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

Morning Folks!!

I am very excited about an emerging niche. For the first time I am excited about gTLD domains. Very excited. I can see it clearly now. But not in the form of .whatever. I have yet to be convinced or won over yet. But I always keep an open mind.

What I am excited about is gTLDForum.com at no reserve and gTLD.org with a $1000 reserve. Both will be up for auction at TRAFFIC. What I think interesting is some folks don't think these domains have any value. Ok fine, we are all entitled to see what we see. The market will speak.

These are instant businesses. Pure and simple. A new multi-billion dollar business is coming whether it works or whether it collapses. They will still be investing and spending BILLIONS. You can make a fortune with gTLD without ever investing in a .whatever. The Last General Market before they hit the hills with their picks and shovels.

So far the ONLY thing that has excited me is the opportunity in gTLD is gtld domain names ending in .com. An emerging niche. Selling picks and shovels to the new miners. History repeats itself. Here are a couple of clear opportunities to duplicate what has already been done.

Most will disagree and they are all entitled to do that. Let's measure the degree of disagreement 5 years down the road. That is the difference in viewpoint and how far into the future we look.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

So this morning after my blog post I clicked on an ad at domaining.com. As a domainer we have all learned what constitutes a trademark and what does not. Today I want to show you an outrageous use of MY personal trademark! What if I told you a registrar is using my 'Domain King' name to help promote and grow their business and sell domain names without MY permission or knowledge?

Well that is EXACTLY what is happening if you look at the lower left hand corner of the website of onlydomains.com. Using ME and MY name to make sales. That is absolute BULLSHIT and in a small industry like this to do it, takes CHUTZPAH! How many domains and accounts did they get trading on MY NAME??!!

So here is a PUBLIC CEASE and DESIST! You have been PROFITING from MY name for MONTHS and TODAY it stops! Are they going to claim they didn't know?? They profited off of my good and high profile name and so this is the start not the end! Shameful in an industry as small as ours.

OnlyDomains.com aka Instra.com, the ONLY thing you have is a MAJOR problem! Using my trademarked name to trick people into believing I endorse or own or otherwise involved in a company I never heard of in this tiny industry is OUTRAGEOUS and so far over the line I am speechless.

And let me be clear, it is not about my trademark. It is about common decency. Could you imagine Fabulous.com or any other reputatble company in the domain industry doing that? Of course not!! So please don't tell me how 'Far away' they are. It is just below the belt bullshit that should not be tolerated or defended by anybody. PERIOD!

Rick Schwartz
'Some People tell me I have a short temper. I prefer to call it a swift and assertive reaction to BULLSHIT'

Typed Drawing

UPDATE: At 5:35PM EDT they agreed to remove the reference but still waiting 2+ hours later.

UPDATE: The reference to 'Domain King' has been removed.

Morning Folks!!

Nearly 17 years ago I factored in a lot of things when looking at domains, the evolution, the eventual industry that would be born, the fact that it was worldwide. Most importantly I saw that it gave opportunity to everyone no matter where in the world you were and even if you were handicapped (and I was) you could make a living. A good living. One without barriers or ceilings. One without travel.

But the one thing I never factored in was the domainer vs domainer factor. I always thought we would use those oars to get to the future. I never envisioned that so many of the oars were not in the water but using to combat other domainers. That's wasting time and progress and makes us all look like a bunch of unruly pirates on an old ship.

The vitriol today is not what it once was at the peak. That's a good thing. But I always imagine what it would be like if it were eliminated. Human nature is such that it won't happen. I guess I am kinda pissed at myself for not seeing this and factoring it in early on. I just wrongly thought that folks would focus on their business and growing it and sharing their experiences. All oars in the water.

So I think that was my single biggest mistake/miscalculation in all this and I really should have known being a student of Human Nature. I just always expected business people of our caliber would have gotten to the point of separating business personalities to personal personalities. Some just play better with others than others. I certainly don't have the best 'Social skills'. It's just not how I am wired.

I'll give you an example. Monday is my favorite day of the week. It's a 'Business Day' and I look forward to it. On the other hand I would say most folks might say 'Friday' is their favorite day of the week. See the difference. Now I do like Friday, but I am more comfortable on a Monday. I am just more business than social.

Maybe it was from all the schools I went to as a kid. Not easy making new friends over and over and over again. Illustrated by my last 3 semesters of High School were not only at 3 different schools, but was 3000 miles from the other, leaving a girlfriend, job and a familiar east coast way of life and then after those 3 semesters going to College and doing it all over again. The worst of it was easily the first semester of my senior year. Prom? What's that? Pretty hard to go to the Prom when you have only been in a school a few weeks.

I guess you can say I am 'Socially Challenged' at times. My guiding light and best Friends have always been 'Numbers'. Through all those years and all the schools, the only true constant was numbers. Numbers went with me wherever I would go. They were always the same in a sea of changing faces and places. They never let me down. (Except on test scores lol)

Oh well enough of this. My oar back in the water where it needs to be.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Next Friday August 31st prices go up $200 per ticket from $1595 to $1795 and then $1995 at the door. Now is the time to decide to come to Florida in just 6 weeks and 6 days from today. Decision time. Register TODAY!

Besides the price savings by registering now, we have also updated our website to tell a story to end users. We take them on a tour to help educate them about traffic and T.R.A.F.F.I.C. You will be seeing a lot of new faces and companies from outside the domain channel that are coming armed with opportunity and new ways to make old money. Companies inside the space have new offerings as well. Opportunity comes when you are proactive. When adversity motivates you as opposed to fear paralyzing you. Which bus are you getting on?

I want to thank Danny Pryor who has worked with me day in and day out to get this site just right. I hope you will take a few minutes and see what we are up to. A website is never done, it just evolves and I think you will agree it has finally evolved to a new level.

Nominations are all in and the voting will start soon. Keep an eye on your email this week for further instructions.

We are working on some exciting things for the auction and I hope to tell you about that part soon. We are still taking submissions. I have received many thousands and so far have only picked 10 domains that will definitely be in the live auction with another 10 under consideration. Thanks for your submissions. Just because your domain was not selected does not mean I don think it was good. It is measured by the other submissions and the one question I ask is 'Will/can that domain sell for the reserve price asked. So 3 groups. Yes, No and maybe. Since this is not our main business and we don't have any numbers to beat by some spreadsheet and overhead, I will simply select the domains I think will sell and will be widespread interest in. Whether we end up at 10 domains, 25 domains, 50 or 100 domains, the criteria is 'Will/Can it sell for the reserve price asked?'

You can now follow along as we once again build the schedule before your very eyes. Each and every day something will be added to make the show just a little better. It won't be complete until just before the show. I am purposely waiting even longer to put the agenda together this year to make sure each and every topic and panel is worthy of your time and you take away something solid that you can go home and employ.

Lastly, the hotel is now about 2/3 full. Saturday night October 6th looks like the one night we may be squeezed on rooms. So if you are coming in early for the cabana networking, time to make that reservation. If you have not been to the cabana networking, all I can say is that it is worth the price of admission all by itself.

That's it for now. Again, watch your email for your 'OFFICIAL TRAFFIC BALLOT' that will be sent out very soon.

Rick Schwartz
Howard Neu

Morning Folks!!

As I stated in my last blog post the focus is finally starting to be sales and profit as opposed to how many folks come to your website. Would you rather have 500,000 visitors or 5 sales? In MY world it is not even close. Give me the 5 sales. Y'all can waste your time with the other 499,995.

The simple fact that we are even having a discussion about this and MANY won't even agree with me show just how messed up the web is and how far we have to go.

We always talk about the 'End User' as if we can wave a wand and have them show up and 'Get it'. They will show up, but it will be on their timetable. One that will take 20 years! That's the point of a 20 year plan. It takes a generation for the world to evolve. So if you think it is sooner and expect things to happen faster and on your timetable, you live in a world of anxiety, frustration and disapointment and that is the recipe for a disaster because the decisions you make are made out of emotions that skew things.

As we move forward, the sharp folks KNOW it is all about sales. All about profit. All about steady growth. So I beleive they are ready. They are ripe. They are receptive.

So how do you reach these end users? Well one way is to actually talk to the end user. In or newest version of the TargetedTraffic.com webiste I state the following:

'Our Domain Names create in excess of 20 Million visitors every single day of the year, almost all by 'Direct Navigation' or 'Type Ins' to the browser bar. It is the most potent traffic you can get. It is real eyeballs with an intent for something specific. Today they go to Yahoo! and Google for PENNIES only to be sold back to you for DOLLARS!'

There is a sleeping giant out there and it is time to wake him/her up and educate them so they see what WE see! When they see, the game changes.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

If you have a domain getting 350 daily type ins for example you have a business. 350 is just a number to us. But go downtown today where ever you are and count how many customers go in a store in any given DAY. FEW stores are likely to get 350 customers in a day. MOST won't get 350 customers in a week!! Don't believe me? Then you have never been in retail. Then you have never had to work on a commission only basis. Sell nothing....eat nothing.

Yes, big box stores and McDonald's etc will get the 350 customers and then some. But go count and see how long it takes. Still a number of hours and still a number of sales in those hours.

It is unfortunate that most retailers have not been able to harness the power online. They accept 350 customers online walking in and buying nothing but would they be stupid enough to allow 350 customers to come in the store, make no sales and not ask why??

I am finally seeing the focus change to sales and profits on the Internet. Boy has this been a SLOW process. But it is finally here. Investor money is drying up and now startups are finally going to have to resort to sales. That my friends is the evolution I have been waiting for. Sales. Sales. It's all about sales and now that folks are starting to get that point, things will change fast and furiously. Fast for me anyways. 3 years is fast. We are less than that and we have already entered the 'Gravitational Pull'.

Go get 1 million likes or 1 sale. Which has more value? Which buys food? We took a huge detour and gamble with 'Social' media. But what about 'Commercial' media? What about trackable sales? What about new clients and new business and repeat business?

Social is 'Word of mouth' and it is very important. But 'Word of mouth' is a bi-product of doing things right. You don't start with 'Word of Mouth', you start off with sales that CREATE 'Word of mouth'. Most online have it ASS BACKWARDS and it is absurd!!

We are also on the verge of finding out it just may not work. Facebook now 50% of the IPO and still has yet to find the bottom. Blah blah,blah comes AFTER the sale!

So a word to all startups......SELL SOMETHING!

Until then.....Like us on Facebook!

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Buying TIME is a great way to make money. That is the basis for Real Estate and the great wealth it has created for centuries. Low down payment and pay an affordable amount over time. That allowed tens of millions to buy homes that they otherwise could not afford to buy.

The GREAT Real Estate 'Flippers' sign a contract to buy a piece of Real Estate and sell that piece of paper before they even get to the bank. It costs them nothing and they walk away with many thousands. So that is how you make money with NO MONEY! This is a common tactic for the most successful in any business. They deal in paper not property! We can do the same.

It's so simple. Go buy a home in your area TODAY! All are subject to financing, terms and inspection. That gives you 30 days for free in most cases. But even with a 15% downstroke and going through with the deal is leverage beyond most other things. Stocks you can get 50% margin. But real estate has always been attractive because of the numbers and the time involved to flip with improvements or just finding an interested buyer.

So do you buy a $7500 domain with your $7500 or do you buy a $50,000 name for the same dollar layout? If you know what you are doing, it can be quite a jump start as I described above. It's just one way to hit BIG without risking as much as you would normally have to risk. It really is all about buying TIME!

I am keenly aware of the mood out there and with our new partnerships with Escrow.com announced earlier this week and Zenscrow.com domain financing, we are looking to do faster after auction transactions and give you more buying power at the same time. Leverage your knowledge into DOLLARS!

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Everything in life seems to circle back to human nature. We spend a lifetime trying to control our emotions. A lifetime learning how to react. How to behave. How to adjust. How to get along with others. How to win and how to lose. Harnessing our emotions and our energy and having them work together is not an easy thing.

The Worst Enemy of the Domain Industry is not understanding cycles and history and sales and human nature and that all boils down to inexperience. There are many seasoned veterans of business in domaining. Most are doing just fine. They ain't sweating at all. But there is also the 'First Timers' that have built great businesses when things were going well but have yet to learn how to handle adversity.

Sorry, it shows. Large organizations struggle because of short term thinking, limited budgets, dwindling income streams, high overheads and that translates into fear and fear leads to paralysis which is the very last thing you would do in an emergency. But that is inexperience showing.

History repeats itself. There are patterns and waves and when it rains folks think it will never stop and things will never dry off.

I recalibrate things every day. But if I did not factor in the history and cycles to look back upon I could never calibrate effectively. Adversity is really forced opportunity. It's so damn simple and so hard for so many to get their heads around.

Progress is forced! You have to force progress. Progress happens when your back is up against the wall not while you are sitting in comfort. Adversity is the CORE of success and that progress!!! It's not the enemy! It's the window of opportunity that few see or understand or take advantage of. Why? Because it has never been presented to them in the way I just did.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

The power we have collectively is something that besides not being harnessed, is not even defined. As an industry we have tens of millions of visitors visiting OUR domain names every single day of the year. And if it is not tens of milllions daily, then it is more, not less.

But regardless of the exact number, they represent the single most potent traffic in the world. Now I refer ONLY to type in traffic. SEO traffic is not considered in this group and is really never the subject of what I see as traffic or what I write about.

How many Daily Unique Visitors go through InternetTraffic.com, Sedo.com, Voodoo.com, Parklogic.com, DomainHoldings.com, DomainParking.com, Above.com, TrafficZ.com, etc. combined just for starters?

So how is your guess of how many million/tens of millions visitors as an industry do we contribute to the Internet on a daily basis?

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Eveing Folks!!

Exactly 8 weeks from today the T.R.A.F.F.I.C auction will take place. Tonight I am releasing the first 5 that I have picked to be in the auction to give you an idea of what I am looking for and just how serious you are going to have to be if you want to sell.

I am in no rush to select domains. I am not looking to lock up domains for inventory. That is not our business. My only job is to bring great domains that will sell. Domains that will gather wide interest. Domains that mean something. I explained it all in this post.

I also have 5 names on a secondary list. These are really nice domains but I am still sleeeping on. Considering. Balancing. The only thing I want to do is sell as close to 100% of the inventory as I can. That can only happen one way. Great domains at great prices.

So here are my first 5 selections for the 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)

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz