The Domain King's® thoughts on domain names, web traffic, increasing web sales, success, life, and plain-old Business & Marketing 101. Nothing happens until a sale is made!
What does a man do after he gets married? Well we have pics of Ferbers first pee among others. Just want to wish Jenna and John Ferber many happy years and here's to a bunch of little Ferbers!
In all I managed to take 500 pictures on my iPhone amidst 5 Ferber Punches that provided quite the buzz especially after being spiked with an extra shot or two of Myers. The good news was I did not have any ginger ale!
Here comes the Bride!
And there they go!
Just a man and his thoughts!
And the first order of business after getting married.....
First Dance
Jenna's reaction after learning I would be posting 'John's first pee'
John and the Blues Brothers!
The Blue's!
Can anyone find John?
Many years of happiness and congrats to the happy couple! It was a great time for all and all had a great time. Thanks guys!!
If you want to know, understand and value domains then you MUST ask a very simple question. One of many but this one is so easy that somebody even in Corporate America may even get it.
So let's use DirecTV as an example. They pay anyone a $100 bounty for a new client. So let's peel back that onion and understand the VALUE of a new client over the lifetime of that client.
So I have DirecTV and for $225/month I get all types of goodies. Have had it for 15 years and likely have it another 15 years. $2700/year x 15 is already $40,500 and another $40,500 to go. So I am an $81,000 client. Plus any other shows or movies I might order. Price increases etc. Ad dollars they will take in because more folks are watching. There are dozens of hidden advantages as well. Including things they can market to me unrelated to them. But for Corporate America we will keep this SIMPLE.
So we can establish that DirecTV can make up to as much as $81,000++++ from one client in sales over their lifetime. It's like your phone bill and your car payment and your mortgage. You pay those things every month and likely for 30-50 years or more.
So one client at DirecTV has a value $81,000 that I can prove just on me. How much is that customer worth getting?? See Corporate America wants a million at a time. But good luck. How about 10 a day? What if I have a site that can send you 10 new clients a day because the domain gets type ins? What if I can do that every single day x 365 x 30 years.
In case you can't do the math. Just 10 customers a day...........$29.5 MILLLION in generated business in for those LIFETIME customers over the course of 30 years.
Or just the simple way. 10 deals a day x $2700 annual expenditure = $27,000/day x 365 = $985,500/Year. Then multiply that by 30 and you get your $29.5 Million.
One example for one product at one price point. So Mr. End user, do the math! You understand the value of one new customer where Corp America might not.
What's the value of a domain with type ins that can give you 10 new clients each and every day? 100 new clients each and every day? ONE new client each and every day? Each business and each product can do that simple equation and figure it out. That becomes the FACE VALUE of a domain name. There are so many other bonuses you get. But hard to argue with math. And for those that say it is only 1 customer, or 5 or 10 and that is nothing significant, you are a fool.
I am being called a "Cybersquatter" by a "Journalist" at info world, Ted Samson, for registering
pope related domains even tho I have offered the names to the Vatican RIGHT HERE with this post.
I have written Mr. Samson and hopefully he will correct the record and show the difference
between what I did and what I cybersquatter does.
And Mr. Samson, if you go through my blog posts just in the past few months you will see
I talk about giving the JackKemp.com domain name to the Jack Kemp Foundation.
I asked nothing in return.
I gave YogiBerra.com to Yogi Berra and asked nothing in return.
I gave JoeTorre.com to Joe Torre and asked nothing in return.
And if you go to TerryBradshaw.com you will see I spent about $450 just weeks ago for the HONOR
of giving Terry Bradshaw his name. Just waiting to be contacted.
Does that sound like cybersquatting to you sir?
So I ask that you now only correct the record, but show the good side as well.
Don't you think that would be fair?
But if not, I am sure I can make up names to call you as well and then you will see the error of your ways.
So let's just get this right and move on. Fair enough?
And by the way, why don't you do a REAL STORY on Procter and Gamble getting ruled a REVERSE DOMAIN NAME HIJACKER that you can read about from all my posts this week.
That sir would be journalism! That would be courageous.
Thank you!
Rick Schwartz
The story has been updated to include a small response from me. I am grateful for that. But maybe
It is time to clearly define what is and is not cybersquatrting and maybe with the P&G story and this,
we can have a start!
"A Florida-based company called eRealEstate.com scooped up a bunch of Pope Francis-themed domain
names, including popefrancis.co.uk, popefrancis.de, popefrancis.be, popefrank.tv, popefrank.net,
popefrancis.tv, popefrancissouvenirs.com, and popefrancisinfo.com. The company's CEO,
Richard Schwartz, said in an email to InfoWorld that he is not a cyber squatter.
In his blog, he offered to make all of these domain names available to the Vatican at no cost,
"not that they would want any."
Money can't buy what I am looking for. Money depreciates, evaporates and gets spent. I am looking for lifetime revenue streams. Generational revenue streams.
So when the guys that eventually bought Candy.com said they had no $$$, I let them know that was not going to work. But they did have energy, passion and they were qualified since their family had been in the candy business for some 37 years.
But they were not satisfied just being another candy company. They got tired of doors being shut in their face. They got tired of working harder but not smarter. They got tired of the same thing and decided to do it a different way. They decided after 37 years it was time for their industry to take notice of their company.
Instead of having doors shut in their face those doors were opening before they even knocked on them. They were now Candy.com and in that industry, that says something. That gives them a seat at the table whether they want them there or not. Period!
So they had the requirements but not a whole lotta money. I gave them a dollar figure they would need and told them to go out and raise the cash. And they eventually did. I was able to construct a deal with so many moving parts they have to remind me what's in it. Payments, Interest, Royalties, Ownership rights, options and even a very significant payday when and if candy.com changes hands.
A domain making me anywhere from $35/day to $300/day was now making me a quarter million a year. Candy.com went from zero to projected $12MM in 2013. They now have nearly $1MM in paid inventory and several distribution points from coast to coast insuring the longest delivery is 2 days. They are growing every day. Their growth is taking the toll on others in the sector.
They have expanded into several new areas and more expansion is coming. Nothing happens overnight. In business it takes about 3 years to germinate and then you really BEGIN to blossom.
This is the model I will be following. There will be different moving parts on different deals because what is important to one party may have no significance to another party.
The Property.com deal started with the same basis as the Candy.com deal. All we had to do is rearrange in order of importance. But they brought the same elements to the table as the candy.com guys and both have spoken in detail 2x at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. shows in the past years.
Granted, you can't do this on a plain jane domain name. It must be category defining or have other important elements. But I will tell you that a sea of regret faces MANY domainers as they let liquid gold go thru their hands without getting much gold in return.
I recently looked at the list of the top 500 domain sales. I looked at Candy.com in the top 20 and realized it may be the leader of the pack someday. All other deals are done and over. These deals live on and grow and branch out and present new opportunities and do all types of things I have no way of even describing today. Each is its own little magic carpet that may whisk you away with benefits and experiences that are priceless.
It's obvious we are moving into a new phase and now folks take the net seriously. It is no longer a side entrance, it is the main entrance. It is no longer something you put up and walk away from. It is something you work every day and watch it evolve. Folks get it now. They see the power and so everyone is now trying to harness the power we have been trading in for nearly 2 decades. I can never say it enough. Overnight successes take 20 years to germinate and bear fruit. Everything we have done, made and experienced along the way I see as a bonus. Some booty we just happen to bag before the gun goes off and the REAL RACE BEGINS!
How long will I continue to write about Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH)? Until my domains and your domains and the domains of every mom and pop operation in the world are safe from predators like Procter and Gamble and the other 33 companies listed HERE.
I respect trademark holders. I am one. I understand. I get it. I can see it from both sides. I know what infringing is and looks like. But I also know what stealing is and looks like. So my job is to make a DEEP impression on the next company engaging in RDNH.
If you are a TM owner and you think some domain is worthy of a UDRP, you better make sure that if the respondent goes after you for Reverse Domain Name Hijacking, that you are on solid ground. If not, you have a MAJOR decision in LIFE! Read that again. IN LIFE! Because if you screw up on this, it will affect your life and that of your company.
You have to decide if the reputation of your entire company is worth it. You have to decide if MONEY is a better and safer alternative. You can no longer just think you can walk away with a domain name just because you want it. There is a marketplace and that's the arena that this all belongs in. So when you go out of the marketplace, you get what you get.
What would YOU have advised Procter and Gamble to do now that you KNOW it blew up in their face? What would you do? $30,000 to sell your companies reputation?? If the GIANT goes down, what is your shot? A $79 Billion dollar company has all the resources in the world and look where they ended up. As a Reverse Domain Name Hijacker found guilty of lying to a governing panel. I did not put that blemish on their name. I did not stain their name. They did that all be themselves. But I will be the PRICK that points it out at every opportunity because that's all we have. And ya know what? That will get it done!
You really want to gamble the future of YOUR company on the SAME BET Procter and Gamble took and LOST?? Do you really?
Then you are a total schmuck and you deserve to get treated like one. How's that?
Sorry, I don't have to be respectful of thieves and those thinking about stealing. My assets are GENERATIONAL and you can go to hell trying to get what my FAMILY owns! I took the risk and I paid to play!
Folks that are abusing the process and lose suffer no criminal or legal penalty as of today. That WILL change. But until then, our job is to tar and feather their deeds. Let folks know what the company they do business with is up to. Let them know their values. Let them know how they think. How they try and steal.
And remember this, in cases of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking, that is a subject people will know more about in the future not less about. Our job is to discuss, write and HAUNT them. That's the only penalty and leverage we have at this UNTIL companies stop doing this. How does that happen? This is the way that happens. Words are very powerful. Thoughts are very powerful. Deeds are things you live with.
I want Procter and Gamble to do what is right. Why should they? It's their record. It's their name. It's their problem. And maybe doing what's right is actually something they should consider.
So the more people that know and find out the more the outrage. Someday these horse thieves of this century will pay a legal price. Until then these would-be horse thieves and cattle rustlers have to deal with whatever public fallout may occur as INFORMATION is circulated.
Our results may be invisible to us but it is not invisible. It takes its toll. Cut after cut. Punch after punch. The key is never to stop. And I never will. Its the ONLY way to protect our assets until the law catches up with this practice or companies stop engaging in Reverse Domain Name Hijacking.
Common sense shows that stealing is wrong and for BIG companies to resort to stealing is pretty startling to the regular folks. That crap just does not fly for people with morals and values. Maybe a big company like P&G, that sold their stellar reputation for $30,000 should come out and say so! They sold their reputation to you and me. They no longer control it.
So these companies seem to lack morals and values and we will expose that to as many folks as possible as often as possible until THEY come out and address their misdeeds or criminal penalties are enacted. That's how I see it. You can all forget about it tomorrow. Somebody has to make sure the torch and the flame move on.
So if you file an action against a domain holder and they come back at you with a claim of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking.....you better RETHINK what you are doing. Is it worth it? Would Procter and Gamble give $30,000 today if it knew what was about to happen?
Just plain DUMB, FOOLISH and costly and this is all in ink and every company pulling this crap will have a virtual 'Scarlet Letter' pinned to their name for the rest of time.
On Tuesday I saw a list of 20 possible picks for pope. So I decided to hon my skill as I usually do on events of great interest. Being Jewish I was not aware the parameters for the pope changing his name but I was glad to see I had no shot anyways.
But while I did not hit the bullseye on this mission, I circled around that eye.
I got these 24 hours before the announcement: PopeJorge.com, PopeGeorge.com, PopeJorge.tv, PopeJorge.me, PopeJorgeBergoggio.com PopeJorgeBergoggio.org,
PopeFrancis.co.uk got the most traffic yesterday. 82 visitors in the first 5 hours and 45 as of 10AM today.
All these names are availabe to transfer to the Vatican without charge....not that they would want any.
I can only imagine the amount of traffic the REAL domain got. PopeFrancis.com could have easily gotten over 1 million TYPE INS! Type ins! What more proof would folks like about type ins?
If the .com gets 1 million visitors and the .net gets 5000 visitors and all the rest combined get 5000 visitors, does that not illustrate the power of .com?
Now much of that traffic will taper off. But not all.
I got a bunch of consolation prizes. I also had some PopeBenedict domains. They got very little traffic because he was never a popular Pope. This Pope is quite different and people already love him! His words were quite moving and humble is just not a good enough word.
Godaddy came out with a press release and said they sold 500 in the first 1 hour of Pope related domain names. So you could assume worldwide many thousands were registered. It is now a cottage industry in and of itself. We will see in what form this plays out. But a popular Pope could make for some very interesting domain stories.
As I write this I registered 2 more. popefrancissouvenirs.com, popefrancisinfo.com. Like I said, a cottage industry is likely to spring up. PopeFrancisMass.com
It is hard to describe the process or the why but here is a small parallel of the feeling that goes through me as a domain investor. As an investor. As a risk taker. As a gambler in the casino of business.
You can buy a major league baseball at the store for $10 or $20. But that is not the same as going to the stadium and catching a home run. That is priceless. Same ball with a different experience and value. I don't mind throwing the ball back to the guy that hit the home run. As a matter of fact that is the most priceless thrill of all. The thrill of the thrill.
btw, the number one question I hear is why did they not pick a younger Pope? I beleive I have the answer and I am sure many won't like it. But when you get down to it......Each of those Cardinals dreams of being Pope. If they put in a young Pope, that dream dies for all who have it. Human Nature even exists there. You may have your opinion, this is mine.
You just can't make this stuff up! Are they clueless? Are they out of touch? How do you excuse this colossal screw up? For $30,000, somebody or some department or departments PLUS their attorneys made a decision to put the reputation of Procter and Gamble on the line. For $30,000!!!!!!!!!!
You guys fill in the adjectives. I am off the rails on this. I just can't believe what I just read. Besides that, they were getting a BARGAIN for a domain like that. $30k??!! GEEZ! How do you not call the folks involved MORONS?? And worse!?
However you can start to fix it! What say you?? Isn't it worth the attempt? It can only get worse as the news spreads and it is spreading.
Ok, not me, then how about Cavuto? Go on his show. EXPLAIN who and why. You don't think heads should roll? Do you really think you can ignore this? What IDIOT is responsible?
This is outrageous and if I were you I would be fuming at this! 172 years came and went and a stellar brand has now been branded a REVERSE DOMAIN NAME HIJACKER! If you IGNORE this then I would interpret that as nothing learned.
Procter and Gamble (P&G) has been found GUILTY of trying to REVERSE HIJACK a domain that they did not own via an ABUSE of the governing body and LIED during the process. Saying they did $40 Million in business n the swash product when in FACT it was $60,000. That ain't just a little fib. That is misleading the governing body to influence them with a LIE! And if it were not for the attorney, Mr. Berryhill, it may never have come to light. (You can read some of his comments about the case here)
That is now around the neck of Procter and Gamble until they use their influence to PROTECT domain owners not ABUSE domain owners! To do business the right way and not THAT way! They have been doing this a long time. They KNOW the rules. But they decided to abuse those rules instead of abiding by those rules.
My question and yours now should be, HOW MANY OTHER TIMES AND TO OTHER PEOPLE DID PROCTER AND GAMBLE DO THIS TO?? HOW MANY DID NOT OR COULD NOT DEFEND THEMSELVES? How many of your 8000+ domain names have been gotten through less than honorable means?
Don't like those questions? TOO BAD! They are coming and they will continue to come. This MAY be the tip of the iceberg and I think we have a right to find out. Especially if the company does not address this directly. It's their reputation and right now and for the first time in 172 years, they don't control it.
Procter and Gamble has been a beacon of marketing for generations! It's one of America's finest companies. It HAD a stellar name. It hurts to go after a company I have admired and learned from all my life. This is not fun. Painful in fact. But I know a vaccine when I see one. I know this will be a HUGE lesson for the next guy. That's what this is about for me. An Inoculation to protect me and you and all domain owners big and small. Let them watch what happens when you get tagged with being a REVERSE DOMAIN NAME HIJACKER (RDNH).
I am upset and I have nothing to do with your company and don't own any stock in it. So if the folks that work there are not 100x as outraged as I am, that the name of a GREAT company has been FOREVER SOILED, then they are just CHUMPS that don't get it and there are 2 MEN rolling in their graves who would not be proud of this day or them. That's my opinion and I think the facts support that opinion.
We are starting to learn about the details of this unbelievable case involving Procter and Gamble. Now prepare to fall on the floor over stupidity and just being a cheap chump.
BizJournals is reporting: 'P&G asked Marchex in March 2012 to give it the name in exchange for registration and transfer costs. Receiving no response, it then offered $600. Marchex refused and asked for $30,000.'
So a 172 year old company got THIS and all the rest to come for not paying a LOUSY $30,000 for this $79 BILLION dollar company and had to try and STEAL the domain by LYING!?
The lie? They said they sold $40 MILLION on the Swash product when in FACT it was $60,000.
I am not happy that Procter and Gamble has been found guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking but I am going to milk this story for every ounce it is worth and it may take me YEARS to do it. When it comes to Domain Names, Procter and Gamble was a guiding light in my book. Great respect because they figured it out. Even tho I vaguely recall them dumping a bunch of domains years ago. I think I might have gotten 1 or 2.
Reverse domain name hijacking (also known as reverse cybersquatting), occurs where a trademark owner attempts to secure a domain name by making false cybersquatting claims against a domain name's rightful owner. In this case not only did P&G make false claims, they also lied outright to the governing panel and got caught!
See when I started, P&G was already out there getting domain names or soon thereafter. So they understood about domain names very early. It is that reason that what they did is particularly troubling. I always liked and respected Procter and Gamble because they always moved well with the time and of course I like everyone else use a lot of their products. But all our lives. All my parents lives. All my grandparents lives and half of the life's of their parents before them. Whew!
They are the warm and fuzzy company that gave us many soap operas and toothpaste and all types of other things we use each and every day. They perfected the TV commercial long before any of us were even in the game or born. So it makes me sad to learn one of my heroes is now a would-be thief had the other party not fought back and exposed their fraud! Well done John Berryhill!
Who made that decision? Who was responsible for P&G overstepping in this outrageous manner? So outrageous that a 3 member panel called them out in a way I don't think I have seen before. Saveme.com case had very strong language. But this language seemed to be harsher in tone. I guess it is open to interpretation. But maybe because it was slapping a business giant as if he had no more standing than you and me. BRAVO!!
I am not mad at them. I am going to use Procter and Gamble to make many points over the next YEARS! Let companies KNOW if P&G is convicted of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking, you will be too if you engage in this despicable act. But I would just as well have them tell the story. I'd like to ask why a company worth billions would STAIN their reputation with this act that the common man would find appalling? Why would they not just come to an agreement with the owner? Now they pay the price and the price is priceless. How stupid is that??
I am angry, upset and most of all disappointed in a company that wrote the book on marketing and other things. They were true leaders of an era. Of many eras.
So what MORONIC company wants to be NEXT!!?? Who made the decision to do this? Why did they do it? What transpired that allowed them to risk so much for so little?? That's what I really don't get.
I am very disappointed. I am still going to use their products but they can't force me to look at their company the same ever again. These companies are playing with fire.
Maybe they should do some research into history and see what some little old ladies did to big companies that tried to build malls where their homes were located. This is akin to that. But in an age like this news flies and it is in ink.
Some SCHMUCK working at SOME DEPARTMENT at Procter and Gamble, decided it was worth GAMBLING the reputation of a 172 year old company. 135,000 employees. $79 BILLION in sales in 80 countries. And they had to try and muscle some guy with a domain? What would you call that Mr. CEO of Procter and Gamble?? I CHALLENGE you Mr. McDonald to come to our trade show and explain it to this audience and the wider audience? I CHALLENGE YOU!!??
Wow! What a HUGE blunder. What have you learned? Are you going to use the same tactics again? Are you pissed at me? Maybe you should be pissed but I am not the one you should be pissed at. I would be pissed at the person, department or firm that put the reputation of your 172 year old company on the line and LOST!!??
Besides all this your company, P & G, was found to misrepresent facts to the panel. Nice touch! Were you personally involved in that decision? You should RESIGN TODAY if you were. This is all my personal as well as professional opinion. I'll assume you were not involved in a low level decision that was this stupid and worse.
What say you Mr. McDonald? Personally I am just disappointed that a company I have always looked up to would stoop to this. I am sorry for the bluntness of this post but our industry has suffered from corporate bullies for nearly 20 years and this time the giant of em all went down and went down very hard. Very hard! A company that otherwise has been very wise in their domains and how they have conducted themselves. But now this STAIN and none of your STAIN REMOVERS will be effective on this.
Mr. Berkens points out that your folks LIED to the panel when your company said they did $40 Million in business on the 'swash' product.
““The entire Panel finds it more extraordinary still that in its Complaint the Complainant represented the SWASH brand to be a worldwide brand of longstanding with multi-million dollar sales, stating that over the last 4 years alone the brand had gained sales of over USD 40,000,000.”
“When this was challenged by the Respondent, the Complainant was forced to admit that the brand had only been on the market for 4 years, that sales had been restricted to the USA and that sales over those four years had totaled under USD 60,000.”
Most importantly Mr. Berkens points out one last thing:
Had the Respondent failed to respond, there is a very real risk that the Panel, relying upon the 1993 International registration and the substantial sales volumes claimed for the brand, would have found in favor of the Complainant. This Complaint fell very far short of what the Panel was entitled to expect from a Complainant of this stature.
So your company LIED Mr. McDonald in an effort to STEAL a domain that belongs to another company, Marchex, which just as easily could have been some mom and pop in Iowa that could not defend themselves and let you have the domain. You now join our 'Hall of Shame' and each time somebody is convicted of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking, we repost the entire list. Congrats!
So let me ask you directly Mr. McDonald, How many domains has your company gotten that it had to LIE about? Or that they had to make folks spend money they did not have to defend what was rightfully theirs and is now yours? Tell us that. Isn't that a fair question in light of what has happened? Maybe you should WANT to find out. WANT to make it right. If I have something wrong, please let me know.
Sir, I have been doing this for 18 years and what your company did is troubling and it is something that we as risk takers have had to UNFAIRLY endure. There is a free market place. Use it, don't abuse it. Right now you and your 172 year old company have to live with this. It probably means nothing to you but it may mean the WORLD to somebody else. So to get our message out we need to SHAME companies that engage in this abuse as there is no penalty for what we just saw happen. They just walk away.
Bob McDonald. CEO since 2009
Here is a list of Procter and Gamble Products. The asterisk are their *Billion Dollar Brands*. Come on Mr. McDonald. What say you about this? You sound like a stand up guy that served your country and company well. You have been with the company for 33 years. Don't you want to get to the bottom of this as well? Who put the companies good name in jeopardy for this? Who lied? What idiot is responsible? Marketing? Legal? Finance? Who? How many? Why would you allow this embarrassment to occur again or are you too big to be embarrassed? Any other abuse in the name of your 172 year old company. I sure as hell would want to know if I were in your position.
So we are forced to use Procter and Gamble as an example to sway the next MORON or the next company not to get involved with this despicable act of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH). Help us do that Mr. McDonald and you will find an ally and we can call it a great day!
And as I read the history of the company I stopped as it described the 'Joint Venture' that started this company back in 1837. Wonder what Mr. Procter and Mr. Gamble would have done given the same circumstance? Before they even had billions? My instinct says they would have acted in a different manner and somebody there violated a 172 year old trust just because he or she was a cheap bastard that played fast and loose with the facts and refused to pay either fair market value or find an alternative.
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