My last Blog post

Good Evening Folks,


A year ago I decided to
write a book. 75 posts later, that book is done. It resides right here. 75
posts (Chapters) most of which are aimed at the corporate and investment world
along with the domain industry as well as other trailblazers. Free for the reading. I hope someday it is read by folks on Main
Street to Wall Street who can TRANSFORM their businesses if they can figure out just how EASY
it is to harness the power of the Internet. The posts are aimed at folks at
every level. As I have said for many years, there are countless ways to
climb this mountain, this was my path and this is my vision based on my
path. A 20 year plan. A plan based on timing. That success or failure has
a lot to do with timing. Sometimes timing is everything. So with that in mind,
it is TIME to do other things. Whatever I can say has been said. It is here. It
is on eRealEstate.com and it is on TargetedTraffic.com. Now the time that I
have always shared has to be devoted to other challenges and other projects.
The first of which opens today at Property.com. Widgets.com and others will soon follow. Time
to allocate my time in a new way. The industry is maturing and splintering and
becoming more serious and becoming more desperate. So the dynamics of the
cottage industry that gave birth to what we do is no more. The orbit has gone
to higher levels. Those in other orbits have to work hard to escape the gravity
of whatever orbit they are currently in to move to the next level. The safety
of mediocrity has to be overcome by the challenge of what the future promises.


Have a GREAT spring and
hope to see everyone in Orlando at the next TRAFFIC this May and in New York City in September. For any further thoughts, just read my previous post..


Rick Schwartz.


Mediocre traffic for a mediocre system

Morning folks!!


Transparency has emerged
as the key issue for 2008. T.R.A.F.F.I.C. tackled the problem in session after
session. Change won't come easy but it will come. A set of standards are now in
play and has wide support.


What does transparency
do? It educates. Education creates a bigger market with wider and deeper demand
because they have a clear understanding and that is something to build on. But
the way the system is set up, it rewards mediocre traffic while ignoring very
potent traffic and not filtering out the crappy traffic. So as long as you mix
those 3 groups together, the entire online advertising community is not capable
of taking advantage of this golden opportunity to steal market share from
traditional media. They are stuck with mediocre traffic no matter what. Blind
buying will choke online advertising. And I have yet to even mention a word about separating social traffic from commercial traffic which is a huge factor. Scratching your head? What am I talking
about?


Let's reverse things. Imagine
buying time on TV and not knowing if you are getting Super Bowl time or 3AM
bible music ads. IMAGINE how absolulutely INSANE that system would be!! How could you possibly build on that. There is no recipe. It's Russian Roulette. Well
welcome to OUR world of insanity. THAT is exactly what WE do on the online
advertising and why so much of the $$$ don't make it to the pockets of the
domain owners who supply that traffic and why the demand is not as high as it
could or should be for Google and Yahoo on top of the equation. That also suppresses
payouts because it is all about supply and demand and the demand has never been
what it should be because without knowing what you are getting it is impossible
to increase your buys for most businesses. It's basic stuff not rocket science. The result is easy to see when there is a flaw in the  construction.


I URGE folks to start
thinking about grading traffic. Having transparency. Having Google and Yahoo
and PPC providers cooperating because as I illustrated above, the current
system is insane. It makes little sense. It is world's better than impression
based advertising but it is not good enough to compete with traditional media
for the long term and actually get those dollars that can be won over sooner
rather than later.


We have mediocre traffic
for a mediocre system because we mix all the laundry together and have yet
to learn to separate the colors from the whites, from the stuff covered in
Sh*t. The space will never evolve to its full potential until things like this
are understood and addressed. Not all traffic is created equal. Not all TV ads
are created equal. Not all magazine ads are created equal. The blueprint is
already in place from traditional media. Some of that blueprint may be
obsolete, but much of that blueprint for magazine circulation and TV ratings is
waiting to be deployed in what we do. Buyers need to know the 'Source' of the traffic they are getting and the system should be transparent enough for them to see. So when we talk about 'Transparency', we are talking about it on many levels. Domainers have a responsibility. Monetizers  have a responsibility. Google and Yahoo and whoever shows up next, have a responsibility.


Have a GREAT day!
Rick Schwartz



Sometimes you have to burn an old bridge to build a new bridge.

This is directed at some specific friends from my private chatboard and as a general statement to others following the developments of late. They know who they are. We've all known each other for many years and spent many intimate moments together and have all met face to face. This has appeared privately and I decided to make it public as a way to have it come unfiltered directly from me.

Sometimes you have to burn an old bridge to build a new bridge. A better and stronger bridge. Sometimes you have to clear the land to build a new structure and relationships.

As many of you have heard, we have buried the hatchet with Domain Sponsor. Ron Sheridan and I have kissed and made up. We hugged in public, shook hands and I feel it was genuine all the way around.

Howard and I had two constructive meetings with Lawrence, Josh and Jeff. I want to take a moment to publicly thank Chis Siverten (whose name I never spell right). But I want to thank Chris because I believe he was an important factor in having us come together.

So we move forward in a new spirit and hopefully this new bridge will be stronger and out last the old one. It brings the industry together instead of dividing it. So that brings me to what I would like from folks that if they choose, may come and go freely from my private board again.

This (my private chatboard not my blog) IS my LIVING ROOM. It will REMAIN my living room. That is something that I ABSOLUTELY REFUSE to compromise on. If that is not acceptable. If that rubs you the wrong way. If you are going to hold a grudge against me. If you are going to challenge that in your mind or in your heart, let's just be friends. We don't have to interact with each other HERE. We can all communicate via many methods. Just this is my SANCTUARY. This is my home for invited guests. But please, those ARE my keys. Treat me and conduct yourselves like you were a GUEST in MY HOME. If you can't do that, I can say no more.

So if we can get to a meeting of the minds there, then I can say what I need to say and hopefully good people with good hearts and find a way forward.

In my living room, I do not expect folks to promote competing events. You can do it on an infinite amount of websites and lots of other INDUSTRY boards, but PLEASE, not here. It's just not right. Do it anywhere you like, just not here. Let ME take the lead in that department. If we are all cooperating it may not even be an issue.

It's not a place to take pot shots at me. I don't need that. I don't want that. My TIME becomes wrapped up in "Just curious" stuff. I don't like to ignore things, and feel compelled to respond when I just don't have the TIME or energy to do it. It drains me and I don't want that anymore. I don't need to justify everything I do.

I am a sensitive person. I feel things deeply. I just want to be treated nice HERE. I am a pinnata out there. But this is my HOME and I want to be surrounded by people looking out for each others back as opposed to walking around with a target on MY back. I have just always tried to do my best. Take all sides into account. And believe me folks, there are a lot of folks pulling or tugging me in one direction or another. My JOB is to take it all in. Consider it all. Make the best decision I can.

If T.R.A.F.F.I.C. is just another "Trade show" and anyone is going to run around and saying things that are not positive and have under tones of negativity, then we can still be friends. We can interact. Just not HERE. Don't use my resources to undermine my hard work and that of Howard and our wives.

I don't think I am asking much in return for devoting my TIME to what I believe has benefited everyone in the business. If you don't think I have done good. Have done things that you have such venom in your heart for me, then please, you just don't belong here and those folks are the ones I just want no part of. You see how they behave. That behavior would not be welcome in any of our homes. I don't think that is unreasonable. That is MY TOS.

It's OK if you don't accept the terms. Just don't say you do when you really don't and you are out to undermine me, Howard, TRAFFIC at every turn. If THAT is who you are and SOME of you ARE in that camp, then I ask you to pause a moment and decide how YOU want to move forward. The burden is on you at THIS juncture. I have my heart open. It's a tender heart. If you expect to poke that heart, or worse, let's just agree to disagree and go our own ways. If you want to open your heart, then we can all move forward. It is your decisions and choice. I have only good will. If you fool me, that is on you.

But if we can get thru these TINY hurdles, we can all do great things.

So that is my olive branch. Maybe you like it maybe you don't. The board has been focused on business much more than personalities of late. Like Lawrence told me....we need to take the "DRAMA" out and communicate more. The personality nonsense out for there is no place for that. Can we do that? My hand is extended. My heart is open. I will do my part as well. That is my proposal. I can't do more. I REFUSE to do less. If we can come to common ground, GREAT! If we can't then that is just how it is and I guess we will all deal with it. Either way, I hope we can mend things, If not, it is ok.

Right now I am exhausted and I can't wait to get home and reflect on what we all accomplished this week at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. and where we go from here. I hope we did what we promised at the show. I think we pulled it off. The folks seemed to be happy with things. They were THRILLED that DS and us were able to fix things and agree to work closer and cooperate and still remain competitors without trying to injure us.

And before I sign off, want to thank the folks at Sedo for the pre event. It showed there is a way to have functions that help each other. I hope it is a model we can use in the future that allows more of us to make it EASIER for those coming from Australia and other distant countries from flying back and forth more than necessary.

Oh well better shut up before I get in trouble. I hope the folks reading this know me well enough to know the spirit of what I have written. It is not a sign of weakness and I have never felt stronger. It is just doing my part to fix things and get on the right course. I can do no more than that. Hand extended. Heart opened. But ZERO tolerance from my beliefs and TOS.

Have a GREAT day.
Rick Schwartz