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

Morning Folks!!

I can't even describe the high as I began to read the Forbes.com article last night. Then without notice I got sucker punched when I was referred to as a "Domain Squatter".  I was more than outraged. I was body slammed but I was not knocked out.

I thought we had passed that point of jealousy. But I got thrown back right into 1996 and that forum about mobile home and real estate flipping. They removed my comments as fast as I could write them. My crime? Showing a new type of real estate that would provide them with more money and a quicker way to do business.

But the biggest surprise of all is that this was coming from Forbes.com. The leading Capitaistic publication in the world. Outragreous!  I am reading this and wondering whose agenda is this? What would motivate this? The contradictions make no sense. They did not just present 2 sides, they presented something that did not add up.

So while we have not come as far as I would have thought, hoped, dreamed, it is still 2 years 1 month and 3 days until that 20 year mark. The time I believed it would take to change how this medium is viewed and why the .com address would increase in value faster than any other asset class in the history of mankind. A bold premise! A crazy timeline. But it would take all those years to change the thinking. And as you see with that article, we still have work to do. And while we are on the threshold of 20 years, we are not there yet. The landing gear is not down. But we are in contact with the control tower. We are in the gravitational pull of where this is all heading.

The gTLD "Booster Rocket" is just that. A Booster Rocket. What that means is that it propels the main ship (.com) to the destination while the booster rocket part falls back to earth as we have seen over the past 50 years on TV with every launch.

Comment #1

Excuse me,
But I invested many millions of dollars into an uproven medium called the Internet and I am NOT a “Domain Squatter”! I may be a homesteader, a risk taker, a gambler, but not a squatter and you should update your article accordingly.

Is Donald Trump a land squatter?
Bet you call him that and you would hear from his people pretty fast.

It is called CAPITALISM and that is something that Forbes is supposed to champion!

When I bought Porno.com for $42,000 people thought I was insane. That is not squatting. That is pure capitalism.

Comment #2

Squatter: a person who unlawfully occupies an uninhabited building or unused land.

So PLEASE update your story as you are implying I have done something unlawful and that is damaging to my reputation. And it is not accurate!

Occupy Wall Street, THAT is what a squatter is. I am a capitalist. An opportunist. Something that I should not have to defend on FORBES.COM of all places!!

Comment #3

And when Steve Forbes himself came to talk to the DOMAIN INDUSTRY at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. domain conference I co-produce in 2007, he thought those that thought we were squatters were ignorant of what being an entrepreneur is all about.

btw, when I sold candy.com you failed to mention I still retain 10% of the company and get a 1.5% royalty for every item that goes out the door. That might be important information for your readers to know.

And yes I am a college dropout. That does not make me stupid. Last time I looked, I was in pretty good company. I even know what a squatter is and what a squatter isn’t.

I paid $750,000 for Property.com, how does that make me a squatter? That is outrageous coming from Forbes.com

I paid MANY millions for the domains I OWN! I outbid others just like some did last night. You just called them all squatters!

If I had domains with infringing trademarks that I was profiting from, then you would be on the right track. Generic domains like Candy.com, property.com and the 5998 others I own do not infringe on anyone.

Comment#4

I just saw the author is a a lawyer and journalist. And you would think she would know better than to refer to me in this disparaging and negative manner in an international publication like Forbes.com: “Domain name squatters like Schwartz”

NONSENSE!!

I bought domains LEGALLY, open to anyone and no other person on the planet wanted them out of 7 BILLION and it paid off. And will pay off for the rest of my life. Or I was the highest bidder. Neither of which would in any way, shape or form make me any more of a squatter than Donald Trump or any other property owner in the USA.

Ms. Jacobs, I am no squatter! I think you must correct and update the story and set the record straight.

Comment #5

And lastly,
Your entire article is based on false information you are giving your readers that the value of domain names are going down. Sorry, they are more like Manhattan Real Estate. Up, up, up.

Why don’t you tell them that the aftermarket on domains in 2013 broke ALL previous years sales records and we still have what may be the #1 month of the year to go?

Tell them that while the housing market was crashing that generic dotcom domain names were going up or fairly stable. That everyday many people are making loads of money by buying and selling domains like they flip real estate and are not squatters nor are they squatting. They are doing what has been done for HUNDREDS of years.

Tell them how all the hotel chains missed Hotels.com and how they have to pay millions a year to get reservations that they could have had first and FREE had they or anyone in their employment had the foresight to figure it out. They failed!

Comment #6

Good Afternoon Folks!!

As I have stated previously, our sessions were among the best attended ever. The content was real and it was unvarnished and it was stuff you can use right now. But that would not happen without the speakers. The speakers are golden and they are all willing to share. They don't agree on a lot of things and that is why we can hear both vistas of opinion and come to your own conclusions.

So these speakers come to TRAFFIC for a few days and I rope them in to appearing on stage and helping me out. I literally could not do it without them. They give of their time, energy and thought process and I don't thank them enough for what they do to make TRAFFIC such a great event. YOU are TRAFFIC.

So thanks to each and every one of you. Your testimony in the future will be even more important than it is now.

And of course a special thanks to Frank Schilling and Adam Dicker for each holding great dinners. Memorable dinners. Vivid experiences. Plus appearing on panels and Frank participating in a fantastic debate over gTLD's. A debate that I expect to post right here this Friday that was so much fun and was just so cool. So thank you guys so very much. Adam's seminar was worth the price of admission. Schwartz/Schilling was worth the price of admission. Berkens says Meeting of the Chiefs was worth the price of admission .

Thank you to all speakers. Lonnie, thanks for being on Team Schwartz. Ron Jackson, thanks for chronicling the event that is so well done you feel like you are there.

Andee Hill who enlightened us and played a key role in the auction with the help of Escrow.com.

Ammar with his spiffy wardrobe and fantastic taste in robes and the "Toga Party" that followed at Gregg McNair's suite. No details available.

Finally the Michaels. Michael Berkens for all he does throughout the year. The Domains.com keeps me posted on the things I need to know. The guy is like having a research staff on payroll. Michel Cyger, just doing a great job for the industry and a tip of the hat!

Now if I keep going I will never finish this post. I just can't thank the speakers enough. The most knowledgeable people on the planet when it comes to domaining.

To everyone else, my deep gratitude and if I were not so exhausted I would go on and on and on. I will have more posts about what I saw as a result of this show. Clarity for one thing. But I have to save that for another day and another post. We are a special business fraternity of forward thinkers that are happy to welcome new folks and have deep regard for each other and their accomplishments. Salute!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

There are myths in business that have been busted wide open over the years. I have empirical evidence. Not theory. I can point to things I have pointed to for decades because they are solid in the results they have proved over that time. I can calibrate the future for 40 years by the 2 simple myths below.

Myth #1. If I deliver food or pizza to people fewer people will come to my restaurant to eat.

So that is a myth and the thinking behind it is flawed. Here is the fact:

If you deliver you increase your pool of customers. You increase sales, profits and you expand. Your dining room gets fuller and you fulfill a NEED when they don't feel like leaving the comfort of their home. Now you can argue, but it won't make you right. I have 40 years of challenges and that baby still stands and your dog won't hunt. But some dinosaurs still think that way.

Where did those new folks come from? Some would want you to believe they came from your own dining room. That you split your customer base. Sorry, wrong answer. It increases people who are interested in your restaurant overall and maybe from a larger area and your customer base grows from the outside with new business. A rising tide.

Myth # 2. If I have a restaurant and a guy opens up a restaurant across the street he will take half my business.

Wrong! He might DOUBLE your business.

So let me point to real world example in Dallas Texas and Restaurant Row that was created in the mid 1970's. At the time there was one restaurant named "Old San Francisco" and it was one of my favorites.  There was a bowling alley across the street. They were busy. They did fine. But then they opened up some 20-30 other large  restaurants all right next to each other on the same street. Some thought they would go out of business because of the competition. In fact, you had to call Old San Francisco 1-2 weeks in advance to get in the door. See 30 restaurants and 30 restaurants advertising the same basic address and same basic product.

They were all good restaurants and they added VALUE by bringing all those people together looking for the same things and they all did well. They do that with auto malls. More PROOF! Not emotion. Facts. Proof. Historical evidence. Empirical evidence. How about malls themselves? How about "World Trade Centers"? They bring competitors together to do MORE BUSINESS in a faster amount of time!

That is why I can be certain that whatever happens in .whateverville, it can ONLY HELP .com. PERIOD!!! NO QUESTION!! NONE!! NONE!!!

Now if you have shit domains you are screwed but you were screwed with or without the new gtld's because you have crap.

Here is what the debate should look like if you want to have legitimacy with gTLD. Talk about specific .whatevers only.

There could be a market for .app or .blog or .web or a FEW others. I talk about dying on the vine. Look how many have died before it even germinates let alone making it to the vine. Many abandoning what they were going after and doing it early on in the process.

No emotions, just facts. Hundreds of horses at the gate and while you may want to talk about the race track itself or even the other horses, none of that matters. What matters is your horse and your stable. So if you tell me how bad the other guys stable is, most folks get turned off and walk away whether they say something or not. We all need to hear benefits of your horse. Why your horse can win. It has little to do with the others losing. It has to do with you winning.

So my horse is better because yours is an old nag won't hunt. That ain't selling

My horse does the quarter in 3 seconds faster than any other horse in the race will hunt. That IS selling.

One emotional one factual. Facts make points. Emotions don't. Unless you are gullible.

Everyone reading this is open to make millions. Everyone reading this is open to the next opportunity. Most are open to .whatever including me. But together there are 1400 "Franchises" coming out that will likely be grouped together in one way or another and a stumble by one can bring down many. I write about those pitfalls to alert and help those on that trail. I simply believe many are unprepared and unrealistic about what is to come, the headwinds they face and the surprises they face.

Sales is easy when you have a product everyone needs. When you are in a crowded field of products most don't need, its gonna be ugly for 1390 or 1400 of them.

The future holds ever single answer. But so does the past!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks,

Frank Schilling made a BRILLIANT video that he released recently. It really is brilliant as is his comment on Berkens Blog. The video immediately below.

There is no Schwartz vs Schilling but that seems to be the perception. I love Frank. We have never had a cross word and why should we? It does not mean I can't have doubts or ask tough questions. It doesn't mean I have to agree. It doesn't mean I have to disagree. We are all examining an unknown and we all come at that unknown from a different POV. The beauty is we get to share our visions, bet on them and REALITY will win.

Frank and I have spent hours 1 on 1 at TRAFFIC discussing domains and the future as well as emails and on my board and just a decade of conversations and friendship. In Frank's position he should be doing exactly what he is doing and doing so well. If I were his advisor, I would advise him to do what he is doing. But even Frank is going to have winners and losers when each extension is measured against the next. Some may go nowhere. But it only takes 1 to be another life changer. So I still keep an open mind and new evidence and new information is the formula to change my stance. That has not happened yet and the more I study things the more certain  I get. But I am sway-able on certain things. The only thing that can't sway me is that the value of GREAT .coms can only skyrocket.

That all said, I see Franks Journey and it really does remind me of the song and old Coke commercial.

"I'd like to teach the  world to sing in perfect harmony."

So "I'd like to teach the  world to sing in perfect harmony" is the tall order that Frank has taken on. Herculean task!

Think about the job to be done to complete that task. Some would say "Mission Impossible".  Ever hear me sing?

I mean even Coca-Cola can't pull off this one.  I can't sing. Frank can at least carry a tune!

I’d like to build the world a home
And furnish it with love
Grow apple trees and honey bees 
And snow white turtle doves
I’d like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
I’d like to hold it in my arms
And keep it company

I’d like to see the world for once
All standing hand in hand
And hear them echo through the hills
For peace throughout the land
That’s the song I hear
Let the world sing today
A song of peace that echoes on
And never goes away

I’d like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
I’d like to hold it in my arms 
And keep it company
I’d like to see the world for once
All standing hand in hand
And hear them echo through the hills
For peace throughout the land
That’s the song I hear
Let the world sing today
A song of peace that echoes on
And never goes away
A song of peace that echoes on
And n-e-v-e-r g-o-e-s a-w-a-y

Point is changing Human Behavior is the single greatest challenge one can take on. I see no downside in what is coming other than the confusion it will likely cause and when folks are confused, Human Nature and Human Behavior kick in. To me, that is not a downside. That is a bonus. That is exciting. None of us can lose no matter which direction things go in as long as you are keenly aware of where we are each step of the way.

I don't see an AM/FM radio parallel. FM gave you stereo and music. There was a reason to change to FM. So there was a difference. And AM never died. It sizzles with advertising dollars even today. But still no parallel. TV was going to kill radio. I guess you guys don't remember that far back. Well did it? Did cd's? What killed radio? Nothing killed radio and it flouishes even today. Just look at SIRIUS.

The parallel might be 800 numbers and 888 and 866 and 855. And if investors bought all the 866 numbers, how meaningful would it or could it be?

The dynamics that must be there are end users and great content. Without those elements, I don't see much. I speak to end-users. Some will purchase defensively and never activate the domain. Others may buy a gTLD but they all said they would merely point it to their .com. The rest say they already have their .com and don't need anything else. That is the majority.

I just don't see that harmony coming anytime soon. I don't see this being done for the right reasons. The overall benefit is limited and as an INVESTOR these are the things I have to weigh. Again, I look at it thru the eyes of an investor and an end-user.

Just look at how .com unfolded and why. Then look at the other extensions and ask why they look more like .mobi?

Frank and I just disagree on how things will unfold and the consumer and future will determine things. Not any of us. I just know the epic challenge ahead and it will take many billions of dollars to sway behavior. And that is just the first stage to get to value. Domainers selling domains to other domainers won't move the needle much if at all. End-users are the ones that create value. Domainers create Tulips.

And I will say the same thing about .whatever that I said about .com. "Your first purchases are your most important purchases". Everyone just discounts that. But it is key to having the wind at your back and a future of success. And the beauty with our industry, you can wake up on any given morning and start all over again and do it a better way.

Look, we can be seeing the greatest launch of all time or we could be seeing one of the biggest duds ever. I measure success by TV ads. Radio ads. Billboards. Magazine ads. Newspaper ads. ADS, ADS, ADS. Continuous and widespread. That will be what I am looking for. That is how I measure the viability of an extension.

All I would say is this. I would GLADLY take what I paid for whatever .mobi's I have left. I would GLADLY take what I paid for whatever .xxx's I have left. I would GLADLY take what I paid for whatever .co's I have left. And many of you would too.

I can't wait to sit down with Frank at TRAFFIC. I want to see his vision as closely as he does. Does not mean he can convince me. But I am ALWAYS open to being convinced with new information and evidence that is real. I am always sway-able. But that is different from blowing in the wind and chasing every shadow. Exciting times and the only losers are domainers that have yet to learn the difference between diamonds and old broken coke bottles.

And the one thing Franks knows about me, nothing I wrote here is anything I would not say directly to Frank. And I probably just did.

Cheers Frank!! Congrats, good luck and even if we disagree or don't see the same vision, I am rooting for your success. I really do hope you can teach the world to sing. We are always looking for that next pot of gold.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

While everyone is wrapped up in gTLD's, I think the bigger story may be getting missed. Online gaming is becoming legal and that will fuel the Internet more than anything on the horizon.

"Nevada's law limits digital play for real money to poker, but there's plenty of enthusiasm for the game. Ultimate Poker dealt its first hand on April 30 and had dealt 10 million by Aug. 1, the company said in a statement last month. In addition to saturating casinos with signage, Ultimate Poker's strategy includes significant direct marketing."

The entire Adage Story is here.

We are talking about one entity. One state. One  tiny corner of the world.

Is the "Facebook Casino" coming? Amazon? Wal-Mart?

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

When I started investing in domains that is exactly what I was doing. Investing! Taking extra funds and instead of buying stocks or saving it I decided to risk it on an investment. But that is not the path that most folks follow today and had I followed that path, I would have failed. Nobody would have given me a dime for what I had. So when you are forced to make a living and you have the steam roller at your heals, you don't have the luxury of time to think and plan and execute.

Now the majority of folks will buy that gTLD investment today and trying to flip it tomorrow. Some will have some success. But many more need to figure out how to bridge those 20 years Frank talks about before they sink with renewal fees. That is why I often talk about building an engine to support those names.

Let's do some math. Let's say you buy 1000 gtld's at $25.00/year. So that is $25,000/year x 20 years = $500k. And you may or may not have something with value.

Or

You could buy a $500k domain name right now and finance it for 20 years and never look back. Probably could pay it off in 10 years because a $500k domain comes with traffic and earnings and that reduces the note considerably. And if you are smart about what you are doing, it won't cost you a DIME out of your pocket because your new business will generate those payments.

So I just described 2 roads. One is unknown and the other could be a no-brainer. You could do it at different levels. Finance a $100k domain. But first and foremost you must know which one to get as there are $500k domains with limited commercial value too.

And so.....I Could Have Just as easily Failed in 1996 by Doing what Some will do in 2013. There are many paths to climb this mountain. Just think before you climb because there are paths with not only less headwinds, but actual tailwinds.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Let's take a few minutes maybe even a few posts to untangle this clusterf*ck of what is coming and what the Myths and Facts really are. And if I don't know, I will make it up. I will come to an assumption. I will use what facts are available and at the minimum use that as the starting point because you need somewhere to start and assumptions are perfect until you can plug-in the actual facts when they unfold. And if you have been paying attention they have been unfolding every day. And if you have some parallels set up, you can already see what is coming and the stages they are coming in. Let's just say "Consolidation" will be the keyword for the first 5-10 years or more and we have already seen that happen. Or die on the vine.

Myth #1 "gTLD's are bad for the Industry."

Well it may be a mess and it may be a clusterf*ck of historical proportions, it will also bring awareness and tens of billions of dollars into our space. Normally I would say sales. But in this case, the #1 expenditure will likely be advertising and other means to bring awareness but does not necessarily result in sales that are strong enough to support. Not to mention employees, customer service, unexpected glitches. A rocky road. It costs money to pave the way and get to a smooth time. Many won't survive that journey and some already gave u before the trip even begins.

Myth #2 "gTLD's will devalue my .com's."

Well nothing could be further from the truth. It will do quite the opposite. Those that are saying that are likely buyers trying to get you to sell beneath market. How gullible. Are you paying attention to the after market? It is exploding! There is a reason for that but I won't argue the point, I will just state what happens before it happens and be on record so we can look back.

Myth #3  I am not sure what to quote here. But just an interesting observation. The gTLD's were open to everyone in the world. All the different languages. But extensions are dominated by English Words. Why?

Myth #4 "Somebody that owns a .com will want the other .whatevers."

As Page Howe articulated on DomainSherpa.com last week and I agree with 100%, he never goes downstream. In other words, if you own something other than .com then you want to grab every other extension and keep going after better and higher level domains until you get to the prize which is .com. But if you have the .com you are really not motivated to get the lower level extensions. Matter of fact, you can't wait for one of them to have a giant success.

Myth #5. "My .whatever extension does not leak traffic to the .com"

Sorry, fact beyond dispute. The evidence is overwhelming.  So overwhelming in fact that it has the potential to sink the ship. Any ship. That's a captain of a ship that believes the ocean has no shallow spots and a few leaks won't hurt anything.

Myth #6 "Google and Amazon and the big boys are in charge"

Not true. The consumer is always in charge. Everyone chases the consumer. There are some that do it really well (Apple) and have a harness on it and there are others that fail like JCPenny and are wobbling out of control. The consumer demands certain things. And when you don't give it to them, they won't give their dollars to them.

Myth #7 "The buyer sets the price and is in control of a transaction."

Come on. The seller is the only one that can press the Red Button and make a decision. The seller has only one thing he controls, his wallet and perhaps lack of funds.

Myth #8 "Reverse Domain Name Hijacking is no big deal"

REALLY?

Myth #9 "Rick and his Need, Want, Desire" does not get it.

Sorry, few have challenged Need, Want, Desire" and "Value" becomes a knockout blow. Down goes Frazier! I am just saying that many of those that are doing this are unprepared for the reality of what they are going to find out. So their only play is selling the extension. And while everyone thinks they make 5X their money with a $1 million sale of a $185k asset,  there are also many other fees and expenses and time and energy that the very people I talk about, don't count. Sorry,  It all counts!! Ignore enough important things, minimize them like a shrinking machine and eventually collapse may be the result.

Myth #10 "We will have hundreds of thousands of registrations"

That's like the Internet guy saying that getting traffic is no problem. Until he finds out it is the 2000lb gorilla in the room and there are 699 other gorillas and some are much bigger.

Myth #11 "The success or failure of those extensions that are released first will have no affect good or bad on any other extension.

I beg to differ and did an entire post on it. It the first 10 are dogs, it won't help #11. If the first 10 are winners, then  it will help #11. If it does not move the needle, it is even worse. That means nobody cares.

Like I said, it would take more than one post to go down the list. So #11 was just a replay bonus. ;-)

There will be many ways for the savvy to make money regardless of the fact that most people will lose their asses.

Rick Schwartz

Afternoon Folks!!

Ocean, River, Lake, Pond, Puddle. Pick which one you want to aim for.

Hint: There is Pigeon Shit in the puddle. So pay attention if you want to avoid. One extra word can be the difference between a 6 figure domain and a worthless domain. I see it all day long.

So verbs and adjectives LIMIT your audience but at the same time TARGETS your audience. Target too much, you have a puddle or maybe just a dried up hole. Here is the recipe for the happy medium.

So here is a real world example of targeting and limiting.

HallofShame.com is universal.

It may not be the ocean of Shame.com for example, but it is a universal domain that is targeted and you know you are going to see some bad behavior when you get there. And in time can become subdomains to include different subjects, industries and companies etc.

What I did not do is use DomainHallofShame.com which would have been much more targeted, but much more limited when we are trying to hit a wider audience. Plus, I already have that ability. Add one more word and you are at worthess.

In each case you must decide who you are aiming for. In this case I am trying to vault over the walls of a POND that would be DomainHallofShame.com. What I am trying to do is jump into the RIVER because the River goes places. It has greater circulation than a pond. It travels. Sometimes you only want to be in that pond. And that is fine. KNOW THE DIFFERENCE! Many do not.

In my case the River may be better than the ocean. That is what targeting is about but you must have a target audience and they don't go to puddles and dried up holes. I could have also had DomainNameHallofShame.com or Domainnameshallofshame.com. Each one gets increasingly further away, harder to remember, less traffic and so on. On the other hand owning those combos can't hurt if you have a business. But that is the extent of it and the value is severely limited.

This is a 3 word domain that just happens to work because it means something. It is a known phrase. It has already been advertised and sold to the public before I ever entered the picture. Something most domains and most new gTLD's won't have the luxury of.

Now I have a running start and all I have to do is BRAND. Yes Brand. Not selling. I have nothing to sell. I have something to brand. Something the startup guys need to learn the difference about. If THEY are busy branding they are busy going out of business because they CAN'T sell. If they COULD sell, they would be busy selling because that way they make money and grow. Branding means you got  a bag of shit and the only way you can make it is trying to be cool. Good luck with that.

Point is, if you approach it from left field you may end up in left field. These are the basic building blocks I and most other successful domainers use and you can reject at your own peril. Most do. I can only put it out there.

AdjectiveKEYWORD.com

VerbKEYWORD.com

NounKEYWORD.com

DescribeKEYWORD.com

LetterKeyword.com (i or e)

NameKeyword.com

LocationKeyword.com

That is the foundation I use.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

My FIRST few days in Domains 1995-1996. It sure looked different back then. First of all NONE of you were there then. Well maybe 5 or 6 of you. Ari Goldberger was one. Chad Folkening to name another. Ted Lebowitz who got some great adult terms just weeks before me. Eli from Montreal. I would be hard pressed to name anyone else tho surely many were around.

I still look back when I got into this and it was a virtual ghost town. See I got into domains AFTER they were free. FREE!! All were free. I MISSED IT DAMN IT!!! And I had yet to meet somebody investing in domains at that point. I had only met techies that thought I was insane to spend $100 EACH after being FREE FREE FREE! And to buy 18 of them!! I had to have my head examined. $1800!! INSANE at that time. But what kept me going was knowing I was not alone even tho I was alone. I had one other person with me, whoever might own the domain I was looking for. Some registered YEARS before. But some registered MINUTES before. MINUTES!!! So I knew I was not alone even tho I was alone and nobody knew what the hell I was talking about.

Then something even more interesting happened. I started to see the same names over and over and over again. I was still alone. But there was a kindred spirit there and I knew it! We DO have a kindred spirit in this industry because there are still relatively few of us. But now we are connected. I saw law firms over and over again and I saw an adult company in New York City that had a shitload of great adult domains. So I knew some folks and names years before we ever met or even talked. But those FEW kept me going. I would guess there were a few dozen at that point.

So when I look up now and see this MAMMOTH of an industry that is here and still so small overall, it is sometimes overwhelming. I mean Godaddy has more employees taking a piss right now then there were domain investors in 1995. So my perspective will ALWAYS be different. My starting point was different. My aim was different. We just happen to intersect a lot! That's the nature of the business. All prospectors for gold go where the gold is. So you will likely stumble on the same people over and over again.

Of course that was during the GOLD RUSH DAYS of domaining. There was a gold rush. Some of you don't even know about this. 1998. Amazing!! Why? Because it just happened to be the 100 year anniversary of the Alaskan Gold Rush!! It coincided perfectly. And make no mistake, 1998 WAS without doubt THE YEAR of the domain gold rush. I had a Front Row Center seat to the event. I happened to be in Alaska at the time and did not even know until I got there. I knew about the domain gold rush, but I had no clue about the Alaskan gold rush.

I was on a cruise and the day before in each port we would hear "Bill Gates was here with Warren Buffet yesterday". That in and of itself was pretty amazing. I was doing EXACTLY what two of the richest men in the world were doing and at almost exactly the same time. in 1998 those two were the dynamic duo and not much has really changed. But that was not the highlight of the trip. That was only a memory.

What I have in front of me right now is the carry away. "The official Gold Rush Centennial Medallion" a silver coin minted by the state of Alaska. 1898-1998. Truly an enlightening trip. One I will never forget and just one of the reasons I am so certain and so focused on that "20 year" germinating process that we are now entering the gravitational pull of this NEW and exciting era.  We are there baby.....and this Labor Day is when the OFFICIAL gun goes off and the REAL RACE BEGINS. BEGINS!!!! Not ends. BEGINS! My mission was to hurdle over 20 years in spite of the laughs and the prods and all the rest that go with something folks don't understand so they just laugh at it and belittle you in the process as being unworthy of consideration.

And in the blurb below it goes on to describe new strikes for up to 8 years later let alone how long they each lasted.

I mean how many people on the planet even knew what a domain  name was in 1998? Or 1995?? Did you? Did your friends or family? I was not a techie. I could barely get online. I saw something bigger than anything I had ever seen in my lifetime and I knew at that time what it would become but it would take 20 years to hit a critical mass in the way other things in our history hit critical mass.

Folks did not even have an "Online strategy" until 10 years into it and still they were filled with doubt because of the "Fad". The doubt is over and it is now the lifeline!! The lifeline! Think about that.

Need, want, desire were words I never even used until a few years back. I simplified it all to that simple equation.

First you must have a NEED. You can't go to the guy that just came from an all you can eat buffet that is ready to explode and give him 50% off if he comes to your buffet RIGHT NOW and think that helps anyone. DUH! NO NEED, NO WANT, NO DESIRE. Compare that to the 350lb guy that is HUNGRY!! BIG DIFFERENCE! That is why "Timing" is the other element of the equation. Then of course we get to value.

Has the net changed me?

You bet.

While I am still the smiling guy you see in the photos, I also had to find that darker side that had to have thick skin, fight for what he believed and fight even harder to protect himself and many others in the process. There was no other protection. Law enforcement did not know what a domain name was let alone help you recover or it or go after the thief. It was not the FBI's radar screen. There truly was no enforcement other than your own preventative measures. I think half the people at Network Solutions did not know what a domain was nor the importance. So calling them for help is like calling help in the middle of the woods. I had so many cease and desist letters that I probably registered the first 3 word domain. lol, CeaseandDesist.com smack dab in the middle of that Gold Rush. July 1, 1998. I still have the file with HUNDREDS of these letters. EACH ONE trying to intimidate me and threaten me to STEAL or HIJACK what I rightfully owned. So did that make me a bit hardened? Yeah it did. When I find out the person or entity I am working with is a predator, I may as well be a can of raid to a cockroach.

And the choice was that or WHAT?? Let me help you. There was no choice. Wolves vs the hen-house. What more do you need to know? So we can Fast Forward to today and see we still have a very long way to go, but oh my, how far we have come. I have the benefit of a longer view and I always pay homage to the past while always focusing on the future. If you don't do that you can't check your navigation to make sure you are still on the right path. Yes, I know YOU have a GPS, but as an early explorer, I had to rely on the things like Christopher Columbus would have to rely on things or I would not and could not stay on the proper trail and land on the intended beach. London or Africa? Keeping that historic line in sight is the path to the future. That is why I talk about the history of domains as well as the history of business and society and civilization and buying power. And before some jerk-off has to be a jerk-off, No, I am not comparing myself to Christopher Columbus.  Just trying to illustrate that todays tools were not available back then and you would rely on different things to prove something one way or another.

What frustrates me the most to this very day is one thing leads to another and another and another and I am never done with the example. So let me explain it like this. Imagine a jig saw puzzle with 3000 pieces. They each fit somewhere perfectly to fit with the next That is how I see the evolution of the Internet and domains are a first tier beneficiary. And while I started with only a few pieces, just like the box it comes in, I always had a CRYSTAL CLEAR picture of what it would look like when each piece was filled in. So that puzzle is not done. It takes 20 years to finish. But it is taking shape and a picture is appearing and it gets a bit clearer every single day as one or more pieces get placed. And every once in a while a part of it will be all filled in and it can clearly be seen by all. It ain't easy to hold this steady for so long and not be deterred from what the completed puzzle looks like. And in that picture Domain Names would be a KEY piece of that puzzle. Smack dab in the middle of that puzzle and guess what, that is EXACTLY what is happening and the gTLD's PROVE the fact before it is a fact.

The day the bulb went off in 1996 was the day I KNEW that everything I had done prior to that point in life was simply an apprenticeship for this. Truly. A unique opportunity in time that dovetailed perfectly with everything I had learned and absorbed and became good at until that point. There was never a doubt. Never a second thought. Never. I just had to manage to survive for 20 years and all the answers that needed to be answered would be answered.

And I started writing that stuff down back then so I could leave a trail for others and be able to point to time stamped evidence of beliefs like a religion to me. I had to reach back to my days of writing either creatively or for a sales piece and that was perhaps what I was most rusty at. In 1996 people did not write like they do today. Of course much of that is morphing into dictation.

But as I look back, the greatest time stamp for me is the time and date on each domain name registered. They are only semi-accurate. Back in 1999 when I started moving my portfolio to Moniker, all of those domains show a 1999 date even tho I registered most of them in 1996-1997.

So a post like this just tries to put things in a historical perspective from my view. From where I sat. I can't speak for others. I can just share my story, warts and all. Life is great. Each day we get to wake up and start all over again!

Just a ramblin' Sunday Morning type post. I really feel bad for the folks that don't think the best is to come. When that puzzle is completely filled, the domain investors that are still domain investors are going to be very happy campers and there will be a sea of folks with deep regrets. Some may even take their regrets out on me or you. Why? Who knows, who cares, we have a future to harness and why allow distractions? Tuesday to me is the gun that starts the race. The DAY we truly enter the gravitational pull of that 20 year puzzle.

By the time the next President of the USA gets sworn in, we will have completed the journey. We will have arrived at the destination intended. And for the FIRST TIME many will finally see EXACTLY what it is that I have been seeing all these years. Let's face it, they already are. Maybe this ship will land on those shores just a tad early.

Rick Schwartz

Afternoon folks!!

An entire registry went down this week and Google Palestine was hacked. We saw first hand ujst how fragile some of the DNS infrastructure is and if you have a gTLD, this WILL directly affect you and your futures.

"Widely used domains such as .com and .net are operated by registrars such as VeriSign and NeuStar, which have security features that cost as little as $50 a year to prevent tampering with Web-address records. But many regional domains are managed by local companies that don't offer the same protections, said Paco Hope, a principal consultant with Cigital Inc., a cybersecurity consultancy.

In some places, only one company may be in charge of managing a country's domain, leaving customers such as Google vulnerable should employees at the local company get hacked, Hope said."

The entire article is here. And my story last week is here.

Rick Schwartz