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By Ron Jackson
January 31, 2012 marked the
end of an era at domain aftermarket and parking
powerhouse Sedo.com.
It was the day that company Co-Founder and long time industry leader Tim Schumacher officially completed
his run as Sedo's CEO and, after more than a decade leading the Cologne, Germany
based company, set his sites on new business ventures outside of the domain
space. Less than 48 hours after Schumacher turned over his CEO duties to Tobias
Flaitz, I sat down with Tim in Santa Monica,
California, where we were both attending the 2012
DOMAINfest Global conference, for a
private chat about his years at Sedo and the company's meteoric rise during that
time. The result was a fascinating look back at a turbulent decade in
which the company first thrived, then had to survive a global recession that
washed many others away. You won't want to miss this inside look at the history
of one of the industry's key companies. Click
here for Full Story
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Tim Schumacher,
Sedo
Co-Founder & Former CEO
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By Ron Jackson
The 6th annual DOMAINfest
Global conference rewarded an estimated
600 guests with a week of unique networking and
educational opportunities in a show held under
picture perfect sunny Southern California skies
at the oceanfront Fairmont Miramar Hotel in
Santa Monica Jan. 31 - Feb. 2, 2012.
While this was the 6th
show in the DOMAINfest Global series it was considerably
different than the ones that came before. The
show's organizers, Oversee.net,
parent company of lead sponsor DomainSponsor.com, decided to
expand the scope of the show beyond
traditional domain investor issues with an
increasing emphasis on alternative ways to
generate traffic and revenue - topics that are
of increasing interest to domain owners seeking to
offset the heavy decline in PPC revenue in recent
years. Click
here for Full Story
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By Ron Jackson
When I got an email from Chicago.com
owner Josh Metnick with a subject line that said "Something
amazing is happening" I naturally sat up and took notice.
Not only is Josh a giant in the geodomain space, he is not a guy who is given
to hyperbole. Josh wanted to get on the phone to tell me all about it and he
did indeed have an amazing story to tell - one that will be music to the ears
of owners of top tier .com domain names - especially (but not limited
to) geodomains.
Metnick accidentally discovered that individuals and
companies were willing to pay far more than he (or you and I) would
have ever dreamed for memorable email addresses that identify
where they live and do business - in his case Chicago. As the owner of
Chicago.com Metnick found that he had just what they were looking for.
Metnick shared his discovery with fellow industry heavyweight Ammar
Kubba, the CEO and a principle in Thought
Convergence, Inc., whose portfolio of well-known companies
includes TrafficZ, Aftermarket.com and DomainTools.com.
Kubba said, "Josh mentioned some preliminary numbers and projections, and
I thought that he was crazy...but then we talked some more and I
started to see the light." Kubba decided he wanted in. The two
formed a new company @Identity
LLC, to build a platform enabling themselves and owners of other
premier domains to tap this promising new source of revenue.
Click
here for Full Story
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Josh
Metnick
Co-Founder, @Identity LLC
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The
GeoPublishers.com Expo Makes Its First Appearance on the GeoDomain Stage With an
All-Star Cast in Chicago |
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By Ron Jackson
The first ever GeoPublishers.com Expo was held
Sept. 30 - Oct. 2, 2011 at the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago with some of the world's top geodomain owners on hand for the inaugural event.
This show followed in the footsteps of the popular GeoDomain Expos that
were staged by Associated Cities before that groundbreaking organization
was sidetracked by irreconcilable differences among some of its founders.
Many former AC members were involved in putting together the new
group and its conference, an event that impressed with exceptionally strong
programming and a first rate venue in a great city. Here is our wire to wire
coverage of what went down in the Windy City.
Click
here for Full Story
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DNCruise
2 Delights Domain Industry Guests on a Wonderful Week-Long Cruise Through the
Caribbean |
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By Ron Jackson
Alumni from the debut edition of DNCruise
in 2010 were first in line
to sign up when the event's organizers, Patrick Ruddell (Chef
Patrick) and his wife Zezura, announced plans for DNCruise 2 to run Sept.
5-10, 2011. Last year the itinerary was changed on the
fly when an unexpected hurricane developed in the Gulf of Mexico, but attendees
still kept a sunny disposition throughout,
delighted to have an opportunity to spend several days
networking with industry veterans and newcomers alike in a
low cost, casual, fun filled environment.
This time the weather fell in line with everything else
and was picture perfect. A change of port
to Tampa, Florida also opened up an especially
attractive Western Caribbean itinerary that not only took
cruisers to Cozumel but also to Grand Cayman for an unforgettable
day with legendary domain investor Frank
Schilling on his home turf.
Click
here for Full Story
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DNCruise
2 took dozens of
domain industry guests on
a memorable tour of the
Caribbean Sept. 5-10, 2011
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Backstage
at Domain Holdings: How They Are Turning Tier 1 Generic Domains Like
Mortgage.org Into Fully Developed Businesses |
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By Ron Jackson
When Advertising.com co-founder John Ferber
(who was featured on ABC-TV's Secret Millionaire March 27,
2011) and domain industry pioneer Chad
Folkening teamed up with Erik
Simons to found Domain
Holdings Group, LLC last year, big things were expected from
the new domain development, SEO and monetization company. Ferber already has one
massive success under his belt with the sale of Advertising.com (a company that
he and his brother Scott founded) to AOL in 2004 for $435 million
in cash and his new partners also have a long history of internet success.
As expected, that new union is already bearing fruit. The
acquisition and development of Mortgage.org
on behalf of a major corporate client is a perfect example of the multiple skill
sets that Domain Holdings Group, LLC can apply to projects they take on. The
Mortgage.org story also offers an interesting case study in the process
of turning a premium domain name into a full-blown business that stretches
across traditional geographic boundaries. Click
here for Full Story
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Five
Years of Painstaking Development Produces New Standard in Domain Management at
ParkLogic.com |
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By Ron Jackson
Michael Gilmour, the founder of ParkLogic.com,
is one of the most familiar figures in the domain industry. If you have ever
attended a major domain conference you have likely seen Gilmour on the dais. His
expertise in domain monetization and management have made him one of the
most wanted speakers among show organizers.
While you have probably seen and heard a lot about Gilmour, you
may not be as familiar with the parking services provider he founded - ParkLogic.com.
That is because ParkLogic has always been very selective about the portfolios
they accept in their system. Gilmour has quietly built the company (with close
to a half million domains under management) through personal contacts and
word of mouth recommendations - a strategy that has allowed him to aggregate a
very high quality flow of traffic.
His clients have been rewarded with a remarkably advanced system
that, after five years of development work, has morphed into a phenomenal
all purpose domain management platform. In fact that is what
caught my attention and led to this story, rather than the company's domain
parking component alone. Click
here for Full Story
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Michael Gilmour
ParkLogic.com
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Magnificent
2010 Show in Miami Burnishes T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s Luxury
Brand - Here's What Happened & How It Helped Shape the
Conference Hierarchy |
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By Ron Jackson
The 2010 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Miami conference was
hailed by many as the best show in the six-year history of
the ground-breaking series. The event, the only 2010 T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conference produced by the show's co-founders, Rick
Schwartz and Howard Neu, was held October
17-20 at the perfectly located Loews Hotel on
Miami's world famous South Beach.
One reason this was a landmark event, aside from the
overwhelmingly positive feedback from attendees, is that it brought some clarity
to a domain conference picture that had become muddled over the past
couple of years by an explosion of shows that came with varying themes,
lengths and locations around the globe. Equally important, it brought
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s high end brand back into sharp focus.
Click
here for Full Story
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Loews South Beach
Hotel
Site of T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Miami 2010
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Rick
Schwartz Takes Off the Gloves: Says Domainers Getting the Shaft While
"Partners" Roll in The Dough |
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By Ron Jackson
We hooked up
with long time partners Rick Schwartz and Howard
Neu to do an interview previewing their 2010
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Miami conference.
However, the conversation quickly morphed into one covering
much broader ground once we started talking about
recent changes in the industry and how the current business
environment would be addressed at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Miami.
Schwartz said, "Domainers are not
happy with the trends. They feel like they are getting
the shaft while our so-called “partners” are rolling
in the $$$ we are making for them...The end user pays $5.00
for a click, but we get 5 cents and we are supposed
to believe that is an 80% cut? I think every
domainer knows this is
garbage and that it has to change. I believe that
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. is going to start a conversation that
Yahoo and Google cannot ignore. I have listened
to their empty lip service for six years and now it is time
for show and tell." Click
here for Full Story
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Howard Neu and Rick
Schwartz
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Co-Founders
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T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Comes to Canada: 2010 Vancouver Conference Proves to Be a Crowd
Pleaser |
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By Ron Jackson
Scenic Vancouver, British Columbia provided a
perfect setting for the first T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conference ever held in Canada. The landmark show was
staged June 8-10, 2010 at the Renaissance
Vancouver Harbourside Hotel that directly
overlooks the city's spectacularly beautiful Coal Harbour.
Vancouver was an appropriate location not only for its
natural beauty but also because the city has produced some
of the most successful domain investors of all time (Garry
Chernoff, Frank
Schilling, Dr.
Kevin Ham and Richard Lau are just a few
examples).
The highly anticipated event was produced by the same Rick
Latona team, captained by Jodi
Chamberlain, that is responsible five of this
year's six T.R.A.F.F.I.C. shows. Here is our wire to wire
review of those three memorable days in Vancouver.
Click
here for Full Story
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2010
GeoDomain Expo Review: New
Orleans Rolls Out the Red Carpet for Domain Developers |
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By Ron Jackson
The 2010 GeoDomain
Expo enjoyed a successful run at the historic Roosevelt
Hotel in the heart of New Orleans April 28-30.
Geodomain developers from around the U.S., Canada
and beyond converged in the Big Easy for the annual
event staged by Associated
Cities (a global association of .com city
geodomain owners).
Don Jones and Bill Hammack,
the partners who own and operate AC member NewOrleans.com,
served as gracious hosts for the conference and thanked
attendees for coming back to a truly unique city that
has staged a remarkable comeback since being devastated
during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Click
here for Full Story
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2010
DMG Review: Domainer Mardi Gras Dialed Everything Up a Notch For the Show's
Second Run in New Orleans |
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By Ron Jackson
The 2010 Domainer Mardi Gras (DMG)
conference was held in New Orleans Feb. 11-13, right
in the middle of the world famous Mardi Gras
celebration that brought hundreds of thousands of revelers
to the Big Easy. With the show's headquarters located at the
New Orleans Marriott, DMG attendees were just steps
away from the French Quarter and Mardi Gras ground
zero on Bourbon Street.
The 2009
debut edition of Domainer Mardi Gras was a big
hit with attendees but show sponsor Parked.com
managed to dial everything about the 2010 event up another
notch. Credit the conference's Executive Director Michael
Ward and his team for strengthening the show's content
while simultaneously providing attendees with a VIP
Mardi Gras experience. Click
here for the Full Story
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Opportunity is Knocking and DOMAINfest Global 2010 Attendees Are Ready to Answer After Record Breaking Show in Santa Monica |
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By Ron Jackson
After debuting with three consecutive top notch annual
shows in Hollywood, California, Los Angeles based Oversee.net
took the risk of tampering with success and moved their popular DOMAINfest
Global conference across town for the 2010 edition that ran January
26-28 in Santa Monica. I've always believed in the old adage, "if
it ain't broke, don't fix it," but soon after arriving at the new
venue, I understood that the show's organizers were putting their faith in a
different time tested axiom, "never rest on your laurels."
That philosophy and a willingness to spend the time and money it
takes to continually one up themselves resulted in a record breaking
crowd turning out in Santa Monica where DOMAINfest Global cemented its
reputation as a can't miss event.
Click
here for the Full Story
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Extreme
Makeover - A New Leader, New Venue and New Format Made the 2010
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Las Vegas Conference a Pivotal Event |
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By Ron Jackson
The 2010 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Las Vegas conference that
ran at the Hard Rock Hotel
January 21-23 marked a turning point in the popular series that
began with the first large scale domain show in October
2004. This was the first time that conference
co-founders Rick Schwartz and Howard Neu were
not at the helm of a T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference in
America. Under a new
partnership agreement, Schwartz and Neu turned the
operation of five of this year's six T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
shows to Rick
Latona - starting with the Las Vegas event.
Latona introduced several changes with this conference,
including a new show venue at
the Hard Rock Hotel and a revamped show schedule.
Despite a technical snafu that interrupted the live domain auction, the overall
end result was another crowd pleasing show that upheld the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
tradition. Click
here for the Full Story
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2009
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. New York Conference Marks the End of an Era |
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By Ron Jackson
The T.R.A.F.F.I.C. New York conference
that ran at the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott October 26-29 marked
the end of an era for the domain industry. This show came on the 5th
anniversary of a collaboration between co-founders Rick Schwartz
and Howard Neu that began with a historic
event at the Delray Beach, Florida Marriott in
October 2004. Now, after staging 15 shows together and licensing two
others overseas, the pioneering duo is turning the reins over to Rick
Latona
who will be fully responsible for five of the six T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conferences scheduled for 2010.
Schwartz and Neu will resurface on the show
circuit only once in the upcoming year, having retained the
rights to run a big show in their home state of Florida at
the Loews Hotel on Miami's South Beach in October 2010
(October 17-19, 2010 to be specific). Though not exactly their swan song, this third
consecutive annual show in the Big Apple was a fitting first
class send off for Schwartz and Neu as they begin a 12-month break from the show production grind.
Click Here for Full Story
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T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Co-Founders
Howard Neu (at podium)
& Rick Schwartz welcome
attendees to T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
New York 2009
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Partners
in Paradise: Our Review of the 2009 SedoPro Partner Forum in Key West, Florida |
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By Ron Jackson
The 2009 SedoPro Partner Forum was held
at the Waldorf Astoria's Casa Marina Resort in Key West, Florida
October 7-9. Sedo's annual gathering is a different animal than
mainstream domain conferences that cover a broad range of industry issues and
attract registrants of all kinds - individual domain investors, service
providers and venture capitalists to name just a few. Sedo's
Partner Forum is a special corporate event that is staged primarily to
thank their top clients and business associates for their support.
Less than 100 people are invited to attend the
Forum which alternates between Europe and the U.S. each year. The
Sedo events focus much more on networking during social and recreational events
than than they do on business seminars. With the SedoPro Forum's picturesque
locations the company knows their guests want to spend more time outdoors
than being cooped up in a conference room. Here is how the 2009 edition went
down.
Click Here for Full Story
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Scene from the beach
at
the Casina Marina Resort in
Key West, Florida where the
2009 SedoPro Partner Forum
was held October 7-9.
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2009
Domain Roundtable Provides Rousing Conclusion to the Amazing Conference Race |
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By Ron Jackson
When I walked onto the National Mall in
Washington D.C. a few days ago, I felt like I had just finished competing
in The Amazing Race. I was in the nation's capital for the
2009 Domain Roundtable conference at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington,
D.C. (held June 14-16) - my sixth major domain conference in six months.
Since mid-April I had averaged one show every two weeks.
Could there possibly be anything new
left to talk about at Roundtable after so many shows had preceded it? Would
there be any new faces left to see that I hadn't seen in the
previous five shows? Could Roundtable's new owner, Thought
Convergence, come up with any surprises that would make them stand
out in a very large conference crowd? The answers to all three questions
would turn out to be an emphatic yes. Click Here for Full Story
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Washington
D.C. hosted the
2009 Domain Roundtable
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Return
to
Silicon Valley: Three Years After A Landmark Show in Santa Clara
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Came Back for an Encore |
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By Ron Jackson
The T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference returned to the
site of one of its greatest triumphs April 27-30 when the 2009
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Silicon Valley show was staged in Santa Clara, California.
Three years before, in the same location, T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Co-Founders Rick
Schwartz and Howard Neu produced an event that played a key role in
launching a phenomenal boom in the domain business.
That left them with a tough act to follow this time, especially since the
overall economy is now mired in a severe slump. Attendance took a hit as a
result but as has always been the case at T.R.A.F.F.I.C., quality trumps
quantity. Here is our blow by blow account of what went down in the
Valley.
Click Here for Full Story
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Sunny
Days for GeoDomains: Our Comprehensive Review of the 2009 GeoDomain Expo in San
Diego |
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By Ron Jackson
Talk about pulling a rabbit out of a hat.
The annual GeoDomain Expo, staged by Associated Cities, has a
history of presenting exceptionally high value events despite charging the
lowest registration fee of any major domain industry conference. Even so, it
looked like it would take a miracle to maintain their lofty standards at the
2009 show that was held at the scenic Catamaran Resort in San Diego
April 23-25.
As we reported in mid March, a disagreement
among AC board members on the future mission and structure of the organization
took the group's focus off their showcase conference and some favored canceling
as a result. The debate didn't end until March 16, so once the green light was
on for good, AC leaders were left with just five weeks to put the Expo together.
In a testament to their entrepreneurial skills they not only did it, they did it
exceptionally well, not only living up to their previous standards but
setting a few new ones along the way.
Click Here for Full Story |
The
Catamaran Resort in
in San Diego, site of the
2009 GeoDomain Expo |
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