<--- The Next Wave --->

First. Grab a coffee and pull up a chaises lounge. I gotta real important question. A couple actually. And its real important that you lissin' up.

Ok, we've experienced the early adopters, those who got into the domain game early, regged some great .coms and went on to sell them for millions. (Smart asses)

At some belated point, the penny dropped. The light went on and I jumped into the .com rush :cry: . I went dizzy registering as many domains as my credit card would allow. (Even though I had NO idea what the hell I was doing. But I was bound and bent that I was gonna get me a "dictionary" .com come hell or high water. And I finally did. My first dictionary domain was gridlines.com. Absolutely brilliant. I Still have no idea what I was going to do with it, but I had one. NSI had my $70 (closer to $100CDN.) and I had a "winner" that was sure to sell at some ridiculous multiple of a profit.

I had it until it expired 2 years later.

And don't even speak to me about .WS. Recalling that friggin' fiasco makes me want to puke into the t-shirt I got from them. Still have it actually. Don't know why I kept it. I guess it's because the picture of the guy with a bag over his head reminds me of how I acted.

Then came the .com bust. Oh sure I sold a few domains, making just enough to keep up with the payments and to keep my "significant other" at bay. "Hey, honey I sold another one!".

I tried sell at SolutionHome. I tried to sell at GreatDomains. I tried AfterNic. Unfortunately, I just didn't have the horses.

As time rolled on, I totally missed the traffic angle, didn't know enough about type-ins to make any impact. But I had learned a bit and was wiser, if not a little lighter in the wallet, and vowed to soldier on. Just wait till the next landrush. I'll be ready.

Then it came. .US was going to be my great redeemer. Again I jumped in, hoping to snag, (ie. win the lottery), a few good ones that would salvage my wounded ego. Two years ago in April the lottery in .US began. On the first day of release I was like a kid at Christmas, tearing open my email from the various registrars, telling me the domains I had won. For the most part I don't think I did too bad. I got several one-word, tier one domains that still might have some decent value.

So, here I am, contemplating what all of this means. I've learned an awful lot. Still tons more to go. I've made some great new Domainer cyber friends and I still have a passion for the game.

My question to you is this. Where does it go from here?

What do you see as the emerging trends? Do you still have the same passion for the game?

Where are the new opportunities? and perhaps more importantly (especially from my significant other's perspective), how will we be able to monetize this game we Domainers play?

OK. Start typing.

 

I can recommend a good shrink for you.

Domain names are just not that important. You can't really steal a name like IBM.ws for instance because they will sue you and win on that one.

So I really don't see the attraction. Lots of porn site do just fine without "freesex.com" or other more explicit names as domain names. People generally don't speculate and type domain names into a browser looking for a specific site. They use keywords in a search engine.

The problem with your business plan is that you are one of an ever declining minority who sees any potential value in a domain names. You have enough experience now to qualify as market research. What have you found out? Very few people give a damn about domains names.

Face it man. Your significant other knows what she is talking about. Some times you just have to listen to them.

 

1. I'll take the shrinks name! The sooner the better. I'll even drive to Waterloo if necessary. (My university town btw)

2. I agree there is a decline in the ranks for a variety of reasons and yes I do have a fair amount of market intelligence. Part of that intelligence tells me to seek the opinions of others and weigh that information against my business model, which I'm doing here. However, I disagree that "very few" people give a damn about domains.

3. Have you been talking to my SO again?

 

If theres a race for money, i'm in.

Funny how 3 years on people are still buying domains just for their resale values.