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

Morning Folks!!

We are 30 days out from the show. We have 100 more room nights sold this year compared to 30 days before last years show. So there is no question our group will OWN the hotel. Just a matter if you pay $265/night or MUCH MORE on Monday!

If you need to cancel, DO NOT cancel with reservations as they will just put it back in inventory at 2x the price. Please contact me as we NEED your rooms! Please.

These numbers are from yesterday afternoon. If you are having a problem or the days say 'SOLD OUT', contact me and I will see what I can do. Oceanfront rooms are all sold out. There may be ONE Oceanfront Suite left. There are still a handful of 'Ocean View Rooms'.

Friday October 5th.....Just 2 rooms left and we can't get anymore! (We do have 1 staff room as well)

Saturday October 6th.....We added their last 20 rooms to the 7 we had left late last week and now are only 5 available! Remember we only started with 25 rooms for Saturday Night pre-show and are now at nearly 100. The cabana networking is PRICELESS. Most pay for their entire trip BEFORE the show even starts!

Sunday October 7th......23 Rooms left

Monday October 8th.....23 Rooms left

Tuesday October 9th....19 Rooms left

Wednesday October 10th.....Sold Out

These numbers were from yesterday afternoon.

If you want to see how fast these rooms are going, just refer to this post from Saturday. All I can do is urge you to make your reservation even before you buy your show tickets.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

A domain that has never been anything but a placeholder since 1995 is now going to be available at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. auction. FanClub.com is a true category defining domain name with a reserve with in reach of many domainers. What value would you put on this domain?

It joins a growing list of doamins for our live auction.

Lot #101 Tumors.com (No Reserve)
Lot #102 Fibre.com ($1 Reserve)
Lot #103 3dMovie.com (Aggressively Priced)
Lot #104 DesPlaines.com ($1000 Reserve)
Lot #105 (Awaiting Signed Contract)
Lot#106 gtldforum.com (No Reserve)
Lot#107 gTLD.org ($1000 Reserve)
Lot#108 AerobicExercises.com (Guaranteed Placement)
Lot#109 FixedAPR.com (Guaranteed Placement)
Lot#110 SeePrague.com (Guaranteed Placement)
Lot#111 AnsweringMachines.com (No Reserve)
Lot#112 CheapLaptops.com (Aggressively Priced)
Lot#113 gtldAttorney.com (No Reserve)
Lot#114 NavigationGlasses.com (Low Reserve)
Lot#115 SmartLawyer.com (No Reserve)
Lot#116 FinancialGoals.com (No Reserve)
Lot#117 FitnessResort.com (No Reserve)
Lot#118 TechnologyTimes.com (Priced well)
Lot#119 FanClub.com (Huge Opportunity)

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

It drives me crazy when folks talk about earning enough to cover registration fees. Talk about setting the bar low. All a domain has to do is earn 2.5 CENTS A DAY to be profitable. 2.5 CENTS! 2.5 Sense! Are you kidding me?? Come on, if that is how you look at domains and are still losing, then something is very wrong!

I don't talk about 'Pigeon Shit' domains without a reason. The 'Pigeon Shit' is out of control. What are you folks thinking? There are thousands of you playing a fools game and while many are waking up because they are broke, still others are still buying the POOP!

There is so much PS out there that decent names seem impossible to recognize when you are pissing away dollars and can't even make PENNIES! Stop buying domains that don't mean anything! Lord! gdfkyt.com means NOTHING. Has NO VALUE. Oh yes, only for the next 3 groups coming. The ones focusing on LLLLLLLLLL.com. Folks, they are called WORDS for a reason.

So once you toss out your pigeon shit it allows you to have the dollars for meaningful domains that are BORN every single day of the week. BORN! But when you chase yesterday you can't see that part of the equation.

Opportunity comes and opportunity is born when you are aware and pay attention. It amazes me that EVERY old timer still hand registers domains and the guys with less success always LAUGH at this. Are you kidding me??

If your bills exceed your income it is not the fault of domains! It is the fault of not seeing, understanding and adjusting.

I know it comes over as if I am scolding. But if you are losing money and your family depends on you, maybe it is time to take inventory. Look, I don't go around listing worthless domains. So let me give you some rules like the LLLLLLLLLL.com above.

When I hear this is an 'SEO Friendly' or 'Keyword Rich' or any of that other BOGUS terms to describe a domain name, let me give you the translation. WORTHLESS!

I-have-a-great-domain-name.com is WORTHLESS!
3tg65y3.com is WORTHLESS!
LLLLLLLLLL.com is WORTHLESS!
Domains that confuse o and 0 are WORTHLESS!

One guy sent me a list of 4000 domain names. Every single one was WORTHLESS! But he is pissing away $35,000/year on pure pigeon shit. All he has to do is stop renewing the shit and start over with $35,000 in his pocket. Go buy a REAL set of domain names. Finance a $100k domain for 3 years. He has the POWER and the MONEY to change his destiny. But first I have to change his mind. I am sure he worked hard to put that together. Many hours. Wasted hours and wasted money. He is probably cursing the hell out of me right now. But his life and family are worth more than his pride. That's part of business.

Domains are either an asset or a liability. The difference is 2.5 CENTS a day! It's never too late to start over. If you are running a negative cash flow, the least you should do is begin the process of re-evaluating what you have. Nothing I don't do on a daily basis. I have let over 4000 names drop this year. I don't sell them. They were worthless and my job is not to look for somebody less knowledgeable so I can dump them on. I just let them drop. The only one I sold was Flowers.mobi at a substantial loss and swallowed my pride to unlock those dollars to become more productive.

I know there is real pain out there. I can see the desperation. The worry. The things and emotions we go thru when we know we are not heading in the right direction. But we feel that way when we are not in control. So to fix that....TAKE CONTROL!! Change your direction. Upgrade your portfolio while cleaning out those pigeon droppings.

I started talking about 'Pigeon Shit' for a reason back in 2010. Some thought it was cute. Some thought it was crude. I knew just how serious a problem it really was and how widespread that problem is. It was just the cold hard truth to me and when I see a 'Truth', I never back down from it.

So how do you REALLY know if you own 'Pigeon Shit'? Whether your entire portfolio is suspect? Put it to this test. What percentage of your portfolio meets my test?

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

The following is what I wrote in 1996 with updates into 2000. But the updates never changed the words of the text below. They are original. The only thing that changed were the dates, news to keep it current. Let's calibrate theory then with the reality of today. The Internet itself was still in doubt as crazy as that sounds today. What was my site in 1996-1998 is merely a blog post today.

I then upgraded to This Site which was an early incarnation of eRealestate.com. It's still online and connected but even takes me about 10-15 minutes to find as I click all types of links. lol Now I have a place to reference it.

But I was not done. I then came out with these 2 'Flash Sites.'

The First one was here and the one I eventually used was here. They were both done by an 18 year old kid back then from South America who made quite a name for himself in the domain industry since. Mateus. (spelling?)

But even they were a problem because back in 1999-2000, connections were slow. The majority had a very slow modem and DSL was just in limited markets. So not that far into the future I developed my current eRealestate.com site and it has been online ever since. I update it about once a year.

Either way, it all started with these words that I wrote in 1996-1999 and have been the foundation of everything I believe today. Those beliefs were confirmed in September 2000 when one of my wildest predictions came true. In 1996 I dreamed someday that every single billboard in Times Square would be a .Com. And so it came to be just 4 years later and I cried like a baby. That was the single boldest prediction I had ever made and to see the reality was overwhelming.

The power of an electronic address can only be imagined by examples such as Dell Computer announcing that they do a $1 million a day in sales on the internet as of March 1997! (Increasing 6x that as of May 1998!!) Would anyone have believed them if they announced that in 1996? Not only are they doing sales at a rate in excess of $2 billion a year, I would venture to say it is their most profitable because their overhead may only be a fraction of a conventional sale. Plus those figures are escalating daily.
And folks....That ain't nothing......This next little tidbit will floor you! Late in April 1997, Chrysler announced something so incredible that they are still clamoring. Remember, it was not but a few years ago that Chrysler had losses of $400 and $500 million. They released a statement and it basically stated that because of the internet and being able to streamline their operations to take advantage of the net's power, they would be able to SAVE $2 BILLION PER YEAR in cost cutting alone!!! That's without even talking about sales!!! THAT'S $2 BILLION A YEAR IN SAVINGS!!

Not even the price of land in Manhattan nor anywhere else on the planet accelerated to the degree of the net and this is just the beginning. By the end of 1997 the mainstream may realize just how much they underestimated how quickly the public would embrace the internet. People you never thought would use it have now gone out and learned so they can easily stay in touch with their children and grandchildren via email. This fact alone.....is simply amazing!
Simply put folks.....'If you build it.....they will come' It's that simple. Their 'Field of dreams' was on a baseball diamond....this 'Field of dreams' is on a slightly larger playing surface.
DomainSeller.com is open to Lease, Trade, Develop or joint venture our properties. Some domains are already under contract and more are going all the time. Speaking of time....don't waste any. If you have an idea the time to act is right now. If you are interested in one then I suggest you start a dialogue with us immediately. With all the wild get rich schemes that are available out there maybe it is time to stop wasting your time. Become a visionary.Remember....'Today's visionary is tomorrow's genius!'

And Just one more thing.....
Listen folks, this is the gold rush and the industrial revolution all rolled up into one, only bigger, better, easier and a lot more profitable. The gold rush is in full swing and every minute you delay is a silly minute wasted. The net has given everyone an equal shot at a piece of the pie. It's a brand new race and everyone has a nearly equal chance. If you can read this then you have no argument and if you have a burning desire then nobody can stop you.

In cyberspace nobody knows if you are black or if you are white, if you are rich or poor, tall or short, fat or skinny, clean or dirty, handicapped or healthy, Christian or Jew etc., ....They know only two things....the content of what you have to say and a way to communicate effectively to people from all walks of life and from around the globe. Plus the value you put on your own character. Consisting of your credibility, your honesty, your integrity, and your devotion to do things the right way without taking advantage of others. This will be either your greatest asset or a liability that will inevitably be your downfall. You don't judge a book by its cover, In cyberspace you are judged by your content. Of course a nice cover such as a great domain name couldn't hurt.
The opportunity that any one of these domains can give to an individual or company who can accomplish what they set their minds to is truly a gift that has dropped in their lap. Now it is up to you to see if you have the guts, the drive and the creativity you need to acquire your dream.
Look over our domains. Allow yourself to come up with a creative idea. You only need one idea...the rest they will write about. Remember, these are not imaginative and silly type domains. These are domains that while standing alone with no other words tell the world exactly what you have in just an easy to remember electronic address! Remember our motto.......'Today's visionary is tomorrow's genius!' We genuinely believe that if YOU DO build it.....they WILL come.
In closing, consider the following........

If you BELIEVE you 'CAN'......then you are RIGHT!!
If you BELIEVE you 'CAN'T'....then you are also RIGHT!!'

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Labor Day!! Start your engines!!

The #1 thing I look for is not always what I get but it certainly is my target. I have the luxury of not following my own rules as I chase tomorrow in a 'Social' way. But here is the tiny little secret that will change how you look at and buy domain names.

The simple question is: 'If I had this domain and ONLY this domain, could I figure out how to make a living from it?' That's my test. It's so simple. And when the answer is yes and the price is right, I buy that domain name. Simple. It's my guiding light. My north star. When all else fails and I have this one domain, can I make a living?

When you do that, you really can't lose. But you still have to know what a business is. You still have to have an idea. You still have to make a mousetrap that catches profit. But the first thing you need is a domain name. A domain name that when standing by itself makes a statement, is a brand and clearly says what you do.

That's the primary method behind my madness. Go ahead, tell me how wrong I am. Cherry pick names out of my portfolio that don't meet the test. Do whatever losers do and focus on anything other than the simplest way to pick a domain name and almost never lose. Oh yeah, stick with a dot com.

Let me make it crystal clear. When you use a non dot com you will always be working harder for less. PERIOD! There will always be an invisible loss of sales and profits. PERIOD! There will always be some level of confusion. PERIOD! There will always be a cloud hanging over your business that a bad decision was made along the way and until they get the .com it won't be fixed. It is a business faux paux of the greatest magnitude. Just like hard to spell domains or cutsey domains.

Sorry, but I don't look at it thru the prism of a domainer. I look at it thru the prism of the business owner, the startup, the consumer, the eyes of human nature. I look at it as how does one differentiate themselves without confusing them in a more and ore crowded playing field. No matter how many websites are out there now, millions will be added this week alone. See when everyone is on their own soap box yelling ME! ME! ME! how do you get the attention of consumers? It gets more and more difficult. As that happens the domain is what goes up in value because it is one of the biggest things to elevate you over the rest. End user that is. That is the prism I look thru. The guy on Main Street. The guy in the middle of nowhere. The consumer most of all.

More importantly, the average consumer that folks aim for are not rocket scientists. They have an average 6th-8th grade education level. The masses! So you must keep it simple. Finally, all the sales and marketing laws off the net apply on the net. Supply and Demand still runs the whole thing. Sales and Profits are still the epicenter. No sales equals no business. Need, Want, Desire.

Have a GREAT Labor Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

It was early in 2005. I Googled his name. Could not even find the right spelling back then. Nor his REAL name. I had to guess. This was a guy I started following years earlier when he took the olympics plagued with corruption and about to collapse and save it back in 2002. That got my attention. Being Governor of Massachusetts. The most liberal state in the USA, got my attention. I was a fan. But nobody really ever heard of him back then. I even remember when his father George Romney ran for President because in grade school I could name all the Governors, Senators and most world leaders and he was Governor of Michigan.

Willard is his REAL first name.I did not know how to spell his name. So I got MitRomney.com, MittRommney.com ElectRomney.com, ElectMittRomney.com, PresidentRomney.TV, MittRomney.TV, MittRomney.us and so on. A total of over 50 of them and different variations. Some are now 'Pigeon Shit' because they refer to 2008. At least they are not on auto renew as of today. lol

So here is a little quiz. Do you know which one gets the most type ins? Do you know which one earns the most? To me it is an exercise in Human Nature as I sat with these names for the last 7 1/2 years. I even had the audacity to register RomneyRice.com in 2005 and as we all saw, that almost came to be! How's that for a LONG ball??

But I have watched one of those domain names grow from no traffic for years to over 200/day right now and growing. I will see if it continues to grow and when it eventually plateaus. I can say this, it has been a very steady increase in traffic for several months. It is almost a barometer of how he is doing. Raw Human Nature hard at work from an embryo and my job is to observe the numbers and figure out what that means as those numbers change.

But the highlight of my week came in the form of JackKemp.com. Another guy I have followed for many years that ran for VP. I got that domain in 2002. He died a few years ago. I admired him. But this week I was able to make contact with his foundation I just learned about and have offered to transfer at no cost.

Come to think of it I got the names of many of my friends and brothers and others when they all thought I was crazy for doing it. I just knew how important it was to land in the right hands someday. Must of cost me thousands if I added it all up. But some gifts are priceless and I knew back then that their name may become their most important asset. They laughed, told me not to waste my money but I knew what I saw and refused to let the names go. Just put them all on auto renew until the world caught up. I would say we are at that point now.

I did that with YogiBerra.com in 1996 and 1 or 2 others over the years. Their foundation wanted to make me an offer to buy the domain. I told them if they can prove they were with the foundation that actually represented Yogi that I would just transfer it to them and I wanted nothing in return. They were thankful for what I did and a few weeks later I got some autographed baseballs from Yogi. I still have them in my office.

I registered JoeTorre.com and was able to give it to Joe Torre. Ironically, he was the first autogragh I ever got as a 12 year old kid as the Met's played the Braves in the 1960's. But as I look today, it seems it was lost, or dropped or something as I got it back in 1996 and it now shows a parked page registerd in 2010.

Reminds me....Tia Wood, Please put in a transfer for TiaWoods.com. I know in marketing that some folks like ME for example always thought her names was Tia Woods. When I found out there was no 'S' and the domain with the 'S' was available, I grabbed it for her. It was too early to transfer and until this post I forgot all about it. But I know that is a domain she NEEDS to have.

When Dean Shannon had his first baby boy in 1998. I registered AdamShannon.com and still have it to this day. I KNOW someday SOON they will both want that domain. Wow, he is 14 years old today. I wonder if he would rather have a car or his own domain name when he is 16? But it is HIS domain name. I have just been keeping it safe for him all these years.

The one domain I had hijacked over the years was the 'Family name' of one of my oldest and dearest friends. It has no commercial value but I am still pursuing it to this day.

Still waiting to contact a few others. All of these domains are domains I would be happy to transfer including my Romney domains. But still better in my hands than hands that could do something nefarious with these domains. I was already contacted for that express purpose on HitMitt.com which has nothing to do with Romney at all. But they had some 'Political' game that they wanted to use the domain for and I declined the lease.

When Paul Ryan announce his mothers name....I registered it. Then contacted the Romney campaign an offered to transfer. I would transfer any of these names on request. It's not my fault that I see a need for something for somebody in the future that they don't see now.

Domains are about predicting the future not chasing the past! That is why we will never run out. Who got Eastwooding.com? Not me! You got to pay attention to win at this game! But I would have been on it had I heard about it early. That is the Domain Game!

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

I will be blasting this out to our mailing list at the beginning of next week but decided to publish it first since it is time sensitive.

On September 10th, (Next Monday) prices on the standard rooms at the Ritz-Carlton go up from our current level of $265 to $639 MINIMUM if they are not sold out. That's more than double per night!! Easily $1000 more on a 3 night stay. Remember, we secured these rooms and rates during the height of the recession and their current room rates reflect that. So if you come for the entire conference, arriving 10/6 and checking out on 10/10, the only availability is a $639 upgraded room unless you book RIGHT NOW at only $265. The best rate I found was $409 but that was for a single night.

Saturday October 6th, we have the last 14 rooms in the hotel as of 3PM Friday. That's all we can get. They have made it clear. No more. The lowest available room online now is a 1 bedroom suite at $559 as I write this. So when a hotel can sell the same room for twice as much, they are not motivated to give us any help.

To give you an idea, about 1/2 of attendees at this point WILL be there on Saturday Night October 6th. When we originally booked, we only secured 25 rooms because that was before we employed the cabana networking. We are already at over 100 rooms and that does not include the dozens of domainers that live in the area. So Saturday is going to be hopping!

October 7th, 8th and 9th Oceanfront rooms are all sold out. However there are still a couple of 'Ocean View' rooms. There are 192 rooms in the hotel and all but 42 are sold as of right now. That's it! 42 rooms with 5 weeks to go and our rate expiring on September 10th.

If you want to stay post show, I am sorry to say the hotel is now completely sold out on the 10th and the 11th of October. We secured as many rooms as possible, but they are all sold.

This information as of 3PM Friday. I can only urge you to make your hotel reservations before you even buy your show tickets. The rooms will be gone long before we run out of tickets. Again, prices after September 10th on REMAINING ROOMS will likely DOUBLE or TRIPLE if they are not completely sold out with just 42 left as I write this.

Again, if you try and make a reservation and there is any problem, contact me and I will try and accommodate you. But the longer you delay, the less I can help. There is only so much I can do. I don't want anyone to be disappointed. This is a 5 Star Hotel and we have bargain rates!

Lastly, Tickets are now $1795 each. We have 4 tickets left at the $1595 price that we had allotted at that level. First to email me for any or all, will get them.

Rick Schwartz

Afternoon Folks!!

They are starting to pay attention to sales and traffic and making money. According to this Fortune article, that just came out minutes ago, a BIG portion of Mobile traffic is worthless. Imagine that. Worthless traffic? Where have I heard about that?? Oh yes, I started writing about worthless traffic back in the 1990's and about every few days soince then. Long wait with this Pina Colada on the beach. But they are coming.

'A study by Trademob, a German mobile-marketing company, found that 40% of all mobile clicks are either accidents (buttclicks, perhaps?) or fraud. And mobile-ad click fraud is apparently growing fast, the company says. At the start of the year, fraud accounted for 10% of mobile-ad clicks. Now it accounts for 18%, according to the study'

I make money from Facebook, but Facebook does not make money from me and are still trying to figure out how to make money ON me.

But this email I got that I have plugged in with fictitious city name to protect the privacy emailed me the following and it is straight from the end user:

'I recently opened a restaurant in 'Mid Size City USA'. Wasted $6k on a social media expert to get 600 fans. Half don't live in the market.

Spent $1500 on MidSizeCityRestaurants.com and get 1,000 plus uniques a month from active local restaurant seekers.'

That's first hand evidence that I got just the other day. Real world testimony that trumps all the BS you hear.

It's all about 'Targeted Traffic' and SALES from here on out and the game is changing.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Tuesday, September 4th is 'Business New Year's Day!' Huh? Yup. To me, one of the most important days of the year. It's the day 'Normalcy' begins to return along with it's cousin 'Routine'. It's the day the economic engine begins to transform itself as it gets ready for the all important 4th quarter. The excitement to me is like the build up to the Superbowl. Sorry, business turns me on and in the last quarter, that is when most of the years business is done decisions are made and a course is set for a new year.

What happens in the weeks ahead determines where we actually end up by the spring of next year when this ride coasts into another summer slowdown. Ever been on the 'Log Flume Ride'? Well 'Business New Year's is the day you reach the peak and just before you go on your merry way which occurs in late November. The hard work is done but these are the days that you pick the fruit from that hard work.

This is just the part of the year that really counts. That serious folks get serious. The folks that realize that the reason they enjoy their summers is because they work hard to make hay for the few weeks a year that they can make big things happen.

There are a few important cycles during the year for business. None more relevant and important than now. It all ends early in December. You heard me, it's over by the first week of December. By then the cards for the holidays are already dealt. Business will sink or swim with whatever decisions they make between 'Business New Year's' and the end of the year on the calendar.

December is a deal making, horse trading, get your books and taxes in order. So have a great weekend and when you come back in Tuesday, know we are in for a race to the finish line!

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

We are in the process of creating a series of Icons for those that have been nominated for an award. They can display on their site if they wish to. Below are the first generation to get things going. But we are working on a few other things.

For example, for past winners, we will provide you with a more customized Icon with it personalized for your specific award and year. Possibly even your name!

This is just the first generation and Danny is working on many of these so that you can find the one that suits your site the best. I will be posting more TODAY. I will post them right here as they become available.

There is no link back required but would be appreciated to TargetedTraffic.com. We often talk about 'End Users'. So the first thing to accomplish that might be to build a road to something they can educate themselves about. Just a thought.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz