Domain industry veteran, Mike “Zappy” Zapolin, discusses the importance and intrinsic value of generic domain names in the video below. Zappy discusses what to do with a generic domain name and how to leverage these properties to make the most of them.
Zappy has significant experience with generic domain names like Beer.com, Computer.com, CreditCards.com and many others. He discusses some of the deals he’s done and how he built generic domain names out.
This is an interesting video you might like to share with your friends who aren’t familiar with generic domain names (or why you’re a domain investor).
The one thing Zappy might want to change in the video is the quote from Dominik Mueller, which appears at the 4:08 mark.
“Domains are a lucrative investment vehicle. In fact, domains can go up in value faster than any other commodity on Earth.” According to the most recent post on Dominik’s blog, Dominick wrote, “it makes perfect sense to officially announce that I am no longer in the domain business.”
Domain investing can be a fantastically lucrative business, but there’s a steep learning curve, and it can take a lot of time and/or money to become a successful domain entrepreneur today.
“In fact, domains can go up in value faster than any other commodity on Earth.”
That quote looks very similar to something Rick Schwartz said way back in the early days.
Pretty cool the video had Mike Millken saying domains are the most valuable real estate. Thanks for sharing the video – gets the creative juices flowing.
@ tv parts
Long time no speak… how have you been?
“In fact, domains can go up in value faster than any other commodity on Earth.”
The first time this sentance was uttered, it was from the mouth of Mr. Bill Gates. Those that have gone to repeat this statement down the years are simply quoting Bill.
Elliot,
For your information, my decision to quit the domain business for good about one year ago did not have anything to do with lack of success. Also, as I’m sure you know, I never was a very active domain investor myself, but I used to run a lucrative (even if small) domain brokerage business. Overall, I would say I have been part of a fair share of high-value domain transactions and have moved way up the learning curve since I initially started domaining in the early 2000s.
I still decided to quit domaining, because the opportunity costs were simply too high. If you looked at the stock markets in 2007 and 2008, there were so many bargains around, it would have been insane not to get seriously invested (in my opinion). In retrospect, I can say that I’m very happy about having chosen stocks over domains as an investment for several reasons. It is true that I used to be *very* bullish on domains, and I still think that keyword domains are worth top dollars, but I have always thought about the domain business as being very intransparent and ineffective. For example, no matter what most domain investors will say to convince buyers, I strongly believe that domains do not even come close to other investments (i.e. stocks or bonds) in terms of liquidity. It is way more difficult and more time-consuming to trade domains than stocks. There are many other reasons why I think today that domains are not as good an investment as the most popular domain bloggers keep saying. Thinking about it, since I no longer blog about domain names, this might be a good topic for a guest post.
Btw, we haven’t spoken in a long time. Hope you’re doing well. 🙂
Cheers,
Dominik
@Luc Biggs: Actually, it was Rick who coined this statement. It was mistakenly attributed to Mr. Gates, but to this day Mr. Gates has never said anything like that.
Ah, sorry that I just saw this now since I made a mention of this video in a forum and on Twitter. Had I seen this first, I would have just pointed things your way. Good post, Elliot.
He was a broker elliot. Being a broker has nothing to do with being Pioneer or Visionary. Totally wrong.
I thought this was right on….and validates everything we are trying to do….acquire….develop….monetize….sell…in the Geo Domain space. Excellent post….and excellent video.