Don’t Blame the Industry

Sahar posted a recent article on why domaining sucks. I will be the first to say domaining does not suck although we are going through a slow period (like every other industry at the moment). His article was certainly only a highlight of some points that do suck in this industry and not a gloom and doom piece about the industry in general but as a couple people commented these are relatively the same challenges most industries face from time to time. Whether it’s the lack of official representation for an industry as a whole, challenges to price increases from the service providers or a lack of data between competitors to help grow an industry. I can’t see Bill Gates and Michael Dell sitting down sharing secrets so why should any of the bigger players in the domain industry help anyone out. This is business and as much as we all semi-know each other and wish for a family like atmosphere at the end of the day it’s about feeding your own family first.

So is this industry any different than any other industry? Hardly not and I think a lot of the negativity I’ve seen across the blogs lately stems from a combination of things.

First, some domainers have a feeling of self entitlement which is just plain ridiculous. No one is obligated to share information; no one is entitled to pay your asking price for your domain and by no means are the big companies entitled to do you favors. Compare the domain industry to banking. Let’s say you have spent $100,000 on your visa card over the last year making the bank a nice chunk in addition to the annual card fees and the value of having such a good cardholder. Times get tough and you run into a snag asking for a waiver of the late fee. Bank denies the request and you have to pay $35 for a late fee. Many cardholders will become irate about the fee stemming from the same sense of entitlement but wait – the privilege is given by the bank to give you a credit card, they have no obligation to you. Parking companies are the same way, it’s a privlege to be able to earn money from your traffic (as much as many of you will argue that its your traffic.. much like the cardholders complain how its thier money being spent) – these companies are providing a service and I’m sure they are taking care of their top clients but don’t rely on their generosity and complain when they change things up. You’re still parking your names with them right? Still never got around to developing a plan right? Its up to you to advance your business, not the goodwill of others.

Secondly, as many people (such as my favorite Julia Mackenzie’s blog) have posted about in the past domainers are lazy. I’m not saying this to criticize since if money is rolling in and the future is looking bright it is very easy to become complacent and not fix something that isn’t broken. However, is that not why most businesses fail?? – they never expand, they never look for alternative revenue streams and sometimes even outright deny even considering partnerships with service providers to grow their business.

Wait …. Isn’t that what most domainers have done over the last 5 years?

Complacent sounds familiar.

Outside of parking, most have never really looked for other revenue streams (besides a cash sale) and many times ask extremely unreasonable amounts for any partner to open up doors and develop together.

We all compare domains to real estate and it’s a known fact that most developers want nothing to do with landowners except buy your land. Most developers will go to extreme measures – form different corporations, ask trusted associates to buy land in their name, almost any trick – to acquire the land for the cost only.

You want to join the team and partner up? then bring more to the table than a simple asset. Learn how to develop, get a traffic stream going, build content … yes, its the same thing everybody has been telling you for years.

In fact its the same thing people we all admire like the Castello brothers and others have been doing all along – so why haven’t you started?

Are you an Entrepreneur?

Do not kid yourself – most domainers are not.

Ask yourself is your Grandmother an “entrepreneur” since she bought a house in 1990 for $100,000 and now it’s worth $400,000.

Your grandmother decides to hold out for $450,000 and partner with a developer – is she an “entrepreneur” now.

In either case the answer is NO.

There is a HUGE difference between an “entrepreneur” and someone who bought something yesterday that’s worth more today.

Investing in a few assets and reselling down the road is the trait of a simple investor – nothing more.

The person who bought something and then created value for the asset on top of the simple asset value … Now, that person is an entrepreneur.

Without creating value – I’m sorry but you do not deserve the title “entrepreneur”. Even having a fancy blog with some thoughts about an industry is not bringing value to your assets – possibly adding more value to your opinion in the community but by no means adding value to your assets.

As for Mini-Sites. First, they don’t suck.

Companies like AEIOU.com, WhyPark.com and other service providers to domain owners are generally doing a good job but these are not the end all solutions for the next wave of changes in his industry.

Many Domainers (not all) seem to ride the wave of what works right now but never really have a solid plan for the future so if you are creating a mini-site then sit down and create something which can be part of a larger plan, something that can tie in with other projects for cross marketing or something you have interest in building out. The cost of a mini-site is extremely low – in fact, it’s half the cost of a simple logo design through many of the online providers – and most times you can keep the files. If anything, people like Latona are giving first time developers the tools to start online at giveaway prices.

Now, if you just buy a mini-site and do the same old thing that you did with your domain name a few years ago (change the nameservers and log out) … you have no right to complain about losing money when the industry changes or call yourself an “entrepreneur”.

So again, mini-sites do not suck but how many people use them does.

It’s almost like renting a store, putting up a flashy sign then walking away. Your store is developed outside, more people are noticing it every day walking by but hey, there is still nobody inside. We would not do this in real life, so why do it online?

The fact is no other industry provides an opportunity for people to work at home, invest a few bucks for a true brandable platform for your next business and practically create something from nothing marketable to a global community with a little hard work.

Of course, if you are only in this industry to flip domains then most of this article will not apply but for those of you who are sitting on domains for which you have development plans (and claim to have spent thousands on development when asking for a price) then I think a more appropriate question of the day would be to ask yourself…

Do you suck as a Domain Owner?