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

Morning Folks!!!

So what goes on at T.R.A.F.F.I.C.??

Below is the link for the entire "Meeting of the Chiefs" segment last year and a preview of the 10th anniversary video that is currently in production.

In 2013 the snippet between the 1 hour and 25 second mark and the 1 hour 10 minute mark may be very interesting for many of you and demonstrates how history is made at TRAFFIC. Was this the birth of EscrowHill.com?

The sales we know about are only a FRACTION of what is really happening and sometimes you got to pull hard as you see me do to get that vital info. This video seems to reveal that there are quite a few domain name sales that are in excess of the $15 million and $20 million mark that are unreported and well under the radar. Listen to their words and their reactions. Read between the lines and you will see many things.

http://vimeo.com/targetedtraffic/meetingofthechiefs

Password is TRAFFIC-2014

ENJOY!!!!!!!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

It has been YEARS since a new monetization program has come out, but the industry may be shaken to the core and I want to be on record before that event unfolds. An END-USER designed a system over the past 10 years for in-house use and found himself right on the doorstep of the domain  industry.

You see, GetitFido.com is NOT a one trick pony. Or in this case, DOG!

Most companies have one or 2 things they can offer you. They have EIGHT ways as listed below and some are really important. You are about to get very excited about what you do again and Neil Sackmary is the guy I believe that is going to change how you view your domain assets.

1. They offer "Pay for Product" since 2005 but have only used it privately. Why? Because they are END USERS that have found out secrets withut depending on Google and are coming into the domain industry via the BACK DOOR to share it.

2. They have PPC since 2007. But have only used it privately as per above.

3. They have L.O.Y.D. Which is Left of Your Domain. That means they can SELL your subdomains on the fly. THIS IS HUGE!! Especially interesting for gTLD's and Neil Sackmary will reveal what he revealed to me. FANTASTIC!! Works especially well with Geo gTLD's. Instant CASH!!

Sell subdomains for 99 CENTS and make millions. gTLD guys are opening this door and some gTLD's could find some gold if they understand this revenue stream that Neil will share. The guy has VISION!!! Something missing in the landscape right now as everyone is chasing every shiny object there is.

4.  They have S.P.O.B.O. which is really interesting. You put a price on your domain or any item. Let's say $1000. But there is also a button for "Make an offer". If they make an offer and the offer is within the preset parameters you create, it will EXECUTE the sale in real-time.

5, 6, 7, 8, . Even more tools to make you money that I am still wrapping my head around.

The first users here will come EXCLUSIVELY from T.R.A.F.F.I.C.. and it may be a while before it filters down. Neil started these programs as an end-user for himself 10 years ago. What he is offering has the potential to change the landscape of the entire industry. An industry that has been dormant since 2007 is about to come ROARING back. He will excite you and that will transform what we all do.

And yeah, a LOT of folks in the industry have a right to be VERY concerned. They are coming to eat the lunch of many companies that have been getting fat off of domainers. Now it is time for domainers to get fat again.

And you might want to ask WHY he did all this? Well he did not want to be DEPENDENT on Google!!!!!! Something I have been preaching for a long time and here is a very successful end-user that figured it out himself and found himself being the lead sponsor in his "Coming out party".

I have been on the phone to Neil for many hours this past week and I am telling you he is gonna Rock the House and some folks are going to love him and others are going to have NIGHTMARES!!!

Prepare to make money again WITH your domains not SELLING your domains. That is going to shake things up right there!

Read that again!!!

Prepare to make money again WITH your domains not SELLING your domains.

I think the post show buzz will verify everything I have said here.

TRAFFIC an EXPENSE?? Really??? Only if you go just to party and not keeping your eye on the ball.

T.R.A.F.F.I.C. means B.U.S.I.N.E.S.S. and GetitFido.com just PROVES where OUR FOCUS ALWAYS IS!!

Trailblazing and creating new opportunities that translates into MORE MONEY! We keep our eye on the ball by being 3 steps ahead of the future and not chasing after it.

btw, did I tell you about their "Traffic Splitter"?

Rick Schwartz

P.S.

The TRAFFIC agenda will be done TODAY as I populate the very last panel below which will be a VERY frank discussion about the gTLD's. Both sides. Not for shrinking violets. ;-)

2:45PM-3:45PM  You heard their pitch. Now what? Michael Cyger of DomainSherpa.com will moderate this provocative panel. We all have friends involved with the new gTLD's and we don't want to say anything negative, but our top-tier group of outspoken domainers will get past that and logically handicap the rollout of all the gTLD's. Plus, they'll discuss which ones have the most likely chance of wide adaptation and increasing values. How long that will take. Then go a step beyond and measure it against traditional extensions and the time vs return and risk vs reward ratios. Not all gTLD's are created equal. Some think these gtld's will be on fire yet others think they will fizzle out. We can only look at it from both sides and then wait for the future to reveal the ultimate answers.

Good Morning,

Grab a cup of coffee. This will take about 10 minutes of your time.

Michael Castello

CEO/President

Castello Cities Internet Network, Inc.

http://www.ccin.com

michael@ccin.com
> Forgive me if I am long-winded here. I have some ideas that I want to share with you. Rick, Howard and I think alike and agree in how we see the Internet and domain names.

>

> I've been involved with the ICANN Business Constituency for many years and, like you, was against the new gTLDs when first proposed. I could go on with reasons why I felt they were not needed and how ICANN has proceeded in approving them, but we now need to take a fresh look for our industry at large.

>

> The new gTLDs are here, and I have resigned myself to them while seeing a silver-lining, which I believe is going to be very helpful to our industry.

>

> In my opinion, domain names are the key to individual freedom and survival for the future Internet. For a small entry fee, domain name ownership gives an individual the ability to own his or her place in the virtual world.

>

> When I was a recording artist, the one thing that would make or break my musical success was distribution. The ability to move music to the consumer was controlled by just a few companies. The Internet is likewise a global distribution network that everyone now has access to. Anyone can move an idea or product to any and all parts of the world. It is incredibly powerful and it allows single individuals to compete on a grand scale previously dominated by large telcos and corporations. It is my opinion that powerful Internet companies like Google, Facebook, Apple, and other "umbrella" corporations, have slowly shifted the perceptions of regular Internet users in regards to direct navigation in order to make domain names less crucial.

>

>

> The URL(Address Bar) is something we all own but is also held captive by those that produce browsers. In 1994, the natural impulse for me was to use the Address Bar to navigate wherever I wanted to. I found colleges were online, and I could simply type Columbia.edu in the Address Bar and their website would pop up in front of me. What power, what freedom, to steer my magic carpet ride wherever I wanted. It was still barren land and it needed individuals with a vision to help build it.

>

> Knowing that replicating the real word into the virtual world would take time, I saw the impatience of the public and businesses which resulted in the Dot Com Bubble. Since then, search engines have become very powerful because a user could always find a web page result while a web address did not always resolve to a working website.

>

> After twenty years, almost every brand or keyword now has a viable, trusted website. The problem is that Google and Facebook have become the main way people navigate to these brands. The people of the virtual world bought into services provided by these walled gardens, giving Google, Facebook, and now the U.S. government, much more control of our navigation and information. I see a monopoly that in the past would have been regulated or broken up. I see what appears to be an alliance between the government and these companies that is benefiting them and in turn, controlling the web community. I believe this upends the scales of democracy.

>

> What I've noticed:

>

> For many years, Apple's Safari browser directly defaulted to the dot com when someone typed a keyword into its address bar. Now, after Steve Jobs has passed on, Apple no longer directs keywords to dot com, and those same keywords redirect to search results and advertisers. Steve Jobs understood the opportunity that domain names offered everyone. At one point in the past few years, Google nearly removed the address bar entirely in their Chrome browser in favor of their search bar. They even asked ICANN to consider resolving DNS to just "keywords" (which would have rendered gTLDs unnecessary!). Thankfully, ICANN turned them down, saying it would break the DNS(Domain Name System). Instead, Google moved its search bar right next to the address bar, and ultimately took control of the Address Bar. Google was changing the way people used the Internet. Much like CompuServe and Prodigy in the 80s, the Internet is reverting to a series of "intranets" that are owned by large corporations. Individual freedoms and inherent rights are being trampled on. Where are the leaders "for the people" in the virtual world to bring balance? What now are WE to do?

>

> Domain names empower people. We could say domain names ARE people; they are that important. Everyone should have the opportunity to own a domain name and be unfettered in how they use it. Peer-to-peer (P2P) is liberty, but domain names now need protection from those entities which are diminishing their influence. The domain industry and the ICA(Internet Commerce Association) have a unique opportunity to take this plight and forge a positive result.

>

> Along with all of the ccTLDs, the new gTLDs make the domain name pyramid much bigger, which gives the domain industry a greater virtual signature. Everyone who promotes the domain industry is an "asset. The new gTLD registries will likely spend millions of dollars to make the public aware of the importance of domain names. They will be doing the heavy lifting, and the more the public talks about domain names, the better the balance between individual users and powerful corporations. We can coalesce to work together.

>

> I've suggested to the board of ICA an agreement to the "Understanding of Personal Empowerment" that I believe companies like Apple, Google and Facebook could agree with. It is in their best interests to show that they are helping domain names (i.e. individuals) and not trying to reduce their influence. Power from domain names IS power to the people. The timing is right for the domain industry and the ICA to work together to preserve direct navigation.

>

> If we can't agree on this protection, then I believe ICA should lobby Congress to put in place regulations that will protect domain name owners. We need numbers; those numbers are also voters. In the future, everyone will need a domain name or virtual place of residence. What we do now will help the future users of the Internet find greater mobility and advancement.

>

> Best wishes,

> Michael Castello
Rick Schwartz

Howard Neu

Afternoon Folks!!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Want answers? Always look at both sides and do it often. We talk about new gTLD's like this is something new. It ain't. Nobody is putting any fingers in a dyke. I love what is coming. I am looking forward to it. But one must know the difference between getting on a winning horse and getting run over by a stampede. We are witnessing what will be a stampede. A stampede is uncontrolled and comes in a fury and can destroy anything in its path including other horses in the stampede that get trampled to death.

I look for answers not pronouncements but the conditions indicate certain things that are completely inevitable. So 1000 horses don't mean anything but danger until things thin out. That is why so many are in a wait and see mode. Caution is key unless you have unlimited funds to put at risk and tie up indefinitely. I certainly don't.

It's not like there won't be plenty of inventory. And it will all come to strings and adaptation. Google and Search are the least important parts of the equation the way I see the universe. It means nothing if you are not a destination with content going forward.

In a stampede, the last horse is also the safest horse.

You at least have to answer the question of how many will survive the stampede? If you say all will, then I just don't think that is being realistic. How many and which ones will be woven into the fabric of the internet and how many will get trampled and have no meaning? I just don't know how an extension with maybe 1000 or less meaningful combination strings survives or gets any oxygen or traction in the scheme of things. So I look to those that could have wide adaptation.

Arguably auction.xyz is one of the very best of that extension. It sold for $310. So can it be sold for $500?Maybe. Probably. But I would first have to put the keyword "Auction" in front of all the other gtld's and at least ask myself is that the strongest and best match? I don't know the answer. Auction.Horses is actually a better choice. Auction.cars. I mean IF we go down this road. But if you correctly brand yourself as the "lands end" in xyz, it is possible. But the odds are against it because of the dollars that would have to spend to brand.

And still, when I re-read the paragraph and look at all the dots it is a bit confusing. End of sentence missing a space? May be years before the common folks even realize it is a url. But this is just in a controlled classroom discussion. It all changes when it hits the air of masses. The stampede is coming and I remember talking of other stampedes back in 1997 and 1998 when folks were deciding whether to go online or not. That was an easy stampede to predict and we are living the outcome as the world is now online. But this stampede has nothing in common other than the stampede itself.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

I have been saying this for a year or two now and here it is.

Sears is closing their FLAGSHIP store in Chicago to go ONLINE!

This one I wrote just THREE DAYS AGO!!

"Retailers will have to analyze those holiday numbers and they are going to one day come to the realization that for folks like JC Penny and Sears to survive, they need to start closing every store that is not growing in sales. BOOM! Just like that. Done! Overnight. Stop the hemorrhaging and focus on what works. Take some of those employees and train them how to use Facebook and Twitter and all the rest and unleash their power of change. The game is over guys. Time to rethink the next 100 years or you won't be around to rethink it. Time is running shorter and Amazon is growing bigger."

http://www.ricksblog.com/2014/01/discover-fortune-can-still-made/#.UuFDM3n0D_Q

This is what I wrote about this in August and stay tuned for my next post as JC Penny is closmg 33 stores and 2000 employees.

http://www.ricksblog.com/2013/08/jc-penny-bleeding-nearly-200-million-a-month-and-still-clueless/#.UuFDv3n0D_Q

http://news.yahoo.com/sears-closes-chicago-flagship-store-moves-online-retail-004125876--sector.html

Here are some thoughts from 2009 about the future of Sears and Pennys and Kmart:

http://www.ricksblog.com/2009/11/ricks-2009-report-card-and-what-2010-is-likely-to-look-like-imo/#.UuFFo3n0D_Q

and 2008

http://www.ricksblog.com/2008/12/the-collapse-of-2009-happy-new-years/#.UuFF9nn0D_Q

http://www.jckonline.com/2014/01/15/jc-penney-closing-33-stores-laying-2000

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

As my research department discovered the other day, King.com, owners of Candy Crush, the $1 Million dollar a day hottest game in the world, is trying to trademark the word "Candy". Folks think I would be upset. WHY?? If you have a trademark and don't own the .com domain that goes with it, you got ZILCH going forward!!

And of course Candy.com is a full-fledged business that will do $10 Million in sales in 2014. It is no longer a domain purchase. As I have said for years, we soon will see "Priceless". No, not on Candy.com but other domains in which you would have to buy the company to own the domain. Like any real brand starting with Apple.com. No domain will ever be separated from their brand until they sell the company.

So this is an unauthorized blog post since I have nothing to do with the daily operations of Candy.com. I am just a shareholder.

I would predict that as soon as their sales get past the $10 million mark and start heading toward $20- $25 million with the expansion that is coming, that eventually they will be acquired by the proper company based on the relationship they already have and the domain will become priceless and never be on the market ever again.

This deal is right here right now and I see the single biggest domain sale ever because should they have interest, they would throw away the candy store completely and focus on games and their other things they expect to go into.

So these are just my personal thoughts and there is no offer here, but fellas, you obviously understand the power of domain names with King.com. A domain I certainly would have liked to own but was one that I never got. If you are really that serious about trademarking the word "Candy", then it really has much less value and meaning without the domain. That is my professional opinion. It is consistent with everything I have written for 18 years.

There is an interesting moment here and I hope I don't get some folks inside Candy.com upset but...... for reasons I can't disclose publicly, it is VERY time sensitive. What I can say is the expansion that I talked about is ready to happen. Negotiations started in July. Documents may be signed as earlier as Monday. Once that happens, I will have no real influence as to whether the domain will ever be sold. Some heavy hitters are coming on board and they will not be interested in selling and instead of 2 guys making a decision to ride in the sunset a Board of Directors is about to take over and then folks will understand what priceless means. These are facts.

I never saw a $50 million domain rising like a cake in the oven. But I am looking at one right now because there is a growing and expanding company behind Candy.com and each day that domain has more value because the company has more value. And sooner than most think, it will be priceless. And then they will regret not having Candy.com just as I regret not having King.com. Obviously not going to be a trade here.

I think we all can agree that there is a need. Could even have a want. And where there is want, there is desire. Give me 5 minutes with the Founder and once the need is defined as I would, then the want and the desire can't be held back. I think that condition is already present without me saying a word.

Here is the Google search. This is huge news. The candy trademark issue is on every newscast and is being discussed far and wide be legal scholars and talking heads. I am sure candy.com is enjoying the boost in traffic at what is obviously the slow season:

candy trademark

All that said, I think Candy Crush will have many folks filing objections and that of course would probably include Candy.com as I doubt these guys will just sit back and say nothing. And if they can't trademark the word "Candy" then you tell me what then next best thing would be? And if they can trademark candy, how less valuable is that trademark without owning the .com? These are serious and solid business questions and issues and should be viewed as such. Things I have talked about for many years and not there is at least a very live example.

Rick Schwartz

Disclaimer: Candy.com is in no way affilated with Candy Crush, King.com, Saga. However I did see some of their Candy Crush Candy on the candy.com website.

Morning Folks,

The earliest pioneers, they got .net. They mined silver not gold. Put a metal name next to each current extension as I am about to do. Did you watch Klondike last night? 3 part series about the Alaskan Gold Rush. They are replaying it. I think on Discovery? Not sure. See what was going on in 1897 with a parallel called gold mining. You are such lucky bastards to be doing this no matter what path you choose or mine or dig.

Compare those metals that have been around for billions of years with the extensions coming out. 50x more new extensions than all the metals of the world. How do they stack up? Why will folks even know they exist? Name me 10 metals. Name 10 spices. Name 10 types of bread. Fine, now name 20. The mind ain't going there. Not for the masses and not even for anyone else.

Wonder what 200th place is worth in a car race? Most of the population could care less about most of these metals except maybe Platinum, gold, silver and titanium and they need aluminum foil. Lead is more of a liability than an asset in many cases. Useful in others. Good for Superman and kryptonite. Heavy and cumbersome if you are traveling with it. The average person, me included, never heard or are not familiar with many of these metals. We may use them, but they mean nothing to us. Do they?? Billions of years in the making. Parallel to the consumer and .mobi and 1400 more? Come on, use your common sense not your ruby-red shoes.

Aluminum
Antimony
Arsenic
Barium
Beryllium
Bismuth
Boron
Cadmium
Cesium
Chromium
Cobalt
Copper
Gallium
Germanium
Gold
Hafnium
Indium
Iron
Lead
Lithium
Manganese
Mercury
Molybdenum
Nickel
Platinum
Palladium
Rhodium
Iridium
Osmium
Ruthenium
Rhenium
Rubidium
Scandium
Selenium
Silver
Strontium
Tantalum
Tellurium
Thallium
Thorium
Tin
Titanium
Tungsten
Vanadium
Zinc
Zirconium

Which metals are important to people? There are many more. There are compounded metals and alloys.

Actinium
Aluminium
Americium
Barium
Berkelium
Beryllium
Bismuth
Bohrium
Cadmium
Calcium
Californium
Cerium
Cesium
Chromium
Cobalt
Copper
Curium
Darmstadtium
Dubnium
Dysprosium
Einsteinium
Erbium
Europium
Fermium
Francium
Gadolinium
Gallium
Gold
Hafnium
Hassium
Holmium
Indium
Iridium
Iron
Lanthanum
Lawrencium
Lead
Lithium
Lutetium
Magnesium
Manganese
Meitnerium
Mendelevium
Mercury
Molybdenum
Neodymium

Neptunium

Nickel
Niobium
Nobelium
Osmium
Palladium
Platinum
Plutonium
Polonium
Potassium
Praseodymium
Promethium
Protactinium
Radium
Rhenium
Rhodium
Roentgenium
Rubidium
Ruthenium
Rutherfordium
Samarium
Scandium
Seaborgium
Silver
Sodium
Strontium
Tantalum
Technetium
Terbium
Thallium
Thorium
Thulium
Tin
Titanium
Tungsten
Ununbium
Ununhexium
Ununpentium
Ununquadium
Ununtrium
Uranium
Vanadium
Ytterbium
Yttrium
Zinc
Zirconium

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

There are certain people who would have you ignore history because when you bring it up they get their panties all twisted in a knot and then have to resort to insults to defend their weak stance based solely on THEIR need not yours.

That was the case the other day and you see a pattern developing.

Now please separate the two issues. There is money to be made as a registry, as a registrar and as someone taking on ads and such. That is a given. I have said so. I said half the industry would be getting JOBS with these folks.  But please put all that aside. We are talking about investing your families money. So is your family or your friends more important? It's a fair question even tho it is a tough one to ask and put out there. I am just saying whatever you do, do for the RIGHT reasons not the pressure some feel.

But that is respectfully tough. Our "friend" Shaun Le Cornu that Berkens posted his comments and then dug a deeper hole in his comments is much less than respectful. He has been insulting. When the facts don't go your way, what to do?

Top 5 reasons domainers don’t want new Gtlds according to Shaun:

1. Invested interest in .com


2. Resistance to change


3. Lack of understanding of new industry


4. Short term objectives


5. Old thinking

.Mobi for Mobile before the ipad came to market but the market was turning to things mobile. So now that .Mobile is coming to market, that will surely save the day. Right?? Are you just idiots that are resistant to change? Line up for .Mobile!! It will make you RICH!

Give me a damn break!

.Tel to hook your phone up to your website.

.xxx to keep all the porn in one place

The registries all do fine. Domainers for the most part have not done fine. These are facts. And these are extensions that did have a story. Even .co. They had typos and it was shorter than .com and maybe stands for "Company".  I still have a few of each in my portfolio.  A few hundred grand buried in the dirt. Maybe more.

The public and end-user is not very interested in these extensions. Are they?? Seen any TV spots? Billboards? etc? They are out there but invisible. Want to tie your money up? May as well just open a pawn shop then and get something tangible in return that at least can be sold. But hey, it's your hard-earned money and if you want to buy .mobi today, knock your socks off.

So when we get to some of the ones I see that have no compelling story, no rhyme or reason are verbs and not nouns are nouns and not extensions, are some of the most limited in terms of combinations that make any sense whatsoever and will never reach the status of .aero. what the hell am I supposed to do? Tell everyone they are the next coming when I see nothing further from reality?

If the gTLD's depended on public support and not your support, only a handful would be viable. The rest would just collapse. Sure Godaddy and 1 and 1 and many others will be promoting. But think how many they can really promote on the top list? So they are not removing .com, .net, .org, .tv, .me, .info, or even .xxx. So they have to pick the ones that are being embraced and the other 880 are where? Let's just say they are off the radar map. I mean I can't even go thru the entire list without throwing in the towel or getting nauseous. Can you?

Soon we will be called "Neanderthals" and "Flat earthers" instead of just making a strong and coherent case and take on the tough questions with actual answers and not this silly stuff that some are becoming famous for. Your words fellas. Wise up before you choke on them.

I would rather overpay for value then get a bargain on .pigeonshit. That is the lesson of history. The hierarchy on the internet has been set and it looks like this:

.com, .net, org, and country codes. Then you have the .me, .co, .tv .info, .biz, I think you can add all the others up and you have less than .mobi.

Metals of value you can list right here and the same amount and see where it all measures up to.

.web is going to try to join that group. That's the only bet in town and that is such a huge longshot.

My next post compares extensions to all the metals in the world. Stay tuned!

Rick Schwartz