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

Good Afternoon Folks!!

As I have stated previously, our sessions were among the best attended ever. The content was real and it was unvarnished and it was stuff you can use right now. But that would not happen without the speakers. The speakers are golden and they are all willing to share. They don't agree on a lot of things and that is why we can hear both vistas of opinion and come to your own conclusions.

So these speakers come to TRAFFIC for a few days and I rope them in to appearing on stage and helping me out. I literally could not do it without them. They give of their time, energy and thought process and I don't thank them enough for what they do to make TRAFFIC such a great event. YOU are TRAFFIC.

So thanks to each and every one of you. Your testimony in the future will be even more important than it is now.

And of course a special thanks to Frank Schilling and Adam Dicker for each holding great dinners. Memorable dinners. Vivid experiences. Plus appearing on panels and Frank participating in a fantastic debate over gTLD's. A debate that I expect to post right here this Friday that was so much fun and was just so cool. So thank you guys so very much. Adam's seminar was worth the price of admission. Schwartz/Schilling was worth the price of admission. Berkens says Meeting of the Chiefs was worth the price of admission .

Thank you to all speakers. Lonnie, thanks for being on Team Schwartz. Ron Jackson, thanks for chronicling the event that is so well done you feel like you are there.

Andee Hill who enlightened us and played a key role in the auction with the help of Escrow.com.

Ammar with his spiffy wardrobe and fantastic taste in robes and the "Toga Party" that followed at Gregg McNair's suite. No details available.

Finally the Michaels. Michael Berkens for all he does throughout the year. The Domains.com keeps me posted on the things I need to know. The guy is like having a research staff on payroll. Michel Cyger, just doing a great job for the industry and a tip of the hat!

Now if I keep going I will never finish this post. I just can't thank the speakers enough. The most knowledgeable people on the planet when it comes to domaining.

To everyone else, my deep gratitude and if I were not so exhausted I would go on and on and on. I will have more posts about what I saw as a result of this show. Clarity for one thing. But I have to save that for another day and another post. We are a special business fraternity of forward thinkers that are happy to welcome new folks and have deep regard for each other and their accomplishments. Salute!

Rick Schwartz

Afternoon Folks!!

What was the takeaway from TRAFFIC 2013? The mood of those coming to TRAFFIC was more than optimistic. It was almost giddy! I don't think we have seen such excitement since 2007-2008 and I think everyone attending knows we are about to blow the doors off of business. What is coming is what I have been saying all summer in post after post on subject after subject. I wanted to be CRYSTAL CLEAR about the BOOM that is HERE! Here! Not coming. HERE!

A culmination of many years brought us all to this point and from here I see nothing but great things as far as this business is concerned. Now if you are not getting your fair share, change your game and how you approach it. Revise. Clean and clear away previous misconceptions.

Nobody says it is easy but the opportunity is there and with a little effort and thought and planning, you can seize that opportunity. We had a house full of folks at TRAFFIC and they were there for a specific reason. Seize opportunity and they did!

Like I said, you will hear about it as time goes on. You will hear from not just me. But I always want to be on record. And on record early.

As I have said for many years, Howard and I simply facilitate things so you can do months worth of business in HOURS.

So these are THE most exciting times in domaining to date. While some domainers tanked because they played a short-term game, they can still regroup, rethink and try again. It's not a horrible thing to start over armed with what you have learned.

The most surprising thing? The sessions were some of the heaviest attended ever and it was far from our largest show. Very interesting dynamic. Folks were on their game and very cordial and it was just a great week overall.

TRAFFIC does one thing that I think is priceless. It recharges your internal business battery and outlook in a way that is very helpful and meaningful.

The next 12 months will be what dreams are made of. An avalanche of deals are being done. Stunning deals. So all I can say is don't sell yourself short. You have unique assets that have great value.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

The domains that did not sell in the live auction are now in the Silent Auction hosted by Above.com.

Some incredible bargains. As I write this 15 domains have bids on them and many are no reserve.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

TRAFFIC 2013 is winding down and from all accounts, may have been one of the best TRAFFIC shows to date.  I even enjoyed it.

It was fun, light, serious, passionate and LOTS of business was done. Business you will be hearing about well into 2014.

I want to personally thank each and every attendee for coming and not only hope we met your expectation but exceeded them.

And of course I want to congratulate all the award nominees and the winners for each category. Well done!

I expect by Friday to post the Schwartz/Shilling Tag Team Match right here.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Now that the current attendees have had a one day head start, we are now ready to open registration for our Las Vegas Show May 28-31 2014.

We have just 25 tickets at this level.

The price of $1495 includes 3 nights at the Bellagio making this the lowest Early Bird rate we have offered in years.

Prices are good until this Friday. After that, the $1495 price remains the same, but we only include 2 nights at the Bellagio.

Rick Schwartz

Evening Folks!!

It was rather stunning event at TRAFFIC today and the last panel of the show, Meeting of the Chiefs". First, we found out that the $25 Million in reported domain sales by DNJournal.com for the 3rd quarter of 2013 was about 1/2 to 1/3 of unreported sales just by Escrow.com alone as reported by TheDomains.com.

Further, Andee Hill from Escrow.com went on to say that the  total dollar volume of domain sales that get processed through Escrow.com,  greatly exceed the amount that gets reported saying; “we close in some weeks more dollars in domain sales than what other company’s report in sales for the entire year."

Lastly, when asked about any sales larger than the record $14 Million Sex.com sale, we found out that Sex.com no longer holds the record. Andee Hill said she knew of one for $20 Million and Greg McNair added he also knew of a sale in excess of the sex.com sale. Now this does not mean there have not been sales in excess of $20 Million because this does not include private sales using buyer and sellers own lawyers that may hold even larger sales. Some specualte they may have reached levels of $50-$100 Million.

Let me close with this.

The domain channel is much larger than anyone thinks and  top notch domain sales are SIZZLING! There is no hotter commodity on the market today than a meaningful domain name.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

I am certain that in the days ahead you will read many accounts of the seminar that folks might talk about for a very long time. It was as good as billed and perhaps better!

There was passion from each and every person on the panel and the debate was respectful but intense. I think the result was more clarity on each side.

.Club had a point of view and .Kiwi had a point of view.

One of my favorite points of the debate is when Monte and Frank disagreed and they were on the same team. That was priceless.

My partner was Lonnie Borck and for those of you that know Lonnie, he is sharp and smart and was able to boil it all down to simple things. Like .whatevers MUST sell to survive while with .com there is no concept to sell.

The basic disagreement I have with Frank is that he believes .whatever will devalue .com and I believe it will do just the opposite. Increase the value of .com Nothing I have not said right here on this blog before. Many times. I look to history for my answers.

I compared the prices of .com domain names today with the historical salaries of baseball players. I believe that domains are on a par with what Babe Ruth made or maybe as fas as Mickey Mantle. But these guys never earned the tens of millions stars earn today.

And even as Football replaced Baseball as the National Pastime and Nascar has become bigger than both, salaries in baseball continue to go up.

So I put that question to the attendees and the vote was overwhelming that .com prices would go up as a result of all this.

Photo Lifted from: http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2013/dailyposts/20131021.htm

Howard and Danny did "Man on the street" and the interviews were more than surprising.

One young guy in his late 20's said Facebook is where his company website is. The crowd laughed.  He said is website was under construction. More laughter. Two said they did not have websites and don't want one. That surprised many. None knew of the new gTLD's. So the point is while we know this and that because we do this fo a living, Main Street is far behind and I think the audience was stunned by how far! These were just random small businesses that were picked.

We touched on many subjects and as I said, there will be a number of stories about what took place and it was all good!

I want to thank Frank for doing this with me as well as Monte Cahn from Rightofthedot.com,  Jeffrey Sass of .club and Tim Johnson of .kiwi and Lonnie Borck.

We did record the session and we plan to put it online for all to see. I am certain you will enjoy it and find great value with it. It's just a sample of what we do at TRAFFIC. Should be online within the week. YOU be the judge.

Rick Schwartz

Afternoon folks!!

Want to share a little story with you that happened at TRAFFIC today.

So CONVICTED Reverse Domain Name Hijacker  Wall-Street.com shows up today at TRAFFIC. When he was told he had to pay like everyone else he tosses his card at my wife and storms away. Pretty nasty!

Barbara Neu's mom was there to see the whole thing and said he was a "Creep with an attitude."

So of course I sent Mr. J Dean Burden "Editor in Chief" a little personal email to let him know what we think about CONVICTED Reverse Domain Name Hijackers and pointed him to Hallofshame.com #20.

jd@wall-street.com is his email addy in case you feel compelled to send this CONVICTED Reverse Domain Name Hijacker an email.

J Dean Burden, you and your company have been CONVICTED of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking and you OWN that forever and will be reminded of it OFTEN! BY ME!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Welcome to Fort Lauderdale and T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 2013 which officially got underway last night!!

Besides the Rumble  between, Frank, .Club, .Kiwi, Monte Cahn on one side, I have chosen Lonnie Borck to join me on stage as my tag team partner!

The 3 keywords that both Lonnie and I keep mumbling....."I don't get it"' So today these folks have an opportunity to teach us "to get it".

I really hope this comes off well and together we just might find a few answers.

Just 3 hours later is our live auction. Our clean non nonsense live auction.

Here is the list. Some folks will walk away with incredible bargains while other will complain there are n domains left. Really??

Bursting.com at no reserve?? Really?

472.com under $7500?? Really?

schmaltz.com No reserve.

There are quite a few more that are just bargains.

If you want to bid by phone, you must fill in this info by NOON today.

Famous LIVE T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Auction with Open Bar and Snacks

4:30PM - 6:00PM

Let's get ready to Rummmmmmbbbbbllllleeee!!!

Location: Seminar Ballroom

Under $150k

Under $100k

Sold as pair:
GoldWanted.com
SilverWanted.com

PearlEarrings.com

Under $75k

Under $50k

Under $25k

Under $10k

Under $7500

472.com
ArtDecoFurniture.com
ChickenFingers.com
getbacking.com
702.xxx

Sold as pair:
BionicFashion.com
BionicFashions.com

Perverted.com
dogwhistle.com
Lawnmowing.com
TripBid.com
CustomSurfboards.com
MensWatch.com

Under $5000

Group of "Polo Domains"
POLOMATCHES.COM
POLOMATCHES.INFO
POLOMATCHES.NET
POLOMATCHES.ORG
POLOMATCHES.TV
POLOMATCHES.US

CardiganSweaters.com
Bleacherbums.com
EuropeanAutos.com
MediaBlocker.com
ShrimpRoll.com

Under $3000

Under $2000

Under $1000

No Reserve

Sold as pair:
eCheatsheet.com
eCheatsheets.com

VegasJetCharters.com
FloridaCharterFlights.com
TampaBayCruise.com
TampaCharterFlights.com
InflationProtection.com
southbeachbabes.com
PeppermintVodka.com
5tv.net
FreeQualifiedLeads.com
warsawlawyer.com
15YearLoan.com
Measurably.com
PurpleWoman.com
WikiClips.com

Sold as Set:
MagicChannel.com
MagicChannel.net
MagicChannel.org

PrivateInternetSearch.com
QuickPayDayAdvance.com
BedsideLamps.com
PrizeParade.com
decapitate.com
repairreputation.org
onlineovation.com
bursting.com
items.us
caraccessories.us
SwDeveloper.com
TopPlumber.com
iCrown.com
EverettProperty.com
MicroWatch.com
MiniLamp.com
vKeyboard.com
3dPhotograph.com
laserprinterepair.com
schmaltz.com
Fixtures.tv
CharmingEyes.com

Afternoon Folks!!

We are less than 24 hours away from what could be an important moment in domaining as Frank and I will go toe to toe tomorrow. Is that a headlock Frank has me in below from earlier today?

All kidding aside, should be great banter as we agree on many things but see some of those things completely differently.

11:30AM tomorrow.

Rick Schwartz