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

Evening Folks!!

So as I often do when I meet a business owner, they ask what I do and I say "I making my living on the Internet" and that usually starts things rolling. And that was the case last week when I went in for my new photo as I explained the shot was for my blog to Michael Lloyd. I found out he too had a blog and before the photo shoot even began we had agreed on each making a blog post and linking to each other.

And so it is. You will see he got one thing a little off with owning the .com and the .net but as an end-user and a 5 minute conversation got the gist of it. You must own the .com if you don't want to leak traffic to somebody else. He gets it and many domainers still don't.

His domain is simple. 2 words. .com. No pitfalls. Radio friendly, easy to remember and probably has no need for anything else EVER!

His job is to include it everywhere on everything he does and prints and send and gives and all the rest. Normally I would tell him to get extra domain names for traffic. But photo and wedding domains were some of the first to be used and they are hard to find. But he could get specific and add BocaRaton or Florida or SouthFlorida to a keyword he may be associated with. Of course without even looking it up I am sure BocaRatonWeddings.com is gone.But there could be a variable that can be plugged in and could get lucky or find one parked and make an offer.

As a domainer you may laugh at 1, 2 or 3 visitors a day to a domain. As an end-user, 1, 2, 3 more customers a day can transform a business.

I get off on this because it was not long ago I would walk down the street and not a single business was online or had a website. Today there is not a one without a website. It did not happen overnight but in historical terms it happened faster than anything this big that I can ever remember.

The dark side photo was something I was not sure I was going to do when I walked in. I brought the shirt and glasses for it but I decided I would wait and see how they were on the regular shot. I wasn't even sure it was a good idea. But I decided to tell them what I had in mind and they started getting excited about it and  then their creativity started coming thru and the rest is history.

So Donna, ladies, great idea and I love great ideas and follow thru on them and that is what makes the world go round.

Michael, nice to meet you and I am sure we will see each other again soon! Happy Blogging!

Rick Schwartz

Afternoon Folks!!

Or should I say whiney little brats?

So spoiled. So unappreciative of how if could have been had you been around for the real gold rush.

Even tho I would argue there has been more money in our gold rush. No pics, no shovels no mules.

I posted about the gold rush the other day and my experience 100 years later. I hope folks were able to enlarge the blurb that went with the commemorative coin. I enlarged it below so you can read the 82 words, digest and APPRECIATE them! It's really important to understand and put things in context. This is US!

We are them in bathrobes and slippers.  Coffee? Danish? Is the A/C too cold? The heat too warm? The shower water not strong enough? The Jacuzzi not big enough?

Take a deep breath. If  you are reading this, then WE have it pretty damn good! So whether you got in domaining in 1998, 1999, 2002, 2006 or even 2013, you have a parallel and this is oh so much easier. Whether you invest or flip or develop, there is gold in them thar hills and it is still virtually untapped. You can come in the business TODAY and make your fortune. You only need to know one thing. What the gold looks like, tastes like, feels like and is and what fools gold looks like, tastes like, feels like and is.

Rick Schwartz

Afternoon Folks!!

A little "Birdie" sent this to me a few minutes ago and thought it interesting.

"The current challenge faced by both porn companies and Web startups is how to differentiate themselves. Since there’s only so much you can do, the answer for both industries has been to pursue increasingly small and bizarre niches."

Sound Familiar?

There are a number of parallels the writer of this article articulates and they have some validity.

Until folks look at the lessons the porn industry has learned , they are ripe to repeat their mistakes and likely a much more expensive lesson. Just remember one thing as I see it being in both places.....Adult circa 1997 and mainstream circa 2013 have yet to intersect. But we are getting VERY CLOSE to that happening. It COULD happen in the next 12 months and I have NEVER said that before. Once that happens, this industry will be transformed and folks will never look back.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

As you know the last few auctions I have been focusing on domains with "No Reserve" so that we could have real and exciting auctions. In Las Vegas we sold 70% of the domains let by bouquet.com at $30,000. A real gem and a real bargain that Ron Jackson even did a story on.

As I have been writing about, the worst of the recession is over and business is recovering and things are moving again. They called yesterday "Merger Monday" even tho it was a Tuesday but it was the first business day of the year. Huh? Yes, first BUSINESS DAY of the year. The day after Labor Day is the day the gun goes off and the race each year begins. But this year is much bigger as we rise from yet another set of ashes like we did in 2003 and watch things take off in dramatic fashion. History repeats itself. It comes in waves.

So with that in mind, we are not focusing on "No Reserve" domains. We will be raising the bar this time with higher quality and higher value domain names. BUT....they still must be a bargain in terms of domainers.

Also we will be announcing a silent auction that will run before and after the Live Auction.

Now before we start here are the rules. If you don't follow the rules, I disregard your email.

1. I don't have the time to respond if I dn't chose your domain so don't expect to hear back from me. I am sorry. I am focusing on what I need to do. I apologize in advance.

2. No more than 10 domains on a list and please just send me one list.

3. You are selling to domainers, price accordingly. This is NOT an end-user event. However if you are an end-user you can get an incredible bargain.

4. If it is an alternate extension, it MUST be one word only and it MUST be cheap!

5. I am reviewing domains until Friday at 5PM or before. That's it. Once I get 75 domains that qualify, done deal.

6. If your domain is borderline, we may take for silent auction if you agree.

7. New gTLD's may want to consider an early jump-start and auction off the rights to some of their premiums coming online. 

8. Mail entries to:

domain king

at

Gmail

.com

8. Please don't get insulted or upset if I don't choose your domain. I will get ten thousand submissions and only picking 75 or so. My job is to make sure they are the best offered and priced so that they are attractive to domainers.

9. Your best chance is a meaningful one or two-word domain that is a .com

10. Good Luck!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Not the first time I have ever said this but if you want to WIN, you have to learn to LOSE. Learn to fail. Learn to embrace failure, refine failure, not excuse it, minimize it or run from it. When do folks learn the simple lessons of life? Here is the roadmap to  being a winner. Was it easy? No. Did it disappoint? Yes. But remember you are only defeated when you give up and this is the story about not giving up.

Damn it! Learn from her. She first attempted it at the age of 28 and after 5 times and 36 YEARS she succeeded! BRAVO! BRAVO!

Wonder how many idiot naysayers she had to deal with in those 36 years?

Not giving up on herself and not giving up on all the others before her that failed as well. Why do folks do this? One taste of success and understanding that success is built on the short falls and answers to failures and most wins and losses happen between the ears, then winning is a matter of time. Congrats to Diana Nyad. "Find a way"

Congrats!

Rick Schwartz