The Domain King's® thoughts on domain names, web traffic, increasing web sales, success, life, and plain-old Business & Marketing 101. Nothing happens until a sale is made!
As reported by DomainNameWire.com, P&G finally stepped up to the plate and bought the domain that just weeks ago they had been found guilty of trying to Reverse Hijack with THIS DECISION and many follow up posts by yours truly.
I think we will reach a watershed moment this year and while attempted hijackings are up, they will crest and then begin to recede as so many decisions are against them. Plus they are realizing that there is more than a loss involved. ME! I am the SOB that is out to destroy them just like they were out to destroy some unsuspecting domain registrants and their dreams.
So when it comes to REVERSE DOMAIN NAME HIJACKING we will closely monitor all developments and we will do whatever it takes to stop it. Once they get convicted, their reputation is owned by ME to do what I see fit with as far as circulation of their misdeeds.
It' no secret that when it comes to Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH) proactive is an understatement to describe my efforts. I am on a personal and professional mission to SHAME these folks in such a manner that folks will figure it out before I have to publicly tar and feather them. Not your style, then get used to bending over.
I get this email over the weekend with a THREAT.
I don't take kindly to THIEVES.
My company **************, LLC. owns the trademark for ************(United States Patent and Trademark Office Serial Number ***********). We would like to inquire about a friendly transfer before we pursue a legal course.
My style cuts thru the bullshit of life.
Read this before you make a FOOL of yourself in public and I OWN your reputation.
Go ahead use this as evidence when you try and REVERSE HIJACK a DOMAIN you have no rights to. I am going to make you famous! Everyone you know will know you are a THIEF!
You got 1 HOUR to apologize or you will be on my blog TOMORROW!
Want to play FUCKER??
Lets do it!!
I get a response 9 minutes later.
Dear Rick,
I apologize and I did not mean to offend you in any way. I was misinformed about the coverage of our trademark, and again I am sorry for my first email. If there is anything else I can do please let me know.
Best,
John
Now I am glad John learned his lesson before I had to do what I do. Domainers need to grow some BALLS and stop being AFRAID of THIEVES and treat THIEVES like a THIEF should be treated.
This will become more and more common place and Howard and I have decided to take the next THIEF to Federal Court and we are going to have even stronger cases and more costly cases to point to. The next CLOWN that even comes NEAR a domain he has no rights to is going to get a lawsuit on their desk and they are going to be made an example of.
With each passing day, there is less an less excuses to engage in Reverse Domain Name Hijacking. So the Law firms engaged in this will be soiled just as much and maybe even more than the would-be thief. They know better. They KNOW what they are doing and so I will be opening a special section just spotlighting the law firms engaged in this practice. They KNOW better! That makes them an ACCOMPLICE!
This post below is from 2013 but with all talk of SOB's lately and SOB.com pointed here, indulge me while I make an update.
First if you are here about Reverse Domain Name Hijacking the mother of all hijacking came in 2017 in the form of MY domain name Queen.com. Some SCHMUCK in Denmark, Frands Jepsen, did not heed my warnings. Now he is a convicted DOMAIN HIJACKER! Read the entire story right here
So that brings me to 9/26/2017. Thank you President Trump for increasing the value of SOB.com! Now it's for sale. We will trade the domain name for bitcoin. You can inquire as to how many by email.
Now back to my April 2013 post:
Some folks don't like my style. Sure, many domainers don't care about Reverse Domain Name Hijacking because they have no domains anyone would want to steal. So for them, ScrewYou.com. You protect your assets and family the way you see fit and I'll do the same. Except I live in the world of reality and in reality there are still corporate bullies roaming around taking things they are not entitled to legally or morally.
I have been defending these suits as long as they have been in the business of filing them. And it is a business. A BIG business. But it is no longer going to pay off and the risk is going to more than any rational company should be willing to take.
Shortly after the LadyGodiva.com suit between Campbell's and yours truly and when I had first met Howard, I had another interesting conflict with another very large company. In those days, domain owners just rolled over. Not me. I was going to be the mouse that roared because the Internet as a medium was meant to even the playing field and these SOB's were going to have to deal with the new reality.
I do not look for or pick these fights, but I relish them when they come. I relish them because it is these wins that protect my other domains and yours too! This has been a 15 year battle and I have INVESTED tens of thousands of dollars or more protecting my self and then using these cases to INSURE my other domains by defeating corporate bullies trying to take
LadyGodiva.com
GoofOff.com
TSTV.com
And others
and Reverse Domain Name Hijackers.
SaveMe.com
And thankfully 38 decisions on Reverse Domain Name Hijacking by other parties that I chronicle right here, some 130 case at RDNH.com and then a special post for Procter and Gamble that thought they were above all this and could lie to the presiding panel.
DOWN GOES FRAZIER! (look it up, if you don't know what it means)
Now if folks don't learn from this and don't realize if they slap down Procter and Gamble that they will swat you down in the same manner when you do the same thing, they are just schmucks that will get what they deserve. So if that is YOU that I sent here to read this, then PLEASE don't be that schmuck.
But if you ARE that schmuck............think twice. If YOU are convicted of RDNH, Reverse Domain Name Hijacking, No reputation management software will erase the ink. You will be stuck with the consequences of your actions. In time that may be equal to a prison record. I will OWN your reputation and I don't want to. But YOU are calling the shots because YOU are the PREDATOR. So if this rattlesnake bites, just make sure you blame yourself and not me.
Amazingly, not one of these fuckers have ever contacted me after the decision to say congratulations. To say they were sorry. To start a constructive dialogue. To ask if we could work something out. To make a bonafide business offer. These would-be thieves would 'steal' but when they got CAUGHT, never offered to pay. Low life scum comes to mind to describe that behavior.
And when we talk about Procter and Gamble, a domain dispute I was not involved in, famed domain attorney John Berryhill had this to say abot them as reported in DNJournal.com
'The entire premise of the UDRP proceeding was stunningly dishonest. They want the domain name for something else entirely, and concocted an utter work of fiction in order to attempt to stealit.'
Berryhill lays out the facts that prove his points - P&G wasn't interested in the domain because of a failed product they once marketed, they wanted it for a new offering. Unfortunately they didn't want to pay a fair and reasonable market price for it, for some bizarre reason, believing it would be smarter to try to steal it. Next time you look up the phrase 'penny wise and pound foolish' on the web, odds are you will see the P&G logo illustratingthe concept.
It was important enough to lie or steal or attempting both but not important enough to pay for??
FUCKERS! What do you want to call them? The domain in question 'Swash.com' Marchex was willing to let go for $30,000. Not exactly a shake down but an incredibly reasonable price. A domain I will state right here publicly has a high mid-6 figure value in my professional and personal opinion and I would have expected a 7 figure asking price. So $30,000???? What was the COST of the The cost of the action P&G filed? Now it cost them a lot more because this is ON THE RECORD!
'Well, it's not PROFESSIONAL to call them names.' Say some. Fine when PROFESSIONALS stop LYING and trying to STEAL, I'll stop calling them FUCKERS! How's that?
Am I harsh? Hell no! When companies and other folks try to steal from me and others, it would not surprise me if we were not the only folks they did it to. Just a common sense wild guess that I am sure has no merit at all. Right?
And believe me, as harsh as I have been, wait til you see what happens to the next FUCKER that tries and overstep their legal, moral and every other rights in hopes they can get something on the cheap that they have no RIGHTS to. They put their entire company and everyone working there in jeopardy when they mess with me. When they mess with you too. When they try and steal a domain.
Look, sometimes there is a legitimate dispute. The law is seldom black and white. So I respect when there is a true point of contention and then let the chips fall where they may and no hard feelings either way. However, when common sense is thrown by the wayside and folks make things up, then we have a serious mess and I am gonna milk that baby so the next FUCKER learns before they step in the ring.
They will read this. I will point them to it. Their decision whether they want to GAMBLE not only their company's reputation but their personal reputation as well and that of the attorney handling the case. Ya know, the ones that 'Should know better'. Do they really want to do that with all this EVIDENCE for them to see?
I don't sell mercy. I give a FREE WARNING of what might happen if you decide to illegally TRESPASS.
We are starting to learn about the details of this unbelievable case involving Procter and Gamble. Now prepare to fall on the floor over stupidity and just being a cheap chump.
BizJournals is reporting: 'P&G asked Marchex in March 2012 to give it the name in exchange for registration and transfer costs. Receiving no response, it then offered $600. Marchex refused and asked for $30,000.'
So a 172 year old company got THIS and all the rest to come for not paying a LOUSY $30,000 for this $79 BILLION dollar company and had to try and STEAL the domain by LYING!?
The lie? They said they sold $40 MILLION on the Swash product when in FACT it was $60,000.
Do you remember a few days ago I said I would 'Ruffle some feathers.' Well that is a promise I can keep with this post. Get ready for some flapping and chirping on a grand order.
Hotels.com is one of my favorite stories because it illustrates the stupidity and failure the majority of Corporate America and Madison Ave have achieved. It is a clear indictment of not only them missing the single biggest opportunity in any of their careers, but 12 years into it and they have yet to figure it out. As I said in point #7 of my April 5th post, the guys that started these companies are rolling in their graves. The people entrusted to run these companies have for the most part failed them.
Now this is not universal. In some cases they did figure it out and I will list a few below. They make my case stronger not weaker. The question is why did some figure it out last century and why are the majority still not figuring it out so far in this century?
Let's start with this undeniable premise. Before you ever plug in a GREAT domain name it is capable of getting type in traffic, it starts gushing from the moment the domain name goes live. Again, may be widely known to domain owners, but possibly not to the folks that would be best served either owning your domain or at least buying the traffic on an exclusive basis. The 'End user.'
How much traffic a domain gets is on a domain by domain basis. A domain like sex.com will likely get somwhere close to 200,000 new visitors every day of the year. A domain like widgets.com gets 500 visitors each day but that is up from 60 last year. Candy.com gets 1000-1500 each day with spikes during holidays. There are many domains that get 1000-25,000 daily visitors and some much more. The reason this natural resource is so important other than the obvious value of a targeted visitor, is the growth factor. If you have zero traffic and you double it you still have zero. Anything other than zero and you will have the wind at your back. Just remember one important point. Word of mouth advertising is still the greatest advertisng medium ever known and online it is even more evident and more valuable.
Here is the story. Earlier this year my partner Howard Neu and I met with the GM at the Hyatt Grand Central Station in New York City to book the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. domain show and live domain auction there for this June. He wanted to understand domain names. So he began to ask some questions.
I used hotels.com as my example. I asked isn't it interesting that with all the hotel chains and all the execs and folks paid to beat the competition that EVERY single person in the hotel business failed and they failed BIG TIME? He was puzzled and looked at me like the old RCA dog on the old lp's. But that was actually a good start cuz it meant he was paying attention.
Imagine if Hyatt had gotten hotels.com. Instead of you being 1 of hundreds of hotels listed including all your competitors and paying for each lead or each booking Hyatt would have received ALL the leads. Would that not increase sales? Would that not increase market share?
Step in Madison Avenue. These folks are sooooo hooked on 'Branding' that they forgot the REASON they brand is to INCREASE SALES. So their REAL job is to increase sales. THAT is ultimate branding. Having your product everywhere. Funny how in time they have LOST SIGHT of that basic core contract. So Madison Avenue failed the hotel industry as well. IMAGINE, of all these high paid execs at all these companies and not a single one could figure it out. Figure that if they own a domain like Hotels.com they would be a leader in their sector. But they are all so hung up on BRANDING that they would rather IGNORE a reservoir of new business. New business snatched directly from the competition.
Even before it was attached to a business plan or went online hotels.com was going to be a million user a day site because it had a substantial traffic base. My guess would be that a domain like that would have gotten somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000 new visitors every day since the moment the domain went live. I guess the corp guys and Madison Avenue saw no value in having their call centers receive 9 to 18 MILLION added calls a YEAR. 9 to 18 MILLION calls that Hyatt would not lose to Marriott or Westin or Hilton or Holiday Inn or Ritz-Carlton or the other way around. They EACH had a chance to lock out the other hotel chains and they ALL missed it. They spend millions on a superbowl ad with results that can't compare and cannot even truly be measured. They let InterActive Corp (operator of Hotels.com) and Barry Diller beat them by disrupting the entire travel industry and for that they will pay dearly for decades to come.
And of course if Hyatt or Hilton or any of the others marketed hotels.com there is no way to even imagine how many tens of millions of leads would have been discovered. Leads that they get FIRST CRACK at getting. First crack at a new customer. First crack at a new reservation. This has no value??
Until folks face the greatest failure of their careers and learn from it they first must see and understand that failure. I don't want to beat these guys up. Really I don't. I am sad to report that 12 years into this and they STILL have no clue just how bad they failed. With 20/20 hindsight you would be hard pressed to find a hotel executive to say they screwed up by not getting hotels .com. What the hell is wrong with you folks??
Johnson and Johnson figured it out. They own baby.com and a LOT more. See how they OWN this sector. How they CONTROL this sector. How that have positioned themselves to lead the next 100 years just like they have lead the past 100 years. THEY GET IT!! Then think what would be the consequences if their competitor got it!
Bank of America owns Loans.com. THEY GET IT!
Barnes and Noble own Books.com. THEY GET IT!
Kraft owns CreamCheese.com. THEY GET IT!
JC Penny owns Gift.com. THEY GET IT!
Calvin Klein owns Underwear.com. THEY GET IT!
So these corporations and their Madison Avenue ad execs deserve recognition. I have a list of about 100 companies that GET IT. I give these folks a tip of the hat. They are probably yelling 'Shut up' at the screen so not everyone figures it out. LOL
Now let's look at a disaster.....and a failure by the same counterparts
Campbells owns MySoup.com. The competition (Knorr) owns Soup.com. Somebody SCREWED up there! They DON'T get it and by the time they figured it out....TOO LATE! How much do you think it will cost Campbell over the next 50 years not having that domain? I would invest in Knorr. They have SHARP people there and they may unseat the leader just like 1-800-flowers gobbled up FTD. That is one of my favorite stories of not keeping up. Here is a business (FTD) that OWNED the sector for 100 years and here comes 1-800-flowers and the tiny fish gobbled up the GIANT fish. The ONLY way Campbells will get soup.com is buying the other company. But they better do it NOW before it goes the other way! Knorr is owned by Unilever.
Imagine if 1-800-flowers did not own flowers.com?? Would not that have been a MAJOR screw up? Well if you can see it there....it is time to apply it to your own sector and see if you pass or fail. The key to all this was that it WAS a 'Unique opportunity in time' because a domain like hotels.com could have been bought a few years back for LESS than the price of a SuperBowl commercial. Today I bet some chains pay the price that could have run many commercials. And what do you think the price of hotels.com is today?? Do we count in hundreds of millions or billions? I think the latter if you could even get to that point.
So the hotel industry and dozens of other industries and their Madison Avenue agencies DON'T GET IT! They are soooo stuck on branding that they just can't GRASP that in the virtual world you can have more than one door. You can have more than one front door. You can market in generic ways. You can do lots oif things you can't do in the real world.
Regardless of all this. Their #1 jobs is to INCREASE SALES. Branding without increasing sales is not branding at all. Branding without using every tool is not building brands it is destroying brands. Branding is a buzz word that means little. SALES is what pays the bills and the salaries. Here they missed the #1 opportunity to increase sales, take market share, grow their business at the expense of the competition and they just sat there and talked about branding and to this very MOMENT still don't get it.
That my friends is a sad indictment of where we are. They are so busy slapping themselves on the back that they BLEW IT! They failed. They continue to fail. To me, this is the single biggest and clearest illustration of their total incompetence.
At least come to the point where you slap your forehead and say....'Oh my goodness, how the hell did we miss that?' Until you get to THAT POINT, there is really little else to say. Defend yourselves all you want. Somebody go do a spreadsheet and show them what it would have looked like today if they did not miss the biggest opportunity they will EVER have to increase sales.
Barry Diller and IAC (InterActive Corp) figured it out when they bought hotels.com and you geniuses will be paying THEM for the next 100 years because you guys FAILED! And you will continue to fail until you can see how badly you messed up. Go take a look at THEIR spreadsheet.
Luckily there are other related domain names. Vacations.com. Ooops, owned by Travelocity. Too late! Do they charge commission too? Motels.com, motel.com, hotel.com, travel.com......Are you guys on Madison Ave. and Corp America getting the picture yet??? Instead of having an income producing ASSET on your ledger you have an EXPENSE!!! DUH! A significant expense. You can either 'Get it' or call me names. Go ahead, give it your best shot. Nothing you can call me can cover up failure of this magnitude. NOTHING!
I rest my case!
Now I know you hear the frustration in my words. 5 years ago you would have had to peel me from the ceiling. But it is not as bad as it seems. I do see a light at the end of the tunnel. I do see a dialogue developing. I just really wanted to be on record and 100% clear of how I see it. I hope this filters up, down and sideways throughout the Corporate world and Madison Avenue. Start with Donny Deutsch and let it circulate down to Main Street.
To dismiss any of these first few posts would just be perpetuating a 12 year failure to understand how a GREAT domain name can grow your business, lead to greater market share, and if you fall asleep at the wheel be prepared for someone to come and disrupt your entire industry no matter what industry you are in.
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz Hotels.com, Campbells and Hyatt are registered Trademarks
View this photo It's nothing more than the famous shell game and your job is to be trained on what to look for.
There are 3 shells. Shell 'A' contains TARGETED TRAFFIC. Shell 'B' contains UNTARGETED TRAFFIC and Shell 'C' is hocus pocus NO TRAFFIC at all or the quality is so bad it has the same result.
Let's say you buy 1000 visitors and you are willing to pay 10 cents each for a $100 investment. With group 'A' you can close 10 sales and you make $100 per sale. A closing ratio of 1 in 100. You made $1000. With Group 'B' you made 1 sale. A closing ratio of 1 in 1000 so you broke even but you made a customer who hopefully return and that of course has value. Group 'C' of course produced nothing and if you buy it 10 more times you will have nothing 10 more times. Closing ratio is......
So with 'A' your $100 turned into a $1000. RIGHT DIRECTION!
With 'B' you broke even. No direction at all but there could be a CHANCE at some future business.
With 'C' you got the shaft and few even ever know it. So there is ample amounts of 'Shaft' available. Want more? If not....you MUST learn about traffic.
Now this is one side of the equation. The next step is to focus on the website and see if you can increase your closing percentages. If you could tweak it and double the revenue you would create 2 things. Demand for more traffic of equal quality and you would be willing to pay more for it which is why I as a domainer am so interested in this happening. Now be careful. If you buy the traffic under shell 'C' you will be tweaking with no possible way of ever improving it and THAT us why TRAFFIC is the name of the game. Once you truly understand traffic, you can sell virtually anything on the net. So with the widgets.com example yesterday and the traffic illustration today, you shoud be able to clearly see both sides of the equation. If you can see it you can tweak it.
So back to my example....if you double your closing rate and end up with 20 sales and make $2000 for your $100 bill you are likely willing to up that offer and you may up it to the point where you buy as much of that traffic as you can find.
While all that is going on you are still getting the benefit of the customer returning to buy more but you have increased your odds by 20 fold. You are growing your business. You are likely growing your business at the expense of the other guy. And guess what? That is okay!! The bi-product of all this is I have also just given an example of a value of a domain that varies by a HUGE amount when you can match the traffic with the right website. So that is the reason when folks sell a domain based on 'X'....my big question is WHY?
Have a GREAT day!
Rick Schwartz
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