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

Morning Folks!!

Stupid: "having or showing a great lack of intelligence or common sense."

My brother taught me many years ago to never call a stupid person "Stupid". They won't react well. They will lash out. Don't believe me? Try it! lol You'll be a quick convert.

But now let's get past the knee jerk reaction and see how "having or showing a great lack of intelligence or common sense" plays into domaining. Instead of using the word STUPID! Intelligence without common sense is like a one winged airplane. It will go in circles and never get anywhere.

But let's focus on "Common Sense". As the saying goes, it ain't too common. And that my friends is probably the #1 issue most domainers face. They lack common sense let alone any BUSINESS SENSE . That's why they deal in Pigeon shit and that's why these folks feel compelled to lash out. Some have been around for decades and have very limited success. However they speak like they actually know what they are talking about. But they don't understand business. They don't understand sales. They THINK they understand branding. But branding comes from sales and since they know squat about sales they know even less about branding!

I tend to give more credence and credit to those that have achieved monetary success. Some of the loudest most obnoxious voices in domaining are from those that have made VERY LITTLE MONEY over many years and can barely support themselves. But they know EVERYTHING!! They have few if any reported sales and when they do it's marginal at best and infrequent. They sell to survive not to thrive. That's a BIG difference and the prices they sell for prove it.

I piss off everyone and if you are honest that is what happens when you let common sense rule. When you speak truth not to power but to just regular people. If the shoe fits, It's not my problem DUDE! I have nothing to feel bad about. I just hit a nerve and you don't react well. So that's on YOU, not ME! I did not target you. I did not mention your name. But you know who you are. So I am the one that you will lash out at and I will laugh cuz you are still misguided. Pissed off? GREAT! The shoe fits.

Let's piss off auction houses and brokers today. How much is their service worth? Well a lot of it depends on the size of the sale. Put the legit range should be 5%-15%. Real Estate agents work on 6%. Middlemen usually get 10%. Jobbers and wholesalers that have to have inventory 20%-25%. I don't give  a rats ass what Christies or Sotheby's gets. Nobody in the domain space is or acts or has the credibility like Christies or Sotheby's nor has their BRAND and pedigree!

I'll probably get an email or 2 from some brokers and auction houses or some snide comment somewhere. That's what happens when you hit a nerve. When you present the reality which may not dovetail with their agenda. But I don't care! They do! LOL

I started in domaining with a GOAL. An achievable goal. Not a pie in the sky nonsense goal. You don't make $1 million, you make a dollar 1 million times! Once you hit your achievable goal, it's time to set a new goal. Repeat, repeat, repeat. That's the path to success.

And to the desperate and truly STUPID domainers that not only send me an emails with all their pigeon shit, but they are SO STUPID that when I don't answer them, they keep sending their crap over and over again. You guys can't take a HINT?? Are you that stupid?? Are you that bad of a business person that you can't figure it out? Nobody wants your PIGEON SHIT! And no, you are NOT a fellow domainer as so many of you tell me in your SPAMS! You are spammers trying to sell worthless crap and your job is finding someone stupider than you! So stop telling everyone you are a domainer. A domainer earns a living with domains or at the very least supplements their income enough to pay the mortgage or a car payment. These guys could not earn enough to last a single day! Desperation is an ugly thing! If you are a starving domainer, maybe domaining ain't your thang!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!

It's simple, I look to the customer for all my answers.  The consumer is driving this train and the consumer decides when to stop. He decides to pull the wallet out or not. You can give the consumer snow skis for free but if he does not ski and does not want them and has no room for them, you won't be able to give it to him for free.

So I don't have all the answers, the consumer and the future does. The audience does. In this case you are both. And you are readers of RicksBlog.com and many of you are attendees at TRAFFIC and we are all domain investors for the most part. The answers come in one puzzle piece at a time.

So my questions are geared to answer the question at hand and in some cases answer a second question without ever asking it as the entire result draws an interesting picture for me in my mind. I'll do my best to share how I interpret the numbers. The numbers that count and are meaningful. Together we have come a very long way in filling in that puzzle and the answers below may give you a couple more that helps fill in the gaps.

Before we get to the main questions I asked some questions that could have gone either way and I am proud that you feel the way you do. Thank you.

Rick's Posts about gTLD's have been Fair and has brought up good points or Unfair and has brought up invalid points

I have worked hard to look at this from all angles. I know the noise will become overwhelming. I feel really good that after much invested time in this you see how objective I have tried to be and at the same time not allowing the obvious bullshit stand and go unanswered.

So 94% of you get it and understand my motives. Thank you!! 8 of you or 6% don't. So this is where i get to start filling in the gaps from some of the questions you will see below and it explains who might have a vested interest. That 6% or 8 people will be a variable you can use in some of the questions below.

You can start with this one:

Has Ricksblog.com been Beneficial to you?

There are my 8 friends again. But 95% of you say yes and anytime you run 95%, you are running good.

Just keep those 8 in mind as you read the results and perhaps revise with that in mind.

So the first question was very general and we had the most response. More than 300 of you chimed in.

How many gTLD's will you Buy Into?

From the actual voting I can draw two conclusions. First 71% said "None". It ran 77% all day. But the numbers changed a bit at night and I have an assumption on that. I think of full-time domainers that 77% number represent this group. However as it got later and later and later, the .whatevers gained ground. My assumption is that those with jobs and or are not yet full-time domainers, weekend warriors, are more apt to go toward the lure of the past trying to duplicate it. Again, that is my assumption. It does not mean I am right, it means I will use that basis for drawing certain conclusions until further info comes in that either proves or disproves it.

What would you give as an overall rating of the new gTLD extensions

So nobody, not one, thinks they are excellent. Well not until Sunday. It took 4 days to find one person to say yes.

Very few thought they were better than expected. Matter of fact it ran at  ZERO for the entire first day of this poll.

However a 2/3 majority of 66% thought they were worse than expected or pure pigeon shit. Now when you add the 13.5% for "I don't know" (it was 27% for I don't know so I split the vote for 13.5% for each side) the 66% goes to 79.5%.

These numbers have been very consistent throughout. 75% - 85% of domainers see little value and little reason to invest in or believe that values will go up.  At least 15%-25% that do. Of those the largest group of gTLD optimists seems to be those that came later into the business and those of course with a vested interest. If you were to exclude those with a "Vested interest" then I think you would see the numbers on each question would move another few points in favor of those that are more skeptical or give them no mind at all.

gTLD's are off to a good start, a bad start, I don't care

85% believe they are off to a bad start or don't even care. So who are the 15% that think they are off to a good start?And how many have a vested interest? It's not 0%. So that has to be factored in on all results.

Do you think gTLD's will Increase demand and value for dot-com or Lower demand and value for dot-com?

Now what is interesting here is we have that same 15% here. That greater that 0% is likely something to keep watching.

The next question is pure dollars and Cents.

If you are Planning to Invest in gTLD's, How much Money will be earmarked?

66% (113 of ya) said not a dime. Only 19 people, representing 11% of respondents were over $5000. And my friends of "8" could be the over $100k crowd?

The next question had the least responses.

If you are buying gTLD's I am buying to: Flip Immediately, Hold for 1 year and see what happens, Hold for 2 years and see what happens, Hold for 5 years and see what happens, Hold for 10 years and see what happens. Now let me finally give a tip of the hat for the "8".  Hold on for 10 years. That is probably the right approach.  Or flip immediately.

So let's see what happened so we can see what happens. I have 6 or 7 years into .mobi. Nothing happening there. Even tho they had the stage all to themselves and a great blue sky story to go with it. But that is what you do when you have extra funds. You invest. I mean gamble. I mean invest. Confused? So is the poll and everyone else. But oh save the day, in 3 years it will be CRYSTAL CLEAR.

I bought into .co, but as an investment, not my best pick. I bought into .xxx. I think we are at the 3 year test there. Let's see what's happening? I would gladly sell all my .xxx for 50% off. 75 off? They are prime. 1 word. Any takers?? I can use the tax loss before the 31st which will be my only tangible financial gain. I continue to dabble in several others. Can't say I have ever received an offer. Not even on my keyword.nets. So I would say the vast majority of those 70% in the middle, ME INCLUDED, will lose nearly 100% of their investments less the tax deduction.

How much of the TRAFFIC Agenda Should be Devoted to gTLD's? 

This is where I really use the data to determine the proper balance for what I personally do. So here is what I can extrapolate from the data above.  Here is how I would homogenize this info. Would I spend an entire day of TRAFFIC in gTLD's? No. Is one session enough? No. But I think about 85% would support 2 at this point in time and depending on the conditions in May, maybe 3 or 1.  And as you will see by the next result, focusing on gTLD's is tricky.

The more time TRAFFIC Devotes to gTLD's the more or less likely I will come to T.R.A.F.F.I.C.

Again, there is a clear majority. But the minority is significant and there is a happy balance. So to get to 90%, I think 2-3 is the sweet spot.

But this next question gave more input and may be a bit surprising for some. I think the numbers speak for themselves at 91%.

Will the main reason you will attend a trade show in 2014 be to meet the gTLD Registries?

So who are the 9? The "8" plus 1?

How many gTLD's will be successful?

You can see domain investors are open-minded. 75% believe they will enjoy some degree of success. The only mixed signal is 75% are also consistently skeptical. But also 8 of the 14 that are more than 50 or 100 likely have a vested interest. Just my assumption. But I look at the numbers with that factored in and not. But it certainly has significant impact on the outcome.

Are Bloggers views slanted because of gTLD advertisers?

This was the hardest question I asked. Was not sure I would even use it. Did not want to have my fellow bloggers mad at me. On the other hand I wanted to show and warn my fellow bloggers that they risk their own credibility if they are perceived as carrying the water for these folks. I even wrote an entire blog post about it but have chosen not to publish it. But as you will see below, I may be on to something. 95% see my point. 5% don't. Where are my other 2 friends? So this is nearly unanimous feeling out there. I don't think it can be ignored. I am not pointing the finger at anyone. However, I do suggest you ask your own readers. It may be the most important thing you do for your blog. Maybe not. But I do see something some should be concerned about.

Our job is to remain as objective as possible but let no propaganda serve as fact. North still has to be north and should not be bent to suit. Facts are a stubborn thing so the next poll makes me personally feel good and vindicated in what I have been doing. Trying to be as logical as I can which lead me to ask the question about how many would be successful. Pretty wide agreement there. Most are gonna be flops or at least meaningless in the eco system. 90% believe it will be from 0-50 successes. That interprets to some 900 failures. So the way my primitive mind works, the first thing you do is eliminate the 900 that are going nowhere so you might be able to focus on the 50 that some deem as having a potential. Now when you have 50 on the table it is much less confusing. Just remember that 900 little Titanics won't be helping the 50 that might still be floating. There will have to have been some damage done in the process. Some drag.

From the 50 you might want to put that in a few buckets and segregate them further by size and strength and brandability and all the rest. So eventually your bucket should have 0-10 extensions worthy of chasing. 90-1 odds. But you will have help. Might be right, might be wrong.

The concensus so far is .web has the most potential. It would be hard to put another .whatever in front. Anyone?? Let's figure out the 10 right here. There is so much room, that it hardly gives your secret plans away. Will any .whatever beat .web and who is #2?

Why .Web?

3 letters. 3 letters that mean and spell something. Seems like a perfect fit for those looking for a true alternative. But if you pick the biggest winner out of the 900, do you really have to go further or will you be consumed right here? How many of my readers have unlimited funds? I know I don't. If it is clear to me that .web is going to be the best of the worst, and I wanted to get into it, why would I choose another extension?

But maybe .shop, .blog, .App will become niches of some value. Maybe not great value. Some value. I have not studied the list at all. Just quickly browsed with few popping out at all.

I got a bit off track but the entire purpose of this is to figure it out and I am trying to do my process transparently so you understand how my insanity works. :-)

Which leads me to the path to follow or not:

In 2014 Rick Should: Continue to write about gTLD's, Stop writing about gTLD's, or Keep holding their feet to the fire?

88% of you think I should continue to post my thoughts on gTLD's. I then factor in that half of the 8 want me to stop. The other half may understand that my focus in this helps them. So that would bring it to just over 90%. And of the remaining, some just don't want me to waste my time and theirs on something they deem irrelevant. So I see that in this as well. But that group also understand more than any other why I have done this. Devoted well over a year on it. Methodically, objectively and sometimes emotionally. But from every angle that I could conceive all in the hunt to find answers unknown.

And what sticks in my mind the most is the few words that Lonnie Borck said that had the most impact in the gTLD debate. "They all have to sell something."  Their job is to convince you to buy into their vision. If you don't they lose. And there is nothing wrong with that.

My job is not to like or dislike the results of any poll question. It's to draw conclusions. Draw direction Understand my audience better. Take a pulse. Not discount any including the 8. Factor it all in and come to conclusions and then match them with reality as it begins to unfold.

One thing I can tell by the voting pattern is that veteran full time domainers are the most skeptical. Those that are not full time or are weekend warriors are the most likely to buy into the new extensions. And even with all the chatter, when it came to asking how much money folks would pull out, make sure to divide by 900.

I am disappointed that so much of the conversation has been hijacked by the outrageous claims some gTLDS are making and ALL gTLD's have to live with. None are playing from a defined sheet of music and the crossfire is likely to be brutal. The intersections deadly. The crashes unavoidable. My job as always is to see things first and see them before they become fact. When you do that your risk goes way down and that is how you turn the corner from a gamble to an investment.

And to T.R.A.F.F.I.C. sponsors and partners that are depending on gTLD's in 2014 and beyond:

My job is to ask the tough questions, state what I see as the real answers and level with my readers and attendees. If that pisses you off to the level of not coming to TRAFFIC, that only hurts your efforts. As I have said, "We have nothing to sell but help facilitate your ability to sell and do business."

But that does not buy or sway my opinions in any way, shape or form. I can't be bought. You can certainly come and argue your merits and show us where I am going wrong. But selling is something you will find out needs to be done in a way that brings in skeptics like me. Ya know why? You can start with the FACT that nearly 100% of the outside the domaining world audience might be somewhat if not fully skeptical. If you can't overcome me, you can't overcome them.

If you are selling something and you run away from those asking the hardest questions, then you ain't selling at all. Your job is to overcome obstacles not run and hide from them. You can laugh at shop owners on Las Olas but that's your customer. Deal with it. Stop laughing at them. You can think the vast majority of domainers are wrong, but you won't sway a single dollar or gain an ounce of credibility with outrageous claims that just might strangle your efforts.

This is like watching a train with 900 cars and no real railways under them. None are connected, but all have a certain degree of association and a mis-step by one or more can derail one or more. I would not throw caution out the window.

On record for the record. In a few years, we can all look back and see. Obviously these results are not scientific but they give an excellent pulse of things. Thanks for being part of it.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

A fool and his money are soon and easily parted. I should know. I have been broke in my life.  Made money and pissed it away. I did not know the difference between an investment and a gamble.

Maybe I can share this lesson with my readers and how you can avoid this pitfall.

The .Kiwi folks are nice. So is the casino pitboss.

So today we all have the golden opportunity to buy hotels.kiwi for $125,000.

Ok, so let's agree that is one of the very best .kiwi domains. For an end user in New Zealand, it might be a good gamble. It may even be a good investment.

Let's say Hotels.com would be their best prospect.

Oh snap! They use the sub-domain to achieve their goal with a cost of? ZERO!

http://nz.hotels.com

Like I have said, if these companies want to look smart and have a real debate, talk about the FACTS. The facts are that these large companies have decided to build VERTICALLY not HORIZONTALLY! They are not wide, they are tall.

So if you want to see the future, look at dot-coms that can have sub domains. Problem with MANY gTLD's is they are not subdomainable from the get go and these extensions are 100% sub domaining without the .com. But when you can only use a handful of adjectives, nouns and verbs to describe your gTLD, you die on the vine. No question about it. Unless pigeon shit farmers come to your resuce.

Now the point of the post is if you have $125,000 you can buy this domain Hotels.kiwi. Is it a safe bet?

Let's see.....

Hotels.nz goes nowhere.

Hotels.mobi goes nowhere. How much is that bitch worth?

Hotels.biz goes nowhere. How much is that bitch worth?

Hotels.info goes nowhere. How much is that bitch worth?

You see where this is heading.

So will Hotels.com buy hotels.whatever x 1000? Probably not. But even if they did, the chances are they would just redirect to the dot-com. So how commercially meaningful is that??

So as a domain investor......that is an insane risk. For Hotels.com it may be the cost of doing business. Maybe not. Maybe they wait for some schmuck to buy it and WIPO them. A couple of those and this thing would deflate faster than the worst souffle!

It's a GAMBLE!

Now compare that with buying a $125,000 keyword.com. Even if you goof, even if it is not as good as you thought, don't you think the value is still probably 6 figures? So go look at dot-com domains asking about $200k and you will have your choice. Which is a safer investment?

The .Kiwi folks and the .Club folks are very legit. I never heard them say ridiculous things. Their credibility is intact. We can have a debate and a discussion. I don't see everything. I see what I see. They may add something of value.

So while those that don't care about their credibility and really don't give a rat's ass if you succeed or not as long as they succeed, will always run around and say silly things. But silly hurts them all. They come to market as one, times 1000, and they will leave the market one at a time x 990. Really sucky odds even for the biggest gamblers.

If you have millions, you can afford to gamble. If you don't can you afford a total loss? That is the ONLY question you need to ask.

I sold Casinos.mobi, Tickets.mobi, Escort.mobi for chump change. $122,000 loss.

Crusies.kiwi $83,000? I hope they find an end-user to buy it. But a domainer?? Really? I just see it as a gamble. I went to cruises.nz. It goes nowhere.

I own Cruises.mobi, want to buy it?? $83K? Do I hear $10,000? Do I hear $5000? What is the value today? This is real vs the bullshit. And .mobi registrations are rising. well over a million of them. I want $83k because why?? Based on what?

Look as .mobi is growing faster than most others. Explain that?

http://www.zfbot.com/zfbot_stats.png

And I don't mean to pick on .kiwi. But those are the numbers I have so far and when others release theirs, I will comment as well. Plus I happen to have a UNIQUE outlook by already owning my .whatever counterpart so I think I have great evidence that can hardly be just swept away and ignored.

My readers have lost millions. Let's face it. We made some, but when it came to anything other than dot-com, the majority of folks found very limited success.

And I bought into many .whatevers. Only the .me's have more value than what I paid. Every other extension and I have yet to see the dividends I once thought possible.

Who will beat .tel other than the top 5-10?

I always exempt ccTLD's because we know there is a place in the eco-system for them. I have never focused on them because I don't focus on local markets.

So I just can point to REAL examples nobody else really can or have not as yet vs the BS being spewed by the likes of some and reinforced by others with a monetary stake in things. NOISE! So be careful what you read these days. The lure of $$$ will have them sell their souls. Greed is a huge catalyst that was the foundation of all of this as I recall history and unless you are prepared to absorb a 100% loss, these are some of the poorest casinos.mobi I have seen. Most so far are incapable of having more than a few meaningful combinations. How does that translate to success?

At least with .kiwi it is much less restricted than some of the truly worthless extensions you will see. .

Kiwi has many or possibly unlimited left of the dot variables. .xyz does as well but I have yet to see the vision and then it still has to be sold and it still has to be adopted. Many others, MOST others, almost ALL others, have a handful of left of the dot variables and think they can become meaningful. They need to understand what a sub-domain is first and then become a registry. They are about to find out the hard way.

I would think the first rule may be only have 3 to 4 characters right of the dot. I think I would disqualify anything with more right from the get go at this point in time. That may be why .Web, .App, .Blog, .Shop has led the pack in pre-registrations.

Investment or Gamble? You decide. Not me. I can only decide for me and share with you. LIke I said, I have no issue with .Kiwi. They were/are a sponsor of TRAFFIC. I want them all there. All there to make their best case among a tough audience looking for real answers before they invest what could be large money. But that does not mean I can't comment and do it honestly. And I would never say anything I would not say directly to them and I am sure most folks know that by now.

I hope they all hit pay dirt. Their success is our success regardless of the stupid things some are saying and doing. But they need to get a grip and understand the real damage they are doing to themselves. Self inflicted. You can't even begin to wrap your heads around the private conversations. They are beginning to just dismiss one and all when it comes to gTLDS.

Given the choice, I would invest in IDN's first. They have gone through the years of pain that these others are ony just going to start. Most folks I know need to eat today. Pay bills and the mortgage today. They don't have unlimited funds. These extension ARE illiquid as Forbes stated. But not the dot-coms. The.mobi's maybe. The .whatevers almost certainly. Once the dust settles, you will see that weak extensions like .tel will survive and get stronger while all these other guys do their work.

The conversation in the boardroom will likely include all the other non dot-com extensions and of course the dot-com. But the chances of them choosing .whatever over the extensions already available is not a given. So .Net, .Org, .US, .INFO, .Me, .Co, .TV, .Biz will also be on the table and those are MUCH bigger and stronger horses even tho so many are laughing at them. So .whatever guys, don't laugh until you pass the worst dead nag in the race.

I am on record saying I am an opportunist. I make a living searching for opportunity. Many of you do that as well. I am not scared to jump on opportunity and when I see it I will jump.

.Com happened for a reason and this entire charade is to try to copy that. Dot-com and the Internet in general was a once in a hundred year phenomenon that the entire world shared in. And it had NOTHING TO DO WITH .COM. It had to do with who built on .com and what they built. The question is can they  attract meaningful businesses to give  them legitimacy? Not one or two but hundreds of thousands and millions? Can those companies endure with them?  Somebody willing to abandon their dot-com because they truly believe what they say?

Or is it merely another door that may or may be LOCKED as I illustrated above.

The horse shit I have been hearing is alienating the single biggest pool of buyers they have. Insulting knowledgeable and professional domainers is lunacy. And you guys all own it. You rise together, it would not surprise me that you fall together. With the exception of those that could have a fit in the Internet eco-system.

It will be many years before we know. We may be all talking about it now but when was the last time you talked about .mobi? .Tel? .Aero? .Biz? How important are any of them to your daily or investment lives? I have no evidence whatsoever of a success. I will search high and low for that success. I do think that some may be surprised by what breaks out and what does not breakout.

Yes, you can run to the window and buy your Kentucky Derby Tickets right now and figure out which of the 1000 will come in. Or , unlike GAMBLING and more like INVESTING, you can wait until they take the first turn. You can wait until the mid-point. You can wait until the stretch. 990 of them won't make it to the finish line. If you want to gamble, you do it now. If you want to invest, you wait until the race is 3/4 over and make your move. I would rather invest $5000 then gamble $500. I would rather pay more for what is proven than risk what I have no idea about.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

So for those interested in .whatever it will spark a debate inside their kitchens, offices, and boardrooms. Don't ya think? Even if it is the entrepreneur thinking about it in the shower.

So then please follow the yellow brick road. They ponder between .com and .whatever. They weigh the pros and cons.  They discuss various issues. There is not a straight line nor is there an either or decision to be made. See the path will start as a volley between .com and .whatever. It will quickly morph into a discussion about .net, .org, .info, .us and other alternatives. So anyone that believes that won't be happening are completely miscalculating.

So from that the debate it is no longer about .com vs .whatever because all those variables just came on the paying field and .whatever went from a 50/50 scenario  to one of many alternatives. and then divide the 50/50 debate on one side by 700. 700 splinters perhaps?

THAT is how people really think IF they even get that far. Most don't care. Will never care and you can't do a thing to change their ways. We saw it. We did not plan it. I was just as surprised as many of you. Some did not even believe it. I was shocked in fact. Well not really. We may have come a long way in 20 years but for them, the race means nothing. It's a horn blowing in traffic and they could care less. Most could not care less. Their reply will be, "we already have a domain name".

Remember, I do a lot of talking with store owners and I know their mindset. It's sad. Its shocking. But it's also reality. The proof? Go into stores and ask. You will see that what you saw is a pretty good and accurate representation of what is out there. It was funny, but it sure made our hearts sink to know we have that much more to do. Even the young guy in his 20's or 30's said his site was under construction and he uses "Facebook".

All I can do is urge you to find 10 store owners to talk to and you will see the mountain we still have to climb. Do I lean against .whatever? Yes. But that des not mean I am going to be blind to opportunity if I see it. But at this juncture, there is no there yet. People can throw all the numbers around that they want. But at the end of the day, go see how many view Schwartz/Shilling had so far. Bet it surprises ya. I can do an entire post about that. 800 after 3 days on top of Domaining.com. That's it!! Not thousands....hundreds!

We are told that most people are not online and that is what many hold on to. However when we show that video, everyone laughs. Well don't laugh, THOSE are the folks YOU are relying on. Good luck with that. That is what motivated me to write this post and now I think it makes more sense. "I want to teach the world to sing" because you can start right there on Las Olas and I got news for ya, they ain't gonna change their minds or learn to sing.

Now it will affect domainers. If you own a lot of pigeon shit, it may turn into pigeon diarrhea as these worthless names become less valuable. lol Sad but true. Now it won't affect domains that mean something even if it has several words in it.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

I can see 2014 from here and oh what a year it is gonna be!

As 2013 barrels along we will hit the ground in 2014 running. Business is expanding and no longer contracting. 5 YEARS of contraction came to an end late this summer. It was like tropical rains came to cure a drought. There will still be some dry periods, but that big drought is over and now it is time to get your share of whatever is coming our way.

If you have strong portfolios you are going to be rewarded well. So don't sell yourself short. Getting a great domain is only half the equation. Unique assets have great value. Meaningful unique assets have more value. Income producing unique assets have even more value. And brandable unique assets that are short, sweet and memorable have even more value.

Look, it is frustrating as hell to be patient. But that is the game we are in. We had to wait for the masses to catch up. They have!  How can I tell? One way is the responses I get to prices on my domain names. When you compare the responses I get now with the ones I got 10 years ago, you can see the mood has changed. There are no longer expletives coming back. That is a huge difference that some may not notice or not put a lot of weight on. I do!

2014 may be a mirror of 2004 accept with much better understanding. I truly believe that 2014 will be THE year we look back to as when things really hit pay dirt. It started this past summer. But it won't be running on all cylinders until this time in 2014. When you look back at this period from Labor Day 2013 to Labor Day 2014 and beyond, you will know the world changed.

I was right here with you in September 2008 when the collapse occurred. I was right here with you a year ago when things looked dark and folks were struggling and the future did not look that good to many.  I could see past that period to what was to come and not focus too much on day-to-day misery. I focused for the period we are in now. The true Golden Era of Domaining. Now I know folks are still struggling and that is the main reason I write. To let those folks know there is a better era coming. What I can't do is select your portfolio. You either have a keen eye for domains that others would want or you don't.

Long gone are the portfolio owners with millions of domain names. The rifle has replaced the shotgun when domain hunting. The best way to insure your future is to buy great domains now even if you overpay a little bit. Overpaying for Gold is better than getting a sale price on pigeon shit.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

I hate to hear domainers are drowning in their renewal bills. But they are. Many of them. More than we could count. In fact, MOST domainers are probably drowning in renewal fees.

So what to do?

Well if it were me, I would cut my losses and start over armed with whatever new knowledge I might have.

Rick, are you suggesting we drop all our domains?

Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. Pick out your 10 best if there is such a thing and start again without the burden of paying for pure pigeon shit that has no value now and won't have value in 1000 years from now. So just drop it! Drop the crap. I see so-called "Portfolios" without a single domain of value. Hundreds! Sometimes thousands and not a ONE worth even a registration fee.

Sorry, but just because you have domains does not make you a domainer. As I have said before, it resembles more of a Pigeon Shit Farmer.

Now I don't say these things to hurt your feelings. If your feelings are hurt, get over it! My words are more valuable than somebody patting you on the back and telling you what you want to hear.

All I can say is this: There is no reason whatsoever to buy crap. NONE! There are so many great domains that are a fraction of your renewal fees. But you can't buy those cuz you are stuck with shit! Let it go! Start a new path right now. You have that power.

Just remember, less work getting good shit than buying pigeon shit. And believe me, there is no other word or phrase for it. Your domains are meaning challenged. Meaning your domains have no meaning. And if they have no meaning, they have no use. And if they have no use, they are a liability and not an asset.

So you need to learn two things. The difference between a liability and an asset. The difference between a domain name and pigeon shit.

If you are not willing to do that, go look for a job. Nobody can help you until you help yourself.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

A meaningless .com has no value. None. I would rather have a one word .whatever. Worthless is worthless and a risk beats worthless. Did I just change my view? Hell no! Just gave a starting point comparison. I will go into it much deeper as you read on. I just described the POINT where .whatever comes into play for ME and maybe for YOU too.

As I said this morning on DomainSherpa, if you pick crappy .coms you are not going to be able to pick better .whatevers.

When I buy a domain for $10 I don't count it as a $10 purchase. I count it as a $100 purchase because I am buying and looking at it as a 10 year purchase. So when I see a domainer with 1000 worthless domains and he is broke and does not know what to do I just wonder why he does not dump every one of them. Keep your best 10 IF you really even have a best 10. But a portfolio with 1000 domains to me is a guy with a $100,000 worth of spending power and he does not know how to use that power. How to make a 10 year deal with that $100k. Consolidate to 1 domain or a handful of them. Pay them off over time.

When I ask somebody to tell me their 2 or 3 best domains and they can't, guess what? They can't for a reason. That's sad.

A $100,000 domain can be bought TODAY and with the same $$$ you would pay on registration fees for pigeon shit, one can actually buy something life changing. So many ways to climb this mountain and find gold but folks have weighed themselves down with aluminum foil and dirt.

And for folks that go after .whatever. you better be focused on 1 word domains that actually mean something. If you play it the way you are today with 3 and 4 unrelated words.....not going to happen in 1000 years! If the left of the dot has no relation to the right of the dot, then what do you have? A recurring bill is what you have.

What happened to all those guys with a million domains in their portfolios? They are gone! That game is over. Few survived. That's about to happen to those with crappy domains. Even with a .com. Today I gave an example of a crappy domain. Something I seldom do but on DomainSherpa, that is the job description. EcommsConsulting.com was the one I picked during the show to talk about. What do you want me to say? It's worthless from where I sit. And it is worthless for a number of reasons. If you want to debate the point, don't. Just go buy it from him instead. But I give solid reasons why it has no value.

Folks are wasting tens of thousands of dollars by not taking the time to do it right. I keep saying how sad it is. Especially when the market is filled with bargains. Great domains at bargain basement prices all over the place and probably for the very last time. By this time next year, THAT game will be over as well and there will be plenty of .coms dying on the vine.

Worthless was worthless from the get go. But events move even worthless right off the table to oblivion.

However it is still a false choice whether anyone is really forced to use a non .com.

See for $500-$2500 there are GOOD domains that would serve the needs for ANY business. Some are really good domains. They are plentiful. Just because folks have yet to make the mental leap of the real world parallels I have talked about for all these years does not change the facts of what is coming and the mental leap that they will eventually make. That takes EXACTLY 20 years to change that mindset. I ask only one question"

"If you open a store in your town today wherever that town is, how much does it cost?"

Please you MUST add up each and every expense. Yes, garbage counts. Yes, insurance counts. Yes the furniture counts. Yes the employees count. Yes the electric counts. Yes the RENT counts. Yes it ALL counts. How many thousands is that on an annual basis? How about over 10 years? How big is the radius of your service? Is it worldwide or only as far as a few miles. Could it be worldwide? Can you expand? How much would that cost?

Your damn store SIGN alone would cost you more than the domain name.

This is all almost primitive that so few have connected the dots. But as you see the sales going up, they are starting to figure out just how powerful a great domain is and how inexpensive it is to maintain over the years. Expand over the years. I mean that alone should do the trick.

40% of business is "Word of mouth" and few on the Internet have gotten that memo. If you know that 40 cents of every dollar you make is word of mouth then you would think folks would focus on what might be the biggest pool of customers they have. So .whatever has to do one thing and one thing only. It MUST be memorable and easy to communicate to 3rd parties that you do not communicate directly to.

If that communication is confused and they end up somewhere else, then you lose. And if that somewhere else is a competitor, then you feed him while you starve. You grow HIS business while destroying your own. You work for him as his slave and he laughs and you don't even know you are that slave.

I talk about the foundational elements that make a domain have great value to multiple parties as opposed to domains so isolated and out there that it is like waiting for a Greyhound bus at the North Pole. Good luck with that.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Want to make $1000 before noon TODAY? Then do what I do. Each morning I go into my account and shut off auto-renewal on a dozen or more domains. I look at each domain at $100 each over the course of the next 10 years with the increases etc. So each time I take a domain off auto-renewal and prepare for it to drop, I make $100.

We all have pigeon shit. Been talking about it for 3 years. Remember back then that the way folks made up for not having quality was having quantity? So where did all the 6 figure domain holders go? Most are long gone. Swallowed up by their own overhead. They never even wrote a goodbye letter. They just went bye bye.

Pigeon Shit can make you blind!

I have dropped 4000 domains in the past 2 years and I plan at least 1000 more. Each 1000 domains frees up $100,000 to buy ONE REAL DOMAIN.

Look, with time we learn things. Some things don't pan out. Some do. Each day, each year we get new information and the new information is what turns a domain into one worth tossing. Some pigeon shit eating domainer will pick it up and then you will have defined things even more.

I know it is hard to let go. I know as well as anyone. But what works works and what does not work is called a recurring bill. That's not an asset. That is a liability. So if your domains are a liability, wtf are you doing?

Overhead is what makes or breaks anyone or any business. Things change, things evolve, we learn and grow. Phrases used just a few years ago are now obsolete. That's what happens when you are on the cutting edge of things. You get things that get outdated quickly.

So what makes you a domainer? If you can't rattle off a half dozen impressive domains........then what are you doing? I can't tell you how sad it makes me to see portfolios with 1000 domains and not a one worth registration fees. That domainer can right his ship, but he still FIRST has to learn what makes one domain have value and another one have only a bill. Piece of glass vs a diamond. You would think one would take a DAY OR TWO to figure it out.

I am not happy to say that Pigeon Shit Farmers outnumber domainers by some 100-1. That's the number folks. 100-1. Maybe more. There are well over 100,000 that call themselves domainers but less than 1000 that actually qualify.

Have a GREAT PIGEON SHIT FREE Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

In just a little over 2 hours we will do something unique and different and it will be done transparently right in front of everyone. The naysayers can continue wasting their time and energy while you watch a dozen motivated folks take the positions and begin to move these 18 wheelers over the crest of this monster of a mountain. While they root for our failure each success will be a dagger to their being.

If nothing else we have defined progress! We have done this entire undertaking in front of everyone. Each day methodically moving just a little bit closer to a HUGE goal. A goal that if and when achieved will change the way all non pigeon shit farmers do business.

You can own 100% of pigeon shit the size of a grape or you can share in the rewards of 5% of an asset the size of a watermelon. 5% of something vs 100% of NOTHING! or .NOTHING or .Pigeonshit

See you at 10AM EST TODAY!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Domainers! LEARN About Domains You Sell. Stop Being so Desperate to Make a BAD Deal! I just had to repeat that. Domainers are like Diamond miners except a diamond miner knows what a diamond looks like and the fact that some are bigger and better than others.

Most domainers do not know the difference between a $500,000 domain and a $5000 domain. They don't know it on either side. The overvalued pigeon shit and undervalued rare diamonds. WAKE UP!!

I don't know why 'Domainers' don't think it is important to know the difference. All they know is fast sale. No research, no understanding, just set a price and away they go. No rhyme or reason.

And speak about reason. I can take you on a journey on any given day and show folks domains selling for $2000 that have a 6 figure value and ones selling for $2000 with absolutely no value.

Stop treating unique assets that can NEVER be replaced as just 'Inventory'. It is NOT inventory unless you only care about volume. But that's a different game. Many games in domaining. So there are multiple paths to great riches but they all start and end with understanding why one domain is worth 1 million times another domain. Don't ya think???

Having patience is really one of the big keys to domaining. I am not sure why so many act as if they are a cat on a hot tin roof. More deals are lost from just being impatient. They want things right now and when it does not happen right now they get all antsy and frustrated. Take a doggie downer. A REAL deal takes TIME to negotiate. Weeks, months and even years.

So go grab the $5000 now because you don't have the patience to wait for the $500,000 that may only be months away. Instead you will work your ass off, make $50,000 and you will continue to let half million dollar deals just keep slipping thru your hands. Doing NOTHING makes a lot more sense than doing something STUPID.

Think twice before you sell. Think if it is the highest and best use. Stop being desperate and your incomes will skyrocket. GEEZ!!!

Still a bit miffed? Confused? Upset? And? So? If you want to relieve those negative feelings, then I suggest you read the next post that Danny Welsh has authored. It will make some of you VERY SICK! Those of you that left BIG money on the table just to score a dinner out! But it will empower many others who have not made that mistake!

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz