What Does Popcorn and Grass have to do with Domains?


Morning Folks!!



In my eyes, I have this vision and have compared Domains to two things: Popcorn and blades of grass growing on a future lawn.



Popcorn because we just have no idea which domain name will pop next. NONE!! Just like you have no idea which corn kernel will pop next. It’s impossible to say. It’s impossible to predict.



My other comparison is to a new lawn. You start with dirt, feed it with grass seeds and the grass pops up one blade of grass at a time. Then, they become patches of green. There are still patches of dirt, but then the patches of green expand and eventually they take over most of the dirt. And that’s what domain sales look like as the Internet expands The blades of grass grow, and they fill in that lawn until you have a beautiful golf course turf. But that doesn’t happen overnight. That takes decades when we are talking about Intersectional Domains.



Looking at things properly puts you in the proper place to understand that Patience is truly the key to Domain investing. If you are into forced sales, that is the definition of getting the lowest price.



Domains are like Cinderella's shoes. There’s really only one great fit, and your job is to have the patience, the ability, and the wherewithal to recognize it when it comes by.



That size 9 foot won’t fit well to a size 5 shoe. So stop forcing bad sales and learn what the game is really about. Patience and the right fit, assuming that you focused on domains with value. If you put rocks or pigeon shit in the popcorn, it won’t pop, even if they look the same.



Rick Schwartz






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The Most Important Lesson I Ever Learned About Buying or Investing in Anything!!


The most important lesson I have learned about buying or investing in ANYTHING is; I’d rather overpay for wonderful than get a bargain on shit.



It’s safer and cheaper to buy quality. It’s a safety net. It’s smart. You can do it any way you want, but no way works better than the right way.



One is independent even in the worst of times, and one is desperate even in the best of times. It's imperative that investors understand that.



You can always find someone to buy your wonderful. Not so easy to find someone to buy your pigeon shit. Not sure why so many have a hard time getting their head around something as simple as this. It’s the simple line between success and failure and it is your choice or your excuse!



Rick Schwartz




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DomainKing’s 2-Minute Guide to Domain Name Valuations!!




Morning Folks!!



I get asked for valuations on domains on a daily basis. Multiple times. Sorry folks, that’s one thing I don’t do. I don’t do valuations. However, I am starting to call out Pigeon Shit domains when I am asked in public.



I don’t even do valuations on my own names for the most part. Why? First of all the value of a domain name is extremely fluid. Possibly more fluid than any asset or investment I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. I decide on valuation at the time of inquiry.



But more importantly, it’s not my job and I don’t want that job. As I have stated many times before, I have two buckets when it comes to domains. Domains that have potential great value and domains that have no value and never will. So simple!!!



Once it makes it into the value bucket, then I weigh the possibilities and probabilities of that happening. Is it a clearly stated domain that meets all of the criteria that I have been posting about these last few days with these blog posts? It Has to filter through those benchmarks for me to put it in the first bucket of value.



Now let’s be clear, only a few go into the valuation bucket. Thousands and thousands going to the bucket of pigeon shit. The bucket that has no value. Liabilities are not assets. They are BILLS!!



But if I can collect a few in the valuation bucket, which is not easy to do by the way if you’re doing it the right way, then you sift through those and see which one might be the one above the others. So focus on the top domain in the valuation bucket and if you can afford all of them, you can buy all of them. If you can’t afford them all just pick the one that has the most value and the most versatility. But it MUST meet the basic criteria I have laid out. If you’re not meeting all or most of the criteria you’re simply on the wrong path. Here's my valuation for domains that DON'T meet my criteria......-$9/year. Just take 9 dollars out f your wallet and toss it.



Domains are taking their rightful place in the Internet ecosystem as we speak. It took a long damn time! Around 35 years and we’re still a ways away from the price but boy are we getting close!!



I have said this for many many years, decades in fact. We are the land barons of the 21st-century. If you did your job well, we hold the most valuable real estate ever known to mankind. The only thing between the potential valuation and today’s valuation is time. We all have to be sensitive to time however being sensitive to time does not mean giving away unique assets for lowball price is.



Links to related articles:



https://www.ricksblog.com/2021/02/enough-just-cuz-a-domain-with-a-keyword-sells-does-not-increase-the-value-of-your-domain/#.YCfypC1h0Ss



https://www.ricksblog.com/2021/02/i-dont-sell-domains-i-interview-potential-suitors/#.YCfwHy1h0Ss



https://www.ricksblog.com/2021/02/domainkings-10-step-guide-to-selling-domain-names/#.YCfwTy1h0Ss



https://www.ricksblog.com/2021/01/domain-names-the-most-valuable-portable-life-changing-tangible-intangible-asset-in-human-history/#.YCfwgy1h0Ss



If you get thru these 5 articles and still don't have a grasp for domains, or don't find anything of value or you simply dismiss it all, then enjoy your journey to nowhere. Sad but true!! Off-course and lost in space. Good luck with a soft-landing!.



Rick Schwartz


The Main Point is Main Street. Lesson #1 of Domaining, Marketing, Traffic, and Future Audience.




Morning Folks!!



The size and value of your audience decide your future before you do. Targeting an audience is the key to the success of any business, organization, or even charity.  A profitable audience.



MainStreet.com (Not a domain I own or even looked up) has value. It's obvious because it represents commerce. If it's not obvious to you, find a job. It has an audience. That audience has the potential to be increased and specifically targeted.



ManeStreet.com (Not a domain I own or even looked up) has value. It does not pass the radio test, but still has value. That audience has the potential to be increased. But probably has less value than MainStreet.



DanielQSysemskiMemorialBridge.com (Not a domain I own or even looked up because I made it up as well as this non-existent person) has NO value and never will. NO AUDIENCE!! In 1 MILLION years that domain won’t have value. It’s a Liability not an asset!



Most domainers have the majority of their domains that will never have an audience. ZILCH!! NO CHANCE!! Those are all liabilities. Just bills!



We are talking tens and probably hundreds of millions of worthless domains. Worthless because they are not capable of getting an audience. And when I hear SEO guru's and every answer is the same about optimization, I have but one word.....BULLSHIT!!



Domaining is about getting memorable, meaningful, and important domains. If they are not, that's not domaining. That's not domain investing. That's not anything but a waste of time, money, and energy. SEO really has nothing to do with domain investing. It's nothing you talk about until there is a profit-making site attached.



So the MainStreet test is just another test that should be added to the test of my last post.



Do I have to explain those names? Will people misspell them? Will they easily forget them? Will they be able to tell others? Can content be matched to that domain that is intuitive? Is that content profitable? Is there a market for that content? Is it confusing? That's a lot of filters but a domain that I buy MUST meet ALL those standards and more! If I am doing it, why aren't you?? That's the path to success. To find domains that have the ability to be a successful business. And I focus on domains that have face-value. That has obvious value and uses. That has 1 and 2 words. WORDS!! WORDS!!



If you are ignoring this stuff or want to vehemently disagree.......I can't help you. Nobody can! These are simply the most basic, most important, and most imperative hurdles a domain name must pass if you want to filter out pigeon shit.



Even a brandable has to be spellable. How many MONTHS did it take takl.com to go out of business?? WTF was that?? They spent TENS of millions on Kathy Lee Gifford and endless commercials everywhere advertising a name nobody could spell or remember or even meant much. Everywhere! Until they went belly up and broke! They blamed it on Covid! Here's a memo from me to them, had nothing to do with covid. Had everything to do with a PIGEON SHIT domain name! They failed before they started. And remember, almost all failure happens at the start! The start of the Internet is the Domain Name and many times, that will dictate your success or failure before you take your second step!!!!



Rick Schwartz


ENOUGH! Just Cuz A Domain with a Keyword Sells Does Not increase the value of your Domain!




Morning Folks!!



I am so sick of domainers running around trying to sell any domain or register any domain that has a keyword in it from a recent domain sale. Talk about chasing shiny objects!!



Domain sales to end-users will rarely spawn similar sales! The reason is there was a specific use. Just because a company buys one domain in a sector does not mean they want to buy any others. They don't!! Nor does it mean that your domain has any more value than it did yesterday.



Domains are unique. Sales are unique. Need is unique. Their purpose is unique. Stop wasting your time trying to duplicate unique! I am not going to buy your domain just cuz it has a keyword of a recent sale or is in the same sector.



In the last 1000 emails from desperate domainers, do you know how many I bought?? ZERO!! Stupid, worthless names with a keyword that does not even match the other words. So stop wasting your time sending me crap. I am no longer even answering these emails. (Not that I ever did)



And if you spam me on Twitter, I am no longer going to remain silent. Besides blocking you, I am now calling out your pigeon shit domains so everyone knows it's pigeon shit. Worthless crap that can only be sold to a domainer dumber and less experienced than the current owner!



If you buy a domain and someone can't build their dream on it, don't buy it. PASS!!



Let's be clear, it isn't that domainers can't afford good domains, most domainers would not know a good domain if it smacked them upside the head. They pick and register worthless CRAP and the first thing they try to do is sell their worthless crap!



There is a tried and true path to successful domaining. It's not hard when you have the right mindset. If you have to drop domains because you can't afford to carry them, that's the definition of a wrong mindset.



If you are methodical and follow a simple path that works, you will grow your business and be able to afford better and better quality domains.



If you are flipping crap for $100, $250 and $500, we are in a different business. In real estate you have mobile home flippers and Real Estate agents. They are far from the same. Flippers are far from being sophisticated. A real estate agent can flip a mobile home, a mobile home flipper would be way over their heads trying to sell mansions.



Domaining is not a business to simply make a living. Domaining is not a business to be a schlepper. Domaining is about taking advantage of great opportunities! Being able to see and seize those opportunities. Even part-time and passively.



Do I buy domains every day? Hell no! Why? Because there are not enough valuable domains that will come to market on any given day. I can go weeks or months without buying. But when I see a domain I like, I am on it.



This year I have bought 3 domains so far. Probably the first .net I have ever bought on the open market, Watching.net $310. I like Friendseeker.com so I grabbed it for $1099. And I liked Cult.tv and paid $5605. It's rare for me to buy a non .com. But I like it because it follows the rules I set below.



Do I have to explain those names? Will people misspell them? Will they easily forget them? Will they be able to tell others? Can content be matched to that domain that is intuitive? Is that content profitable? Is there a market fo that content? Is it confusing? That's a lot of filters but a domain that I buy MUST meet ALL those standards and more! If I am doing it, why aren't you?? That's the path to success. To find domains that have the ability to be a successful business. And I focus on domains that have face-value. That has obvious value and uses. That has 1 and 2 words. WORDS!! WORDS!!



Domains are about WORDS! DH26Homesforsale.com has no value no matter what some SEO guru tells you! WORDS!!



I never look to sell. I simply look to add to and round out my portfolio. The sales will come!!!!!!!!!!! Do your job and sales will come. If you buy crap, wtf do you expect??



If you are struggling, those are the filters that will help you. That will guide you. That will make you money! And those that try and minimize those attributes have portfolios of Pigeon Shit! I don't know a single SUCCESSFUL domainer that ignores those points. But I know tens of thousands or more that do and they are all BROKE!! They drop domains to pay for the others. That's a failure. That should never happen. This is from poor budgeting and picking piss poor names that mean NOTHING!!



I take strong positions on things and that ruffles the feathers of folks with different agendas. You are domain investors, you should never be the victim of the agenda of someone trying to profit off you! Don't be used! I have nothing to sell you, but I am happy to share what I have learned in 25+ years as a successful domain name investor and a serial entrepreneur for 50 years! I look at things differently. Success requires that!



If you are on a limited budget, DO BETTER by learning about the attributes of a valuable domain name!!! GOOD LUCK TO ALL!



Rick Schwartz


Domain Investors are Used and Abused!! ICANN NEEDS to be FULLY Investigated!


Morning Folks!!



Hey Domain investors, aren’t you sick of getting used and abused? Whether it's ICANN as Konstantinos wrote about yesterday or is registries, registrars, auction houses, Mechanical Valuations, PPC companies, Google, Yahoo or anyone else, DOMAIN INVESTORS will always get the shaft. Ya know why? Because they can, and we aren't organized. Like I have said there is NO DOMAIN INDUSTRY! There are just thousands of soloist renegades that can't see past today. They party like drunken sailors regardless of the leaks on the ship and the threat at hand.



You know what the worst part is?? We are the ones that enriched these people. We are the ones that helped grow their companies and gave them the power they have. We are the ones that have been taken advantage of at every stage.



We are not the bad guys. We are not cybersquatters. We are the capitalists that create wealth and opportunity for us and others. We are the people that invest our time energy and money into something selfish, but that’s what opportunity is all about. But this selfish opportunity is very widespread. It's a worldwide opportunity. Why don’t they look at a person in Nigeria that had perhaps no chance at a decent life and he’s making his fortune on the Internet. With domain names. With many domain names. It’s a passport out of the wilderness and into the mainstream. Why would anyone mess with that??



The Internet has probably lifted more people out of poverty than every governmental program in history combined!! It's so obvious. Why mess with that??



The Internet and domain names have been the greatest equalizer the world has ever known. Never before in world history have so many benefited so quickly. As bad as things are there has never been more opportunity worldwide than there is at this very moment. NEVER!!



As domain investors we created an ecosystem that many companies have made a lot of money with. I believe without what we did as investors and risk takers the entire picture would have looked quite a bit different than it is now. We made people very rich!!



Now, unfortunately, there’s a lot of bad apples in what we do that go over the line and abuse the privilege of what they have. Like I have said many times, some people can be put in a diamond mine full of diamonds for free and they’re still steal something or do something that’s not right or otherwise abuse something that shouldn’t be abused.



I am proud to be a domain investor. I’ve never ever been ashamed of it for a moment. I did something that was taught to me all of my life: become successful. And many of us have found that same success. And of course in time they would want to take that success away from us. They did that in American history, it’s nothing new. They've been doing it in Europe for centuries. Governments seize land that it wants. That's valuable.



Of course this will be happening with domains I saw that. the day I got online. I’m just shocked and surprised that it took a quarter of a century. Thank goodness for that!



But that’s also why I’ve been very conservative with domaining. To me, it's like "Musical Chairs". The music will eventually stop. Those that are overextended will be destroyed.



See what happens, you are flying along and then SMACK! You are dead meat. You owe a lot of $$. You had a fantastic year. But then after the income stops, the tax man cometh. Many have been destroyed cuz the good year was followed by a terrible year and they can never dig out of that tax debt and what they owe on cars, mortgages and toys.



So expect to get it up the arse as time goes by and prepare. We did have a lawsuit at one time that may have prevented this fiasco, but it was not supported and eventually we had to give in. That's what happens when an industry has no organization and has no purpose. And it's even worse when there is no industry to fight back and make their case.



The price of pigeon shit farming is about to go up so maybe time to focus on prime domains. Remember, 10 really good domains make you a domain investor. 1000 silly names, will make you go broke and you are a pigeon shit farmer. The only good thing, farmers will ALL be washed away!



I got into this when domains were $100 a pop. If they go back to $100 so be it! All I know is for $10 you can be worldwide in a moment and change your destiny forever! It's the greatest bargain the world has ever known. It's the greatest opportunity the world has ever known. It's just amazing!



BUT!



In my STRONG opinion, ICANN is a corrupt racketeering organization. It's a crime syndicate that advances interests of a few insiders at the expense of the masses and the general good. They have abused their power and their role.



Racketeering refers to crimes committed through extortion or coercion. A racketeer attempts to obtain money or property from another person, usually through intimidation or force. The term is typically associated with organized crime. The law defines 35 different offenses that constitute racketeering in the U.S.



I think ICANN and each member should be investigated FULLY and I would go back to the origins of the new gTLD program. The demolition derby of corruption. ICANN leaders profited from their conflicts of interest, and they never did it for the purpose they were chartered to do. They abused their leadership roles and profited PERSONALLY many millions of dollars. To me, that is corruption at the worst!



Is ICANN Corrupt??? Many think so! Count me in that camp!



Rick Schwartz


Rick Predicts 2019-2020 .Com Domain Stampede!


Morning Folks!!



Clarity for me comes bit by bit and then all at once! I have written about "Domain Stampedes" before. Here is my most famous post about the last stampede.



The last stampede was a clusterf*ck in 2014 when few could see the GTLD mess but it's a much bigger clusterf*ck now that all can see. That post is 5 years old. How did I do? How did you do?



But the stampede I see coming is the one I have been waiting for. Like I say, an overnight success takes 20 years in the making. Domains, .com domains, GREAT and meaningful domains are about to explode! EXPLODE!



The cancer of Social Media and collapse of giants like Sears is breathing life into high profile domains. There could be an avalanche of BIG sales in the next year. Eye popping sales. Record breakers. I want to see the day that Ron Jackson's "Year to date sales" are all 7 figures!



Now while the really good domains will be in demand, the really bad ones are going nowhere but to the drop pile! The canyon between valuable domains and worthless pigeon shit is going to be visible like never before.



You will see many companies upgrade to .com and if you thought GTLD's have been pumping for the last 5 years, just wait to see what desperation looks like over the next 5 years. It's a knee slapper!



I do believe that domains will eventually take their rightful place and their values will be understood. Even at $11 Million, Tesla.com was a bargain!! How much is that over the next 30 years???? NOT MUCH when you make $$$$. It's self paying!! It's FREEEEEEEEE!



The lack of trust and transparency in Social Media is the catalyst for this stampede. Is it better to have 1 million followers or have 1 million people a day come to your site?? That's a question that nobody ever asked them and they have never thought about.



Rick Schwartz


Supply and Demand Hit the Domain Industry. Domain Owners Surprised!?

Morning Folks!!

I have been talking about Supply and Demand and Need, want, desire, value for a very long time. It's the foundation of business itself but domainers seem to ignore this small fact. They are not immune and we are in the midst of a "Domain Glut" whether anyone knows it or not.

The domain industry is littered with crap and great domains. The crap has pooped over everything and we are all paying the price. Some are paying a higher price. Some will be washed away.

Ask yourself the simplest of questions. "How many TENS of MILLIONS of domains are owned by domainers"? Realize that almost every one of them is for sale and 90% of those are 100% worthless.

We talk about "Exact Match Domains" but I really focus on and want to find "Exact Match Companies"! I want  "Exact Match Companies" to match up with my "Exact Match Domains".

The supply of .com domains was always UNLIMITED but folks wanted you to believe they were not. There is an infinite supply. But now we have infinity spread over the land like HORSE SHIT! Infinity x 1000.

The good news is many of these domains are going to be washed away. The carrying costs of PURE pigeon shit guarantees this. The only ones that don't know it are the Pigeon Shit farmers themselves. But they will figure it out when the bills and the rent are due. Math has a funny way of equalizing things!

The golden goose is still golden, but it has supply and demand to deal with for the foreseeable future.

With that all said we could end up seeing a very widespread domain name frenzy in the months ahead as business has to re-strategize their social media outreach, marketing and control to something they control more and that is DOMAINS!!! The future sovereignty of business DEPENDS on domain names. Business has yet to truly understand and use domains strategically. THEY WILL!! They are being FORCED to wise up!

The most common and visible examples are those that want to upgrade their .whatever to Whatever.com. That's the #1 sector in domaining now and I expect that trend to continue. That is where we still have "Supply and Demand". The only missing link there is "Value" and that is something that comes with time and demand!

Rick Schwartz

 

Great Domains Represent Generational Wealth and why Valuation Tools are a Cancer on this Industry!

Morning Folks!!

There are folks that flip mobile homes and make a living. There are guys that sell mansions and they make much more and they work a lot less! They make many livings!

I have referred to Domains as "Generational Wealth" for DECADES! What does that mean? It means I don't intend nor expect to sell my domains in my lifetime. The assets will roll over to the next generation. In my case I have no kids that I am aware of and so I have set up a foundation that will run long after I do.

I have never been in a rush to sell. Quite the opposite. My entire goal was to preserve my entire portfolio/collection as long as I could. I never wanted to sell Men.com. But I had just gone thru a divorce that cost me millions and I was cash poor. So I had no choice and regretted it for years. But at the same time I used it as an example to point to that helped the value of all domains of value and also parlayed that into the credibility to start TRAFFIC.

Point is except for the Men.com sale I put myself in a financial position to never be FORCED to take a BAD offer! Isn't that the key?? Isn't that the key from selling from a strong position vs a weak one??

When I was selling my visitors on my domains I would rather piss those valuable visitors in the ocean than give them away to people that wanted to lowball me f0r that traffic.

In my world I don't do budgets. I just do it RIGHT and figure it will come out fine at the end. I learned a long time ago not to be a penny pincher. What does that mean. It means when you see a domain for $1000 and you know it is worth $100k, just give the guy the $1,000. Don't have to make a $500 offer first! Why? Because you will lose gems by being cute. That's much more costly in the long run.

Everyone gives advice but very few tell you how much they have made in domaining. Isn't that a key qualifier? You bet it is!! I play the game different and thus I get different results. But I have never hid how I play the game. Been about as transparent as any business can be because it was in my best self interest as well as yours to be public about my sales. Estibot brings values down. Rick Schwartz brings values up.

You are all so worried about Verisign raising their prices but that war was fought 10 years ago and domainers were AWOL! The bigger threat is Estibot and all the valuation tools out there. They are costing this industry and YOU many $$$$. It helps the weak to stay weak and prevents the strong from getting stronger. The way I look at it, it is a cancer on the industry. It's bogus. It's not even good for know-nothing rookies! It should be denounced far, loud and wide!!

I hate talking about ROI. Means nothing to me. I don't care about percentages. I care about long tern value. I care about potential. I care about marketability. And I don't care when I sell. I care that I sell it for an appropriate value. But much of the value has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE DOMAIN NAME ITSELF!! Need, want, desire, circumstance, potential, marketability and the list goes on and on before you even get to the domain itself. But keep selling on a 1 dimensional level like most do and you will keep getting much less than you asset is worth.

If you want to value a domain correctly you have to look at how powerful that domain might become in the right hands with the right idea at the right time and circumstance. I don't fish for bait, I don't fish for a meal, I fish for whales. When a whale is caught you eat for YEARS! You are not dependent on selling your assets to pay bills.

The single biggest reason domainers have problems is they don't really understand domains. So they don't know the difference between the gems they MIGHT own to the pigeon shit that they definitely do own. And since they are lazy, they rely on Estibot to help them make decisions. Decisions what to buy and decisions what to sell for. That's just plain STUPID!

Domains were and sometimes are like Oil Wells. Now that most of the traffic (oil) has been pumped out and tens of millions of revenue made, I can sell the raw land. Had I done that as I was buying, I would have left the majority of the $$$ I have made in domaining on the table. Tens of millions of dollars in Mineral Rights!!. And many domainers let that money go. They would not use PPC or other ways to monetize. They wanted to keep their domain "Pure". Now the game has changed and many are not in a strong financial position.

To take a domainer seriously I ask one simple question. Their ability to quickly answer says it all. "Just tell me your 3 best domains".  I don't want the list of 5000. I just want to know what you would consider your top 3. From that, I know a whole lot!

That means if you don't have 3 impressive domains, maybe you are not playing the game right. I know domainers that have had 250,000 names and not one worth a penny and I know "Jessse" that owns 10 domains that are absolute killer one word industries!

As a domain investor I feel just as comfortable and maybe more comfortable going to sleep with my domain assets at a safe registrar than $$$ in the bank. When I buy a domain those $$$ are GONE!! But gone for that domain as another one will sell and allow me to parlay, parlay, parlay.

I rarely buy a domain over $5000. Most are under $2000.I like $500-$1000. That is where OPPORTUNITY LIVES!!

I believe LLL.com is solid. But that does not mean as a domainer if you have $100k that you buy 4 LLL.com domains. That's a bad way to go! And if you do, just make sure you don't need those $$$ back in the next 5-10-20 years.

When you buy and sell with my mindset it's such a different game. I am continually buying but ONLY when I see something I am willing to own and even if it is generational. I want to be PROUD to add a domain to my collection. Motherf*ckers.com is a perfect example. I don't buy to sell. I buy to corral POWER! A great domain is also great power when used correctly!

Just like raw land and real estate are generational, so are domains if you play the game the right way. If not, you know where it leads to. Look  at all the undeveloped land in the world still today. Thousands of years and still nothing built on it. Then one day, it changes. It is like Popcorn. You never know which domain will pop next. You job is to make sure you have POPCORN in the pot and not pigeon shit. Pigeon shit will never pop! It rots!

Rick Schwartz

 

Domains are far from Dead. Can’t say the same thing about Domaining!

Morning Folks!!

Great domains will be in demand for as long as we can see and probably much further. Just like a phone number or a physical address the domain name is here to stay. Domains will still be alive when we are all dead!

As for "Domaining", that's an entire different story. If it were not for know-nothing newbies, most companies in the space would have nobody to prey on. Most domainers I know are doing everything they can to liquidate. The pioneers want out. But even with their gems it is simple why demand is down.  As I have said repeatedly, the future is about ONE domain, ONE project, ONE need, at a time. The days of mass registrations by existing companies is over!! The only ones buying multiple domains are domainers and most of them are going broke and going broke fast cuz they keep buying pigeon shit.

They don't make an announcement when they disappear. They slither away into the sunset never to be heard again.

I laugh at folks that don't think you can hand register a domain. A business can find a suitable domain name in MINUTES that would pass ALL my tests. I don't care if it is 5 words! The key is being MEMORABLE!! Easy to remember and easy to spell and easy not to be confused when advertised on the radio. Problem is domainers don't understand this.

The big disconnect in domaining is how many folks that call themselves domainers have never had a business before. They don't understand business. They don't understand sales. They don't understand selling. They don't understand marketing. They don't know the difference between a staple and a fad. They are myoptic. They can't see past their own hands or their own needs. They don't have the ability to see the needs of others. They are short-sighted and narrow-minded people that chase what happened yesterday but have no vision for the future.

Domain tradeshows are better for traveling around the world for the discounted business expense than actually going to the shows. The same faces selling the same things at each and every show. When was the last domain trade show that .club was not a speaker at? The answer, 2013. It's all self serving crap!

If I could pick one word to describe the domaining industry and domainers. it would be DESPERATE! Getting worse with every passing day. Soon we may be seeing "Tupperware" style parties as they prey on lower and lower level subjects to sell to. Oh I forgot, many of you never even heard of Tupperware or how they marketed their product.

Just like history has history, business has history. I study business history. I study business trends. I study Sears and Walmart and Kmart and Amazon and you name it. I follow them and I watch them.

When I had my in-home business before domains I copied the biggest companies in the world. I followed their lead. Nobody even knew my "World Headquarters" was in a 10x10 bedroom. I presented myself as a fortune 500 company by copying what they did. Copying how they would make a brochure. Copy their professional newsletter. Copy their marketing tricks. Copy everything of value and make my company look big! That was how I got into 800 vanity numbers. I just copied big business. Same with Domain Names.

The point is domaining 2018, 2019, 2020 and beyond are simply going to be seriously different. Long gone are all the guys boasting about their 250,000 name portfolios. I remember when that was all the rage. I would ask one simple question and it was like "Stump the band". "What is your single best domain?" Followed by a lot of stuttering.

Domain bloggers are down to a tiny handful of about 9-12. A once thriving domain blogging community is GONE! Further evidence of the decline of domaining. Many of those just report auctions or results with no commentary. Don't expect it to get better!

How much is a domain worth? How much would it cost OPEN and OPERATE a physical store in the real world for 1 year? For 3 years? 10 years? How wide an area can you service? That's your basis, not crap like Estibot or any other valuation model. They don't even use a tool like that in Real Estate!!! If they did, it is laughed at. It's a FAKE!! They spend time doing comps! Real research and comparisons.

Would I get into domaining today? Absolutely not! Can you still make money with domains? Absolutely. But when you buy a domain at least realize that the money invested is buried and it will be buried for a very long time. There is no cashier. They are not liquid. You own it and there is less than a 50/50 chance you will sell it in YOUR lifetime.

Rick Schwartz