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

Good Evening Folks!
There are certainly a lot of deserving people in the industry that should get this Pioneer Award from Epik.com and I accept it in behalf of every one of them. Nobody can pioneer an industry alone. It takes a lot of people pushing something that has yet to prove itself and have some level of success doing it. So for all the pioneers, this is for you. I am merely one spoke in a wheel that few understand just how big and meaningful it is. Time will prove that. History will prove that. The numbers are proving that.

As I have said since the get go, “Domains are a unique opportunity in time” and “no commodity in the history of mankind will go up so far so fast” and continues to skyrocket. There is no doubt that the best years are still in front of us.

I know not everyone has liked my style or my thoughts. But I also hope they notice they have benefited from all the pioneers that put themselves out there and push things along. Sometimes we have successes, and sometimes we have failures. But even in failure we know that progress is made. That we are just a little closer to the goal for the next attempt.

Babe Ruth was the best Baseball Player in history. But he did not make the most money. The big dollars came many decades later. So no matter what domains sell for today, it is but a fraction of what they will be in a decade from now. That is why there is still so much opportunity. While other asset classes are losing value, or even imploding, domains keep increasing and going against every thing else.

So I want to thank Rob Monster and the other members of the selection committee of Epik for choosing me to receive this very special award of recognition. I have worked thousands of hours in behalf of the future of domains and what we all do and love. This makes it all worth the time, effort and arrows.
The video tribute was quite moving. It brought me to tears.So good to see such good friends and qualified domainers saying such nice things. Priceless. So a special thanks to each of you and the comments here. Special Thanks to Mike and Judi Berkens who went way out of their way to make this happen. Danny Pryor for putting it together and Owen Frager for jumping on another windmill.

Plus such kind words from all of you. Ari Goldberger, Warren Royal, Rob Grant, Mike Zappy Zappolin, Chuck Hatcher, Frank Schilling, Dr. Chris Hartnett, David Castello, Michael Castello, David Carter, Monte Cahn, Grant Keiser, Aron Meystedt, Bruce Marler, Vern Jurovich, Ron Jackson, Owen Frager, Mike Mann, Danny Pryor, Howard Neu, Mike Berkens, Judi Berkins and Bandit.

Epik Reaction from The Domains on Vimeo.

Thank you. Truly Priceless.
Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

All too often I see companies that strike gold and sellout
to the first buyer that comes along waving $$$ in their face. But why sell?? If
you hit a gusher, why not keep it? I think the hardest thing you can do is have
a successful business. And if you do have success, why get rid of it? Why sell it?


Unfortunatey sometimes this actually stunts growth and
progress. If my memory serves me right, many years ago IAC bought utrade.com. They bought them because imho they were a threat to uBid.com (which I believe sucks and sucks really bad) and quickly dismantled it. I have seen this play out over and
over again.

Had uTrade.com stayed on the scene with the plan they had, we would
have all been better off. To this day, they had the single best co-branded, lead generating program that was ever on the net imo.

My traffic was growing. My earnings were growing. They were growing. They paid a $5 bounty for each signup. No BS. Each time they got a valid name and member for free it was $5. They new the value of that sign up and they knew the rest was up to them to convert. That added up to about $1300/day with my eBid.com and was growing every single day. It was when I truly learned about ratios and closing rates and targeted traffic.

1 visitor in 1000 to signup was really potent traffic. Normal was 1 in 10,000 or more. The thinking at the time was the best was about 1 in 800. Well the book got rewritten by ebid.com. We broke not only 1 in 800. Not only 1 in 500. Not only 1 in 100. But imagine 5 in 100?? Absolutely unheard of at that time. But THIS is the spark that happens with a perfect match of a site and traffic. So while others debate, I already know and it has been proven.

Then via Avenue A, they wanted to buy my eBid.com. Their offer was $60,000. I laughed in their face. I explained they have been buying the traffic for $30k a month, why would I sell for $60k?? To that, they stopped buying my traffic and have never had contact since.

Today, utrade.com a parked page and owned by Match.com. eBid.com is a parked page and is still owned by me and has earned many times that $60k offer so many years ago. I always get offers, but the earning power still makes it a keeper. uTrade.com was a model to copy, not destroy.

Morning Folks!!

Afternoon Folks,

Another day and another seed germinates.

'The startup also has acquired the domain name Punchbowl.com
(it previously used MyPunchbowl.com). The company bought it from Rick
Schwartz, the domain name pioneer who previously sold such venerable
assets as Candy.com and Men.com for millions. Douglas wouldn’t say how
much he paid, but said it was between one dollar and $5 million. There
is strategic value, he says, in having a two-syllable brand named after
an object—see Kayak.com or Facebook.com (which used to be
TheFacebook.com back in 2004).'

Here is the rest of the story....

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Sometimes a very simple sentence or thought can avoid and relieve much frustration. Last week I heard a really good one that unfortunately I wish I had learned many years ago. You have the benefit of reading it now and I hope you are not on the receiving end of it.

'Poor planning on your part does not make for an emergency on my part.'

I will be using that line for the rest of my life. Probably daily. But what a great way to repel bullshit so it does not land on you.

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

In every Sport stats are kept and are made public for annual
and career earnings. You see it at
the box office every weekend. They keep track and the $$$ brings in more $$$
and interest. That is the reason they do it to begin with. They do it in Real
Estate to both create competition and interest among other things.

I believe domainers should begin to do this. It is not
enough to have a list of folks that made a million or more. Even restaurants
and car dealers keep score by dollar volume.

So I will take the lead. Not because I want to. Not to brag
either. But it is interesting. It is something that should be known. It is a
number I actually know. I did a Quicken Report. Voila!

Let me state that I am WAY down on the list of earners in
the domain business. I can name DOZENS that have earned more. Much more. They
have each earned hundreds of millions and or have assets equal to that and
more. So I am just doing this to start the conversation.

This does not include future payments. Ok, maybe I should not reveal. But it even surprised me.

So my question is why is everything so
secretive in domaining when we see just the opposite everywhere else? Are we stunting our own growth?

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

When it rains, it pours. One of my all time favorite domains is VirtualTours.com. I have waited a long time for things to progress and still not the vision I see. My true vision is to be able to go “Virtually” to any and every corner of the world while in the comfort of your home. Or maybe a Deep Freezer if you want a virtual tour of the North Pole just for effect. With Google Street View etc we are well on the way. But not quite there. 20 year plan would put this into business in 2017. How much is a virtual tour of any place worth?

About 10 days ago I started receiving very serious inquiries about this domain. Until now, it had always been a popular tire kicker in my lot of domains. Now, there was something different. A product attached. But the value of my domain is in direct proportion to the idea and the market. So if this is a company with a $1 Million plan it would have no value to me. How much can my domain be worth if his top floor goes only to $1 Million? On the other hand, a larger vision will be a larger return and a much higher floor. Pigeons and Eagles some might say.

I am in no rush to sell. I would rather technology catch up with the domain to bring my idea to life. Plus as a real estate play with Property.com, Properties.com, ModelHomes.com, RealEstateforsale.com and a host of others, VirtualTours.com is too important a piece of that puzzle to break up.

This is just a real time example of 10 negotiations in progress with one domain name and new interest daily. Just one kernel of popcorn that could pop. And if not, I will just stick to my original game plan and let technology catch up with my idea.

And for future inquiries, I need no more than a link right here and we will all save a lot of time and energy. Thank you sincerely for your interest in VirtualTours.com. Those are my initial parameters. It there is a fit, lmk. If not good luck on finding one that is.

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Do you know how to read between the lines?? The single most important post in the domain industry in a very long time was posted last night. It is much more than a post. This is something you need to read several times and study.

This is the type historical parallel that should give everyone reading this the fuel to persevere and keep moving forward. This is OUR story. This is OUR future. This is OUR present. This is Franky's GIFT to all domainers.

This was not a blog post that was easy to write. I would think many days of thought went into this. Maybe weeks. Maybe been thinking of it for years and just did not know how to put it into words.

After you do that, you need to insert and also change some names. Let me interpret Mr. Getty's Blog post. Oh, my mistake, I meant Franky as he talked about Shell Oil. Or was it Google?

Either way, I interpret the words to have the most impact with PPC companies whose fate was laid out rather well.

I don't mince words. pay attention to this post more than any you have ever read. PERIOD!

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

We had a record amount of nominations this year cast by the domain industry for the 7th Annual T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Awards. Congratulations to all distinguished nominees!!

2010 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. NOMINATIONS

Ballots will be sent out later this month.
Do NOT Vote today!!

SPONSOR OF
THE YEAR

.CO

DOMAINADVERTISING.COM

NAMEDRIVE

PARKED

SKENZO

DOMAINER
OF THE YEAR

JAN BARTA

MIKE BERKENS

JUAN CALLE

STEVE CHEATHAM

LARRY FISCHER

ROB GRANT

MERLIN KAUFMAN

MORGAN LINTON

MIKE MANN

GREG MCNAIR

JERRY NOLTE

ILZE PLASKACS

ELLIOTT SILVER

DIVYANK TURAKHIA

JOEL WILLIAMS

BEST
OVERALL DOMAIN SOLUTION

ABOVE

DOMAINSPONSOR

EPIK

MONIKER

SEDO

SKENZO

SMARTNAME

BEST NEW MONETIZING SOLUTION

ABOVE

DEVHUB

ELEPHANT TRAFFIC

EPIK

LOCAL.COM

SKENZO

SMARTNAME

WHYPARK

DEVELOPER
OF THE YEAR

FRED MERCALDO

ROB GRANT

KEITH LEVENSON

ROB MONSTER

SHAUN PILFOLD

ELLIOTT SILVER

TIA WOOD

THE 'WE
GET IT' AWARD

BODOG & SLOTS.COM

LEXIS-NEXIS

MIKE MANN

NATIONAL A-1

OVERSTOCK

QUINSTREET

SWIFT RANK

BEST
DOMAIN NEWS BLOG

ANDREW ALLEMAN
(DomainNameWire)

MIKE BERKENS (TheDomains)

DOMAINERMAGAZINE.COM

RON JACKSON (DNJournal)

LARRY FISCHER

MORGAN LINTON

HOWARDNEU.COM (Declined)

RICK SCHWARTZ (Rick's Blog) (Declined)

ELLIOTT SILVER (Elliott's
Blog)

DOMAIN
HALL OF FAME

MONTE CAHN

GARY CHERNOFF

ROB GRANT

JEREMIAH JOHNSTON

AMMAR KUBBA

RICK LATONA

MICHAEL MANN

HOWARD NEU

JERRY NOLTE

MARC OSTROFSKY

ADAM STRONG

DIVYANK TURAKHIA