The Rick Schwartz Domain Name and Traffic Blog:

Morning Folks!!

If you did not come to Asheville or are not on Twitter, it's been a while since we last talked!

As many of you know, starting last May I have had a series of about 120 videos on Twitter talking about Domains, business, common sense, and life! I am preparing to tape season #2 in a few weeks.

Last night I unveiled the first in a series of animations that I hope will effectively explain what I see and why I see it. Why the vision I had nearly 25 years ago was so strong and why 25 years later it is even stronger.

I had a 20-year plan and that timeframe kept my sanity intact. But as I enter my 25th year I also am entering a new phase. A more proactive stage.

I have history on my side now. Something I did not have back then. What I believed so strongly in had yet to be proven. But I knew it was a matter of time. I knew in this sense, time would prove to be my best ally.

When it comes to domain names, I see things before others. Good, bad or ugly. Opportunities and rabbit holes. Places to make money and places where you will lose your ass. It's not luck (tho I will take all I can get and am thankful for all the luck I have had) it is simply a keen understanding and action when necessary. It's knowing when to pull the trigger and when to pull away. It is focusing on gold and not on tin even tho they be similar in color and able to fool the foolish.

In the coming months, I will launch Rick.tv to be the home of these videos and animations. I will also have them on DomainKing.com, Twitter and Youtube. They will circulate in time. Nothing more than a note in a bottle and sending its way by sea. Simply sharing what I see and how I see it and hopefully will be re-launched and shared with other notes in other bottles.

Most of these will focus on domain names in general, but I will also have some dedicated to specific domains or groups of domains. And of course, I will always sprinkle in some common sense and personal stories of failure and success in the hopes it might be beneficial to you or the next guy.

It is the first in a wave of proactive marketing that I will start doing but in a passive manner. I am still retired and want to stay that way. But as I have done for 25 years, I plant seeds every day of my life in the hopes some will germinate.

I hope you enjoy it and share it widely. Here is my first seed of the day! Hope it becomes your too!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

This is what I would call an "Easy Reference Post" for me to refer back to or point others to when I need to access my prior domain sales. So please indulge me. It seems I never have a list that's easy to find or to add on to. Now I do!

The first sales (1998-2003) are mostly lower on the list and occurred when 5 and 6 figure sales were almost unheard of, and folks would laugh at me for even asking these prices. The laughter stopped when I started getting those prices and then completely silenced when I sold Men.com for $1.32 Million. One of the very earliest verifiable, 7 figure domain sales. Before to was just the rumored Business.com for $7.5 Million with murky details.

• Men.com sold for $1.32 million in 2003, acquired for $15k in 1995. Plus earnings of about $350,000 during ownership
• Candy.com $3.0 million + several million in Royalties + 12.55% Ownership currently valued at over $5 million+, acquired for about $100k in 2005. (Will end up being my biggest sale ever)
• Porno.com sold for $8.88 million cash, acquired for $42k. Plus earnings of about $15,000,000 during ownership. Escrow.com's largest cash sale EVER!
• eBet.com sold for $1.35 million, registered for $100 in 1997
• Teem.com sold for $36,000 plus stock. Final total after buyout $1.15 million registered for $100 in 1998
• 989.com sold for $818k, registered for $100 in 1997
• 899.com sold for $801k, registered for $100 in 1997
• Portfolio of 10 NNN.com names (Undisclosed. Between $2.5 million and $3.5million)
• 9595.com sold for $180k, registered for $100 in 1998
• iReport.com to CNN for $750,000 acquired for $5000 in 1999
• Punchbowl.com too MyPunchbowl.com $60,000 plus stock
• ChinaTours.com $200,000
• TokyoHotels.com $200k++
• RockStars.com $180,000
• FreeSexCams.com $150,000
• GayEscorts.com $121,550
• PartnerCash.com $110,000
• eCruise.com to iCruise.com $100,000 & Stock
• 235.com $100,000
• SydneyHotels.com $100,000
• eScore.com $100,000
• RoomDividers.com $75,000
• 273.com $50,000
• 236.com to IAC (Undisclosed)

Total sales in EXCESS of $23,000,000 AND I continue to receive royalties from multiple sales/leases totaling several million so far with over $7 million still to paid out to me.

Property.com/Properties.com was sold 3x in 14 years. I paid $811,000 for the pair and took in over $850,000 so far. So I am not in a bad position there for my $8.50/year x 2. One day the right buyer will come along. It's in the intersection I speak about. It's only a matter of time and patience. I get $1 million offers several times a year, But that won't cut it.

So my 33 domain sales have an average of $701,649++ SO far, and they increase annually! Plus factor in that many were early sales in the late 1990s and early 2000s. So in the modern era of the last 15 years, my average is much higher.

It would have been much easier and, I would have sold many more domains if I did not know how to value my own assets. Easy to give things away when you undervalue them. Doing that gives me the ability to say NO because I have purposely put myself in the strongest position I could. Nobody could or should be able to value domains better than yourself. Your value is the key. Stick to your guns!

33 sales and I never made the first contact with any of them. That's #1 on the list for selling domains at high prices. If they are not coming to you, then perhaps you don't have what they need. Like I have said, great domains put you in the middle of a busy intersection. Worthless domains put you in the middle of a nasty swamp. Don't get mad at me, get mad at yourself if you are in the swamp. You picked what you got. Right?? You decided to pull the trigger at whatever price, and you chose to value it at whatever cost.

Some still question my sales ability cuz I don't sell many domains, and I don't sell often. Domain investing is about PICKING great domains not SELLING them!! Pick right, and sales will come. There is always time for outbound sales, but that won't happen until big business understands the value. We are very close thanks to social media and their abuses of privacy and free speech as well as the most important of them all, autonomy! On the WHIM of some low-level MORON, anyone can be put out of business with one click on many of these platforms with no appeal process and no reason given.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

I really don't care if you agree with my steps or not and I am used to it. Most won't. But if you are not making MILLIONS with your domains then maybe, just maybe, take it seriously. This is my suggested path. There are many other paths but again, if you're not making millions on that path, don't argue.

Best is to have one domain and build a successful business not a "Feel Good" site. One is being a business person and the other is being a starving artist. Sorry, but I DO make that distinction and before you just dismiss it, you should think about it too. Businesses have a cash register.

1.* Focus on .COM domains that are easy to spell and pass the radio test.

2. Make sure you have another source of income to support your investments.

3. Target with a rifle not a shotgun. Your first purchase may be your most important. 

4. Each purchase should be like it was your first except armed with more knowledge

5. Hook up the new domain to PPC and see if it has traffic and who is bidding on that traffic.

6. Select secure registrar.

7. Make sure your whois is public. 

8. Test, Test, Test.

9. Patience. Patience. Patience. You are not selling umbrellas in a rain storm. You are selling the most important decision they ever made. 

10. Learn how to sell.

11. Learn how to write an effective email.

12. Learn to personalize.

13. Learn how to stay focused on their needs, not yours!

14. LISTEN to them and stop talking. 

15. Answer their questions honestly and truthfully.

16. POINT OUT PITFALLS before they even ask!! That is STRONG selling!

17. Protect them as well as sell them! That's STRONG selling

Side note: That's what pisses me off about the GTLD guys and how weak they are at selling is this:
At least have the BALLS and the DECENCY to tell them to add the WWW before the domain until it is recognized. Alert them to the confusion so they can avoid the confusion. But they are weak and they don't do that and the only thing they can do is bash .com's. That's weak! So until they do that, it's just a fraud to me.

18. Stop talking about Escrow.com. It won't help you close a sale and you are wasting time and space to actually add value. BIG MISTAKE!

19. Stop talking about how old the domain is. It won't help you close the sale and you are wasting time and space to actually add value.n BIG MISTAKE

20. Stop talking about PRICE and talk about USE! Their use, not your needs. Not your desperation.

21. Don't send out another email the same day or even the next day asking if they got your email. BIG MISTAKE. Send it in a few weeks with some news and value. Send them an article. But wait a few WEEKS or more.

22. Watch my twitter videos and allow yourself to change bad habits into good ones.

23. Filter out all the noise. There are only a handful of credible sources in the domain industry. If they have something to sell you, question their credibility. Start with DNJournal.com and focus on a few credible blogs.

24. Success in Domains is about longevity and the future. Lasting power. Focusing on domains of value because they have the right elements.

25. Create income streams early and often.

These are such basic elements and folks that skip steps on a ladder always fall off the ladder. Take it, leave it or post it and follow it. Your choice. It's as valuable as you make it or just discard and forget.

And for the first time ever, I am not allowing comments on this post. It will remain in its pure form. There are many more points I can make. But this is a decent start.

GOOD LUCK!!

Rick Schwartz

*If you want to ignore, resist or argue about this, there is nothing I can do for you. Working at Denny's vs owning Capital Grille. I don't do Denny's. Can't help you until you figure out for yourself. Good Luck on the journey.

Morning Folks!!

In case you missed it, I have been doing daily video podcasts on Twitter and folks seem to like the content. I just tackle different subjects in short 2 minute clips. I have published 10 podcasts since April 30th.

I like the written word because it gives me more time to think and use the best words to explain my thoughts. But sometimes video helps to soften the delivery. There will be times that the videos will be tough and maybe even go after wrongdoers by name and company. I won't hold back. As always, I just tell it like it is. You can take it or leave it. I think the passion comes thru in a more level way.

I am still working on getting the clips to show on the blog, but to help things get started and without further delay, I will list my 10 clips here in order of publication.

Hope you will join me and join the conversation.

Twitter Introduction and Test Clip

Sunrise in Rick's Backyard

Rick's Back Pocket Story

Rick Answers Questions from Viewers

Rick tackles .Com vs .Whatever

Rick talks about "Incremental Perfection" #1 Video last week!

I talk about WHY I am doing this #1 Most Important Video last week!

I talk about the Domain Boom and why 76 Likes, 26 retweets

I’ve talked about Need, Want, Desire, Value. But what about USE???

Recap of my plans for Twitter Videos

In my first 10 days these videos have had 100,000 views, 512 likes and 114 retweets. It's really good content if I do say so myself! I think you will enjoy and if you do, I will keep cranking them out.

I will explain the purpose and the motivation but you have to watch to find out. You will see the real me in action and what makes me tick. I may surprise a few of you!

ENJOY!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!

I look at a startup as a Dual-Decathlon with the obstacles and challenges that must be met before you even get to the actual Decathlon itself.

Sorry, but almost every startup I see flunks right out of the gate. It’s like taking a math test so they got a 33 and they think they’re cruising. Your single biggest and most everlasting decision is the name of your company. There is none bigger.

Most importantly any good or service needs to be market tested. So if you haven’t tested sales you’re probably going to flunk.

Oh, you want to keep it a secret. But with that, you might be wasting valuable TIME. Sorry secrets don’t last, first-movers do!

I have been involved in a number of startups in my life and you know how much time they spent on naming,? Not enough! It was horrible. It was something that they want to get over with fast, not something that they wanted to be thoughtful about. They never took enough time to truly discuss alternatives. The first name was what they picked each time.

So once you have your name the next most important thing is your website name. Your domain name. We all know how bad startups do when it comes to that! So maybe start with the domain name. If you are having a newborn, choose one with an available name. Same with business. Find the domain first or you flunk again unless you get an exact match.

There are only a few jobs in business thinking planning and doing. Pretty simple. But most DO, then they THINK then they PLAN how to fix the calamity they themselves created by rushing and not thinking. They FAIL!

Do you want me to tell you how many businesses start with DO with the power thing and then they can do cleanup mode. And that cost money. To recoup money that you just pissed away is your profit.

Don’t minimize ANY pitfalls. Must be magnified AND amplified. MUST BE!!!! Can't stress this enough. It's part of my "Back Pocket Stories" (It's on my twitter feed)

So, if you are a startup these are mistakes that will likely put you out of business before you even start. YOU are the only ones that don't know it!

That's why failure is so so so easy to spot. You can't bowl a 300 game or even a 200 game if your first 6 frames go in the gutter. You championship bid was over long before that. lol

Startups need to smarten up and be smartups or they will not survive long in the wild. They will be eaten alive by mistakes and leaks and doing w/o thinking. They always say they will do it right: "Next time"!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BUT!

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

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

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

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

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Today I caught a domainer that I believe outright lied, but at a minimum mislead. All in an effort to pump up GTLD's which is in collapse mode.

This happens ALL-DAY long!! I am sick of it! So I am going to post the Twitter thread and you can see for yourself and decide. Did he lie? Did he mislead? Or is that perfectly ok with you?

Just make sure you mulitply it by all the others doing the same CRAP! That influences others under false pretenses. PUMP and DUMP!!

It started with this quote that I challenged.

"I owned one of the best gtlds it was bought by one world's 40 biggest legal firms So it must have good"

My Response:

"Perfect Example of someone spouting stuff won't give us the domain name won't give us the price. It's just nonsense! Give us the details or it doesn't exist."

He is on twitter now trying to explain himself. Trying to say

So folks, stop swallowing their .horsesh*t! They are lying thru their teeth. They are in collapse mode. Out of 500 extensions, only a handful has daily gains and HUNDREDS have daily losses.

Rick Schwartz

Morning folks!!

I fight hard when I make a sale to make sure it is released publicly. It's important for my future sales, it's important for my portfolio and it is important for everyone. Just like Real Estate, that info is vital to the growth and increasing values of all domains.

But many domainers and companies actually HIDE behind NDA's, and it is time to stop! They pound their chest when it is convenient and HIDE behind an NDA when it is not. That's nonsense. There is no reason for MOST, and I can prove it right here, right now.

You can still give bulk info w/o violating an NDA & HELP EVERYONE! Help yourself. Help the industry. Help promote progress and what we all do! Suppressing sales data hurts everyone!!

"I sold 10 domains last year for a total $230k"

"We sold 220 domain names in April for a total of 2.93MM"

Stop hiding sales data when you don't have to! Time to DEMAND all info or give none at all!! There are NO EXCUSES unless you search for one and it won't be valid!

Now domainers must pressure companies to start releasing this information in BULK and stop with half-news which is no news!

Sorry, but this NDA nonsense has gone way too far for way too long. Stop swallowing partial information and then thinking you have the whole picture. It's misleading at best!

I am appealing to all companies in the domain industry that CAN do this, DO THIS! Help You, help us, help our futures.

There is a reason I have been posting for 23 years. We have generational assets that will outlive every single one of us. OUR JOB is to accelerate that period so we can take advantage of what we have in OUR LIFETIME!!! That is the main reason I have been doing this and I guess it pisses me off when those companies much larger than me with a much bigger megaphone to amplify domains and their power and value, DON'T! Frankly, it sickens me! Sorry, but it is how I feel.

The NDA NONSENSE is stunting our progress and our growth overall. Please rethink and report in bulk which can be done 99% of the time w/o any violation whatsoever. There is no valid reason not to.

Compare that to what some have done with the fake valuations and the destruction THAT is doing! It's DESTROYING values not increasing them!

SICKENING!

To those companies that do it the right way, I applaud you. To those that don't, you should be. I am appealing to you to change your policies without delay!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

I have seen some GTLD collapses as we see HUNDREDS of new GTLD's that are dying on the vine. But I have never seen a meltdown like .Boston. Arguably one of the stronger Geo GTLD's. Seems all geo's are in trouble. .Taipei, .Miami, .Vegas etc. All, DEAD EXTENSIONS still walking!

.Boston has 13,588 domains of which 9603 or over 70% are dropping. Of the 3953 still in the zone file, 3011 are parked. Leaving just 900 domains that may or may not be parked and registry holdbacks. Another so-called domain investor getting hammered with losses! WAKE UP FOOLS!

The real collapse has yet to come. Stay tuned as the black hole of domaining continues to dominate GTLD's. I have been here every step of the way warning about this but many millions of dollars that were formerly in the pockets of Domain Investors (know-nothing domain investors) now belong to the registries. It's their money now. WAKE UP!!! You got fooled. You got taken. You listened to the wrong people geniuses! They sold you a bill of goods and now many of you are BROKE or are about to be.

Rick Schwartz