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

Morning Folks!!

There are a few pictures that I posses that tell the story of the last decade. The first one taken in 1998 and the second one in 2008. Both from the Internet. One before there was a domain industry in the adult world of online money making and the second one a little more familiar to many. Both of the pictures represent to me the epicenter of things.

The one above is from January 1998. The golden days. I am on the left,
Serge in the middle, Ron Levi (Fantasyman) on the right. They made
their millions early. Serge travels the world. Ron has his hands in a
few things and has even come to a couple of TRAFFIC shows. Serge and
Ron invented pissing on the net. They would go after each other for
months on end. All night, all day. They hated each other in public but
knew they were making themselves millions doing it in private. Pissing
to an art form. Not a single domainer could match the wit of these 2.
Not even close. They will slice you and dice you before you know what
happened. Newbies coming on the board for the first time would get
challenged. How they would react would basically determine their
futures. This was a tough business. But the thing I will remember most
about the early guys in adult was how really sharp they were. I can say
with a fair amount of confidence that what they did, when they did it,
how they did it is still ahead of most of mainstream a decade later.
With no road map whatsoever they were able to innovate and harness the
power of the Internet in the matter of months. The trail that industry
blazed in months has really yet to be matched. The foundation of the
Internet was built by the adult world and mainstream is still considerably behind the curve. These 2 could rattle off their stats in a manner that would make most web guys embarrassed. The first stat I usually ask folks in mainstream is always the most important and about 95% answer with a blank look on their face or they try and double talk me with total bullshit. That gives you an idea of how much still needs to be accomplished.

The next one is a bit more familiar but represent many of the best qualities of the guys from above. Same picture. Different players. Different era. Different sector.

Rick, Frank, Kevin

The vehicles change, the people change, but what they represent never does. The obstacles may have different names but they resemble the same things. In 10 years from now, God willing, there will be another picture in another era, possibly in a different sector. But they will say the same thing. What will be in that picture? Faces representing another stage of the same rocket. See I truly believe the Internet is many years away from its' peak. My 20 year plan never calculated the peak, it only calculated the time to have all the tools in place to reach another level.

In TV terms we are not even in the 1950's. In automobile terms we are making a 1930 car line. In age of a child, Einstein would be 9. In baseball salary terms, 1930's, Babe Ruth era, $100k/year. In each of these examples I think you will agree that the peak happened many years later. Decades later. The differences were huge. I expect th Internet to have a similar pattern. Why wouldn't it? Especially since we have paralleled so many things for so many years. It will be slightly accelerated because communication is so much faster. What we know as fact today and predicted back then is stunning. If I made a list of things that are basic today that were not just a decade ago it may help you to realize how far we have come and yet how far we have yet to go. Simply put the Internet is the greatest marketing, sales, social, communication, commercial generating medium ever invented. (Add your own) We have penetrated perhaps 15% of the power of the Internet. The future and upside are so bright but just like a sunny day tomorrow, you may have to wither a bit of a storm tonight to enjoy it.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Notice things are a bit slow in the domainer world this last few days? Are you surprised? You shouldn't be. It should be something you expect if you have your fingers on the pulse of things. It would be my gut instinct to say that everyone is busy with something. Now this is certainly not rocket science. But I know what many of you are doing. You are distracted. You are a bit anxious. You have probably been busy getting your papers together and most of your emails are between you and your accountant. Yes, I am talking about your taxes. That is what the vast majority of folks are doing in the next 10 days. It started big this week and will continue next week as well. Yes, some do their taxes early, but the vast majority wait until now.

So once taxes are over and your liability has been paid you can take a deep breath and re calibrate where you are and where you are going. I think most are prepared this year financially because we all saw this crash coming months ago. Unfortunately some folks will find the end of the road this year at tax time. Look for a huge amount of businesses to fold in the upcoming months. Possibly more than we have ever seen before in such a short time. I would say you will see more business closings in 2009 than in any year ever. There are still so many shoes to drop you would have to believe in the tooth fairy if you thought this meltdown was over.

So there you have it. Does not apply to everyone, (Many of the rest of you are trying to stop the bleeding) but does apply to a vast number. Noticing little meaningless things like this is how to hone the gut. You can make money when you understand movement of folks and get into their heads. When you know what they will do before they even know it. That's staying ahead of the pack. That is not chasing history and the future, that is making history and determining the future!

See you have to interpret events. If you miss this, you may react or over react to something that you should not. A permanent solution for a temporary and explainable situation could destroy a business or even a countries economy.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Let's start Part 2 where Part 1 left off. 'One new solution by any of these companies has the power to disrupt the entire sector. It could put companies out of business virtually overnight. The market is fragile and no sponsor could afford a mass movement of traffic and survive.'

Why is this important? Because it is very likely to happen. Now I will give a word of advice to those working on these solutions. 10% or 20% increase won't cut it. It's like a stock broker picking a stock for a 5% annual return after you just watched your portfolio drop fro $1 Million to to $100,000. You would have to live 100 or 200 years to break even. So they fall short. They need to focus on companies that go up 1000%. So if a domain was making you $100 and it is now making you $20, a 20% increase is just not the target. 100%, 200%, 500%. That solution IS coming.

So what happens the DAY that solution comes? We already know PPC companies have been slammed because just as I predicted last year, domainers would begin to develop and move their PRIME domains away from PPC. So you have companies fighting over a shrinking pie. Some of these companies are in financial trouble as I write this. A body blow like this would be a knockout punch.

Last years I asked who would be the first to do a Bear Stearns? I think that answer is slowly coming to reality. The folks I know are not sitting idly by and watching their earnings melt. They are reaching out and doing many different projects. We are all looking for that new light. When that happens, and it will, you will witness the total disruption of the industry and a new crop of solutions will come to dominate. In the meantime domainers are busy building and each site built is traffic ppc will likely never see again.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Tomorrow will mark 2 years since I started blogging. 160 posts and an average of 2000 page views per post. But while my 'Official' blogging birthday is tomorrow, I started blogging before the term was invented. Since 1996 I have been sharing my thoughts and views. Blogging without the blog. I like things on record so I can go back and grade myself. As long as I get 1 out of 3, I am more valuable than most baseball players. Luckily my numbers are much better. Not flawless. I have called a number of things wrong. But all in all, a damn good showing that I am proud of. But that is the beauty of the net. What one says is on record and time stamped.

In the year ahead I hope to fire up some old computers and find some very old posts. The difference between posting then and now is like being in the wilderness on a stagecoach or being in Times Square in a limo. I like the times better now but the cooks they had then were more flavorful shall we say. The ride was tougher but more rewarding.

I have no ads on the blog because I don't want to be beholden to anyone. I am not here to make pennies by putting up links. I am looking to make millions by reaching people I might never reach and motivating just one connection or jogging one thought or idea. It's a different way of doing things and I have been doing it for 12 years and sometimes it's like yelling into that wilderness. But it is all there. All there to read. The map has been printed. So now it is time to relax on one hand and not worry about it and the other hand to get busy and take advantage of the shortcomings in the market place.

Timing is everything. I mean everything. Not a single factor is more important. If I did not have that 20 year plan in my mind every day of my life I would have gone batty by now. But since I do I don't take anything too seriously. I take things in stride because I realize the game would take 20 years to BEGIN. These past years have simply been bonus years. That's how I look at it. That's how I see it. That's how I approach it. That's how I play the game. The sprinters are long gone. This is a marathon and that is the race I am running in. There will be times to sprint during the 20 years. Knowing when, the timing, is everything. Working your ass off at the wrong time will burn you out. Working your ass off during productive times will invigorate you. Same everything except the timing is different and so is the result. Defeat takes a lot out of ya. Victory gives you incredible energy and stamina.

So on the 2nd anniversary of something I have done for 12 years I can say we are EXACTLY where we should be at this point in time and slightly ahead. The only ones disappointed are those waiting for things to happen on their timetable. Sorry my friends, does not happen that way. I don't predict the future. I see things unfolding. I see things coming because of certain other things. Too the uninformed they are lucky guesses. To me it is like watching an episode of what is to unfold months and years before they actually happen. They are just facts waiting to be born.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Evening Folks!!

Hot off the press once again!!

RickLatona.com has sent me a few blockbuster names and I am happy to announce that SavingsBonds.com will be auctioned off at the Silicon Valley TRAFFIC, less than 4 weeks from now. The best way to have a great auction is to have great domain names matched with an audience that can afford and appreciate.

Have a Great Night!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Over the years I emailed Hershey's customer service 3 times. 3 times and not so much as a response. Even when I had an idea and was just looking to buy custom candy in bulk, no answer. They have a place to email them. I took my time to explain why I was contacting them without ever mentioning Candy.com. Just trying to make contact. Not even a form reply. Nada!!

So we will see how history views this shortfall. Only time will tell.

So if Hershey's did not buy it, who did? Well it is not up to me to reveal that. The buyer will do it when they are ready. But it was not Nestles nor any other company you have ever heard of. Yet.

Since the National show in the Candy Industry is next month, the wait to know won't be too long. It will illustrate another failure of Madison Ave. and Corporate America. Not because they did not acquire the domain name, but because their shortsightedness will allow a challenger to come in and disrupt things. It's like a country getting invaded and the army hired to not let that happen has no clue just how bad things may get. Nor do they understand that they will be responsible should things go south.

So whether it is Hotels.com, Toys.com or Candy.com, it is 15 years later and they STILL have not come to understand what this all means. Is anyone awake out there?? And then folks want to know why unemployment is about to eclipse 10%?? Why GM is already bankrupt?? Why the banks are in trouble?? Are all the founders of these companies that would recognize the opportunity dead and buried?? An unfortunate yes is the answer. Those in control now know how to have meetings but they don't know it's all about sales. Nothing else. Sales, sales, sales. Profitable sales. And lastly, Timely decisions. Since nobody can make a decision it is virtually impossible for it to be timely. Let's have a meeting!! Let's have a meeting and let's postpone the decision to the next meeting. These decisions were once made in a snap. But that guy is now in a grave and there ain't no more snapping going on.

And THAT is why my friends that WE will make out like bandits in this recession. Nothing happens until a sale is made and now in the new way of business nothing happens until a decision is made. The big guns are paralyzed and that gives us a tremendous advantage.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Who are my Blog Posts aimed at?

Easy question, the answer is a bit more difficult. Mostly I write for domain investors both old and new. But the folks I truly want to reach are much more diversified. Whether it be Madison Avenue, Wall Street, Main Street, Corporate America, sole proprietorship, or even a home based business on Elm Street, I want to reach them all. Some of my posts by themselves may have little meaning. However when read together you will see a thread develop. An appeal for doing business as usual on hold long enough to re-evaluate where we are. Where the world is. The progress that has been made as well as the shortfalls.

A couple weeks back I went to the Ritz Carlton for Breakfast. We go there often. It costs $70 for the two of us. At that price you expect a certain level of service. A certain quality of food. The restaurant had 7 tables with people. They had 5 waiters, a manager and a hostess. You would think that much staff could handle 7 tables. Well you would be wrong. It was a circus and it was not the first time. The manager came over. I told him what can I say? I don't like to complain....'But you need to raise the level here a notch or two.'

Two pros could have taken care of the business they had. Instead they had 7 people spinning. So they are over staffed. They are ineffective. I mean I could go next door and have the breakfast for $7 and the service I will get will be better. So this is truly unacceptable. They are not alone. This level is found throughout corporate America. They have been trained not to think and that is what you have. Until recently there was no unemployment so anyone that actually showed up you would hire. Things have changed. But many still employ folks that can now be replaced with more competent people.

The sad thing I see is there is very little leadership. Entrepreneurial leadership. Even those in management have been brought up in a system and a culture that leaves many of them mediocre at best. That leaves people that 'Get it' and 'See it' very frustrated. Trapped in a system of inefficiency. You either adapt or you have no value. 'Hey let's have a meeting to discuss what we discussed at the last meeting and still have failed to act.' I see things that should be decided on and acted on in seconds and completed in minutes, take MONTHS! That's crazy nonsense and won't work in this new era when things are moving at warp speed and business is stuck at 55 MPH in the right lane.

So I really hope in time the readers here will be from the business world looking for answers to a new way of doing business. Those that have questions and are puzzled, what I can say to you is that if you were to take a couple days to read all my blog posts, your view of the net and how to harness the power of the net may change. It will change. It will transform your business. X marks the spot. The map is here. There is no charge for the map. Take it. Share it. I want nothing in return other than to see folks do more business online and break the cycle of Internet failures because they don't know how to use the greatest sales tool ever know to man and use it in their favor. A chain saw can be very destructive if used improperly. So can the Internet. KIt can also be a valuable tool if used wisely. The net is a pretty simple mousetrap. You have a site, a product or service to sell. Assuming you have a good item to sell and assuming that your website is designed to close sales and not lose sales, then you only need one other thing. Traffic. But not just any traffic. Targeted traffic. Traffic specifically targeted to what you do. 10 visitors like that have the value of millions of general traffic. If you learn to harness the traffic. Buy the best traffic. You win. Plain and simple. The only place domains come into the equation is a good domain can provide dozens, hundreds or even thousands of visitors each and every day from now until the net burns down. You can set your watch to the amount of traffic a prime domain will get.

Let's say you buy 1000 visitors from a search engine each day. Figure out your cost. Now multiply that by 365 to represent 1 year. Now take that number and multiply it by 20 years. So before we even start the value of a domain getting 1000 visitors every day is? Then you can add the other things of value that a prime domain offers. Easy to spell. Easy to remember. Easy to tell others about. Perfectly descriptive.

Then there are those that only want their name used and branded. I am sure toys r us may have had that discussion. But just adding another entrance to toysrus and letting thousands of those targeted visitors in will just add sales. DUH! Add sales? Yup, the thing that keeps everyone employed....sales. Is there an allergy on Madison Avenue and Corporate America from incresing sales? Silly you say? Well that is how I have watched so many do business. Just read my blog on Hotels.com and you'll see the proof.

I am a car buff and a few years back Pontiac came out with this Solstice that was on the Apprentice. The next day I went to my local dealer. I wanted one of the first ones but if not I was satisfied to get one when they were available. So I went with my wife to the dealer and filled out the paper work. I was told they would contact me. They did not call the next day. They did not call the next month. They did not call the next year. I am still waiting for the call 5 years later and of course I have no appetite to buy the car after about 3 days. So anyone surprised GM is in trouble? They can't even take the order when someone with check in hand is wanting to buy. Now multiply me 1000 times. DUH!! WAKE UP!!

So what you are seeing is the fallout from a failed mindset that is keeping Corporate America prisoner to mediocrity and worse. These businesses are going belly up because they are so hung up on branding they forgot about sales. Madison Ave probably told them that cash registers were outdated, ugly and would give a business a bad image. lol The sad part is they all listened and here we are.

Have a GREAT day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

I understand the power of matching a great domain with great traffic to a company or partner that knows how to utilize it. The variance in payouts is not 25%. It is 2500% 25,000%. Go ahead and laugh. It's fact. I have one domain (eBid.com) that has made as much as $1300/day and as low as $.35/day. It currently makes about $50/day. I know the upside. I have been to the mountain. I have seen it with my own eyes. This was not isolated to a single domain. However the extremes on this particular domain are the biggest and help illustrate the playing field better than any other. For folks that don't believe this, ok. But you would be wrong and you won't take much away from this post.

I have been under an extraordinary amount of pressure from folks to come out with the agenda for TRAFFIC over the last couple of months. Several topics have been discussed. But at each point I was reluctant to plan the agenda. See I believe something would materialize. Something specific. Something that would be quite important to anyone that has income producing domains. But what I saw was no guarantee that is would happen and happen before April Well what I envisioned would happen finally unfolded LAST WEEK!

See I believed in the fall that it would take 6 more months of bleeding before domainers and others looked for a serious alternative. That day has come. There will be a multitude of new solutions coming to domainers next month. Just one winner can completely change the industry overnight. We all wish these companies well. What I can say to these companies is make sure your solution is just not replacing the same revenue stream. The minimum increase folks should see is 50%, 100%, or more to be viable.

I see what we have in prime domains as an oil well. A diamond mine. The treasure is there. The market may fluctuate. The costs of extracting may be higher or lower. But the treasure is still there. The treasure on that domain is still there and when matched to a good mining team can be extracted. Then again the traffic that is lost today, is lost forever. You can't reclaim what you already lost so time is of the essence.

We are in the midst of a great shift in traffic. Traffic is migrating away from PPC. That sector which was once the most dynamic is now showing signs of strain. There will be a breaking point and we will all witness it first hand. Some may even emerge stronger. But there will be less players. That is for sure.

The point is what was important last fall has little import now. Same things with each month since New York and in some cases each week. All along I knew that the show should be about new monetization alternatives. But that was not up to me. It was up to evolution and destiny. BINGO! The thing I saw unfolded and now we have the beginnings of the next phase of monetizing domain names.

In good times there is no motive to dig deep within us to do something great. When you witness your earning decline and you come to enjoy the comforts we have had, that provides the motivation for folks to not accept the status quo. So while it has yet to happen or unfolds, it will be the next 12 months or less that changes the entire industry. Domainer are stepping up and doing a wide variety of things. We will be hearing from a wide variety of speakers and they will be announced during the next few days and the week ahead.

So trust that when we have an agenda it is geared to what is important at the time of the show as well as the coming months. We hear all the time that shows pick an agenda 6 months or a year before a show. All I would say to that is I have never foucsed on yesterday's news. It is seeing the news before it is news. The next 6 months. The next 12 months. Just look how much the world has changed.

So I would have announced what the show was about in September in New York. But the universe had to cooperate. And so it did. The industry is ripe for a new big thing. How much will the delay cost you?

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Evening Folks!!

Hot off the press!!

Moniker has sent me a few blockbuster names and I am happy to announce that SantaClara.com will be auctioned off at the Silicon Valley TRAFFIC that will just so happen to be held in Santa Clara in just a few weeks. Won't that be interesting? Here is an open invitation for the Mayor or City Manager of Santa Clara to attend the auction. Make sure to bring your Budget Director. Same with the local newspaper, travel agency, or anyone else that has an eye to the future and a sense of opportunity.

This is just an example of some great names coming to market. The submissions we have been getting are extraordinary and many more will be announced over the coming weeks.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

I wonder what Einstein could have done had he been in his prime today? Einstein with a computer and a website. Ben Franklin with the all the things he invented. Christopher Columbus with a GPS. Alexander Grahm Bell with an iphone. Each day we follow in the footsteps and along the path that they forged. They did it with such little to work with. Then again, that may have been their strength. connecting the early dots. Who knows? Certainly they would be taken back by how their contributions have changed the world.

Let's face it, we are a bunch of lightweights compared to these heavyweights of history. A bunch of pussies. I also think they may have been ordinary. Some folks are stronger in their abilities at the beginning. What do I mean. Well a great builder of homes may not be a great decorator. What he does is build homes. That is his strength. It does not necessarily translate. But I do believe these great men would be great men in any era. So with that as a basis you start to wonder what could these builders of civilization do with the tools of today? What could they have achieved? Are we worthy to carry the mantle? How much has been lost in translation? For example the difference in folks that need a calculator to add, subtract, multiply and divide and those that go thru a mental process in their head. Both may have the same answer, but the way they got there was totally different.So I see differences and similarities where others do not.

We are already past where those four men were the minute we wake up in the morning because of the gift they left all of us. So when I look to history and these men in particular it gives me great strength and also illustrates why I keep saying patience is the key. My job, your job is to accelerate the future. Because none of us will be alive to see how the Internet will evolve in the next 100 years.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz