Morning Folks!!
In 1995 I did not start getting domains to send to PPC. There was no PPC until several years later. It was never part of the plan. It was a nice surprise that bought one huge thing……TIME!
The business model was figuring out how to afford to bridge the 20 year gap that it would take for the world to evolve to where it was going and hence the values as well. So it has been a terrific ride with PPC. It bridged the gap for about a decade. But it is obvious it won't make it the additional 5 years. Don't take me wrong, PPC is not going anywhere. But the biggest domains and the bulk of the traffic is.
The future is in Strategic Alliances. Hooking up with those with a mutual interest. Could not do that in 1995. There was nobody to hook up with and virtually nothing to hook up. But now things are different. The game has changed because now there is a game.
In 1995 the average person spent ZERO minutes a day online. Care to guess what that number is today? Now look at the increase. I submit that nothing in history ever changed human behavior so much or so quick. Not even fire. My sources tell me that the word about FIRE spread very slowly.
Strategic Alliances means you don’t have to sell your domain name. You create value but not in the traditional way. You do it by being meaningful and creating an audience. By evolving. The true trick is finding the right domain for the right time for the right strategy with the right partner. And that takes TIME. 20 years to be exact.
Had my time line been shorter, I would have likely gone down a less fruitful path and always be disappointed. So those looking for immediate gratification in domains may be disappointed time and time again until you see that not only is this business a marathon, it is a number of marathons all strung together.
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
Scott Alliy
Rick I agree whole heartedly about partnerships. AIs has positioned ourselves as Internet Business Consultants and Internet Marketing Professionals.
Domains are what we own and hold in anticipation of the buyer that can benefit from our names and services.
Whether we sell or lease or co-develop any of our names to end users is our choice.
Compare that to other current hot commodities like gold. Do you know of any other commodity besides domain names that has never gone done in price, can be used in multiple ways and has the tremendous potential upside as domain names.
And here is one more thing to think about. Do you know of any new uses or opportunities for new commodities to suddenly appear?
Domain names offer more opportunities for gain each day even for beginning domain investors heres how.
With each new introduction of products services or technologies like cellphones and ipads etc, and epub books and ereaders comes a new opportunity for anyone (anyone) savvy enough to see and bold enough to risk a whopping $10 to enter the game.
To paraphrase Yakoff Smirnoff”Domains What a Goldmine”.
For those domainers that have good names patience is a virtue and time will show that their initial investment will grow many times IMO
Justme
What?
Care to be more in depth as to what an alliance will do with the name because surely you are not preaching development again. Quite frankly Rick beyond coaching end user trades I have no idea what you have done with any given name development wise. if you are going to keep pounding on PPC you need answers that make sense, your above write up could have been done by someone running for office.
Scott Neuman
Justme, And yet it came from Rick. We all have opinions. I happen to appreciate the time Rick spends on his.
I play a lot of poker. One of the monster pros said,”I can’t understand why Pros teach non Pros how to play better. All it does in the long run is cost Pros money because the fish get bigger and leaner, not fatter. From where I stand, Rick gains very little (other then backlinks) from his writings. I’ve been in this as a developer since 1994. Took me 13 years to make a six figure sale. Developement was the reason as far as I’m concerned.
Keep it up Rick.
Rich
As with any real estate, the owner can either sit on the land until a developer comes along and hope that the land appreciates in the meantime (not always the case as we observe in today’s economy), develop the land and rent out the building, or develop and sell. Each option is available and each option requires progressively more creativity and resources to be successful.
I agree that a good partnership is advantageous toward building any property because it allows sharing of resources and talent. But, as anyone who has ever been in a partnership knows, a good partnership is very hard to find and maintain. They usually end up in very nasty divorces.
Kevin
Every year in domaining, we’re seeing more and more opportunities for new ways to make money with domains. Each year come new challenges though too.
It’s important to have quality domains and be a sharp businessman as well. The days of easy money from the plug and play”parking lot” strategy are over, except for a very few who own the ultra high traffic type-in domains. For everyone else, it’s a game of chess and knowing the ways to create, fund, build, manage and grow successful skyscrapers on the parking lots.
cw
No one is more stunned than I that I am writing to buck the trend about PPC being dead!
Although I have always done my best to keep our non-developed domains from being parked at a third party domain parking service, for the first time, I’m actually seeing an increase in activity and revenue from the domains that we do have planted on a domain parking site.
Fluke? Maybe. It’s an interesting trend though and it has been improving since mid year 2010.
Leonard Britt
While I realize you generally frown on alt TLD domains, I have argued that when the .COM explorers first started regging premium .COM domains, there were no parking systems, affiliate programs, domain aftermarkets or content management systems available to individuals wanting to develop their domain acquisitions. Even premium .COM domain registration was speculation on the branding potential of that name. At a later it became easier to monetize these names. .COM will be king for the foreseeable future but I argue there is potential in premium keywords on TLDs other than .COM if acquired at the right price. Recently I acquired BienesRaices.tv – Spanish for Real Estate – not easy for an a typical domainer to develop on their own but hopefully at some point an alliance can be formed to develop this domain to its potential.
Spread Offense
Well said… in 1998 I bought my first domain names, a month before Google even opened… PPC and keyword (banner farms came first) farms were not the reason – building partnerships with companies with cash and the forward vision of the internet was the reason… and today that forward vision is here.
domain guy
so virtualtours.com with its increasing traffic could be joint ventured with a recovering homebuilder. so here we have a home builder that has an option on an entitled piece of ground,but has no models,sales force,and no leads.
the builder after a 20 yr hiatus
realizes that 90% of future homeowners start their search on the web.this fabricated homebuilder
shouts fire! and comes to the realization that a virtual model with pictures,specifications,a community layout,preliminary financing could get his project up and rolling.
after a long slumber the homebuilder types in the domain virtualtours.com sends the domain king an email states
that he is broke but offers a 5% gross royality on all homes sold through this domain for the next 3 yrs.
after much thought rick reluctantly agrees to a 3 yr deal up goes the virtual models
on the domain all leads are forwarded to a selected realtor 20%
are closed with the signed contracts in hand the homebuilder starts construction and has actual homes presold.with limited downside risk and out of pocket money.
in 2013 the domain king informs the domain community how this and many other jvs have progressed.including the 2% royality on candy.com
anunt comes on the scene and tells everybody how rick is foolish and lost 194k on flowers.mobi.
Johnny
The wheel might have had as big an impact as the Net.
brian k
I think alliances are the one thing that can even the playing field when it comes to domains.
I do not have the huge bank roll but I do have plenty of time and a good work ethic.
This enabled me to get on the team of two major domain build outs.
I hope to parlay the resulting success into future acquisitions.
Anunt
WHO AM I???
Morning Folks!!
When you bring GREAT people together, GREAT things will happen.
Domains are a unique opportunity in time. Domains will go up faster in value than any other commodity ever known to mankind.
So save the naysaying for 5 years not 5 minutes. Then we can discuss why so many of my good friends missed such a winner.
I ALWAYS…Follow the money.
I plant seeds.
Seeds take time to germinate, mature and bear fruit.
“When you see John Jones through John Jones eyes, you will sell John Jones what John Jones buys.”
The numbers tell all. Numbers don’t lie….people do.
Any moron can sell $100 bills for $90.
Feathers ruffled? GREAT! Mission accomplished!
Have a GREAT Day!
WHO AM I???
vacuum lifting
this is true for the top tier names
develop sites, full stop, but you should only concentrate on one or two max fully. the big names you want to work hardest on and go for it
partnerships can bring frsh ideas and money! to the table
working with the right people can work magic
working with the wrong ones can be a nightmare, so know the guys you plan to run with
Michael
You should plot it on a graph and draw a line and see how much money you should make next year. If the prediction is false it is random and you know its a fluke! :)
Lucas
But why is PPC not coming back??? Isn´t it a much better form of advertising than TV or magazine ads? PPC might be down due to lack in competition between ad providers… but it doesn´t seem logical that PPC dies while less efficient forms of advertising keep existing.
Rick Schwartz
@Lucas
PPC won’t die. But they won’t be getting the quality generic domain traffic they have enjoyed all these years either because domainers are now forced to go out and look for alternatives. There is not a professional domainer I know that is not looking for new options on a full time basis.
Point is, the dynamics are changing and a huge shift is in the works. I don’t know how it will all shake out. But it is shaking. ;-)
Bruce Tedeschi
What’s your opinion on Per Per Action. The market is moving closer to PPA due to click fraud. the dynamic is changing in many ways especially as Google begins to filter out ad heavy websites from search. Key element either way is you need a plan. Otherwise is like pissing into the wind.
cw
@Michael, good suggestion. After I wrote my post I stood back a few feet from my screen to clear my head and re-think what I was seeing. :-)
Yes, I would argue it’s a fluke. The domains that are showing traffic are unfortunately linked to a subject matter that I and others find distasteful: taxes. vat taxes. transaction taxes.
Oh well. I guess PPC shows some life in hot topics of the day. !!
Altaf
@Aununt
Einstine said,”Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.” We are not sure about yours. What you say, why you say those no one knows here.What you get from this, no one knows. Be sensible what you say here with respected gentlemen. Think before you post please.
Arnie
I believe that you are right. Most successful domain projects will involve strategic alliances between partners with different skills. I have developed a number of high ranking generic websites myself and am looking for marketing partners. If anyone knows any good marketing people, let me know.
Danny Welsh
Rick when you say”I agree that a good partnership is advantageous toward building any property because it allows sharing of resources and talent. But, as anyone who has ever been in a partnership knows, a good partnership is very hard to find and maintain.” I have found this to be the case as well. I wonder how domain owners who look to monetize their creativity and foresight in acquiring certain domains go about evaluating various strategic alliance ideas presented to them? I ask of course as a very interested party…