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

Morning Folks!!

Hey Domain investors, aren’t you sick of getting used and abused? Whether it's ICANN as Konstantinos wrote about yesterday or is registries, registrars, auction houses, Mechanical Valuations, PPC companies, Google, Yahoo or anyone else, DOMAIN INVESTORS will always get the shaft. Ya know why? Because they can, and we aren't organized. Like I have said there is NO DOMAIN INDUSTRY! There are just thousands of soloist renegades that can't see past today. They party like drunken sailors regardless of the leaks on the ship and the threat at hand.

You know what the worst part is?? We are the ones that enriched these people. We are the ones that helped grow their companies and gave them the power they have. We are the ones that have been taken advantage of at every stage.

We are not the bad guys. We are not cybersquatters. We are the capitalists that create wealth and opportunity for us and others. We are the people that invest our time energy and money into something selfish, but that’s what opportunity is all about. But this selfish opportunity is very widespread. It's a worldwide opportunity. Why don’t they look at a person in Nigeria that had perhaps no chance at a decent life and he’s making his fortune on the Internet. With domain names. With many domain names. It’s a passport out of the wilderness and into the mainstream. Why would anyone mess with that??

The Internet has probably lifted more people out of poverty than every governmental program in history combined!! It's so obvious. Why mess with that??

The Internet and domain names have been the greatest equalizer the world has ever known. Never before in world history have so many benefited so quickly. As bad as things are there has never been more opportunity worldwide than there is at this very moment. NEVER!!

As domain investors we created an ecosystem that many companies have made a lot of money with. I believe without what we did as investors and risk takers the entire picture would have looked quite a bit different than it is now. We made people very rich!!

Now, unfortunately, there’s a lot of bad apples in what we do that go over the line and abuse the privilege of what they have. Like I have said many times, some people can be put in a diamond mine full of diamonds for free and they’re still steal something or do something that’s not right or otherwise abuse something that shouldn’t be abused.

I am proud to be a domain investor. I’ve never ever been ashamed of it for a moment. I did something that was taught to me all of my life: become successful. And many of us have found that same success. And of course in time they would want to take that success away from us. They did that in American history, it’s nothing new. They've been doing it in Europe for centuries. Governments seize land that it wants. That's valuable.

Of course this will be happening with domains I saw that. the day I got online. I’m just shocked and surprised that it took a quarter of a century. Thank goodness for that!

But that’s also why I’ve been very conservative with domaining. To me, it's like "Musical Chairs". The music will eventually stop. Those that are overextended will be destroyed.

See what happens, you are flying along and then SMACK! You are dead meat. You owe a lot of $$. You had a fantastic year. But then after the income stops, the tax man cometh. Many have been destroyed cuz the good year was followed by a terrible year and they can never dig out of that tax debt and what they owe on cars, mortgages and toys.

So expect to get it up the arse as time goes by and prepare. We did have a lawsuit at one time that may have prevented this fiasco, but it was not supported and eventually we had to give in. That's what happens when an industry has no organization and has no purpose. And it's even worse when there is no industry to fight back and make their case.

The price of pigeon shit farming is about to go up so maybe time to focus on prime domains. Remember, 10 really good domains make you a domain investor. 1000 silly names, will make you go broke and you are a pigeon shit farmer. The only good thing, farmers will ALL be washed away!

I got into this when domains were $100 a pop. If they go back to $100 so be it! All I know is for $10 you can be worldwide in a moment and change your destiny forever! It's the greatest bargain the world has ever known. It's the greatest opportunity the world has ever known. It's just amazing!

BUT!

In my STRONG opinion, ICANN is a corrupt racketeering organization. It's a crime syndicate that advances interests of a few insiders at the expense of the masses and the general good. They have abused their power and their role.

Racketeering refers to crimes committed through extortion or coercion. A racketeer attempts to obtain money or property from another person, usually through intimidation or force. The term is typically associated with organized crime. The law defines 35 different offenses that constitute racketeering in the U.S.

I think ICANN and each member should be investigated FULLY and I would go back to the origins of the new gTLD program. The demolition derby of corruption. ICANN leaders profited from their conflicts of interest, and they never did it for the purpose they were chartered to do. They abused their leadership roles and profited PERSONALLY many millions of dollars. To me, that is corruption at the worst!

Is ICANN Corrupt??? Many think so! Count me in that camp!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Stupid: "having or showing a great lack of intelligence or common sense."

My brother taught me many years ago to never call a stupid person "Stupid". They won't react well. They will lash out. Don't believe me? Try it! lol You'll be a quick convert.

But now let's get past the knee jerk reaction and see how "having or showing a great lack of intelligence or common sense" plays into domaining. Instead of using the word STUPID! Intelligence without common sense is like a one winged airplane. It will go in circles and never get anywhere.

But let's focus on "Common Sense". As the saying goes, it ain't too common. And that my friends is probably the #1 issue most domainers face. They lack common sense let alone any BUSINESS SENSE . That's why they deal in Pigeon shit and that's why these folks feel compelled to lash out. Some have been around for decades and have very limited success. However they speak like they actually know what they are talking about. But they don't understand business. They don't understand sales. They THINK they understand branding. But branding comes from sales and since they know squat about sales they know even less about branding!

I tend to give more credence and credit to those that have achieved monetary success. Some of the loudest most obnoxious voices in domaining are from those that have made VERY LITTLE MONEY over many years and can barely support themselves. But they know EVERYTHING!! They have few if any reported sales and when they do it's marginal at best and infrequent. They sell to survive not to thrive. That's a BIG difference and the prices they sell for prove it.

I piss off everyone and if you are honest that is what happens when you let common sense rule. When you speak truth not to power but to just regular people. If the shoe fits, It's not my problem DUDE! I have nothing to feel bad about. I just hit a nerve and you don't react well. So that's on YOU, not ME! I did not target you. I did not mention your name. But you know who you are. So I am the one that you will lash out at and I will laugh cuz you are still misguided. Pissed off? GREAT! The shoe fits.

Let's piss off auction houses and brokers today. How much is their service worth? Well a lot of it depends on the size of the sale. Put the legit range should be 5%-15%. Real Estate agents work on 6%. Middlemen usually get 10%. Jobbers and wholesalers that have to have inventory 20%-25%. I don't give  a rats ass what Christies or Sotheby's gets. Nobody in the domain space is or acts or has the credibility like Christies or Sotheby's nor has their BRAND and pedigree!

I'll probably get an email or 2 from some brokers and auction houses or some snide comment somewhere. That's what happens when you hit a nerve. When you present the reality which may not dovetail with their agenda. But I don't care! They do! LOL

I started in domaining with a GOAL. An achievable goal. Not a pie in the sky nonsense goal. You don't make $1 million, you make a dollar 1 million times! Once you hit your achievable goal, it's time to set a new goal. Repeat, repeat, repeat. That's the path to success.

And to the desperate and truly STUPID domainers that not only send me an emails with all their pigeon shit, but they are SO STUPID that when I don't answer them, they keep sending their crap over and over again. You guys can't take a HINT?? Are you that stupid?? Are you that bad of a business person that you can't figure it out? Nobody wants your PIGEON SHIT! And no, you are NOT a fellow domainer as so many of you tell me in your SPAMS! You are spammers trying to sell worthless crap and your job is finding someone stupider than you! So stop telling everyone you are a domainer. A domainer earns a living with domains or at the very least supplements their income enough to pay the mortgage or a car payment. These guys could not earn enough to last a single day! Desperation is an ugly thing! If you are a starving domainer, maybe domaining ain't your thang!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!! 12/21

Tomorrow is my last post to celebrate my 20 years and then I am back off to being retired, silent and enjoying life. Hope to see you for the 25th in 2020.

If you have read my writings over the years you will know that I like to look at both sides of an issue. I can play devil's advocate. I enjoy balancing information and coming to a conclusion. Many close their eyes to new information. They get threatened by it. They have to lash out. Never understood why. Let the weight of what is discovered be the map forward not a meandering way to a dead end. I always adjust accordingly.

I may not be to the leading edge of technology but I have tried to keep up with it throughout my life because I always devised ways to work less and make more. I still have my original 12.5LB Radio Shack Cell Phone from 1981 and my collections of phones is over 100 including 12 iPhones. Cell service was expensive back then, but I devised ways to make it pay for itself and then some. Each new gadget I would buy may have been a bit speculative and some would say wasteful, but I always figured out a way to make whatever it was pay for itself. That way I could justify my purchases and continue to nourish my appetite for cutting edge whatever.

I have watched the evolution of the cell phone from a "Wasteful luxury" to one of the most important necessities in life. I have watched necessities of life reduced to complete insignificance. They still have a place, but their importance has been greatly diminished. Knowing the difference is key. Recognizing which items are candidates for that and which are not. Which have staying power and which will evaporate.

I have been is sales for 50 years. I understand the art and science of sales. I have seen sales through the eyes of 55 different industries. But what you sell is always what determines your level of success. That is where Need, Want and Desire are filters I use to qualify or disqualify any item that I might see. It was how I found success when traveling to Hong Kong and Taiwan and hundreds of trade shows.

What I knew in the years 1995 and 1996 was everything I had done in my life, everything I learned, every success or failure I had, was to prepare me for this domain name journey.

When it comes to the gTLD's, I just don't see the same thing. The demand is being driven by the sellers and domainers and end users are more focused on their .Brand as they should be. THAT is smart and that will keep them in the game no matter what happens. But domainers can't play in that pond. So for me, the top of the pyramid is not even in play.

The USA is .com centric. I don't see that changing to any degree. They will go to any url if it is in their self interest. Content will be what it is all about. Trust may become a big issue.

The reality is that 2 years into this experiment I have yet to see a single commercial on TV in the USA using anything other than .com with only a few exceptions for .org, .net and .tv. I have seen 3 and 4 words .com advertised. I have seen a number of things ending in tv.com advertised. I have seen domains with "dashes" in them .com advertised. I have seen one commercial with a .tv and I would expect more at this point. Sorry, that is directly related to the new gtld's. .TV vs .Horse. You decide which one is going to be used to advertise first and most. Lots of folks still waiting for .tv to take off. But no extension will have great value like .com until you see them used in real and long term advertising campaigns by folks that advertise all day long.

What do I see coming? My last post called the "Rick Schwartz Equation" is still fully intact. Still too early to see any clear winners. But there are several hundred losers and their carcuses are there for all to see. They are much easier to spot. The story really won't unfold until a truly strong new gtld comes along. In my mind .web still has the single best chance to shake things up. I think when .web is released you will see more registrations in their first week than whoever holds the number one spot the week before. That's what I see. And even that won't guarantee a success. But if .web were already out, it is my opinion half of the gTLDs would be on life support if they are not already. .web could become the next .com or the next .net. Either position is stronger than all others imo.

And speaking of the poor orphan .net. The stepbrother to .com. There are more .nets registered than all gTLD's combined. .nets that have a 1% value of their brother .com and 1/1000 the demand. We all have some .nets. So what? I get more inquiries on my .orgs. .Nets have been a piss poor investment. Thankfully they were all hand registered. You should see the arguments I had with folks about .com vs .net back in the day because techies looked down on .com. Does not mean there are not some .nets sold. So what? Who cares? But I would be scooping up .nets and .orgs today before .horse and most of the others. When they go into the boardroom, all the old extensions will be reviewed and .net, .org, .tv, .me, .info, .biz and others will be discussed and carry weight. It means that one may eventually break out as an alternative. Just not sure what happens to all the others. And when push comes to shove, .brand may be the way to go.

Despite what some say, I have welcomed new gtld's in the sense that it brings thousands of domain evangelists out into the public square spreading the word about domain names. There was a time there was only ONE doing that. Now there are thousands. That helps me and you. But that is a different discussion than taking hard earned money and reinvesting in a riskier side of things. Sorry, just not a path that interests me. Some believe that hurts .com and other extensions. Sorry, I don't believe that one either. Awareness is the key and that's what they bring. Whether the gtld flotilla will each fly on their own? Two words come to mind. Massive consolidation.

That said, the number of registrations will not determine value. The consumer and end user will decide their fate and therefore value not domainers selling to each other. Domainers are financially and emotionally invested. That is fine. But when you have that much emotion in something, you might not be open to the information you need. I am sure great collections are being put together. But the question is will those collections increase in value or become irrelevant in time? For every 1 gtld success there may be a minimum of 35- 40 failures the way I calculate. Possibly much more. Sorry, same or worse odds as Roulette. Gambling vs investing. Yes there will be winners and you will hear about them. But the losers will be a much larger group and they will multiply faster and they will be silent.

Then I always hear they are for "Start-ups." Well if I was looking at a startup and arguably the name you choose and your website are among the most important decisions you will make early on, and you chose a non .com at this moment in history, I would question your judgment. I would say you gave up looking too soon. I would say that for less than $1000 you can find a suitable and very good .com name. The headwinds in the way of lost sales will be more than you can afford. So if you can't afford a grand for a .com, you certainly can't afford a new gTLD. So cheap, misguided and lazy is the picture I see; Sorry. 

I think the keyword for the future is despite massive expansion is also massive consolidation. Folks that ignore the math will eventually be consumed by the math. But numbers don't have emotion or feelings. They are one of the few absolutes we have. That does not make me likable or charming. It makes me focused on facts and value. And if that pisses off those with skin in the game, they need thicker skin. The main fact of my focus is value, and you always must factor in circumstance and life expectancy. So if something is going to have great value in 85 years that's great! But you will be dead and so will your kids!  So it's more important to eat, pay the mortgage now and enjoy each day.

Clearly 3 out of 4 new gtld's are underwater by number of registrations. Of course the number of registrations may have little to do with the actual commercial success of a gtld. It just happens to be one of the only pieces of data we can judge by early on. Number of registrations may not matter to an end user. Then again, it may! I will judge by the total amount of money spent to advertise and promote any single gtld. That includes all Radio, TV, Magazine, Billboards etc.

Let me tell you how I define success...When I see 3 or more different corporations using the same extension to heavily and consistently advertise on TV and billboards etc. and promote their products and the campaigns last more than 90 days. That to me would be how I define a success. .Net is not what I would define as a success. But it has many millions of registrations. More than all the gtlds added together.

A registrar success is not a domain investor success and that has always been my main point. But through the lens of the registry game there are only a few clear winners out of the 400 extensions released so far IMO. And again many of the stronger extensions have yet to hit the market.

Here is a perfect example from just a few weeks ago and it is quite stunning. This headline from thedomains.com says it all when it comes to efficiency:

".XYZ Has More Domain Registrations Than Donuts 183 gTLD’s Combined"

As I write this the top 10 gTLD's have about 5.5 Million registrations.

Let me be clear on what I see in gtld land. If you want to point to .xyz as a success, then so be it. If you think .horse is the future. So be it. Everyone is free to believe what they want and invest as they choose. All I can do is share my vantage point and give it some basis. You can choose to ignore or embrace or even employ. No one is pointing a gun to your head. Take it or leave it. If my view threatens your view, that is your problem not mine because I don't care either way.

The current aftermarket, if there is one, is domainer to domainer and speculator to speculator by a huge margin when compared to end users. The demand by the end user is VERY SOFT! With 11 million gTLD's registered that is a minimum of $100-200 Million on the primary market possibly much more with the various premium and pricing schemes. The ratio between the primary market and the aftermarket is growing not shrinking. The aftermarket has yet to develop. Will it? I don't know. There is certainly strong evidence that it is very weak. Until that gap closes, IF that gap closes, is an important tipping point to watch and track. This is just another way to track what direction things are moving. Especially since now we are entering the third year of this.

What I see is based on the countless emails I get to sell me .whatever that would have no value if it were .com. What they are really trying to do is look for a bigger sucker than they are. Unfortunately most are suckers for one main reason. They still don't understand what makes one domain valuable and another domain worthless. Imagine jewelers that could not differentiate between diamonds and glass. Between tin and gold. You would laugh. Well when I get spammed everyday with the crap I see, oh my!!! Truly swampland and quicksand have much more value.

If you want to even be in the game of a gLLD success, I would focus on strong one word domains that are a known phrases and have commercial meaning. I have never posed a list of anyone's domain name that they have tried to sell me. If I did, it would make any professional domainer pee in their pants from laughing so hard. Remember, one domain that means something has more value than 1000 domains that don't.

The one thing I have stressed for years is to know the difference between an asset and a liability.  If you don't understand the difference, go learn it, understand it, then apply it. Your nice car may be an asset or it may be a liability. Depends on you. If it is paid off, it is an asset. If it is worth $20,000 and you owe $30,000, it is a liability.

My main point is please don't compare this to the domain rush of 20 years ago. The factors are so much different. The times are different. The world is different. Supply vs demand and Need, want, desire. Sorry, no one can hide from theses truths. Most importantly, the consumer has to embrace them and still holds the ultimate trump card. They will have the final say so. They may be more apt to adapt in areas where cctld's are used than the USA market which is dominated by .com. So region may play a role in this.

Overstock.co is still to this day the only canary in the mine we have seen using a non .com extension in a heavy advertising blitz. They failed miserably. But that was years ago and I am anxious to see the next big splurge by a non .com and see the results. Maybe the Super Bowl  will provide us that chance.  So if you want to look at a barometer each year and keep score, THAT my friends is the place to do it. The Super Bowl and Times Square Billboards. These are "Ground Zero" for forward thinking advertising. So until those venues are populated with gTLD's on their signs, and they are there long term, we still have a long way to go.

Let me end with this. I have never seen so many negative variables in any business in my life. Does not mean there won't be a HANDFUL of successes. Does not mean they won't be trumpeted loud and by as many as possible. But I would focus on eliminating the hundreds and hundreds of losers, that many want to just ignore, from the few with success. At least ask the question which ones can survive the long term? Ask what happens when a true and dominant extension like .web comes along? Will you have the funds to invest if ones does come along and catch on fire and is embraced?

I wish everyone great success in whatever path you choose. The surprises along the way will be many if you only see blue skies. The key is not being surprised but being prepared as to what will unfold; when and if it will unfold; and also get it right.

Tomorrow is the actual anniversary post I started with and then as I added these elements, realized it would be too long for just a single blog entry.

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

.Sucks is not good for anyone. I think it exemplifies ICANN out of control.

So it broke yesterday by thedomains.com (my personal research department) that one registry bidding will try to extort as much as $25,000 a pop from companies to get their .sucks domain. This sucks! The other 2 bidders are also quite well-known.

I believe this will spin out of control. ICANN has to be THE most >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Sorry, can't even print it for adults to read. This has opened a can of worms and the anger is growing by the hour.  This is what happens when there is no guide lines and a money grab.

This is also the type thing that FORCES the U.S. Government to get involved. Congress will act once a few of their names are out there.

“Trademark Priority”

“Trademark Holders can reserve now and secure a price of $2,500 to avoid announced Sunrise pricing of $25,000.” “Trademark Priority registrations will take place BEFORE sunrise”

The Vox Populi Registry Inc. owned by Momentous Corporation, which is the only shareholder listed as owning at least 15% of the registry is opened to business. Momentous Corporation also owns Pool.com

The other two applicants for .Sucks are domain veteran Jay Westerdal’s company Top Level Spectrum, Inc. and Donuts."

So once I read that I registered a few sucks domains of my own:

MomentousSucks.com,  VoxPopuliSucks.com and RobHallSucks.com (Nothing personal Rob)

$25,000 each boys. (or highest bidder over $25,000)

It's one thing to get .sucks which we can debate. But when I hear Mike Berkens raise the level from "Extortion" to "Rape", then I would pay attention.

Seems there is still some time to leave ICANN some comments. So if you are a little hot under the collar, join in.

Go check out the comments over there and pitch in. This is serious, damaging and I think the voice of the industry should be raised. If not, we all live with the consequences and they are already going to be bad enough as it is.

Money grab?? New gTLDS?? Sorry, I think you ALL pay the price for this incredible act.

It's Horse.Shit of the worst magnitude and YOU ALL OWN IT! That's what I mean about a TRAIN WRECK! You are witnessing one! Just one. One of dozens and probably hundreds. Sorry, you rise as one and you can fall as one. That is possible because of how this has been handled.

And let's NEVER forget whose dream baby this all is. Who devised this entire system when at ICANN.

Whatever registry wins .sucks should be shunned and boycotted if they pull this .CRAP!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

At the end of the day I believe it will be sub-domains that will be the most triumphant of all. When it is all said  and done, sub-domains have more of a chance to bring order and clarity to the Internet than all the .whatevers.

There were no skyscrapers before room ran out and they had to build up. So if their argument is right, they have just as good a chance to build up, as build on .whatever. But it will be the headwinds of .whatever that will drive the building of skyscrapers. These fortune 500 companies already have their skyscrapers and since they are about branding why would they want to sheer away their power and stature by their own hands?? Makes no sense to me.

So I look at my 404's and sub-domains are #1. What are they looking for there? How did they get there? Why?

Cotton.Candy

CottonCandy.com

Cotton.Candy.com

Point is as the .com owner I have ALL variables and they don't. They have 1.

Test it yourself.

Sneakers.Nike

NikeSneakers.com

Sneakers.Nike.com

Which do you think would be easiest to teach the masses? Look what happens below. Are those links? Typos? Huh?

If Nike.com is your root, then pretty easy to go left of the dot and insert any and every product.Now I know you can do that with Sneakers.Nike.But what happens when you forget the space.Is that Nike.But.I am very confused because I am not sure if it is a typo.But probably not.I am sure it is something else. Of course .com denotes internet and a little less confusing.But choose your poison.

And a sub-domain can be divided again and again.

Recipes.Cotton.Candy.com

.com says Internet.

Why not take the 800 off of the toll-free and add something else?? There is a reason. 800 number means telephone. It means free call. It means easy. It meant in the old days that you did not need a dime in the phone booth to call an 800 number. Convenience.

.com has the same things instilled in us. The masses. Nearly 20 years of constant advertising and constant hearing of something.

The future is nothing more than a casino. But that casino works on historical and empirical evidence to tilt things one way or another.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Sex, drugs, rock and roll. The way of the world. Notice that "Sex" is first? Guess what? Always has been, always will be.

So lets see just how mainstream who pushes sex day and night can't quite go where LOTS of the customers they are chasing are at.

So my friends, please tell me what happens when an end-user finds out certain things.

Let's say on Google he spends $1000 a month and gets 100 new customers. $10/customer.

Let's say an end-user can advertise on a porn site and spend $100 and get 300 new customers. 33 cents/customer.

Tell me what that would mean to an end-user?

What would it mean to Google?

Here is the story of EXACTLY what it means to an end-user.

Now at the end of my 20 year plan, porn traffic will be highly desired. Very highly desired.

Why? NUMBERS!

Now many point to me and call me names because I own some adult terms. Ya know the ones they say on TV all night long.

But I don't have adult content anywhere on the Internet. Others do.

My traffic goes from me to Frank or Donny and then it goes to Google and Yahoo and a few others.

So this entire division between traffic is silly.

Go watch a show tonight on network TV and you will hear EVERY ONE of these terms.

Ass, slut, whore, porno, orgy, etc and they do it to attract their audience. No other reason.

Miley Cyrus goes on stage and tries to have an orgasm in front of the world and folks point to me owning dirty words. Are you serious?

Mainstream needs to grow up. They are past puberty now. They should be waking up soon.

And you now what happens when they wake up? It unleashes a TIDAL WAVE of new business. A TIDAL wave!

So if JCPenny and a few others really want to try to survive instead of rolling over and going DEAD, maybe it is time to take a walk on the wild side. That is where YOUR CUSTOMERS are hanging out. Dare to try!

Go check out that story!

And it is not perfect. It is still flawed because they talk about "Impressions". So still have  a ways to go but the path is being laid as we speak.

One day that dam is gonna break and things will change in a very big way. Porn IS coming to manistream because they have no choice. That's the single biggest untapped market. The bean counters will eventually have to look that way if they want to have more beans to count and a job.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

If you were to study the markets for antiques and collectibles you would certainly see the domain market quite differently. If you understood these industries you might understand how I see things. Something that is rare MAY have value. But something that became rare usually once had tons of that item all over the place and they slowly disappeared until the realization they were virtually gone. They become from everyday to rare and THAT is where value and growth comes from. DEMAND. Demand and limited availability causes prices to rise. This phenomenon is not controllable for the most part unless you are De Beers.

This clusterf*ck that ICANN is in charge of and the delays show how poorly thought out this entire mess is. Delays are very costly to those with new extensions. The meter is ticking and the overhead is accelerating and not a DIME is coming in. But what does ICANN care? They ain't De Beers.

And what happens when for many this is the bridge to nowhere other than collapse? How does one collapse figure into the other extensions? That will be a factor. What happens when an extension collapses? Nobody can say there will be no fallout because we just don't know.

What we do know is there will be consolidation as we already see. Some registries will make a profit. But what EXACTLY does that have to do with DOMAIN INVESTING?? Collecting maybe. But investing?

And for every successful .whatever there will be a .com counterpart swallowing up possibly a MAJORITY of their traffic and business. So I am looking forward to all this cuz I see nothing but great things because of where I am positioned. Where you are positioned. We have nothing to worry about. The poor schmuck that tries to build his empire on sand may have something to worry about.

The world is about sales and if I were to have come 18 years ago with the sole purpose of flipping for a profit, I would have been SOL pretty quickly. Markets and demand have to develop. This is like watching 1900 new hula-hoops coming to market. Instead of round they will try square and triangular. They will copy the greatest success of all time and repeat it 1900 times and everyone will become rich!

Not so fast.

Does not work quite like that.

And of course you will hear some BS releases about manufactured deals less than arm lengths deals and then some will swallow the bait. I have an entire post coming just for that.

Many domainers focus on a smaller and smaller subset of less and less targeted groups of people with lower and lower  spending power and wonder why they make no money. I just think that is a poor formula with unneeded and unwanted limits.

I PRAY one of these 1900 will break out and we have the chance for a replay. But to be honest. I think the next big extension is one that has already been around for a very long time. That extension will just get a second look because next to most of the .crap that is coming out, they look pretty damn good.

If we were in Vegas, the odds makers would not give you very encouraging numbers. The odds of success if just ONE net gTLD came to market is watered down 1900 times with 1900 different directions. And 1900 companies with many sets of problems and some will go broke. Eventually you run out of other people's money. Eventually lots of things happen as failure is exposed.

Point is, study what has become valuable in the past and you will find out what a DUD looks like. There are missing elements here. It's almost folly. Now I will exclude .Brands. They can have use but it is just that a USE! Their MAIN ADDRESS will still be Brand.com. The front door. The main Entrance. The door that can still lead to all others. Including .Brand but with few or no roads to .whatever.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

There is a reason they teach history and there is even a bigger reason to pay attention to it. "Those that don't know history are destined to repeat it." Now they figured this out in the 1700's and I am sure even before that. So what is the excuse today? One of the oldest realities that has stood the test of time for HUNDREDS of years and today what is the excuse for not understanding such a SIMPLE sentence? A very powerful and simple sentence with huge ramifications for you and you own DESTINY!

So what happens when you don't know and understand history besides repeating it? Well the biggest thing is it makes you react to false positives. You chase shadows. You live in fear.

But it is a FACT that history does repeat itself. So if you know this FACT, there are ways to take advantage of life and situations because what is to come is not that hard to foresee because it has all happened before. Just a new set of players and a new set of circumstances.

If you are a surfer this means you ride the top of the wave almost all the time. Because you KNOW that WAVE, You have seen that wave before. There are all types of waves and when you time a wave right you do GREAT!  You bend destinty in your favor.

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Want to make $1000 before noon TODAY? Then do what I do. Each morning I go into my account and shut off auto-renewal on a dozen or more domains. I look at each domain at $100 each over the course of the next 10 years with the increases etc. So each time I take a domain off auto-renewal and prepare for it to drop, I make $100.

We all have pigeon shit. Been talking about it for 3 years. Remember back then that the way folks made up for not having quality was having quantity? So where did all the 6 figure domain holders go? Most are long gone. Swallowed up by their own overhead. They never even wrote a goodbye letter. They just went bye bye.

Pigeon Shit can make you blind!

I have dropped 4000 domains in the past 2 years and I plan at least 1000 more. Each 1000 domains frees up $100,000 to buy ONE REAL DOMAIN.

Look, with time we learn things. Some things don't pan out. Some do. Each day, each year we get new information and the new information is what turns a domain into one worth tossing. Some pigeon shit eating domainer will pick it up and then you will have defined things even more.

I know it is hard to let go. I know as well as anyone. But what works works and what does not work is called a recurring bill. That's not an asset. That is a liability. So if your domains are a liability, wtf are you doing?

Overhead is what makes or breaks anyone or any business. Things change, things evolve, we learn and grow. Phrases used just a few years ago are now obsolete. That's what happens when you are on the cutting edge of things. You get things that get outdated quickly.

So what makes you a domainer? If you can't rattle off a half dozen impressive domains........then what are you doing? I can't tell you how sad it makes me to see portfolios with 1000 domains and not a one worth registration fees. That domainer can right his ship, but he still FIRST has to learn what makes one domain have value and another one have only a bill. Piece of glass vs a diamond. You would think one would take a DAY OR TWO to figure it out.

I am not happy to say that Pigeon Shit Farmers outnumber domainers by some 100-1. That's the number folks. 100-1. Maybe more. There are well over 100,000 that call themselves domainers but less than 1000 that actually qualify.

Have a GREAT PIGEON SHIT FREE Day!

Rick Schwartz