to let the names go. Just put them all on auto renew until the world caught up. I would say we are at that point now.
I did that with YogiBerra.com in 1996 and 1 or 2 others over the years. Their foundation wanted to make me an offer to buy the domain. I told them if they can prove they were with the foundation that actually represented Yogi that I would just transfer it to them and I wanted nothing in return. They were thankful for what I did and a few weeks later I got some autographed baseballs from Yogi. I still have them in my office.
I registered JoeTorre.com and was able to give it to Joe Torre. Ironically, he was the first autogragh I ever got as a 12 year old kid as the Met's played the Braves in the 1960's. But as I look today, it seems it was lost, or dropped or something as I got it back in 1996 and it now shows a parked page registerd in 2010.
Reminds me....Tia Wood, Please put in a transfer for TiaWoods.com. I know in marketing that some folks like ME for example always thought her names was Tia Woods. When I found out there was no 'S' and the domain with the 'S' was available, I grabbed it for her. It was too early to transfer and until this post I forgot all about it. But I know that is a domain she NEEDS to have.
When Dean Shannon had his first baby boy in 1998. I registered AdamShannon.com and still have it to this day. I KNOW someday SOON they will both want that domain. Wow, he is 14 years old today. I wonder if he would rather have a car or his own domain name when he is 16? But it is HIS domain name. I have just been keeping it safe for him all these years.
The one domain I had hijacked over the years was the 'Family name' of one of my oldest and dearest friends. It has no commercial value but I am still pursuing it to this day.
Still waiting to contact a few others. All of these domains are domains I would be happy to transfer including my Romney domains. But still better in my hands than hands that could do something nefarious with these domains. I was already contacted for that express purpose on HitMitt.com which has nothing to do with Romney at all. But they had some 'Political' game that they wanted to use the domain for and I declined the lease.
When Paul Ryan announce his mothers name....I registered it. Then contacted the Romney campaign an offered to transfer. I would transfer any of these names on request. It's not my fault that I see a need for something for somebody in the future that they don't see now.
Domains are about predicting the future not chasing the past! That is why we will never run out. Who got Eastwooding.com? Not me! You got to pay attention to win at this game! But I would have been on it had I heard about it early. That is the Domain Game!
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
Mr. Green
Is it MitRomney.com?
Paul Kapschock
Easy one…..the .US. :)
Folks from around the world, using direct navigation, looking for info on Romney and assuming he is using the .US extension.
BullS
“But domains are about predicting the future not chasing the past!”
LongLiveDomainKing.com
Poor Uncle
After listening to his acceptance speech at the RNC, I am convinced Mr. Mitt Romney will be the next president of the United States comes November 2012. I first notice him when he gracefully stepped aside in the last primary race and said…he loves his country more than he loves winning the nomination. With those words spoken, I was convinced he will run again…and one day he will most likely become the president of the United States. Looks like that day is here.
Tony
The point of all this was Rick not only saw something before anyone else, he was patient enough for 7-8 years now and in other cases over 15 years to hang on to a liability until it turned into an asset. Think about that. An asset that he is willing to part with.
It must be so frustrating for him to watch things move so slow. He is always looking many years down the road. Then the universe has to catch up to him. Guess he must have known that bcuz of that 20 year plan he talks about.
I just don’t know how to turn my 20 minute plan into something a little more forward looking.
Sharlean
I agree
Mike Jarema
Hi Rick, I really have to applaud you for registering the .COM domains of your friends and their families. I’ve done the same to a small extent over the years and still hold domains for a few friends, but I’ve been a very vocal proponent for other friends to check their name .COM, and if taken, check the expiration date and put in a backorder. A few friends have even managed to grab their last name .com as a result, and that feels great to be a part of.
In fact, I’ve built a tool to help people search out domains for their friends, and of course their own name. I’ve named it”Domains for Friends” http://www.DomainsForFriends.com/
Right now it needs a Facebook login to populate your friend list, but I’m working to include LinkedIn as an alternative. It’d be really great to hear thoughts from you and the community here on the idea and/or tool.
Jack of All Trades
I’m not a fan of Rick for personal reasons but you surprised me with this post for the fact that you are protecting the names of many worth while people. You are a polar opposite of Mike Mann and others who buy up personal names and resell them. IMO that is an area comparable to trade mark squatting.
Rick Schwartz
Just for the record I have never sold, nor tried to sell any of these domains to the folks I have names of.
I would be more than THRILLED to transfer to the proper party. Now there may be 100 Jack Kemps, but I have this domain reserved for only one Jack Kemp. Same rule with any of the others.