Morning Folks!!
When you are free to think and go where others need permission, it removes limits of what you can achieve. How you can change things. How we as domainers have the POWER to change our own destiny.
There are some wonderful things about to happen to our industry. Why? Because domainers are taking back their own destiny. I have several cases in point.
You have to start your day with 2 things. Both are your health. The obvious one and then your financial health. If you have those, life is good. You also have future health. One you may exercise your body, the other you need to think and exercise your mind.
How to change things? By organizing and having likeminded people do something very specific that have a great impact and a goal oriented result. Read that one again because that may just end up being the focus at TRAFFIC this year. That’s the equation for those that understand what I mean by that.
Domainers are being challenged and that is a blessing in disguise. It all starts with an idea and there are many folks working on new ideas and I like them all.
Whether you want to accept it or not, income is your report card. You don’t have to compare to mine or Bill Gates or anyone but your own income. Up or down? By how much? What’s your monthly nut? When you track EVERY single monthly payout and truly know what your nut is then you know whether you are on the path. But you have to count everything. And then add 10% to cover the stuff you missed or are unexpected.
Your business plan may be challenged in times like this. But this is how you grade what you built. Built to last or is it washed away? If it is washed away like those houses along the Mississippi, then look at it as an opportunity to get a fresh start and start over with what you have learned. You can start over as soon as you do the thing I have said since the get go. “Make sure your FIRST domain purchase is a winner” Build on a winner not on a loser.
If you have 10,000 names and make no money, dump the 10,000 names for whatever and know you now have $75k or so to get that FIRST domain name. Get one that makes $8/day and start there. That’s just a starting point and a direction and that puts you ahead of 90% of the universe.
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
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Karan Sharma
Wrote like an true entrepreneur.
Thanks Rick
Bill Roy
Financial health is always a problem for most people, me included of course.
If someone has 10,000 domains and is not making money from them then I would suggest that before dropping them that they should examine them to see how they can make money. Normally a domainer will have hopefully seen a value in the domains they register, some would just be on re-sale value, others on that most odious of reasons to buy a domain – CPC and/or Google pennies, but possibly they registered domains because they could see a business model that could (hopefully ‘should’) be profitable.
The first reason above, re-sale value, is simple to evaluate whether the reason still holds as to renew the domain. Can you realisticly see a business or person REALLY likely to make an offer on the domain that would warrant renewal fees.
The second reason above, CPC and Google pennies, is the easiest to decide upon – forget the whole thing and drop them if they are not making money. Simple, no if’s or buts, if they are not making money then you are just throwing money down the drain.
Finally, the third reason for registering domains, there is a business development potential behind the registration. Here the question is perhaps the hardest to coagulate any kind of coherent formulae to. If a domain is not making money presently the question has to be whether the domain has been developed into a site utilizing the appropriate marketing techniques to attract visitors/clients/customers already? If not then can you develop it so that the site does? If not already developed then do you still plan on developing the site, and if so does the reasoning (business plan) for the original registration still hold up to inspection? (There are likely to be changes made to any business plan with time as they should all evolve to take into account changing circumstances.) When having looked again at this sphere of your portfolio the reality is that you have to be harsh with yourself, if the domains/sites do not cut the mustard then they should go.
Perhaps out of the 10,000 domains not making money some could and should be renewed, but be honest with yourself. Save your money from these otherwise pointless renewals and invest it instead in either business development of the remaining domains, or as Rick says invest in the domain/s that will make you money. I have had to and it was not pleasant, but it has allowed me to truly focus my investments and efforts. Oh, and by the way, if you really do like just chucking money away then please contact Rick and ask for my details, all currencies readily accepted! :)
Michael Roberts
I decided to take destiny into my own hands and acquire the BEST domain name for my particular business, which is aircraft sales. Time, money and prioritizing… I just acquired jets.aero for an undisclosed sum. Thanks Rick for your blog which inspired and educated me about domains. As an end user, when you own one good domain that owns the category, you don’t need dozens or hundreds of lesser properties!
darren
I hope you aren’t talking about the Jets.aero domain in your profile link. That is not the”BEST” domain name. It’s doesn’t even share the same atmosphere as the BEST domain name for your business. If you owned Jets.com (football team notwithstanding), or Jetliner.com AND Jetliners.com, airplane.com AND airplanes, or a handful of others, then we could have a conversation about if you indeed have the BEST.
Domain Michael
well said Rick. The other think worth to mention is that, you may have a great name but if you don’t develop, it might keep costing you the renewal fees.
Michael Roberts
I wouldn’t pay reg fee for jetliners.com, but then again what do I know? I am not a domainer.
steve
It is very hard to get domains today.
Only skill programmers could have a chance.
But why not then do an IPhone app or get a job paying $100,000.
Yes, if you want to do a website. You must think it out before you even start. Then if the person wants $75,000 for the domain I wouldn’t even bother. It would have to have 100,000 exact searches a month for me to offer that kind of money.
The time and effort put into your website will be another $150,000 or more. Your time is the most important.
But no one will read this. I people with hopes and dreams.
Hopefully they are great at marketing and know people or their website will go nowhere.
Frank
If I have a future 6 figures in my portfolio without type-in and I drop my whole portfolio. I’ll lost my 6 figures for a domain that makes $8/day,. Is it right?
It is the opposite that a old post some weeks ago.
BullShitWebsites
The beauty of this domain game is –nobody dies and it is just a BS word game.
I register domains when there is the 99cent promo and have been making money ever since.
When you have fun in this game and don’t think about the money, the money always comes with it…
steve
For the most part Rick is 99% right in what he says.
Unfortunately he is talking to the audience like we are Kahn from Star Track when we are Patrick from Spongebob.
UFO
Steve, for the majority of people you are right. But there are decent names around that you can build some great businesses off… and yes at rego. and yes have quite decent search stats (more than 10k per month)….
And, yes a 100k job is great, and yes doing some apps is great and everything else. But this is the domain business, it might not be the right model for you but smart people still make.
Decent domains are the conduit for great marketing ideas. If you can blend a number of criteria and put it on the right domain that WHOLLA… you have a route to market.
Seriously entrepreneurial people can make shed loads off the net… it’s a damn site less risky than taking a lease on a shop….
Tia Wood
“Domainers are being challenged and that is a blessing in disguise.”
This is what I learned so far this year. It’s been a crazy but good year so far.
Steroids
still waiting for the chickenshitdetector site to launch.
Domain Lords
‘Domainers’ per se are extinct, they lost their revenue, so the days of huge portfolios is over for MOST, the only ones that can keep up huge portfolios either already have a huge bankroll, or they are developers and have income streams to carry them.
INCOME is what determines your future. While 10K domains isn’t really a lot to carry, it is for ‘most’ people. With most folks getting wiped out since 2008, RE was killed, stocks, USD, etc. Most don’t have almost 100K a year to keep piling into ‘speculation’, so having income streams is the need of ‘most domainers’, that makes them domain developers.
The day of the pure speculative domainer are over.
DOMAIN LORDS is the future, you own a domain, you develop and LEASE, you became the new ‘land lord’, a DOMAIN LORD.
That’s your ‘future’, if you want to hold a ton of domains.