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

Afternoon Folks!!

So according to DomainIncite, Donuts signed contracts on the following gTLD's.

"Donuts signed contracts for: .haus, .properties, .maison, .productions, .parts, .cruises, .foundation, .industries, .vacations, .consulting, .report, .villas, .condos, .cards, .vision, .dating, .catering, .cleaning, .community, .rentals, .partners, .events, .flights and .exposed."

The good news is there is one I actually like. The others, not so much. But I have to digest a bit first. So give me a few days. Depends on viable strings. Nothing more, nothing less and that is before the game starts. That is why I keep saying many will "Die on the vine" as you will see illustrated below.

This is all before we even get to Public Acceptance. So that is another conversation for another day. It is a very big conversation because the public holds most of the cards. Not to get off the track here but the public spoke this week in New Jersey. 50,000 sign up for online gaming and a 740 for Obama care.

But I think .Parts actually makes sense. I can see a wide variety of meaningful strings.

To me, these things POP OUT when they work.

.Build came out or was announced the other day and I got 3 strings.

I.build

we.build

they.build

On the other hand I can think of dozens and dozens and dozens of strings that start with build.whatever. You can think of many. The other way around. Good luck! My mind hurts from STRAINING to think of some.

And PLEASE remember, this is only the first obstacle of many. But it is also the one obstacle that has the power to marginalize most from day #1. And will die on the vine. Strings are like roots of a tree. No roots, no tree.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

In the month since my mom passed I have been keenly aware of things. I believe the spirit is very stong for a certain period after one's death. So without going into it I follow certain paths to their ends. I am guided to these paths by pure accident. Or so it would seem.

One such path led me to an interesting blog post and I am going to paste it below. Great words of wisdom.

If you truly want to change your life, you must first change your mind.  You must free it from the restrictive thinking that holds you back.

Here are 50 thought-provoking quotes gathered from our sister site, Everyday Life Lessons, and from our blog archive that will help tweak your thinking and set your mind free.

1. You are only destined to become one person – the person you decide to be.


2. Do good and feel good.  Do bad and feel bad.  It’s that simple.


3. You are what you do today, not what you say you’ll do tomorrow.


4. We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us.


5. Ultimately, it’s not what you do every once in a while; it’s what you dedicate yourself to on a regular basis that makes the difference.


6. Stay true to yourself.  Never be ashamed of doing what feels right.  Decide what you think is right and stick to it.


7. If you don’t stand for anything, you will remain forever on your knees.


8. No amount of money will make you happy if you aren’t happy with yourself.


9. You know you’ve made the right decision when there is peace in your heart.


10. Don’t worry if your goals seem crazy to other people; oftentimes the crazy ideas are the ones that have the greatest impact.


11. If you’re thinking like everyone else, then you aren’t thinking.  (ReadThinking, Fast and Slow.)


12. Control your own destiny or someone else will try for you.


13. Sometimes standing up to your friends can be just as difficult as standing up to your enemies.


14. The unhappiest people in this world are the people who care the most about what everyone else thinks.


15. When people undermine your dreams, predict your doom, or criticize you, remember, they’re telling you their story, not yours.


16. There is a huge amount of freedom that comes to you when you take nothing personally.


17. No one in the world was ever you before, with your particular gifts and abilities and possibilities.


18. Your greatest task isn’t to find love, but to discover and destroy all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.


19. A loving, happy person lives in a loving, happy world.  A hateful, miserable person lives in a hateful, miserable world.  The world around you reflects YOU.


20. Worry gives small things a big shadow.


21. Focus your conscious mind on things you desire not things you fear.  Doing so brings dreams to life.


22. It’s not the mistakes and failures you have to worry about, it’s the opportunities you miss when you don’t even try that hurt the most.


23. It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one over and over again.


24. To get something you’ve never had, you must do something you’ve never done.


25. The harder thing to do and the right thing to do are usually the same thing.


26. Our problems are really our blessings if we use them to grow stronger. (Read 1,000 Little Things Happy, Successful People Do Differently.)


27. Anyone can run away; it’s super easy.  Facing problems and working through them, that’s what makes you strong.


28. When you have two good options, always go with the one that scares you the most, because that’s the one that’s going to help you grow.


29. Courage is being scared to death, and then taking the next step anyway.


30. Sometimes our greatest insight comes from our failure, not from our accomplishments.


31. You need to screw up to learn.  You need to experience it all to create greatness.


32. Just because you don’t understand something now doesn’t mean the explanation doesn’t exist.


33. Not knowing everything about your future is a good thing.


34. Don’t worry about what you can’t control and you may liberate yourself.


35. People of average ability often achieve outstanding success because they don’t know when to quit.  Most people succeed simply because they are determined to.


36. Temporary happiness isn’t worth long-term pain.


37. Patience can be bitter, but the seeds you plant now will bear sweet fruit.


38. The less you expect, the more pleasant life gets.


39. The more you are in a state of gratitude, the more you will attract things to be grateful for.


40. The things you take for granted, someone else is praying for.


41. It usually isn’t what you have or where you are or what you’re doing that makes you happy.  It’s how you think about it all.


42. Do not dwell so much on creating your perfect life that you forget to live.


43. You are not in competition with anybody except yourself; plan to outdo your past not other people.


44. To admit that you were wrong is to declare that you are wiser now than you were before.


45. Humans see what they want to see.


46. If you spend too much time judging yourself, you won’t have any time to love yourself or anyone else.  (Read The Mastery of Love.)


47. At the end of the day, you can either focus on what’s tearing you apart or what’s holding you together.


48. Look through the front windshield and not the rearview mirror.


49. You don’t get to choose how you are going to die, or when.  But you canchoose how you are going to live, right now.


50. Be done with regrets; they are an excuse for people who have failed.  You still have a chance

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

So I really enjoy doing the DomainSherpa.com shows that comes out on Thursday mornings. It is one thing to sit behind a keyboard and punch out words and thoughts but it adds a dimension when you can see who we are and how we approach things.  Not everything translates well in words. Powerful as they are.

If you have watched any of the episodes, you will see while we agree a lot, we often times disagree. I like disagreement because I usually learn something I did not think about. Or sometimes I have thought a great deal about something that others have not.

I hope folks are getting something out of what we are doing and hope it helps them to focus on acquiring better domain names. The entire panel is qualified and they are smart businessman besides.  They are all friends and good guys and as you see we have a good time too. Plus, we are brutally honest and opinionated.

Anyway's, I had never written about the show and decided just to start a little conversation and hope you have seen some and hope you like what we are doing.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

There are a lot of very good blogs out there. But the one that never wastes my time, always has something important to offer, is an education in and of itself is Seth Godin's Blog. He's been around for years and most folks reading this know of his blog. For those that don't, he should be on your reading list.

Seth always gets right to the point and the point is almost always immediately useful. It's PURE GOLD!! And it is EVERY single day!

I wrote a post that I did not post yet. I think the main point of it and life is that if you approach things from the wrong way, the wrong attitude, the wrong side, then your chance of success is very low. Approach with a good attitude and a strong desire and your chance of success is great.

A recent post he made is about trust and word of mouth. Something many need to pay great attention to. He explains each and every point below. All valid. All proven. All inclusive.

"How is it that someone sees your website or your social media presence or your email and decides to interact? The decision to interact happens before someone actually listens to what you have to say. Here’s a way to think about the factors that kick in before the browser even hears what you have to offer them today:"

• Word of mouth


• Direct interaction


• Graphics


• Tone of voice


• Offer


• Size of leap


• Fear


• Social ranking/metric


• Tribal affiliation


• Perception of transparency


• Longevity


• Mass acceptance

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

I am going to take a moment to completely show that the Forbes.com article was FALSE! Not only is it false as I started to write about here, unless it is corrected, we know they could care less about FACTS! And today we have facts. I think Berkens may have covered it here on his take about this misleading and FALSE article when he took the author to the woodshed.

So, the FACT of the matter is the article revolves around this table below to show how domain values are going down. Well this table is FALSE! It is a lie. It is not factual. Let's start with the #1 VacationRentals.com for $35 Million. They bought a BUSINESS for $35 million. They did not buy a DOMAIN for $35 Million. Now it would be good for us if in fact it was a $35 million domain sale. But it was not. It is FALSE. I have PROOF. So I EXPECT Forbes.com and Ms. Jacobs to set the reord straight. Unless PROPAGANDA is their new way of reporting.

Here is the QUOTE from the seller of the BUSINESS:

Morning Folks!!

With hundreds of new extensions coming out the noise will be very loud. Too loud for me to even respond as we soon will be overwhelmed with hype, ads, press releases and a host of things that will make your head spin. Some will be very good and creative, many will be pretty lame as evidenced HERE!

And this is the stuff I am talking about as one gTLD stumble can hurt more than just that particular extension. This video is so lame it has the POWER to hurt more than just them. The message I got, if you want to be a faker or a wannabee then .CEO will make you a make-believe big shot. Sorry, that hurt the extension. It marginalized the seriousness and effectiveness. It was a disaster. But I am sure they are all high-fiving each other over there while the rest of us shake our heads.

So I guess I just inadvertently reviewed .CEO. Won't make friends there. But I am never going to sellout what I believe from what folks want to hear. They all get to prove me wrong. That is what selling is about. 100 people come into a room and think just like me. THEIR JOB IS To PERSUADE! The problem is many will get angry instead of using the art of persuasion and they automatically LOSE!

The 100 are not their enemy. They need to be convinced. But you must convince with FACT. The minute you use BULLSHIT or make things up to convince, game over. Better load another 100 in the room and try again because that room has been tainted. So if you do the same thing, you get the same result. Do you think that makes it harder or easier for the next guy? Want to be the last guy to pitch the audience? They may have your head on a stake by then.

This illustrates how each new extension OWNS the bullshit and the lies of the others gtld folks. Sorry, may not be fair, but it is what it is. If you have not factored that into your equation. OH WELL!!

700-1000 extensions each must sell. But it is not our job to buy what each sells. Even if they are our friends. This is not Girl Scout Cookie buying. This is deciding where to put our investment dollars to be safe and to grow. My job is to focus on the winners. But even winners are runner-ups. Not to .com but to a category called "Other". They will ALL reside in "Other" and will share it with HUNDREDS of "Others" for what could be decades before the FIRST one breaks out other than .web which will probably be the FIRST to break out and our job s to pick winners.

I don't have any .web interest. I have no reservations on .web domains. I have never spoken to anyone at .web. I have no plans to register any .web domains. I am simply handicapping the race. And if folks get pissed at my handicapping, so be it. I only want to focus on the winners. The top 3. The top 10. The top DOG!

Of course I could become a 6 or 7 figure whore for one of them. lol. But at least I would come here and say so. I would not hide it.

My job/your job as an investor is to figure out the 1, 2 or 3 that MIGHT break through and break out of "Other".

It IS about picking the winners. The THREE extensions out of 1000 that will lead the pack. Why would anyone GAMBLE with the other 997? The return keeps getting exponentially SMALLER, not larger. The top 3 might already be gambles. Why would anyone want to make the odds of success smaller and smaller and smaller? Value is proportionate to size of audience among several other factors. No audience, no value, no nothing.

I look at the price disparity between a .com domain and .whatever domain as it is today and with the exact same keyword. It's a 100-1 ratio in case after case. Same work. Sometimes the same level of investment when you learn to focus on FIRST.

Sometimes I really don't think folks understand numbers because they have to lie about them so often. They have to inflate them to have credibility. Make them up as they go along. That's blowing smoke up people's ass. Everyone reading this should get their bullshit meter inspected before the noise makes it impossible to calibrate.

So hundreds hawking these extensions will be of no interest. They can hawk. Some will buy. All will learn.

I ONLY want to focus on the top 3. Then we can debate if they will ever be meaningful. But the 997 that don't finish, first, second or third, may or may not have registry level success and that does not translate to investor success. Far from it.

It translates into great risk. Who wants to buy my .xxx today at 50% of what I paid? I already dropped most of them. Each year I have more information and I drop more. That is on EVERY extension.

So, clearly as a domain handicapper at this point .web has the best chance to win the race. There is not even a close second. I see this as the ONLY viable extension that MAY breakout of "Other".

There may be room for a .club in the eco-system. But that may not qualify it for investment level. So .club may enjoy a "Registry success" but that does not automatically translate to an investor success. There will be some. But limited. VERY limited.

.App has a place and since .App is commercial and social I see that as possibly a better investment than .web. But it is still early in the race. And the chance of it getting out of "other" is remote.

.Blog again may have a place in the eco-system. Investment wise, not as good as .App the way I see the world. But of wider interest than .app.

If I see another extension come out of the gates I will come and state it. But as they are each announced, I don't have the time to focus on anything else other than perhaps the top 3 or the top 10. So far, I am just at 3.

First they all need to catch up to .mobi.

Second, I think they have some obstacles in the form of .Me, .Co, .TV, .Info and even .US because each will get a second look. I see these competing for those top 10 slots besides the other top 7 new gTLD's.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Starting TODAY,  TRAFFIC will share the names of folks that signed contracts to sell domains and did not fulfil their obligations as well as bidders that don't fulfil their obligations by paying for domains they bid on and won.

I am personally calling on ALL auction houses to start sharing this information IMMEDIATELY. Not doing so continues to allow these dead beats to do what they do.

In this case the domain is MagicChannel.com and was SOLD to Chad Folkening of ecorp.com but the seller, Mark Sokol of BestBanking.com and Registrant/Reseller Pete Best have refused to answer a single email since TRAFFIC about closing this deal. Not a single email. By Escrow.com, by Howard, by me, by Chad. RADIO SILENCE!

So now we do it my way. I don't like DEADBEATS.

If you know these potential DEADBEATS, let them know about this post since I can't reach them by email.

I have axed Sokol from my Linkedin.

See Mark, I don't mess around with DEADBEATS like you and I TELL ALL MY FRIENDS that you waste people's TIME and MONEY and you are not a MAN of your word and your SIGNATURE means nothing and is worthless.

And for your FRIENDS that don't like my style, I am into RESULTS not being stylistic! You EARNED THIS!

Know a DEADBEAT Domainer? List them RIGHT HERE! RIGHT NOW! Let's start a database!

Domain Name: MAGICCHANNEL.COM
Registry Domain ID:
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.tucows.com
Registrar URL: http://tucowsdomains.com
Updated Date: 2013-11-17 07:26:30
Creation Date: 2000-11-20 13:43:00
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2014-11-20 13:43:00
Registrar: TUCOWS, INC.
Registrar IANA ID: 69
Registrar Abuse Contact Email:
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone:
Reseller: Peter Best, Jr.
Reseller: @comcast.net
Reseller: +1.0000000000
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: Contact Privacy Inc. Customer 0119029712
Registrant Organization: Contact Privacy Inc. Customer 0119029712
Registrant Street: 96 Mowat Ave
Registrant City: Toronto
Registrant State/Province: ON
Registrant Postal Code: M6K 3M1
Registrant Country: CA
Registrant Phone: +1.4165385457
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: @contactprivacy.com
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: Contact Privacy Inc. Customer 0119029712
Admin Organization: Contact Privacy Inc. Customer 0119029712
Admin Street: 96 Mowat Ave
Admin City: Toronto
Admin State/Province: ON
Admin Postal Code: M6K 3M1
Admin Country: CA
Admin Phone: +1.4165385457
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax:
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: @contactprivacy.com
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: Contact Privacy Inc. Customer 0119029712
Tech Organization: Contact Privacy Inc. Customer 0119029712
Tech Street: 96 Mowat Ave
Tech City: Toronto
Tech State/Province: ON
Tech Postal Code: M6K 3M1
Tech Country: CA
Tech Phone: +1.4165385457
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax:
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: @contactprivacy.com
Name Server: NS1.DEVHUB.COM
Name Server: NS2.DEVHUB.COM

Morning Folks!!

I can't even describe the high as I began to read the Forbes.com article last night. Then without notice I got sucker punched when I was referred to as a "Domain Squatter".  I was more than outraged. I was body slammed but I was not knocked out.

I thought we had passed that point of jealousy. But I got thrown back right into 1996 and that forum about mobile home and real estate flipping. They removed my comments as fast as I could write them. My crime? Showing a new type of real estate that would provide them with more money and a quicker way to do business.

But the biggest surprise of all is that this was coming from Forbes.com. The leading Capitaistic publication in the world. Outragreous!  I am reading this and wondering whose agenda is this? What would motivate this? The contradictions make no sense. They did not just present 2 sides, they presented something that did not add up.

So while we have not come as far as I would have thought, hoped, dreamed, it is still 2 years 1 month and 3 days until that 20 year mark. The time I believed it would take to change how this medium is viewed and why the .com address would increase in value faster than any other asset class in the history of mankind. A bold premise! A crazy timeline. But it would take all those years to change the thinking. And as you see with that article, we still have work to do. And while we are on the threshold of 20 years, we are not there yet. The landing gear is not down. But we are in contact with the control tower. We are in the gravitational pull of where this is all heading.

The gTLD "Booster Rocket" is just that. A Booster Rocket. What that means is that it propels the main ship (.com) to the destination while the booster rocket part falls back to earth as we have seen over the past 50 years on TV with every launch.

Comment #1

Excuse me,
But I invested many millions of dollars into an uproven medium called the Internet and I am NOT a “Domain Squatter”! I may be a homesteader, a risk taker, a gambler, but not a squatter and you should update your article accordingly.

Is Donald Trump a land squatter?
Bet you call him that and you would hear from his people pretty fast.

It is called CAPITALISM and that is something that Forbes is supposed to champion!

When I bought Porno.com for $42,000 people thought I was insane. That is not squatting. That is pure capitalism.

Comment #2

Squatter: a person who unlawfully occupies an uninhabited building or unused land.

So PLEASE update your story as you are implying I have done something unlawful and that is damaging to my reputation. And it is not accurate!

Occupy Wall Street, THAT is what a squatter is. I am a capitalist. An opportunist. Something that I should not have to defend on FORBES.COM of all places!!

Comment #3

And when Steve Forbes himself came to talk to the DOMAIN INDUSTRY at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. domain conference I co-produce in 2007, he thought those that thought we were squatters were ignorant of what being an entrepreneur is all about.

btw, when I sold candy.com you failed to mention I still retain 10% of the company and get a 1.5% royalty for every item that goes out the door. That might be important information for your readers to know.

And yes I am a college dropout. That does not make me stupid. Last time I looked, I was in pretty good company. I even know what a squatter is and what a squatter isn’t.

I paid $750,000 for Property.com, how does that make me a squatter? That is outrageous coming from Forbes.com

I paid MANY millions for the domains I OWN! I outbid others just like some did last night. You just called them all squatters!

If I had domains with infringing trademarks that I was profiting from, then you would be on the right track. Generic domains like Candy.com, property.com and the 5998 others I own do not infringe on anyone.

Comment#4

I just saw the author is a a lawyer and journalist. And you would think she would know better than to refer to me in this disparaging and negative manner in an international publication like Forbes.com: “Domain name squatters like Schwartz”

NONSENSE!!

I bought domains LEGALLY, open to anyone and no other person on the planet wanted them out of 7 BILLION and it paid off. And will pay off for the rest of my life. Or I was the highest bidder. Neither of which would in any way, shape or form make me any more of a squatter than Donald Trump or any other property owner in the USA.

Ms. Jacobs, I am no squatter! I think you must correct and update the story and set the record straight.

Comment #5

And lastly,
Your entire article is based on false information you are giving your readers that the value of domain names are going down. Sorry, they are more like Manhattan Real Estate. Up, up, up.

Why don’t you tell them that the aftermarket on domains in 2013 broke ALL previous years sales records and we still have what may be the #1 month of the year to go?

Tell them that while the housing market was crashing that generic dotcom domain names were going up or fairly stable. That everyday many people are making loads of money by buying and selling domains like they flip real estate and are not squatters nor are they squatting. They are doing what has been done for HUNDREDS of years.

Tell them how all the hotel chains missed Hotels.com and how they have to pay millions a year to get reservations that they could have had first and FREE had they or anyone in their employment had the foresight to figure it out. They failed!

Comment #6

Evening folks!!

"Domain Squatter"?? REALLY?? In 2013??

With hundreds of new extensions coming out? With Auctions by large companies 24/7?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2013/11/22/after-the-gold-rush-domain-names-have-lost-their-glitter/

Rick Schwartz

Aftrenoon Folks!!

I have been getting more and more calls for me to expand HallofShame.com to include domainers that either put domains in an auction and do not honor the sale, bids at auction and do not fulfil their obligation and those that hire brokers to sell their domains and then refuse to pay them when they disregard their contracts that they entered into.

It is long overdue but I don't want to be the one that is judge and jury.

What I would like to do is have a 3 member panel of respected folks in the industry decide. So what say you? I can't and won't do it without industry support. On the other hand, not sure how the industry could not support outing those that are not to be trusted. Forget about contracts, your word should mean something. If it doesn't, I sure want to know before I fall victim. How about you?

There is an outcry for this and I can provide the platform. But just like hall of shame does not decide WIPO cases, we just KEEP SCORE.

That is why I think a 3 member panel would work best. We can have more than 3 in the rotation just like WIPO. But each decision could be made by a panel of 3.

Thoughts?

Rick Schwartz