Morning Folks!!
The Domain Game has changed and if you take a small step back, you will clearly see it.
PPC was a very passive game and why not? The money was rolling in faster than most of us could spend it. So why work? It was a really nice run and it is far from over. However it is changing.
I send all of my PPC traffic to 4 companies that did not even exist before last year. InternetTraffic.com, VooDoo.com, DomainHolding.com and the ParkingPlace.com. I am testing out JuiceCow.com, Parklogic.com and others. I am ALWAYS testing. ALWAYS!!! Plus there are 2 or 3 new companies on the horizon.
If you took a step back you would see what I was saying. Se ALL these new generation companies are run by DOMAINERS!! They started these companies because our original partners were letting us down. That's the simple truth.
See there are 100,000 folks and more in the domain industry. However there are less than 500 domainers. Maybe 350. Then we could break that group down into sectors from there.
In 2007 I earned 100% of my revenue via PPC. Today my only goal is to keep reducing that percentage. Not because I want to, but because I can no longer afford to be passive. That is what motivated all those folks above to start their own businesses. One thing about those 350, they are some of the most resourceful people in all the world. People that are DECADES ahead of the masses. That comes with a price. It's called 'Patience'.
Now things are different. No longer do we have to explain what a domain name is. No longer do we have to defend the practice of investing in domain names. No longer are we laughed at by all those that were so much smarter than us but were on a path with an end. We are just at the beginning of our path.
In the days ahead I will start to tell you about sites I have been launching all year with various partners. Sites that are not PPC or mini sites but sites that can add value and build around.
There was really no reason to be aggressive until now. 'Patience' was the main element and now that is giving way to a reality I saw on Day #1 in domaining.
I am currently leasing many domains as businesses with an exit plan. I plan to add one new one this week with one partner and add several with another. They outperform PPC and it has a growth potential which was not available before. The sites are simple. Look for leads to match with folks that need and want the business. 1+1=2. Not fancy, but effective.
What do I get for a leased domains? Anywhere from $500-$1500 per month depending on the item they sell. So at the high end it is $18k per year for a worldwide presence. Some think that is high. I don't. If you can't make the $18k/year and loads more, then don't waste your time or mine. Open a store in your local mall or on Main Street. You will burn through $18k before your doors ever open. You will pay rent of more than $18k for eternity. I have a formula that addresses what happens when the domain is developed and there is a success. An exit plan that allows the developer to share in OUR success. But if you are an under achiver and their idea or business can't make at a minimum of $50-$100 a day, why waste the time? I want guys with plans to make $1000/day and more. That understands what he needs to do. Most of the bar set way too low.
The more deals I have, the easier it is to repeat. Other domainers are doing other types of deals and they too are QUIETLY being aggressive in a manner that is paying dividends. Traffic has value. You need to start with some traffic. You can double one, but you can't do much doubling zero.
So the industry has a new face coming and it looks more and more like domainers and domaining again. I have said for many years that we would all be pulled into different directions and different orbits. Now you can see that happening. But make no mistake, the domain industry is still their gravitational strong point. Their natural point of interaction because they can still see the same things and dreams that few have ever known.
The Domain Industry will continue to change and morph and do lots of things. Unfortunately, that 350-500 core domainers will probably never grow and only consolidate in time. Expansion for that group is OVER! New speculators will continue to come in waves of new folks as the new extensions come to be. Will any join the upper group? Probably? I don't know. We will have to see. If they do, it would likely be from the same pool of 350-500 I am talking about.
Adversity is the seed of success. The thing that turns comfort and passive into passion and aggressiveness. If you are reading this, you are the lucky ones that are working just a little harder. Giving just a little more. Not looking at a calendar or a clock but looking at what needs to be done and accomplished.
You work on Sundays and holidays. You work from dawn to dusk. Work is who and what you are. But you also play and enjoy and do.
20 year plan. This is going to be like a soft landing on the moon. It is ALL coming together and I can now see it from my backyard! We are in the gravitational pull of that plan. There is no mistaking it. A generation reduced to a decade and then 5 years and when you get past 3 years you begin to count things in MONTHS!! Right now still 3 years and 3 months from that landing. But the orbit is now. The planning for the touch down is now. 3 years 3 months means only 90 days away from month counting. Long ways from a generation ago! Soon to be just 36 months from a vision to a perfect reality using hsitory as my guide.
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
BullS
“No longer are we laughed at by all those that were so much smarter than us but were on a path with an end”
we are the ones laughing at them now all the way to the bank$$$
SO who is smarter now?
Thanh Tran
Hi All,
The above article is very interesting! Thanks Mr. Rick Schwartz very much.
I would like to invite you all to visit collection – the biggest collection of (edited for spam)
Thanh Tran
Joao
The problem that i face all the time is that people who make decisions don’t get it. They don’t see how a domain can be 1000€/month. Adding that, if i am forward to the techie guy, he will not even consider because that is stating his own low professional thinking.”seo will do the trick, so we don’t need the domain”.
I get that a lot. Don’t you?
I want to put my domains on the hands of end users, but it has been a very hard journey.
BullS
If they don’t get it, their competitors will!!!
Mason
What happens in 2016??????????
The singularity ? AI? Life on the moon?
What am i missing from this post ?
Anunt
“If you are reading this, you are the lucky ones that are working just a little harder. Giving just a little more. Not looking at a calendar or a clock but looking at what needs to be done and accomplished.
You work on Sundays and holidays. You work from dawn to dusk. Work is who and what you are. But you also play and enjoy and do.”
Rick, Hell was full…so I came back here…to your blog.
Joao
I sure hope so!!!
Joao
Maybe and just maybe…the first”Domain King International .com Fair” will happen…although that could mean the end or suspension of Traffic, that would also be a landmark for domaining.
But that is just a wild guess.
Kevin
“It is not the strongest of the species, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one most adaptable to change.”
Charles Darwin
Hugh
Since PPC plummeted in 2008…lead gen from direct navigation on premium names is the barrier to break. Agreed.
kiddy pool
Congrats Rick. Spot on and I see where your vision is. Been fun reading your blog since 07 and see you grow, learn and adapt.
Now if I ever make it in this domain industry, my goal is one day do a purchase agreement on one of your domains LOL.
Cheers and keep on focusing on the lease revenue side of things. I never done a lease agreement for my names. In the meantime still focusing on building up my type in traffic.
John Humphrey
How do you handle the situation where you’re in a domain partnership and a legitimate purchase offer (of your caliber) comes in?
David Carter
Spot on Rick. Domain development isn’t really what most domainers have been pushing for a year or two, it’s more about using the domain to bring in business.
As you know, I’ve been developing for years – some successes and more than a few miserable failures and non-starters.
Even today, I’m still plugging away and tweaking what’s taken more than 10 years of work in this area.
One site of mine brought in enquiries of more than £1.5million in July this year. I’m still working on closing those deals, some of which will close and some that won’t. The time to sale is around 12 weeks, since it’s a very high value and specialised niche.
A catastrophe occured in August, as I messed up the phone redirection service and lost a month’s worth of leads – an own goal and an important lesson learned, never to be repeated.
But, one thing’s always true – keep watching the numbers, understand how they work in your niche and then tweak until your site and the sales process is working according to the model.
Partnerships don’t have to be that formal. I’m still working on hand shakes with people who truly understand what I’m bringing to the party and who value my contribution at 50% of the profit.
Mark B
Horrible post.. you used lots of words but said essentially nothing.
steve c
Great post Rick! And the Internet train keeps on rolling….
Rick Schwartz
MarkB aka Mark. Thanks for illustrating what a loser and idiot looks like and sounds like.
You, an unknown that even has nothing nice to say about me when it comes to RDNH and Márcio Mello Chaves is just a loser with an agenda with no face and no accomplishments.
Compare you the GHOST to somebody like SteveC that has been around for a very long time and very successful and then wonder how a winner like him gets something out of my words and a loser like YOU can only kick shit?
Now see, as the foolish idiot, with no accomplishments, you are the only one that does not see nor understand that. But everyone else does.
Rick Schwartz
Is that you fool?
BTTORRENTS.NET
AHAD.NET
DOWMLOADFROM.NET
Here’s a winner 2xiu.org
You have the worst collection of Pigeon Shit .NET domains I have ever seen!
No wonder you are so angry and foolish. lol
Let me get up off the floor, my belly hurts.
Mark Hershiser
LMFAO…
rashed
where can i lease my domains ?
Steve
Anyone who has witnessed what happened to the video rental business in the past 5 years should understand that whatever industry you’re in, you have to change with it when it changes. Otherwise, you’re a Blockbuster watching your parking revenue go down the toilet in the past few years.
I used to deal a lot in traffic domains and once the writing was on the wall, shifted to sales and haven’t looked back.
Adel al Terkait
You can lease your domains at Zenscrow.com
Rashedx@gmail.com
Thank you Adel
Mark Hershiser
Great post Rick, it made me think of what Hunter said:
“When The going gets weird, the weird go pro”
That would be me.
A few years ago I was rolling in passivity, now I am having to work it, but I will survive in this biz…