Morning Folks!!
The Big .CON Becomes the Big .Gamble and that brings into play winners and losers. Those that will make .money and those that will lose .money.
To many it is obvious that this is poised to have a lot of losers. But only losers focus strictly on the losers. There WILL be winners. I expect most if not all will be surprised by the headwinds they face and the challenges we as investors and marketers KNOW they will have to deal with.
"This is sht and this is gold. Now you know everything." From the movie "The Jerk" with Steve Martin. That's domaining. Shit and Gold.
The marketplace is going to pick those winners. It won't pick the losers. They will die on the vine all by themselves.
Folks, this is the fun part. It takes 20 years to get to the fun part. History taught me that. Life taught me that. I think the extensions poised to do the best may be the ones around for a while. This breathes new life in .TV, .US, .info, .Org, .Me, and maybe even a .biz.
Funny how I am the out of touch one when it comes to some. But I deal in what is and in facts and many of them are using the unknown and hopes as a way to compete with a market that already EXISTS as opposed to one that MIGHT materialize. Some are always chasing shiny objects like dogs chasing a car. So with 1900 and an unlimited amount of dogs the first question you would ask is which one could really breakaway and be meaningful? None? 1? 10? 100? 1000? Which ones? Any?
There may be some limited gold in each of those. Maybe not. Flipping quick may be the best bet if .mobi, .xxx, .biz, .whatever are any historical examples.
.Travel has been trying to break out for a long time, their window of opportunity is in jeopardy as I see it. They have had a hard time getting this thing going when there was virtually no competition, how does it work now when 1900 others join him?
I have bought into many .whatevers. I have several hundred. But they don't pay the bills. They ARE the bills! But each year I weigh the new information and see how each domain fits into the future. Some I keep investing and some get cut loose. I would have been much better off flipping these domains, but flipping is not my game. Holding long-term is. I think .whatever is a flipping game and those that buy into the hype are your marks. I mean customers.
And with dozens or maybe hundreds of companies flailing to stay alive, there will be employment opportunities the likes of which this industry has never seen before. Lawsuits will be flying for many years to come just as the dust is starting to settle over .com land. A few MAJOR .whatever losses can expose another weakness that .whatever may have to face as folks get "Cute" about picking new names and infringe on others. It's all coming.
The calm before the storm. 1900 barkers barking. Some may know what they are barking about. Most won't. But they will have to spend money marketing or they will not break through all the noise. Like I said, MANY will die on the vine. Some will die because their .crap extension just stinks and has no commercial or social value. Some will die because their marketing sucks. Some will die because they have no marketing plan at all. But most will die because they will be buried before they even start. Smothered to death by the shear size and magnitude of what is coming and the timing that comes with it.
So while I see many failures, I also see so many ways to make money as things unfold. Those with cash will have investment opportunities. Those that have advertising space and visitors will have advertisers. In time those advertisers will be many more than the advertising outlets and things like that drive prices and profits back up.
So while we have been at ebb tide for a very long time, that period is coming to an end and it dovetails perfectly as the economy starts regaining some of its umph. That's why I see things improving and possibly improving dramatically. Quickly. Strongly.
So while FEAR seems to be the driving force in this industry today, I only see opportunity in the unknown of what is to come. It .whatever craps out, .com goes thru the roof. If an extension breaks out, we all get to do what we know all over again. So where exactly is the downside other than confusion? Heads we win, tails we win. And if the coin lands on the side, we win. And if the coin gets lost, we win.
Need, want, desire. Those that keep that in mind are going to have a better time dealing with reality than those that want to ignore it. And you can have all 3 and still have a disaster. Like going on a blind date. The need, want and desire are all there, then the person walks in and need, want, desire headed out the back door.
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
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