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

Good Evening folks!!

Are we about to watch the Beer bowl....I mean Super Bowl, going back and becoming the .com bowl? The .co Bowl? The Facebook Bowl? The Soft Drink Bowl? The Auto Bowl, Snack Bowl? Which Bowl are we about to see? Some of you will be seeing the Toilet Bowl.(sorry, could not help myself)

Super Bowl....Where Sport Intersects with Capitalism, Madison Avenue, Testosterone and Ego's, tailgater's, partiers, beer drinkers, joint smokers, butt shakers, Facebook and tweets from the stadium. This is a Super Bowl with a new twist. Will Facebook compete with the commercials? Questions that have never been thought of and never been asked and certainly never been reacted to.

Things are changing faster than anyone can even record or benchmark them. But that does not mean progress is being made. It means things are changing and you can always make money when things are doing that. Momentum creates cash flow but without sales there is no real progress.

Give us your knee jerk reactions to each commercial. Hit or miss? Cute or effective? Funny or not? Does it SELL the product? Is there something memorable? Waste of money? Let's disect and name the winners that make you want what they have to sell. Make you want to do business with them. Make you want to do something other than just be passive.

I am surprised they are interrupting the commercials with this silly football game. Anyway, this is an 'Editorial Poll'. Tell us in real time what you think.

enjoy! ;-)

Have a GREAT Time!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

The .co deal is going to have a LOT of unintended consequences imo. Today will be the first time folks even hear about it. 99.99% of folks on the planet don't know it exists. Some MAY know tonight. THEIR reaction, lack of one or even anger will decide many things.

Anger? Don't underestimate that possible backlash when MILLIONS of businesses find out their .co has been grabbed. They might not be happy campers.

Registrars may have their own set of problems if the average guy thinks he is getting a .com and ends up with a .co. But that is small and manageable.

One thing for sure, the lawyers are going to be very busy and the crossfire will be like nothing we have ever experienced. No press release can cover what everyone knows is about to happen. All hell is about to break loose.

If you ask 'Was this foreseen?' Then I say yes. Will it matter? I guess that is the gamble everyone is taking. But this could create quite a backfire if things go south. Many questions even if a great success.

Either way, congratulations to all and good luck. We are going to be in for an interesting ride no matter how it unfolds. Let's hope domainers don't get bitten in the ass with this like some businesses will be bitten in the ass with Social Media. This will rip the scab off the 'Cybersquatter' debate and may have ripples that go further than .co as over reaction is certain to follow.

It is not about what we think. It is about how the average guy perceives it and that is predictable but unknown at this moment. It may not be known for a while as it has to 'Ferment' in people's minds and their positions evolve. That evolution could go either way. But strong head winds would not be surprising at all. And crosswinds will be frequent and even more unpredictable.

And for the hundreds or even thousands of .Whatevers.....This canary in this mine may be your future destiny. Without the crosswinds, without the controversy and without a SuperBowl commercial.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

The value of a domain is in direct proportion to the idea and business behind it. Very simple. One guy wants to have a business with a total annual sales of $50,000 and one guy wants to run an empire worth $500 Million. Do you really believe the domain has the same value?? Get off of it.

I have long been on record saying that the valuations out there are all a farse. Period. They are simply a great business model for the owner and for people who don't know any better. Nothing wrong with that, but it has no value. See how I make friends. I say something factual or state my strong opinion and of course it offends everyone in that business and half of those that actually paid for one of those worthless appraisals that can be waived in the face of other folks that know even less.

But what is my choice? Insult you and blow smoke up your ass?? My soul is not for sale.

You have a unique asset. Somebody else wants that unique asset. Your JOB is to extract as much value as possible and do it not by looking at yesterday and last year but looking forward 10 years. If th buyer does not like that....move on!

One guy spends $1000 a year on advertising and another spends $1000 a SECOND on advertising. You don't think information like this is valuable? You don't think this has a direct value on your asset? If you are afraid to ask questions, you are afraid to make the big money. Folks that want YOUR asset MUST overpay by definition. You don't have to agree. But you will leave a lot of money on the table.

So answering an email without an offer and looking for a 'Deal' or a 'Reasonable' price on your domain is just going to be a waste of your time. Eventually you will figure it out, but you will waste YEARS of your life in the process and you will handicap your business and growth. There is no LAW saying you MUST answer every email. It is not rude because you are not obligated to waste your time or even answer.

In FACT, I answered only 8 of those inquiries last month. Why? I READ their words and their words usually tip off who is who. Look for the keywords. Anyone with an appraisal whether buying or selling is automatically eliminated. The chances of extracting his head from his ass at that point is a near physical impossibility.

There are emails that casually are interested in your domain. There are emails from other domainers. There are emails from end users. There are emails from brokers. There are emails from lawyers. There are emails from representatives. There are emails from jerk-offs. There are emails from folks with an agenda. There are emails that set a trap. Do you know the difference between these types of emails and more?

That is just the first layer. Then there are a host of other CLUES that tell you who you might be dealing with. Value is based on their idea and your circumstance. If there is no circumstance the value is going up because you have no motivation to sell. Put Proctor and Gamble as the owner of my domains and see the difference in response. Price. Interest.

If you are young and in good health, time is an ally in this business. The game has changed. The model has changed. but these changes are predictable as things evolve. Domains are the center of Internet evolution. When a company has a great success on the Internet they have demonstrated that they would like better more high profile domain names in a lot of cases.

Nothing remains the same as it was yesterday. But as long as you deal with meaningful quality domains you will be safe.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz