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

Morning Folks!!

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

UPDATE:

Morning Folks!!

It's not much more than 60 days to T.R.A.F.F.I.C. and that is when my attention begins to focus on setting up the agenda. I don't do it alone. I reach out to all domainers and ask them constantly what they want to hear about? What issues are important to them? Who do they want to hear from? What discussions will help them expand their business? How are they going to make money in the future?

Many of us were 100% reliant on parking a few years back. When the bottom fell out, domainers went to work in new directions with new ventures. They just not sit and do nothing. I know personally I went from 100% of my income to now less than 1/2. It did not happen overnight. It took 4 years and then some. I am not done and you are not done.

As we begin to focus on individual domains our needs are going to change. Our direction is going to change. It is the reason we have always referred to ourselves as 'Developers' because that was where the road was eventually going to lead to.

With those thoughts in mind I am happy to begin to announce some of our speakers. Today, I am happy to report that Michael Ricciardelli of Bankrate.com will be speaking at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 2012.

Michael Ricciardelli was appointed SVP, Business Development and Consumer Marketing after joining Bankrate in September 2006. Prior to joining Bankrate, he was Vice President - Marketing & Media Sales at Apartments.com/Classified Ventures where he managed all marketing functions and online advertising sales efforts. From 1999 to 2003, he was Co-Founder & Vice President of Strategic Development for Insurance.com - venture funded by Fidelity Capital and sold in 2003 to Comparison Market. Earlier in his career, Mr. Ricciardelli also held positions in strategy consulting and business development at Fidelity Investments, and financial analysis at Salomon Brothers.

I think Michael has the credentials of somebody that can speak intelligently to our group and help us define and understand the elements needed for a great success with just one domain name in your portfolio. Guys like this are the hardest to get because the pool is so very limited of people that actually know what they are talking about. So it is never from a lack of desire.

I want to thank Alan Dunn for the lead and I ask all of you to think if you know anyone that fits the criteria we are looking for. That YOU are looking for. Together we have long tentacles and I think it is time to take advantage of those folks that you have crossed paths with or heard about. All I need is an email addy and a name and I will do the rest.

I don't think anyone can argue that the Domain Industry is at a cross roads. There is a new shiny object out there in the form of gTLD's and everyone is looking. We will too. We will listen to what domainers see and don't see. But we can't ignore the FACT that we as a group have more information and knowledge about domain names than anyone. We know answers to questions many have yet to think of. That has great value. We'll kick that ball around and see if any minds are changed.

And what is the fallout if consumer does not buy into it? What happens to all those that took the wrong fork in the road trying to invent the 'Second coming'? I'll tell you. They will end up in our laps. It will be for the consumer to decide but the ONLY thing that is going to truly motivate him/her to go there willingly is new and different content that can't be found anywhere else. So far nobody has been able to do that. Name your DOT. That is even before we address the issue of confusion which is an even bigger issue. Folks fear the unknown. So to take the fear out, information is the cure.

Many domainers are downright confused themselves let alone the consumer. They are questioning each decision they make like never before. Sales are forced. A deep breath and recharge at TRAFFIC is exactly what is needed to take the confusion away and add clarity by finding out the answers to your questions. Do business from strength, not weakness. Weakness costs 100x what TRAFFIC costs and can easily be spotted.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

What I write on my blog is only half of the story. You, the commenter, provide the other half. I open up an issue and you close the issue. I bring up a few points and you folks fill in the rest of the points. I have a good pulse on things because I ask many people and get a wide array of feedback. Sometimes I play devils advocate.

So what are the issues that face you in the next 12-18 months? Today? Tomorrow? What are your challenges? What are your progress points? What does the gTLD's mean to you if anything? Are you in the black? Are you tapping into your savings?

I read that folks have lost 40% of their net worh since the recession began. Of course that becomes relative. If you are just starting out you are likely bucking the trend. If you have been out there for decades, then you may fall into this group.

What blows me away about this recession is I don't believe it is a recession at all. I see jobs with nobody smart enough or talented enough to fill them. I see jobs that are beneath students. (Sorry in my book, no such thing) Substitute 'Lazy' because while they think the job is beneath them, they don't realize that the experience they get they don't have to pay for and they can draw on those experiences long after they left that job and employ them in future positions. And they get paid for it!

What's the problem? Well they have to learn to show up. They have to be disciplined to get themselves there on time. They actually have to work with others and if they are a fuck up, they are gonna toss their ass out the door no matter how cool they are. Don't carry their weight? They will throw them out on their ass! Not the boss, the 19 year old coworkers that have to deal with it and do their job as well as theirs. I can't tell you how many 'Jocks' I have seen crying as their peers toss them out of a restaurant kitchen.

Sales are what drives everything and since the focus is not sales these days, that becomes the problem. Few understand or know how to sell. The art of selling. CEO's used to be the best salesman. Today it is the best accountant or lawyer or something else unrelated to sales. Sales are the top of the pyramid. Nothing in this world happens until a sale is made. I must have said that 20 times on this blog though the years. So I have to laugh at 'Start-ups' because their eye is almost never on sales and almost always on getting money. But with no sales, you are just supporting the guys that refuse to work for McDonald's. 21st century panhandling?

The real reason a company should be looking for money is because they can't fill the orders fast enough. Because they can't grow fast enough. Because SALES is pushing them. Because they need to expand and grow and make more money. They are already profitable and can't plow the money back into the business fast enough.

Today startups start with ZERO SALES! That ain't no startup, that's a personal charity.

Sorry for the ramble and rant. One thought just led to another and here we are. So what's your rant today? How do you see it? How does the overall mood play into your business?

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Evening Folks!!

Quite a day it has been in domain land. No matter where you come down on things, it has been interesting.

The most surprising to me was the one company I had my eyes on. I knew they would grab one, but I was not sure about the others. When I saw that they did not apply for .Mac, Apple did what was expected and got .Apple.

No confusion there! Simple! Reinforcing. Clear.

I was surprised that so much crap was revealed. Some looked more like domain names than extensions.

3 parties are going after .Property and one for .Properties. So I have nothing to complain about. There will be dividends to the .com and money to be made as this unfolds. Just not in the way domainers make money.

I had a supplier in the 1980's that taught me about making money from the 'Hole in the Donut.' How you sell something you got for free for a lot of money and make infinite profit because your cost basis was $0.

So there will be money to be made, just not in the traditional way we think of in terms of domain investing. There will be a lot of entities hiring new people. Experienced people. But nothing will happen overnight. 2013, 2014, 2015.

Can you imagine the intensity of the marketing when hundreds are out there all pointing out the benefits of their extension? Some we have heard before and some may be new. It will be a WAR! The brands will all be fine and useful. I have no doubt there. But the experiment will be consumer adaptation or it could become an internal platform for a company.

As for the generic gTLD's again, the consumer will decide. When was the USA scheduled to go on the metric system??

This is not all black and it is not all white. But as always, time will tell. First we are going to see some of the highest stake poker games the public has EVER seen before. Amazon vs Google for one. This is a heavyweight match and there will be a number of them unfolding. One thing for sure, it won't be boring.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

While all the bloggers are tripping all over themselves this morning posting the new gTLD's, let's deal with REALITY. The lessons already learned.

We all know that NNN.COM are always in demand and prices can go to 6 figures or more. Most sell for between $25,000-$50,000. But what is the value of the .CO equilalent? I don't know, let's find out.

This is something I have not done before but I always deal with reality. So I want to sell the following NNN.co domains. I would prefer to sell the entire lot to one entity.

Let the bidding begin! (Maybe)

Morning Folks!!

One of my favorite lines I use when people press me for answers I don’t know is “It will reveal itself.” Which to means be patient and as things unfold, the answers will reveal themselves. So today we have the “Big Reveal”.

I want to wish all applicants good luck in their journey of new gTLD’s. When I speak out I speak out through the eyes of an end user and as a domain name investor. I have dabbled in many extensions other than .com and I guess that is why I am so opinionated. When you have excess dollars you are always looking where you can put those dollars and maybe hit big. It is not often there is even that type of opportunity even in a world full of opportunity.

High stakes poker is what we are about to see. Some in it only for the game itself. They may be the smartest ones. In and out before it begins. But then again many will really want their new gTLD and may not have enough money to secure it. That is where we as domainers may have an opportunity to fund one of those.

I have heard dozens and dozens of new extensions. But none have really lit my fire yet. I define exciting as need, want and desire from an end user and right now I don’t see that demand. So it has to be created. That may or may not happen and we are going to have a lot of barkers out there. It is going to be a carnival. T.R.A.F.F.I.C. won't have enough booths for all of them! (But we will expand to accomodate)

My position is clear. But as I do each day when new info comes in, I reconsider and see if anything changes. Today will be interesting as we go through the lists to see if any or how many may meet the threshold of interest. I am hoping that something changes my mind.

I will pay more attention to domainer plays than those of others because I think domainers have a leg up into what might work. The 1 in 1000 that changes everything. Is it out there? I DON’T KNOW. I don’t think so. Based on history probably not, but we will see and an open mind is key to any success in business.

I think the race will soon be on and elbows will be flying. Is this the NBA? Could it get nasty? Intense? It may. Stay tuned. In the next 1-2 years we are going to see a barrage of advertising and positioning and collapse. We are about to witness a free for all the likes of which we have never seen before and it won’t be up to domainers if these new extensions can find a big enough audience to be effective and meaningful and will it take years or decades to accomplish.

All the new extensions just prop up .com to an even more powerful position in the world. Expansion never hurt Times Square! Sometimes standing on the sidelines at the start of something is a good strategy. May 18^th for example. Facebook.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Never confuse the customer. That's just one of the takeaways from the O.co disaster. Sure, you can put lipstick on this pig but 5 months after they announce they are going to become O.com, the change goes down in flames.

There are many losers in this. Some are short term losers and then there are long term losers. As for winners, there is only one winner. Dotcom!

Now this does not mean you can't make money with different extensions. You can. Including .co. It does mean you are crazy to try and build a business on any extension other than dotcom UNLESS you own the dotcom. They will ALWAYS have a gaping hole in their advertising and marketing strategy/budget and that is a costly mistake if they don't have the .com counterpart.

What happened with this news is akin to a $25 million domain sale. It's a marker in the sand. Marking a significant day with new FACTS.

This is what I would call a 'Paul Revere Moment' because the following line is going to be repeated and repeated and repeated for YEARS to come. Had O.co just decided to make a change would be one thing, but when they said THIS, the WORLD changed:

'Mr. Johnson said customers responded well to the O.co advertising, but after watching the spots, 'a good portion' of those who sought out the website went to O.com, instead of O.co.'

You can't put this back in the box. You can't unring this bell. This is not a low level employee, this is the President of the company. It is out there and I and others will hang our hat on it for years to come. Whether it be .co, .net, or HUNDREDS and soon to be THOUSANDS of other extensions.

'Mr. Johnson said customers responded well to the O.co advertising, but after watching the spots, 'a good portion' of those who sought out the website went to O.com, instead of O.co.'

Do not forget that line. THAT is what this is all about. 'It's the traffic, stupid!'

But there is also some clarity for the first time. Plus the conversation now turns to traffic. They are finally talking about traffic. When they start targeting that traffic we will all know we have arrived.

Itr has always been about the traffic but now they are reacting to it and understanding it.

When Overstock first announced they would be O.com I thought it was a stupid idea. Not because of the .co. That was not the first thing that popped in my mind. The first thing that popped in my mind was that the Overstock Brand itself was weak at best. Overstock is certainly not on the lips of most people and when I asked folks, most never heard of them. So their move was a branding mistake and premature.

It was stupid. I said so then and I did not mince words but I also was patient enough to wait for a REAL result. So the birdie in the mine was born.

Until NOW most folks did not know or maybe even did not believe that there is traffic leakage from ANY extension to the .com. That was inside baseball. We knew, few others did. Now the world knows. That's a good thing.

Read my posts for the last 15 years. I have stated over and over and over again that .NET is an'Orphan' extension. The weakest one because of the leakage to the .com. So this is nothing new. What is new is a mainstream company articulating that for the world to see. That is HUGE! That will have huge ramifications.

'Mr. Johnson said customers responded well to the O.co advertising, but after watching the spots, 'a good portion' of those who sought out the website went to O.com, instead of O.co.'

That is the key sentence to focus on. Nothing else in the release matters. But there is still a variable there. How MUCH leakage was there? We can guess at this. But let's look at the FACT that 5 months after they went to O.co they change course. 5 MONTHS!!! How much money did they spend in that re-branding effort? New commercials, new ads, new this and new that.

They did it 1 week before Thanksgiving. That is more evidence on how much leakage. Would you have liked to be a fly on the wall during those board meetings?

My estimate is as follows. 25% would be the very least leakage. But i think it is more. 50% would probably be getting close. My guess is they brought in a focus group, ran the commercial and then asked folks to simply go to their website.

So if that focus group had let's say had anywhere between 25% and 75% of folks going to O.com, then you can see why they would do something so drastic they know would be very embarrassing. The exact number we can speculate on. Just look how many times we have messed it up on blog posts or comments. CONFUSION!

But the FACT is it was so much leakage that they were forced to make this move after a huge investment.

Re-branding was a huge mistake when the original brand was not fully branded. But that is just a debating point. What can't be debated is the FACT of the traffic leakage. It's always about the traffic.

There is no excuse or justification. There are now facts. Facts to look at and plug in. But when we agree that this 'Experiment' is a big deal, we can't go back and say it doesn't mean much when it fails. And this was much more than a failure.

The single biggest loser, let me see, there are a few of them. But the biggest loser is down the road. I will have to re-read my August post on .Whatever and see if I need to change any of my thinking.

The gTLD's MOMENTUM is the the single biggest loser. How many companies will rethink their plans? How many will see this as the deciding factor? None of us know but I will guarantee you the answer is greater than 'None.' It may even rise to 'Many.'

Next up is .XXX. They have a different vision. Together we will see how that birdie does. I don't know, you don't know, but the birdie will know. The birdies cousin did not do well and this could be the next fatality. But sex sells and so I would say .XXX is the last best chance. A failure there is a nail in the coffin of .whatever as far as domain investment goes imho. We can count the carcases and come to a conclusion at that point. But I will still wait for the results and as always, time will tell.

I will also see what happens with the .XXX lawsuit. Mike Berkens wrote a piece yesterday and gives some good reasons why companies should get their .whatever. We will see if they take his advice. One thing is for sure, understanding of domain names and traffic on the Internet are still in the elementary stages. Folks that at this point should be fluent in domain names can hardly speak the language.

Those that don't understand how meaningful that one statement Mr. Johnson made is just missing the entire picture and wishing won't make your assets worth more. Taking in new information and adjusting is key. This was HUGE information. Nothing we did not know, but now confimed in a very public way.

I will be using that quote for YEARS to come. Forget the .co, (allthough the confusion factor here is off the chart) put in any extension. If you are going to mass market, you MUST own the dotcom version. SIMPLE. One sentence says it all! Thank you Mr. Johnson. You are my hero!

'Mr. Johnson said customers responded well to the O.co advertising, but after watching the spots, 'a good portion' of those who sought out the website went to O.com, instead of O.co.'

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Once Again Folks!

Things are moving fast and very fluid right now. We don't stop working until the show is on and even then we just try and keep adding value for those attending.

We would like to announce that Peter Dengate Thrush, Former Chairman of the Board ICANN 2007-2011. Now Executive Chairman Mind and Machines will be joining the conversation at T.R.A.F.F.I.C.

Peter does not come without controversy but once again we go right to the source as we discuss the future with gTLD's. Special Thanks to Mike Berkens for getting us in contact with him.

I want to take a moment to thank and to recognize all the speakers this year at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Each show I ask some of the most prominent folks in the industry to get on stage and be part of the show. They unselfishly give of themselves, prepare their comments and add value to everyone that attends.

Most everyone in the industry has walked across our stage at one time during our 22 shows. We like when folks share what they are doing, how they are doing it and what they see coming our way. Some of the brightest among the brightest. 30+ people that know their stuff. So a heartfelt THANK YOU from Howard and myself.

Josh Metnick
Bill Karamouzis
Mike Berkens,
Monte Cahn

Morning Folks!!

There is FEAR in the domain Industry. That is the only word that can describe what I see. But it is unfounded fear the way I view the universe. Fear created by others because they WANT what you have.

Fear of a “Shadow” that can never duplicate a phenomenon even though they will try. They still talk about the Hula-Hoop. That was SIXTY years ago and they are stil looking for the second coming. Problem is the second coming did not look like a hula-hoop. It looked like a ”Pet Rock”.

For the last 2 years I have said during this economic turmoil that Ron Jackson would get on stage at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. and report a record setting year of domain sales. I have been WRONG both times. But I believe in just 3 weeks I am finally about to be right. My timing was off, but the event unfolded as seen. Record setting domain sales in a tough environment.

Quite interesting to see fortune 500 companies buying WAVES of domain names just at a time where so many domainers are giving up. Are you folks CRAZY??

Pete Rose was great because he ever gave up. And by never giving up he squeezed another 10% out of himself each and every time. That 10% extra effort would result in a 50% success rate. Point is MOST give up just before the finish line. Too bad for them. They had victory within their reach and FEAR of failure made them give in. Passion lost out to fear. Persistence lost out to fear. The ONLY thing to fear is not giving it 110% each and every time. That is the only failure to fear.

How do you describe something not visible to the naked eye? An event about to unfold? Some see ghosts and I see opportunity. Some see shadows and get driven by fear.

Some are worried about the new gTLD’s. I still only see opportunity. Whatever downside that can happen is nothing more than the tide coming in and going out. Inhaling and exhaling. I just see much more upside than downside.

But, that is what makes a “Market”. That is why they have 57 flavors of ice cream. That is why markets go up and down. As businesses you job is not only to “Whither” the storm, but it is to “Thrive” during the storm or directly after the storm.

Don’t believe how things will unfold? Tell me that in 4 years from today. Can you survive for another 4 years? Steady as she goes. Fear makes bargains. There are bargains out there. There are deals out there. There are terms out there because there is more “Circumstance” out there than in most of our lifetimes.

Point is it is times like THIS that fortunes are made. The worst times provide the largest opportunity. My suggestion to those core domainers is to be in a strong cash position so you can buy FEAR! So you buy the unknown at a deep discount. Fear is driving the market when really nothing has changed. The power of your knowledge will more than offet anything the future can throw at you. These are the best of times because there is finally light at the end of the tunnel.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz