The Rick Schwartz Domain Name and Traffic Blog:

Morning Folks!!

So, since 2005, Ron Jackson's DNJournal has been chronicling the top reported domain sales each and every week as well as a "Top 100 Chart" for each and every year. A LOT of work! Thanks Ron!

I took the liberty of adding up all those reported sales starting in 2005 and segregated by year. It doesn't tell all but it does tell a story. Especially of you study each and every sale during those 14 years. Some incredible deals!

Now please don't remind me that most domain sales are not reported. They are not. And of course Yung Ye's $162 Million won't appear nor Mike Berkens $35 Million. Nor will many many many others that we will never hear about that have quietly walked into the sunset.

That all said, it is what we have and it still tells a lot about things.

2005---$16,383,221

2006---$29,870,018

2007---$44,250,718

2008---$44,347,756

2009---$34,622,312

2010---$44,393,336

2011---$23,081,833

2012---$18,248,594

2013---$28,243,313

2014---$43,096,937

2015---42,890,000

2016---$27,558,000

2017---$27,400,000

2018---$23,070,000

Total $447,516,030

And these are just the top 100 each year.

The average year...$31,965,430

2018 not shaping up to be a big year. However there is still time and a blockbuster deal could turn things around on a dime! However, as of now, 2018 ranks among the 3 lowest years as you will see below. And may I remind you that was with intense selling pressure out there. Everyone and their grandmother is trying to sell their domains these days. That was not the case in many of those prior years where it was not a selling frenzy but was a buying frenzy.

So if you look at it through that lens, and I do, that illustrates weakness. Not terrible. But weaker. Will that change for 2019 and 2020? It should! With the issues social media is having, domains will end up as the beneficiary as folks want to control their own destiny not having the likes of Twitter and Facebook control their own narrative.

2018 was a good year for business. Companies have good cash flow and many sitting on large chunks of cash. As they see Sears closing up and many others following, can't we finally make a really good case for 1 domain worldwide that rivals and perhaps exceeds 3000 stores ready to collapse with overhead more than $8 a year after the initial buy which is still a FRACTION of what it cost to build ONE Sears Store? I REFUSE to abandon that foundational mindset that I have! That is why I refuse to give away domains for pennies on the dollar. My vision is stronger than theirs. And it's based on simple common sense and math.

Whether we compare domains to real estate and associated costs or the cost of a Super Bowl Ad or the cost of a 30 second spot on TV, the domain name remains a bargain that business has overlooked but NOW are FORCED to revisit!

The forecast for 2019 and 2020 are looking pretty damn good the way I see the universe! But it can only look good if you have positioned yourselves well and own domains that 3rd parties need, want and desire. Our job is to show value when compared to alternatives and look at the future while doing so.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

I have been very supportive of Verisign's new price increases. I still am. But yesterday Verisign threw the domain industry and domain speculators and leaders directly under the bus and came close to calling us CRIMINALS! That was rude, it was uncalled for and as far as I’m concerned Verisign is now an enemy of the domain industry. 

That said, STUPID DOMAINERS!!! STUPID DOMAIN INDUSTRY!! This was a DUMB fight against Verisign. A fight that was nasty over pennies! The STUPID DOMAINERS were AWOL when the real fight was lost 14 YEARS ago!

Domainers called out Verisign for no legit reason!

One idiot calls them a "monopoly/mafia". Nonsense!!! They are no more a monopoly than the the Division of Motor Vehicles or your local electric company. They are meaningless in our lives. Verisign is the same. They are regulated. If not, you would be paying BIG $$$ for your assets!

When the prices go back to $100 each, give me a call. Won't be in OUR lifetime!

And Verisign, We are NOT "hiding in plain sight". That is a disgusting statement insinuating we are doing something illegal. Go FU*K YOURSELVES!

They called people who buy domains to sell for higher prices “domain scalpers”! Go F*ck Yourselves!

But domainers brought this upon themselves with the language they have use in the ridiculous out rage they have shown for really very small increases over many years while they themselves make fortunes.

Petitions??!! NONSENSE! I never saw the Domain Industry come together for anything that counted but they came together to fight a pointless losing battle. Verisign is stupid! But domainers are 10x dumber!

Hey, MORONS at Verisign, why don't you put out the number of total domains owned by speculators!? The ones YOU profit from! How many!!??

That all said (more to come) Verisign may have just ignited the domain industry like no other company could do. It gave domain speculating high visibility by a high visibility company. That’s a good thing!

 Regardless of all that it was very mean, it was mean spirited, it was uncalled for and most of all it’s simply not true. They invented the game. Domain speculators have supported Verisign to the tune of billions of dollars a year. So there’s only one thing to say to Verisign. F*ck you Verisign.

And letting me clearly say that Verisign is a meaningless company to us. They are nothing more than your motor vehicle registrar. Who gives a crap about them? They provide a service. You give him a few dollars a year and they give you a drivers license. They have a monopoly. Who gives a crap? Too many idealistic domainers taking shots at Verisign for quite a while now just got a little payback and some smack down. 

But let me reiterate again that Verisign actually gave legitimacy to domain speculators by trying to delegitimize us. A very stupid thing to do. Verisign is a bitter company. But they are meaningless to me. They mean nothing. I never talk about them. I never discuss them. They mean nothing. They are nothing more than a utility.

The good news is they are pointing to the multi billion dollar domain speculation industry. That’s us folks! A multibillion dollar industry that until yesterday was completely under the radar.

The single most important thing  to focus on is this:

"So how large is this market? The answer may shock you. Verisign estimates that over $1 billion in annual secondary-market sales of .com domain names can be documented through publicly available data. Several domain speculators believe the size of the total market is $2-3 billion a year. Perhaps $1.5 billion is closer to the actual number, which is about equal to the total annual pre-tax domain name revenue of all ICANN registry services providers combined, including Verisign.aid and SMART DOMAIN SPECULATORS"

Run with it!! Post it everywhere. Tell everyone! This is a LIFE line! But dumb domainers will focus on pennies at the expense of BILLIONS!!

Verisign is very stupid min their comments. They have made a fortune from domainers speculating and warehousing domain names. Now they complain and call out companies and individuals???

VERISIGN OWES ALL OF US AN APOLOGY!

VERISIGN  OWES ALL OF US AN APOLOGY!

VERISIGN OWES ALL OF US AN APOLOGY!

I was particularly surprised that Verisign actually mentioned names of companies and individuals in their blog post. Either way they own that blog post. They own the negative parts and we own the positive parts. WAKE UP!

So, Verisign I am very happy for your price increase but other than that please go f*ck yourselves! Go f*ck yourselves!

Quasi-legitimate industry or business? "hiding in plain sight"? Go f*ck yourself three more times assholes. The industry we have been in has been in existence for thousands of years in different forms. Calling us names and demeaning an entire group and industry is over the line! Calling us CRIMINALS??? Isn't that the point they are trying to get to with "hiding in plain sight"?

F*CK YOU VERISIGN!

There is a good chance they could use someone like Phil Corwin to lobby to change rules and laws for how many domains an entity can have. They will fail miserably in that effort. THAT is the fight my friends! But the Domainers that fought the increase are responsible for their new position! I am sure many will call me out! But sorry, this is on YOU and your idiotic petition!

I always look for a silver lining and here are some of the things we can use in the street and there’s individuals to further our efforts and legitimize what we do and have people like Verisign that try to delegitimize this pay the price.

I am sorry, VerisignSucks.com is already registered and forwards to a story about them..

Maybe I will introduce motherf*ckers.com to Verisign?

Freedom of speech works both ways!

That was mine, this was theirs!

"But there is also an unregulated secondary market – led by domain speculators – hiding in plain sight. There, some speculators buy domain names at regulated low prices, then sell them at a far higher price. This secondary market is as old as the domain name system itself. However, since the wholesale price cap was imposed on .com in 2012, the secondary market has expanded in ways that exploit consumers.

Look at the website HugeDomains.com – owned by registrar TurnCommerce – where nearly four million .com domain names are warehoused and offered for sale:

• None are offered below $195, and 90 percent of their names are priced above $1,000.


• The average price is roughly $2,500 per domain – a markup of more than thirty thousand percent (30,000%) over the regulated wholesale price of $7.85.
  
  
  
  • That’s a profit margin of over 99 percent on each sale
  
  
  • At these prices, the value of the HugeDomains’ inventory is nearly $10 billion
  
  
  
  


• Many of HugeDomains’ names have incredibly high price tags. Here are a few examples from their website, as of November 1, 2018:
  
  
  
  • NeighborhoodWatch.com for $1.25 million
  
  
  • Margin.com is $3.5 million
  
  
  • Glossary.com is offered at $7.5 million
  
  
  • Even the fluff in their inventory isn’t cheap – Fluff.com is listed at $325,000
  
  
  
  

Even traditional registrars like GoDaddy have become big players in the secondary market and hold large portfolios of domain names for resale. GoDaddy’s public filings show it has spent over $100 million buying domain names for resale purposes. GoDaddy holds these domain names and then offers them to consumers and small businesses at prices that are often thousands of times the wholesale price. There’s nothing in GoDaddy’s public filings about its profits from this practice, but GoDaddy claims its domain name portfolio is worth $2.5 billion.

TurnCommerce and GoDaddy are not the only ones profiting from .com price caps. Domain speculation, or “domain scalping,” as some call it, has become a highly profitable industry unto itself. In fact, one of the top domain name speculators in this market reports a net worth of $500 million. These speculators even have their own lobbying group, the Internet Commerce Association (ICA), where TurnCommerce and GoDaddy are members via their subsidiaries NameBright and Afternic.

Ironically, in this speculators’ market, the price control on .com domain names serves only to reduce the cost of domain names bought by these speculators. Domain speculator Frank Schilling stated that the .com price cap “…has given the [domain speculation] industry a shot in the arm,” in a Jan. 2017 podcast interview. Flipping domain names or warehousing them to create scarcity adds nothing to the industry and merely allows those engaged in this questionable practice to enrich themselves at the expense of consumers and businesses.

So how large is this market? The answer may shock you. Verisign estimates that over $1 billion in annual secondary-market sales of .com domain names can be documented through publicly available data. Several domain speculators believe the size of the total market is $2-3 billion a year. Perhaps $1.5 billion is closer to the actual number, which is about equal to the total annual pre-tax domain name revenue of all ICANN registry services providers combined, including Verisign.

Recently, some who profit most from the unregulated secondary domain market have been lobbying our government to freeze .com wholesale prices. They say their goal is to protect small businesses and consumers. But their business models and domain resale prices show that their real goal is to preserve the profits they earn from .com price caps.  In fact, the real opportunity for consumer savings would come from reducing or eliminating the more than $1 billion per year in scalping fees that businesses and consumers pay today."

With Godaddy and other large companies we have some major allies to fight the REAL FIGHT I always knew would come.

"hiding in plain sight"? Verisign, you owe us an apology! I understand this looks like payback for the HORRIBLY MISGUIDED petition domainers had that I opposed. You guys won! Domainers tried to stop your win and you guys are spiking the ball. But it was wrong minded just as the petition was wrong minded!

Either way, VERISIGN OWES ALL OF US AN APOLOGY! But I will use THEIR words from now on against them and to help us!

And to the Domain Industry, this is what I wrote just 30 days ago!

"Go buy some Verisign stock! I hope the prices go up and it forces the wannabes out. Remember, I was paying $100 a pop at the start. Then $70. Then less. At $8 I am not sure why everyone is so upset. For a REAL business $8/year is a joke! You can't get a decent Burger, Fries and Coke for $8 let alone a WORLDWIDE presence!

So stop the whining! Increasing the registration prices only hurt domainers and NOBODY gives a rats ass about Domainers! I don't think a real business owning 1-10 domains cares. Why should they!?

I would suggest that some dump all their domains. With the savings on renewals just buy Verisign and you will MAKE MORE MONEY!"

Sorry, but I blame the petition for this. That won't make me a favorite of whoever created it and signed it. But if not for that nonsense that was 14 YEARS late, that blog post yesterday would have never appeared. IMHO!

And don't like my view? TOUGH!

btw Verisign, how many domain speculator shows and events have you gone to, supported or sponsored? How many of your blog posts have you emailed me about? How many land rushes did you advertise to me via email? Hypocrites!!! APOLOGIZE PUBLICLY before that all comes out and makes you look BAD!!!!!!!!

EXHIBIT A! "Hi Rick – Today, Verisign announced the opening of the Landrush Program period for the first internationalized version of the .com top-level domain (TLD) in Japanese script, .コム , is open for anyone to register on a first come, first served basis until June 12, 2016. For more information on the Japanese IDN rollout, please check out the Verisign blog post."

EXHIBIT B! Hi Rick – Hope you’re well! Today, Verisign released its latest Domain Name Industry Brief, which provides a review of the state of the domain name industry through statistical and analytical research. The following are the top-line numbers at the close of Q1 2016:

• The total number of registered domain names rose to 326.4 million worldwide across all top-level domains


• 12 million domain names were added to the Internet in Q1 2016:
  
  
  
  • This increase globally equates to a growth rate of 3.8% over Q4 2015
  
  
  • Worldwide registrations have grown by 32.4 million, or 11 percent, year over year.
  
  
  
  


• The .com and .net TLDs reached a combined total of approximately 142.5 million domain names in the domain name base in Q1’16
  
  
  
  • The base of registered names in .com equaled 126.6 million names, while .net equaled 15.9 million names
  
  
  • Verisign processed 10 million new domain name registrations for .com and .net, as compared to 8.7 million domain names for the same period in 2015.
  
  
  
  


• Verisign’s average Domain Name System query load was 124  billion across all TLDs operated by Verisign, with a peak of 189 billion

For more information, copies of the Q1 2016 DNIB, or to view past reports, visit VerisignInc.com/DNIB, where you can also find the Q1 2016 infographic. Please let me know if you have any questions.

EXHIBIT C! Hi Rick – Hope you’re well! In case you missed it, I wanted to flag the latest post in Verisign’s blog series on the top 10 keywords in registered in .COM and .NET each month. For quick reference, here are the trending registrations from June:

When they can make money from us they love it! They encourage us to register domains as speculators Then they compare us to CRIMINALS? GO F*CK YOURSELVES VERISIGN!!

If you want to start a petition (and I don't), maybe protecting your actual LIVELIHOOD from VERISIGN and their LOBBYISTS is more important than PENNIES for a damn registration!!!!~!~

For smart people all around on both sides, you all do some of the dumbest things I have ever seen. Verisign should be banned from ALL domain events until they clear the air. Persona Non Grata!

Verisign has been "In Bed" financially with domainers for many years and now we are "hiding in plain sight" and "Scalpers???!! MotherFu*kers!

If you can sign that worthless petition that brought all this, then you can post your outrage here or possibly admit the petition was a DISASTER! Thanks!!!!

By the time Monday morning comes and these ingrates and hypocrites show back up to work at Verisign, their ears should be on fire for being exposed! Are they not encouraging us to buy, then trafficking and profiting in the same thing they are accusing us of doing and "hiding in plain sight"?!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

I determine my success by how many seeds I plant each and every day. I don't look much at what I harvest. If I plant right, the harvest will come. The harvest will take care of itself. I can plant seeds for myself and I plant seeds for others as well. I just never tell them.

Some seeds are small and some seeds are gonna hopefully be giants. And just because I plant seeds does not guarantee they will germinate. In fact, most won't. That's why planting seeds every day is so important. You may plant for weeks or months or years waiting for even one to germinate.  It's a numbers game. Keep on keeping on. Just do it each and every day like a religion.

In time planting seeds becomes a natural part of life. Like drinking water. It's almost a passive act.

But unfortunately we have an industry made up of folks that think they can plant a seed and germinate in one day. They are right!! They can buy an $8 domain, sell it for $10 and pat themselves on the back!

I live by one saying: "An overnight success takes 20 years." 20 years of work and sometimes sweat and worry. But if you plant good seeds every day you will worry less. You know you have a plantation full of seedlings. They will germinate when they are ready or not at all. It's a numbers game.

In 2012 I wrote this about this very blog and planting seeds:

"When you sit and plant seeds every day, some germinate. You don't even have to be Johnny Appleseed, but I like his measure. So since 1996 I have written with clarity and certainty driven by belief and passion. It's an 'All in' type of game for me.

I have always believed these words would pay dividends. Not even sure which way or form those dividends would come or shape they would be, but dividends none the less."

So writing about business, life, domains and all the rest is just one way I plant seeds for others. I never know what word, sentence or thought could be life changing for somebody I have never even met and probably never will. That's one very visible way I give back. That's the way I give.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Common sense is the key to success no matter what you do. If you don't have common sense, you are not able to see the SIMPLE and EASY things. You can't make the easy decisions. Everything has to be complicated because you are so smart!

There is no such thing as a 1 word GTLD. There is a MINIMUM of TWO words and a consumer needs to memorize them and get them both right! On the other hand .Com is already baked into the cake and the memory banks of every human being on the planet. So there is no need to even mention the .com. It's the default.

Many commercials don't use the .com. They don't have to. It's the default. Anyone with an ounce of common sense can see that.

A genius will start with a square wheel. The guy with common sense will come along and simply sand down the edges and make it work.

So a 2 word left of the dot GTLD is really a 3 word GTLD. Way too many moving parts to remember. I know, you are a genius and you remember everything. But if you had any common sense, you would know that the masses easily confuse things. And your argument is always to minimize each and every pitfall that a GTLD has. To turn a blind eye not to one pitfall but 100's. 100's of small leaks on a ship will surely sink that ship if ignored. And that is what we are seeing. A sinking GTLD ship. BYE BYE!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

When you see the domain show for 23 years you see things repeat themselves several times. I am such a moron for not investing in IDN's. Just ask any IDN guy that never found the end of the rainbow.

I am a moron for not investing in .net even though the techies told me to. Now we can see not only is there low demand for .net there is also very low value as well.

I am a moron for not investing in ccTLD's. Now there was a place for those but I did  not want to waste my time chasing those when there were still .coms to chase. And they have less value and less demand than their .com counterparts. So, just not the best way to invest my TIME. But I understood those that did.

I did prove to be a moron myself when I bought into .Mobi. I had a lot of company at the time. lol Remember, when I bought Flowers.mobi I was bidding against several bidders that went to $150k and one that went to $195k. But when I think back, that may have been a cheap lesson. Look how much I saved not buying into the GTLD .CRAP!! That was when there was just ONE new extension and they failed miserably. Now we have 500-1000 that are doing the exact same thing.

.Win is a big loser for domainers. Back in November 2016, 2 YEARS ago, .win peaked with 1.3 Million registrations. Today, only 549,000 left and dwindling. Godaddy has a whopping 1029 registrations.

Those are domainer dollars being flushed down the toilet. How do I know it is domainers? Well, only a fool would even ask.

Domainers that invested in GTLD's are not being quiet. Many of them are GONE! Even the registries are "Dying on the vine". A term I have used for YEARS to predict the fate of this GARBAGE!

GTLD's have detoured and delayed the demand and diminished values of legacy extension domains. It's nothing more than a cancer on what WAS a HOT and THRIVING Domain Industry. Now look at it!!!!! The only ones you can blame are domainers. They burnt down their own industry.

These folks crapped on their own golden goose and we are all paying the price in TIME and VALUE.

At least I can say that openly now and I don't care if you disagree. It is what I believe!

"When you put a single piece of SHIT in the STEW it is no longer STEW, it is SHIT!" We have hundreds floating around now.

Rick Schwartz

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

Morning Folks!!

I believe domains are so damn cheap! Multi-million dollar domains are CHEAP! Regardless how others view it, I view it totally different. That makes my value different. When others laughed at me for believing I could sell my domains for 6 and 7 figures, I just went out and did it. And I did it OVER and OVER and OVER again DOZENS of times. WHY? HOW? Because I see things differently.

I ask questions and make real world comparisons and parallels. I don't use estibot FOOL!

I ask "How much does it cost to build a single Sear's store?" Or any store? How much rent? How much money outfitting it. Electric, trash, insurance, security, maintenance. I could go on and on. All that for a 25 mile radius vs a WORLDWIDE radius.

Don't like my example? Tough! It's how I value and how I sell. So go ahead, leave millions on the table if you like or if you even are in that position.

A REAL Domain Name Investor buys prime and is not afraid to overpay! Yes, overpay. I would rather overpay for gold than get a bargain on shit! Pigeon Shit!

Because overpaying today is still a bargain tomorrow when you focus on great domain names.

A domain name remains the greatest bargain ever known to man. The greatest equalizer ever known to man. I would imagine more total money has been pumped out of the Internet than Gold or oil out of the ground or will eclipse it in the future. Everyone can have their own oil wells and their own gold mines! Just got to make the right connection, with the right domain and look at it in different ways! My way of looking at it is probably more profitable than most and I am not going to change! I have proved the value of domains every step of the way in face of a world of naysayers and crap like Estibot!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

A REAL Domain Name Investor KNOWS that every domain he or she buys and the $$$ associated with that purchase will be tied up for a VERY long time! A REAL Domain Name Investor does not chase yesterday, he looks at how tomorrow will unfold. A REAL Domain Name Investor does not buy a domain and put a price on it 5 minutes later.

A REAL Domain Name Investor studies their new domain name.

A REAL Domain Name Investor does not even think about selling, he thinks about VALUE.

A REAL Domain Name Investor thinks about how it fits in with their other holdings.

A REAL Domain Name Investor never uses Estibot to buy, sell or value domains.

A REAL Domain Name Investor will  not answer many inquiries.

A REAL Domain Name Investor will not answer low ball offers.

A REAL Domain Name Investor does not sell to other domain investors  except for the tax loss when needed and all GTLD's.

A REAL Domain Name Investor will not even give a counter price until there is a bonafide offer in the proper price range.

A REAL Domain Name Investor would never even answer an email with somebody pointing to Estibot.

A REAL Domain Name Investor knows a registry has 1 or 2 basic functions.

A REAL Domain Name Investor does not do business with registries or registrars doing "Clawbacks" after the fact!

A REAL Domain Name Investor invests in GOLD not Copper or Tin.

A REAL Domain Name Investor knows that .Net is an orphan

A REAL Domain Name Investor knows that .org has more identity and importance than a .Net

A REAL Domain Name Investor knows that before an end user gets to .Crap-----.net, .Info, .Org, .TV, .Biz and ccTLD's will all be considered FIRST. Oh did I mention .com?

A REAL Domain Name Investor has valuable domains and they are easily recognizable.

A REAL Domain Name Investor has actual earnings and maybe sales to point to.

A REAL Domain Name Investor knows this is a lifetime journey and not a sprint.

A REAL Domain Name Investor can rattle off their top 3 domains in a heartbeat!

A REAL Domain Name Investor gets up early, works late and NEVER really takes a day off.

A REAL Domain Name Investor knows the WHOIS is the #1 place to sell a domain name.

A REAL Domain Name Investor does not list their names at every outlet as fast as they can.

A REAL Domain Name Investor is very careful about how they sell a domain and who has the authority to do so.

A REAL Domain Name Investor earns a living from domains or has the potential for a windfall.

A REAL Domain Name Investor does not buy NNNNNNNN.com domains

A REAL investor does not buy LLLLLLLL.com domains they buy WORDS!

A REAL Domain Name Investor can look at a list of 100 names and pick out the best one in less that 10-15 seconds.

A REAL Domain Name Investor can find a decent domain in any sector in minutes for $8.

A REAL Domain Name Investor knows what Pigeon Shit Smells like, looks like but hopefully doesn't taste like.

A REAL Domain Name Investor does not say it is "Unique". ALL domains are unique!

A REAL Domain Name Investor is prepared to LOSE money!

A REAL Domain Name Investor is prepared to MAKE money.

A REAL Domain Name Investor knows the difference!

A REAL Domain Name Investor does not have time for fakers.

A REAL Domain Name Investor makes MONEY with domains.

A REAL Domain Name Investor learns everyday.

A REAL Domain Name Investor appreciates the freedom and opportunity domains give.

A REAL Domain Name Investor understands the POWER a domain can have.

A REAL Domain Name Investor is a critical thinker.

A REAL Domain Name Investor has business acumen.

A REAL Domain Name Investor understands sales, marketing, advertising, history, retail, wholesale etc.

A REAL Domain Name Investor understands, Need, want, desire, value, timing.

A REAL Domain Name Investor does not dismiss "The Radio Test"

A REAL Domain Name Investor understands the masses and the average person.

A REAL Domain Name Investor can see John Jones Thru John Jone's eyes.

A REAL Domain Name Investor understands how large companies work.

A REAL Domain Name Investor understads how small companies work.

A REAL Domain Name Investor knows the difference between the two.

A REAL Domain Name Investor lives and breathes domains.

A REAL Domain Name Investor will pass their holdings on.

A REAL Domain Name Investor knows that domains are not liquid and may have no or limited cash value.

A REAL Domain Name Investor wakes up and thanks the Lord every single day to be in such a great business.

A REAL Domain Name Investor knows he is alone on this journey.

A REAL Domain Name Investor knows there is a lot of trial and error.

A REAL Domain Name Investor knows what a Domain Vein is.

A REAL Domain Name Investor does not care about the age of a domain.

A REAL Domain Name Investor knows how to dig deep or scratch the surface and the difference.

A REAL Domain Name Investor knows the true value of what they have and can say NO.

A REAL Domain Name Investor would never sell for chump change.

A REAL Domain Name Investor does not Shill bid at auctions.

A REAL Domain Name Investor does not support auction houses that don't STRONGLY enforce shill bidding rules and publicly suspend those that violate their terms.

A REAL Domain Name Investor does not infringe on Trademarks!

A REAL Domain Name Investor is not a Cybersquatter!

A REAL Domain Name Investor..........Add YOURS in comments! It could go on for days.

A REAL Domain Name Investor........

A REAL Domain Name Investor.......

A REAL Domain Name Investor.......

Coming Soon, how to spot a A FAKE Domain Name Investor!!

Rick Schwartz

PS: A REAL and SMART Domain Name Investor invests in .COM DOMAINS! :-)

A REAL Domain Name Investor reads RicksBlog.com ;-)

Morning Folks!!

As far as I am concerned, Domain Trade Shows are DEAD! They are run for the wrong purposes, for the wrong people and are just spamfests! They no longer have value. It really stinks when YOU pay and MOST don't! That makes YOU a FOOL! You got fooled!

So I think UNSPONSORED  "Meetups" are far superior now and in the future. Forget about the spammy speakers. Forget about the travel and hotel and airplane expense. Forget about it!

Get 10-20 REAL domainers together and just have a "Dutch Treat" dinner and talk, talk, talk. Compare notes. Look for real answers that you can no longer find at the Spam shows.

See "Domain Investors" got overrun by all those companies like registrars, registries,and all related and allied fields. It is THEIR AGENDA not YOURS!

See there are less than 500 professional domain investors in the world. That's about it! There are 12x more people that work for Godaddy than all the domain investors in the world. So if you add up all the people working for companies that CAN'T MAKE YOU ANY MONEY, you will see it is in tens of thousands. Why are you wasting your TIME with THEM????

Look at the shows. You are lucky if a handful of actual Domain Investors actually show up. And it is watered down by perhaps a couple hundred folks that KNOW NOTHING about investing in domains. They know about trying to sell you something. Mostly WORTHLESS GTLD's.

So imagine you go to a show with 190 GTLD registries and a bunch of registrars and 10 domain investors vs a meetup with just those 10 maybe even 20 REAL domain investors. Which do you think has more value? Cut out the sponsors for your free lunch or free whatever and pay $100 for a dinner and do some business!

Non-profit meetups vs ????

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Let me start with my "Update" in yesterday's post.

UPDATE!: In the past 24 hours I have seen 2 high profile incidents where on TV they did not send their viewers to Twitter or Facebook but instead are promoting their own WEBSITE! We may be at a watershed moment. People got the message about controlling their own destiny!

I continue to see commercials and I am seeing social media links that are GONE and replaced with their domain name! This is a BIG deal! It is widespread and spreading very fast.

As many of you know I closed my Twitter Account last December and soon after I did the same thing with Facebook. Why? One word. TRUST! TRUST! TRUST! I no longer trust these platforms in any way, shape or form. These platforms can ruin your life as fast as you can post something that offends somebody.

I experienced it first hand. Threats of violence and worse. If you hit a nerve, watch out! But the way that society is now designed your social media is part of your credit. Part of your job application. Part of everything you might ever do!

But now back to business. They relied on these platforms to open shops and do business and customer service. That was plain IDIOTIC! It's one thing to make a contact on social media but the first thing folks should be doing is directing them right back to their website to help them with whatever they need.

Businesses work so hard to be cool so they bought in to the Social Media nonsense. Then they watched as many got bitten and others were put out of business overnight on the whim of some MORON working at one of these companies. Their stocks are down for a reason. What's coming is going to be ugly for them.

Please pay attention to TV commercials and magazine advertising. The shift and the speed of that shift is stunning. They seem to finally get it! Putting a businesses destiny in the hands of third parties like Twitter, Facebook, and Google is simply insane. Especially NOW with what we have all learned this year.

Whether that helps to ignite domains again is unclear. Why? Well, they already own their domain, they just did not promote it or use it in the correct way. Then biggest opportunity in domaining is with companies upgrading their domains to something more prime. Big sector and big money!

This is a perfect example of why you need to pay attention on a daily basis. When things change, it may take a long time, but when that change actually happens, it happens very fast!

So look at the TV commercials and you will see social media links are GONE and replaced with their domain name. THAT'S a GIANT LEAP towards the right direction!

Rick Schwartz