Morning Folks!!
Alta Vista was the 2000lb Gorilla in the room. Compaq and Dell were leading the way along with CNN. And this vast new medium was being touted as the future. New ventures like eBay and Amazon sprung up. A few very primitive sites were being launched. Including one I started as I had a 3rd party register my first name LipService.com. A perfect name to house my 800 Toll Free Chatlines. But most places you would go to were dead ends and abandoned sites even back then.
So that remained my ONLY domain name until May of the following year when my brother bought me the 2 names for my 2 companies as a birthday present. So it was not after that until I would bother my brother every few days to register me this or that. Until he gave me the link to this company called Network Solutions and told me to do it myself. Cool!!!!
So it is spring and summer 1996 when I finally start understanding the internet, the power it had to revolutionize the world and be especially important to 3rd world countries as a way to lift them and join the rest of civilization. I was inspired by folks like Scott Day who was a watermelon farmer in the middle of nowhere and he was now able to compete with the guy named Ari Goldberger, a real Philadelphia lawyer who appeared to be out of Manhattan. I saw an equal playing field emerging like never before. One with no boundaries and one where only the individual decided their futures.
So what to do??
Well when I was born there was no free land. There was hardly any cheap land. And there was no land I could afford. That was true when I was a kid, when I was a teenager, when I was 30 and when I bought that first domain name. But all of a sudden I was a land owner in this new medium. Could history be repeating itself? But where is the oceanfront land here? Where were the skyscrapers to be built? What was to be prime? There were no books on it. There were no bloggers to go and read. There was no nothing but a simple parallel. So me and that parallel went to work. We started looking for other parallels. And there were many. They were vivid as well because they were still untouched. Un-mined. Virgin.
I had limited funds. Each domain was $100. So I bought 18 domains. By the time January 1997 rolled around I had about 100 and carried my list in my back pocket at all times. They were earning enough money to pay for them and slowly buy more. But there was one major league problem. I had virtually no tech skills. None. I was in the ocean and not a clue how to swim or sail or float. Well I was floating, but I did not really know why quite yet.
It wasn't for another year or so before I even learned how to ftp. There were few companies out there and they were all behind and buried in work. Others were fakers and completely incompetent as hosts would have servers go down for days at a time and not really care until I had to SCREAM!! I was losing $$$ and they could care less. Well, they were going to care because that was their job. They had a 24x7 business and these goof-offs would only show up and have bankers hours. 10-4. M-F.
Build a site? How? Where? With whom? 6 figures for a site that I absolutely KNEW would be obsolete the moment it was finished. So what to do??
Well, let me start by buying time and raw land. When the net develops, it will be easier and cheaper and better. What's the rush? I have a lifetime to build this empire. Let me see how the first 20 years shakes out and then I can make my move. So of course everyone 18 years ago laughed at me. Waved me off. Did not take me seriously. I was just a guy with more money than brains. Especially the guy at 192.66.111.3. I think. How do you argue with a tech schmuck that can't see that can not be used commercially to advertise with on radio or TV etc? So after a while you stop arguing and continue to DO! You learn to ignore the antics and the noise and focus. You realize if they have to use energy to ridicule you, they can't be working for themselves and that makes them not too bright.
So I decided the path was do more of what I know, buy time, look at what this medium would look like in 20 years and how the entire world would depend on it like they depend on electric. Maybe even more so! Try to learn what I could and wait for the $750,000 website tab to be a $75 template. Of course now we are at FREE so we have well passed that milemarker.
And that is what each reality is, a milemarker. And they just happen to match my parallels perfectly. Sorry, that is not being a visionary. That is simply following the line that parallel produces. Nothing more, nothing less. So those that want to copy my path need to understand how my path has come to be. It was no crystal ball. No great anything. Just SIMPLY following the signs that were and are CLEARLY there. That is why my opinions are so stong. I shut out the noise so I can see and find the parallel. Once that happens the answer reveals itself and it is on to the next thing. No antics can derail me from the parallel I see.
So eventually when I bought Porno.com I thought maybe one of my dreams would be realized early. I approached folks and asked if they wanted to be 50/50 partners in Porno.com. They never even asked me a single question. They all just laughed in my face. I just shook my head in amazement. Here was a domain that was making me over $500k/year at that time and it was more than those that I approached were making. But that was a lucky break for me!
That vision still lives. I bring to the table the land with an important location and they bring their talents. Now as we know in the candy.com and property.com deals I did not get 50%. But different situations need different formulas and equations. Cash lowers the percent I must have.
So the point of all this? Well the folks that whine today about cybersquatters or whatever it is, simply failed back then and have yet to get over it. They missed the single biggest opportunity in their careers! So instead of explaining how they missed it, they do what they do. You and I NEVER have to apologize for seeing something this big and risking what we did. NEVER! We did what we were taught to do in a capitalistic society. They will always have to explain why they did not see it and the only way they can do that is attack and try and make it like we did something wrong. Well if you don't make a living off of Trademarks of other parties, then you did nothing wrong. Nothing to apologize for. You have done well for you and your family and shoud be proud.
Think of it like this. Imagine you are a financial advisor today. And some readers just might be. Imagine you are in 2013 and the market goes up. Many stocks double and triple in value. And you sit there as a financial advisor touting your 7% return?? Really?? Sorry pal, you failed! You don't thump your chest on 7% when you should be giving multiples of that in a year like this.
How many SEO spam do you get in your email every day? Wonder why? Because those that have to do that SUCK at what they do! They define themselves as incompetent the minute they send out that first email blast. DUH! And they can't see it, can't acknowledge it and can't stop it.
That brings me up to "Search". Sorry, search is a fools game on many levels. Parked pages ranked in search is just silly. Have said so for many years. Let's define search as PAID and FREE. Most folks talk about FREE search and guess what? That has little value. It's a bonus when you get it. You don't build on FREE. Just be relevant. You will naturally work your way up.
So now let's talk about PAID search. That's a much more intelligent discussion. That's something you can measure. That is something you can define. That is something you can contract or expand. That is something that is built around a numerical equation that should end up with that nasty word, PROFIT.
That of course leads me to Start-ups of which I wrote an entire blog post about recently. Start-up is lip service for "I have no way of making money but I still need to eat. Feed me." Why? "Because I am a startup and I am going to get free traffic from Google to build my empire."
Start this! It's a start down for you and a start-up for him!
And of course we are watching hundreds of startups right in front of us. They need your money to survive. The public is not going to support their efforts in a way that can sustain them. Only domainers can do that. The gTLD parallels I see don't lead to where these folks believe they do. Some do, Don't get me wrong, but most don't and the question and the parallel to understand is if 80%, 90% or more go south and there is unintended fallout and consequences, will it hurt those few that remain?
Now I know nobody wants to talk about type ins. But type ins funded many of the gtld's that are coming. Dot com type ins. Natural type ins. Not from search. Real, no-nonsense, consumer oriented and generated type ins. So of course this subject is off-limits because it does not help their position. No parallel. I chased the behavior of the consumer and adapted. They want the consumer to follow them and for the consumer to adapt. The same?? Are you kidding?? Are you serious? Are you not paying attention?? GEEEZ!
The mousetrap works because they learned the behavior of the MOUSE! Not the other way around. How simple is that one?
See I have the same names in .com and .net, and .xxx and .mobi and .org and .TV. Want to discuss type ins???? The type ins they keep saying have no merit, no value, no this no that while the type ins pay for much of everything that is happening. That is not to be confused with value of a domain based on type ins. Two separate things. Domains don't have to have type ins to have value. The mainstream domains had no type ins when I bought them. But the ones I bought and got right, do have type ins now. Want to discuss the ratio value from .com to .anything else? What 's the difference? Somewhere between 20-1 and 100-1. Same effort, greater risk, lower reward. And I have to convince smart people of this equation? Really??? Empirical evidence. Not theory.
Ok, back to the story........
So today Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, eBay, Instagram, you can name 100 companies right here and right now. Then 1000 behind them. And 100,000 behind them. Many with ideas. Some are good ideas. Some are ideas you can build on. Some are platforms you can build on. The landscape is filling in very quickly now. And it is not about developing any longer. It is now about opening businesses with a profit center. There is enough out there to do that with now. It could not be done before.
So as I saw this mammoth of a beast. The likes of which mankind had never seen before, I knew that snowball was big and would take DECADES to start to roll. 2 decades. I stated in January that for the first time we were in the gravitational pull of what I saw all those years ago. It was not just words. It was parallels.
I know I am limited in my education. But I know a few things well. Nouns, verbs, adjectives and what place they go in and what makes them powerful or not when used together. And I knew the difference between a parallel and an intersection. You can benefit from each, but one can kill you. The other can't. And I knew how to use equations to my benefit to fill in answers not yet known. So this visionary is not one at all. I am just a master of these elements and then I am able to marry them to a timeline. I am able to come to a conclusion quickly and I start at the end and work myself back to the start.
So folks laughed at me back then and they laugh at me today. But those that laugh the most continue to get things wrong while I keep getting them right. I write about how things unfold LONG before they unfold. Most chase events after the fact. What I see is clear to me. It might not be to others. So I have tried to share it over the years. If nothing else, to be on record for myself and so I can see which things I got right and which things I got wrong. Then I make adjustments to things and then get it right while many just continue on the path and ignore those points of correction.
The dawn of my 19th year is much different. We all know this is just a platform and we are destined to do bigger and greater things. Each day gets just a little easier. Just a little closer. Just a little better.
2013 was a bumpy year. But bumpy means you are progressing and that is a great improvement from being stuck in a crippled economy for the last few years. And as I have been writing about, 2014 is going to be a monster year for business in general.
I can report that the Real Estate in South Florida is now at 2007 levels once again. Pre Crash levels. Now not for all property. Decent and prime property are now exceeding 2007 levels. On the other hand, homes further out of the metro area are still taking a hit. It may still be a few years because the better located homes will sell first. This excludes South Beach that never even saw much of a crash. High end stuff just kept going up. $1200/ft before crash, now as much as $1500 and $2000ft. Go up the road a little north and you can still get for $300ft.
So not only do we head into 2014 and year 19, but we go into this next 2 years with a head of steam that will carry us right thru to the finish line. December 26, 2015. In a few days, I get to say "Next Year!" and that 20 years will be worth the wait.
It was understandable for the masses not to understand this medium fully for 20 years. But I must say, I am so disappointed in the average so-called "Businessman". He is still BEHIND the consumer curve. The consumer is more Internet savvy than they are. What is the excuse for that? I can only tell them that time is running out for them to get their acts together. That's not lip service, that is straight out fact. The proof will be all the mergers you will see in the next 24 months on every level imaginable.
The money is finally coming off the sidelines. I can speak to that myself. I have some fairly decent money being earmarked for new investment. Some for a safe and growth investment and a chunk for riskier investments. My choices include .com domain names (Sorry, I have zip marked for gTD's) but mostly investments outside of domains as I continue to diversify and more into web-based businesses. To me, the more financial buckets you have, the better. But deep buckets, not shallow ones. The stock market is the single best casino in the world and that won't change in 2014. I have a habit of plunging. This year I was plunging on Facebook. Probably ride that horse for a while. Made some on Twitter but want to get out before the "Correction" which could be very soon.
It blows me away from that December 26th in 1995 when I was investing my first $100. I never dreamed I would talk about investing a million here, a million there and $500k there. But when you just take it slow, put one foot in front of another, don't get sidetracked or detoured, learn from history by learning history itself, it is just amazing the ground you can cover and the progress you can make. Everything else is just Lip Service.
All I can do is share my story. Share my viewpoint. Substantiate the best I can how I come to that viewpoint and then believe enough in myself to follow thru. Predictions based on parallels and mile markers. As each comes to pass the original foundation and premise only gets stronger and bigger and bolder. So we can now look back and take a string and tie it around each marker and then use the first point and the last point to find the next point. The next point in all of this is not based on emotion. It is based on science and math that has little variables and a consumer base that has a huge variable. Whenever somebody speaks for the consumer, watch out. In my world, the consumer leads, I follow and then I jack rabbit over them and get to their next destination slightly before they do and the bi-product of that is opportunity. But they led the way, not me. I simply followed their lead, their direction and their needs, wants and desires that led me to their stopping points and eventual destination. The one that will only get clearer every passing day from now until landfall.
Land Ho!
Rick Schwartz
Michael Li
Thank you for the story. This is the kind of stuff I love reading on your blog. Loved the OJ “Crime Watch” story, too. These posts are a lot more meaningful than discussions about gtlds and rdnh.
Samit
Great post Rick! If people read only one post in 2013 this should be it.
Jen
All roads really do lead the King, Rick Schwartz. As I look on the left in your most notable sales column, I noticed a familiar domain, punchbowl.com.
Well I’ll be dam, I have this very website saved in my browser toolbar.
Your reach into all things internet real estate is simply amazing. It’s a privilege to be able have a glimpse into your wisdom.
Jonathan
Thanks needed that post. I am doing the same now in mainland Europe & India (trust me these are top tld’s) same inertia, same incestuous tribe.
Jeff schneider
Hello Rick,
I remember those Netsol days when I would check to see if , non traffic Branded .Com Franchise Names were available. I would be making lists and then doing whois checks for business type names, and finding gem after gem available. It was like finding diamonds in my own back yard. We amassed a portfolio of 100$ a pop registrations maxing out our credit cards. We have not sold ANY of them, waiting for the Maximum ROI sweet spot thats coming.
Gratefully, Jeff schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
Anunt
What are your thoughts about investing in Bitcoins?
Chris
Rick, I don’t think anyone is really laughing at you anymore….Just sayin..
Jeff schneider
R. E. = ” What are your thoughts about investing in Bitcoins?
Counterfeit money with no domicile tax base/ 1% survival chance
Gratefully, Jeff schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
Patrick Hipskind
Great reading…It reads like “Reminiscences of a Stock Operator”, the all time classic about the greatest stock market trader who ever lived, Jesse Livermore. I am sure your book will be very similar.
Jeff schneider
” Online holiday sales in last key weekend jump 37% ”
R. E. = ” It was understandable for the masses not to understand this medium fully for 20 years. But I must say, I am so disappointed in the average so-called “Businessman”. He is still BEHIND the consumer curve. The consumer is more Internet savvy than they are. “
Altaf
Hello Rick,
Great & a long post -a gift of the new year. Thanks a lot for sharing your vision with us. And I got trust in your type ins theorem since a long and the ratio of .com & .other is somewhere between 10:2 or less, is tested. Wishing a Happy New Year. Gratefully, Altaf
Altaf
Folks!
I Wish you a Very Happy New Year.
Kindly guide how could I create simple business sites from my mini sites by myself without any techies.
Best
Altaf
Jeff Schneoider
Those who think gTLDs will lead Online Business Start up expansion in 2014 thru 2020 are not aware of the massive migration of newly acquired .COM Franchise Addresses that have been injected into Start-ups hands this year. Anybody looking for Institutional Money in the coming Start-up Boom, without a .COM Franchise Business Model, will be passed up.
R. E. ” The Ace in the deck (Startups) will explode with the advent of Cloud based problem solving capabilities. Now, literally, Garage based businesses have access to super computer capabilities. The cloud will be deluged with business startups, that will rain down the largest Online Business Expansion in history. JAS 12/4/13 ”
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal tiger)
UFO
@Altaf
Just use wordpress and then make a half decent banner…. after that point its all about content and more content.
UFO
Must admit, there’s many good .com’s avail for around the 10k mark. There’s where the sweet spot I see.
New gTLDs cannot have any effect on 1 word .com’s, possibly a direct match could come out… but that would be $$$ payday.
Buying any 1 word .com’s that look like potential candidates for round 2 gTLDs could be a potential payoff play. That simply reinforces even more why 5 char .com’s or less are definitely worth 100k+
NEIL
Rick,
Your destiny is amazing.
Thank You for feeding our souls with pure, high quality, optimistic input!
Happy New Year to you and your family!
NEIL
Rick,
Happy New Year to your Brother!
He is the magic touch of your destiny.
Happy New Year to T.R.A.F.F.I.C!
John
Thanks for blogging and sharing your most enjoyable insights, experience and perspective. :)
Haven
Best post of the year Rick…
Altaf
@UFO
Thanks a lot. I read your all feedback/comments with due diligent and enthusiasm. Very creative . Best.
Omar
Hello Rick,
I agree with Samit…”if people read only one post in 2013 this should be it”
You may not agree with this, but you’re a “Genius”.
I don’t say this lightly…but reading your writings is like I’m sitting next to Mozart and listening in as he composes a symphony, or like having a seat in the pew and watching Michelangelo paint the 16th Chapel above me…your vision has been so clear, clean, and precise…it’s breathtaking.
It is really exciting to experience “You” first-hand.
I glad you had the courage to follow your vision…that’s what a true artist does, thanks Rick.
Omar
Frank Schilling
Rick – I watched you on that journey to year 19 and joined you right around year 6 … I had no names and you had porno.com and scores of other killer names that continue to deliver for you today. I remember all the good ones being gone and having to figure out expiry.
I recall getting a funny feeling around year 7, in 2007 that the best was over.. All the good names were gone, and registrars were holding back expiry. You made a similar post around that time and it occurred to me that you and I had just become too content and happy. Too big to bend over to pick up the nickels that still remained.
When I was 9 the local supermarket gave away coupons with every bag purchased. 3 coupons and you could ride the roller coasters and Amusement rides at the national summer fair. We were walking into the park, two young guys in their late teens or early 20’s were leaving and must have worked in the coupon room at the grocery chain because they had the biggest stack of coupons I had ever seen. They took one look at our family walking in with our clutch of 10 coupons and in a big-hearted gesture, they gave their monsterous stack of coupons to us. We rode every ride in the park that day.. We rode some a dozen times.. My family could never have afforded it otherwise. Late in the day after we couldn’t stomach another ride we exited the park and my Dad gave the remaining stack of coupons to another young family coming in.. I remember their eyes lighting up like they had never seen a stack that big.
Everything is a matter of perspective. There are a lot of people on this planet and a lot of young kids who will be the domainers of tomorrow. They have nothing today. Give that man XXXPorno.link or Betting.tips or rick.tattoo and suddenly they have “something”. As unimaginable as it may sound to you or I, the day may come when some of these new names are actually better and more coveted than the 2 word string appended with .com is today, because there are more of them and the market is more liquid.
This time is different because so many new names are coming. Adding more skim milk to the mix will not stop the cream from rising.. But I have discovered that almond milk tastes better than dairy. I’m not worried about your 20 year vision being a reality. On year 20 plus 1 day, .com will still be king. It will have successfully faced down the first wave of new G’s and be standing proudly like a shining city on a hill.
I can imagine your post about it now. But in year 40, (just 20 short turns from now), you and I will be surrounded by many new faces, most of whom have never owned a .com but make a successful living trading in new extensions that we never thought were possible. If you care about your readers (as I know you do).. you’d encourage them to go get “the good ones” in the well managed and fairly run spaces; whatever extension they are in.
You should be doing the same thing yourself. Wishing these new names away with a dismissive wave because it’s a lot of work to start over and buy new ones, doesn’t make the good ones less valuable. This is probably the last great opportunity in naming. The best extensions coming out in the same year.. All will be competing against each other in a saturated market. Prices will be low for a short time. Opportunity will be high. Selectively taking something is just prudent.
Here is my Traffic on Porno.xxx btw. This name did not exist 2 years ago and gets type-in today:
Date
Avrg. Daily Uniques
Monthly Uniques
13-Nov
645.1
19352
13-Oct
625.9
19403
13-Sep
588.8
17663
13-Aug
398.5
12355
13-Jul
348.2
10795
13-Jun
348.2
10445
13-May
364.8
11309
13-Apr
399.6
11988
13-Mar
365.8
11341
13-Feb
363
10165
13-Jan
340.1
10544
12-Dec
336.1
10420
Rick Schwartz
Frank,
Thanks for commenting.
Let’s just discuss porn.xxx for now.
If you have content on an extension you should have growth. It is not a parked page. But I think we can agree that type ins are essential in all this.
You have traffic, but I would not define it as type in. First you have a listing in Google for Porn.xxx. Second you do have content. So it becomes a destination. Content is what is going to count.
But let’s go further. Porn is one of the best Keywords in the world. I think we can agree on that.
Porno.com gets 45,000-50,000 daily unique visitors.
Porn.com gets about 3x-4x that the last time I head traffic stats when it was parked.
I think you paid more for Porn.xxx than porn.com and porno.com combined.
My break even point with porno.com was 6 weeks.
Your break even point will come when? That is a KEY question in this.
Then one would have to ask themselves is this the best and quickest way to grow your money safely? That is where I hit a snag. Because the equation is so much different. Is porn.xxx worth more today than when you bought it? I don’t think you can answer that in the affirmative. So you have an illiquid asset or one that has not gone up in value and a good case can be made that it went down in value. At this rate, how many hundred years to break even?
To me it is all math. I understand that the variable may change. But they may change for the better or not. Right now, .xxx domains are worth much less than they were when they were purchased. The market says so, not me. That may change. But just like a stock that you buy 1000 shares of for $500 and is now worth a fraction of that, the wait to get back up may or may not materialize. Meanwhile those funds are locked. Most domainers that you are targeting could not afford to be in that position. I know when I get in that position, I hate it. I have no control. I either have to take a loss or wait for a ship that may never come back.
Rick Schwartz
I bought into Orgy.xxx with 2 partners
It cost us $25,000.
I own Orgy.com and Orgy.mobi as well.
Since .xxx is sex, I would expect the best results with this extension.
So this year orgy.com made about $1300 on 65,000 visitors.
Orgy.xxx made $25 this year on 1100 visitors. So a ratio of about 500-1 on earnings and even a higher ratio when it comes to traffic. Jan and May had the most traffic. Bad trend. Chances of me breaking even in my lifetime are not high!
And then when we go down to .mobi, which I believe is much better than some of the new extensions, 50 Uniques and 5 cents for the entire year of 2013.
I paid $60,000 for Orgy.com but that was an entire adult portfolio of 63 names. There were other gems there as well. I paid almost the same for the .mobi and .xxx. Sorry, they are not equal now and won’t be equal in the lifetime of anyone reading this. Orgy.com paid for itself dozens of times over. The equation is just not the same and never will be.
Rick Schwartz
How about this one. On a more modest domain.
HotDates.com had 4500 visitors in 2013 and made $900.
I owned HotDates.xxx. It got ZIP! No visitors and no revenue un 18 months.
Did I renew that for $99?? NO WAY! I let that bitch drop.
And I paid a premium from the registry of $2500.
Lastly, did I try and sell it to a domainer before it dropped? No! Why would I try and sell something that is worthless to a reader or peer?
Anyone want Orgy.xxx? I am sure my partners would be thrilled to convert this illiquid asset into cash. At least Orgy.xxx has some value. $25,000 invested. What is the high offer RIGHT NOW? As it stands now, a $74/year annual LIABILITY!
Rick Schwartz
btw, Hotdates.co can be bought for $4084. Not mine but listed when you go and buy hotdates.whatever
The .info is $11.
Sorry, but the .info seems to be a better shot than the .co for the price difference.
HotDates.sexy I am sure somebody will register.
Value? Traffic?
Rick Schwartz
If anyone here has a .whatever of a .com I own, post and let’s compare.
Numbers tell all.
Cyborg
Thank you for sharing your thoughts Mr Schwartz and cheers to an awesome 2014!
UFO
Franks comments are great. Reminds me of similar circumstances as a kid… but, to take its analogy a bit further, why would the coupons ever be worth anything to the family that could not afford them? By the same token how could new gTLDs be worth anything if those without money could not afford to pay high prices?
I do think new gTLDs will be treated as ‘social entertainment’ and ‘information’… but thats nothing in commercial value terms against ‘commerce’ .com
Big money is paid for commercial domains because commercial returns justify the outlay.
Frank Schilling
Rick – My name (and those numbers) were for Porno.xxx (not Porn.xxx) it has been parked the entire time and traffic is rising. Just a fraction of a percent is Google referrer
Rick Schwartz
Thanks for the clarification Frank. My bad!
Can you tell us the cost of porno.xxx?
Thanks!
Frank Schilling
“”Since .xxx is sex, I would expect the best results with this extension. “”
We’re playing for the long grass here Rick.. XXX is a new space and they were in a bitter battle with the community they were trying to serve for the first 3 years of its existence. That’s over now and even with a premium sales model, they’re still growing (even with expensive prices) – the traffic is climbing.
I’d think about this as a room full of 300 people .. If exactly half are white and the other half are black.. you could have some on both sides who are racist and don’t accept the other. But if you fill that room with 300 unique race individuals all those racist tendencies to not accept the others are more inclined to melt away and you are left with just a room of people.
Frank Schilling
I can’t recall if the exact amount was governed by an NDA but it was mid-high 5 figs
Frank Schilling
If hotdates.com gets that kind of traffic and hotdates.xxx gets zip then at least “some” of the traffic to the .com comes from links, an old Yahoo directory listing maybe or some reference from the past that is linked via a blog. We all have some of that. It’s part of the way the Internet works and it can be great traffic. Orgy.xxx probably would have been a better buy at 5k and you could flip it today if you had to get liquidity for $2000 .. recall that the cost of the name (ex the founders premium) is $60 per year so you’d be in the money if you bought it unregistered.
Let me be 100% clear here .. I am NOT advising anyone to back up the truck on overpriced premium names that the registries are trying to home-run you on. I am advocating you make a big list, keep the list to yourself and get as many good names (in well-run fixed price renewal registries) at registration price as you can comfortably afford to grow a sales business on. Half the money is made in the buy.
Windy City
Rick,
Thank you for a most interesting article. I will be reading it again as I see where people involved in this industry can gain some pointers and motivation. There is a lot more to domain names than one sometimes may realize.
Also, a sincere thank you for all you have written during the course of the year. May 2014 be even better for you and all concerned.
Frank Schilling
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/27/nyregion/new-york-soon-to-trail-florida-in-population.html?_r=0
This sums up New TLDs for me. Again.. .com isn’t going away. The best ones will be like Park Avenue.. But the outer boroughs are going to get quieter as people move to fairer climates.
Altaf
Hello Frank,
I do agree with your 2nd point. But we cannot afford all the lists to buy and build. Some are being taken overnight. Others will go eventually. We need a cash generating machine like parking co. who are but just suckers.
Wish you best of luck in 2014. Gratefully,
JBS
Unfortunately, each particular land grab of “good names at registration price” (less than a dozen on many new keyword gTLDs) will last about 45 seconds. Great if you can get them though…
Domenclature.com
Happy Holidays All!
Interesting Schwartz-Schilling dyad!
When these two elephants fight, he ants better be ware!
The last time they clashed at TRAFFIC, I used the VIEWS on the Video to determine exactly how many people visit Domaining.com. Perhaps, it even revealed to me how many domainers there are out there.
Obviously nobody who visit Domaining.com that wouldn’t take a gander at it. It’ll be analogous to a boxing in Miami Beach on February 25, 1964, but not curious about Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston. Impossible!
Domenclature.com
typo… left out boxing ‘FAN’
‘the ants’ too
JBS
“When these two elephants fight, the ants better beware!”
I don’t think there is a fight at all. They both agree that on the new gTLDs, “some” good names at “registration prices” will likely prove to be a good value. Rick just doesn’t see enough upside or opportunity in that versus the existing opportunities still in .com. They both advise NOT buying “overpriced premium names” on new gTLDs. Where they might disagree is on consumer adaption over the next decade or two. But, does that really matter to an investor looking for a quicker ROI than 10 – 20 years?
Anunt
Only myspace users will continue typing dot com…
JBS
“Only myspace users will continue typing dot com”
Oh yeah, because in 5 years most major companies will be on other extensions? You should make that bet…
Jeff Schneider
Hello Frank,
I think we all can agree that pointing out the improving fundamental underpinnings of the .COM Franchise Business Model, will not go missed on your building inventory of select .COM franchise addresses. Cheers ! Happy Hunting
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
UFO
@Anunt
Does that mean that you won’t be visiting your most favourite site that you said was youjizz.com?
Have you an application for the gTLD .jizz?
JBS
Frank’s “inventory of select .COM franchise addresses” include regular high dollar sales of dot domain’s that most of us would pass on. I personally would drop a huge chunk of his 300,000 plus domain portfolio if I owned it. Unless he managed it for me of course :) Nobody plays the game as well as he does – I certainly can’t.
The point being, many smart domainers have tried to duplicate Frank’s dot com recipe for success and have failed. And though he sees real opportunity with the new gTLDs, that won’t translate into success for most. Which is why Rick simply points out the tried, true, and proven road to success with domains for the rest of us. Rick’s advice: better to buy one, truly premium dot com for $10,000 than take a risk investing $10,000 on new gTLDs. He is not dismissing all opportunities with new gTLDs, but simply comparing those to the existing opportunities with dot com. As far as the risk of investment is concerned, it is simply liquidity versus unknown.
Jeff schneider
R. E. = ” Frank’s “inventory of select .COM franchise addresses” include regular high dollar sales of dot domain’s that most of us would pass on. I personally would drop a huge chunk of his 300,000 plus domain portfolio if I owned it. Unless he managed it for me of course :) Nobody plays the game as well as he does – I certainly can’t. ”
What makes you think that F.S. is not doing the same thing he did in the 2000s when everyone was distracted? F. S. is SMART money, BUILDING INVENTORY in another neglected .COM class. Count On It !
Trade Up, Trade Out
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
john zhou
Good 1 word or nice looking 2 words dot com will become a valuable assets no matter with or without good type in traffic , a lots of web Investors (same as my situation ) exactly do not care about the park vanure or traffic income , they just invest in and own them then temporary forget it (not forget to renew! ), but I knew with 100% confident the investment will give me 10x + return , I hand registed and bought 1000+ dot coms since 1998, also sold few dot coms (each of them must bring me 10-50 times return, $100000-$500000 price ,as association.com visitor.com 178.com ,,,),my feeling was ,is and will be nice 1word or good meaningful marketable 2words dot com or country domain gtld (as UK, de,cn…)I had tried some .net .org .biz .info , these non dot com really no useful and were wasted ,some country gtld as I said even .co.nz still can do well (I sold 10+ .co .nz New Zealand ltd between $5000-$10000), the points are here : who will use the new gtld ?and how to let potential consumers know and remember these new gtld ? How seriously the developers promote the new gtld ? My 2 cents : better to buy a $10000 -$50000 1 word dot com , not to buy 100+ new gtld with same funds .
90% support rick ‘s opinions , 10% for Frank ( maybe Frank will success in new gtld business but can not say the new gtld will success !)
Thanks everyone and happy holiday!
John
Observer
Everything has 2 values. Use Value & Exchange Value. For example, air has high use value but very low Exchange Value. A diamond has very high Exchange Value but low Use Value. GOOD dot coms are high in both Values. That’s why they will still be king and welcomed by investors in the year 2040. GOOD dot whatevers may have some Use Value in the sense they are functioning as websites. BUT!!!!!!! very low Exchange Value. However, Mr.FS need not be disappointed with the above statement of mine because, as long as they have some Use Value, there will be some level of demand from end-users who are only looking for cheap domains.
Altaf
Hi Rick,
On the other day, some folks mentioned here, ‘no matter what the .ext is as long as meta tag is set. Your views please.
Gratefully, Altaf
Rick Schwartz
Altaf,
Content and relevance is what it is all about. Then later you can talk about all the other stuff.
Rick Schwartz
When I was buying adult domain names, it was almost exclusively type in based. That was my formula. Only open question was how long did it take for those type ins to pay for themselves. There was virtually not a mainstream domain that I bought that had any traffic in those days because there was no mainstream. So I always had to predict which ones would get type ins and which ones would be valuable regardless of type ins when it came to mainstream domain names as the Internet began to take shape.
Adult Type ins always produced the revenue I needed to renew all the other domains that had no income and would be able to support them and subsidize them for 20 years plus buy others. Selling was never part of the equation. My entire being was focused on supporting them, not selling them.
Michael Li
So basically, the main takeaway is that adult non-.com domains without type-ins are worthless.
Rick Schwartz
Not worthless, but worth much less.
The only value would be to build a brand around it to you or an end user.
So if it meets that requirement, it is okay.
If not, then not worth holding. imo
Altaf
Thanks Rick for your kind clarification. Observed that category based niche domains having type ins, being built as business, got huge demands.
Michael Li
Rick, I think that fundamentally, your investing perspective is very different from that of other domainers in general. You seem to focus the most on the pure cash revenues that are generated by your type-ins, whereas other domainers such as the Castello brothers, Elliot Silver, and Michael Cyger are more focused on development. There’s nothing wrong with that, but all I’m saying is that if you take this into account, it would explain why you may value certain domains differently. I’m curious to find out what your views are exactly on development — specifically why you’ve been hesitant to create destinations from your prime parked properties, given the cost-cheapness to do so in today’s technological landscape. You could generate exponential (instead of linear) returns with no risk.
JBS
Michael, you must be a very recent reader of Rick’s blog. Rick has been focusing on development for some time through partnerships on his domains. This is his website related to those projects: http://jointventures.com/
john zhou
Different level domainers has different views about domain names :
1,domain investors who only focus on big valuable 1word or best keyword relative 2words dot com or geo name dot com , most of them invest in other real industrise too, domain name or websites investment just is small part or their businesses. (same as land holders )
2, domain developers who hold on domain names then try to develop some traffic relatived domains to next level , most of them have a IT tech team to support .(same as land developers , they need to make cash flow from the lands and projects)
3, full time domainers who need to trade names and make profits , fast coming and fast going , low margin, short holding time is acceptable .( same as real estates agents or antique dealers , difference is most of them just work for themselves not commission base )
4, part time domainers
5, fresh domainers
Different level has different requests and opinions.
John
NEIL
Rick,
What amazing life you have. You are the bestest millionaire ever.
Think Big. Do Big. Not so easy.
ebetbet.com and ibetbet.com are waiting for their Australian investors. No crisis, more money…so many type ins are waiting for them.
Today is the day of birth of cand-y.com. No clicks in the first 5 minutes…
Happy New Year to You and Your Family!
Be strong for us, Domain King Rick!
Altaf
Yes, Content is the King and .Com is the King.
Jeff Schneider
Hello Rick,
Here I sit, drinking Napa River Chardonnay, wanting to express gratitude to the Jobs, the Rick scwartzes, the Frank Schillings and all other domainers etc. By the way this comment comes minutes after watching Jobs. Im singing this song to you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37dw2r45Xzg
Laurence
Rick your continued enthusiasm is still contagious all these years later!
I can still remember the first time I read some comments from you regarding purchasing high quality domain names for investment, in 1998. I hardly slept for two days as I researched your advice and looked into this strange thing called domain names. The next workday was a Monday and I was eager to discuss it with the company President at a large computer company where I was employed as Sales Manager.
He was a very savvy, experienced and successful businessman, wealthy beyond most people aspirations.
Laurence
I met with him to try to get him to invest in a portfolio of names I had identified as excellent long term investments. He was curious, puzzled and disturbed that none of his investment experts had ever mentioned domain names to him.
He immediately called his expert in the computer industry, a well know businessman in New York city.I was able to hear the conversation as it was placed on Speakerphone for my benefit The company President explained my proposal and started naming out each domain name to the expert.
The expert said that domain names were worthless and a liability as you could not buy them but nearly rent them on a yearly basis. Furthermore, there were unlimited variations available to anyone who desires a domain name.
Laurence
My position that one word keyword phrase domains would be valuable someday was complete nonsense and without any commercial merit
I did not get any investment funds and was chastised for being so foolish to waist my time compiling the list.
The list contained 20 names, all dot com. I went on to register only 1 name on that list. It remains the best name in my portfolio and I have been offered over $150,000.00 multiple times for the name. Some of the domains on that list have sold for over half a million dollars.
Laurence
Rick, you had the fortitude to carry on in spite of the noise and ridicule all around you, I did not. It took me almost another 6 months to get back to registering domain names and by that time all on my list of 20 were taken.
Fortunately I have been able to acquire many great names since that time but if I had not read your initial comments in 1998, I certainly would have not obtained my very best registrations.
A hearty well deserved thank you and a wish for a healthy, prosperous 2014 for you and you family. One of the hardest tasks for any writer, businessman, entrepreneur is to stay relevant. Rick you are as relevant at the dawn of 2014 as you were in 1998.
Michael Li
Laurence, so what was this magical domain name of yours?
Jeff Schneider
Hello Rick,
Condemned by their own stupidity = Madison Avenue Ad Companies.
Much of the headwind .COM URl Centric Marketing has experienced comes from the Media Belt. They fumbled the Ball Big Time! The Tide is changing and many of the new .COM Franchise sites will get their support, WHY/? Because now they are controllers of some of these powerfull Strategic Game Players. Expect more and more Madison Avenue support for the .COM Business Model.
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
Jeff Schneider
R. E. = ‘ Much of the headwind .COM URl Centric Marketing has experienced comes from the Media Belt. They fumbled the Ball Big Time! The Tide is changing and many of the new .COM Franchise sites will get their support, WHY/? Because now they are controllers of some of these powerfull Strategic Game Players. Expect more and more Madison Avenue support for the .COM Business Model.
P.S. Madison Ave. has been very active in the shadow market. Now they are going to employ strategies aimed at .COM Franchise Models !
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
Altaf
@Laurence: Good story! we all got such experience, little or more to come to this level. Only experts dare to invest in those days in a product like domain names.It took me years to understand what is ‘type ins’ after reading Rick’s article @ Afternic site. I got a huge lists of .com names,the land is still vacant, alone is difficult to manage. One day my boss will understand its value, but it will be too late!! Good luck & wishes for 2014.
Neil@DomainersNews.com
Happy New Year to Rick&Family!
Happy New Year to All&Family!
Jeff Schneider
Hello Rick,
The Strategic .COM Business Model is a many faceted Gem. Once all the smart money Capital Markets Experts, realize all the angles, their vision will become very clear. Their vision coming into focus,will push valuations to levels only Rick Schwartz and Frank Schilling foresaw many years ago.
P. S. The Investors Business daily( Institutional Capital Markets Experts) are listening in and their subscribers, are positioning themselves.
Gratefully, Jeff schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)