The domain industry is getting smaller? Whoa… WTF ;/
On a recent biz trip down to the west coast, I met up with a bunch of veteran domain industry insiders and we all had some very interesting discussions. Over the week or so that I was out there I probably got no more than 2-3 hours of sleep per night…. Ack. Still recovering, but it’s all good though, because a lot of business was done and we covered a whole lot of stuff.
Now the biggest takeaway from all of the meetings and debates that were had late into’ the nights… One thing is still on my mind, and that is that the industry is getting smaller. Yep, unfortunately, that is true. Numbers don’t lie but it isn’t 100% obvious for a number of reasons. I’ve always had this feeling in the past few years once things peaked around 2007. Heck, I even had a blog post ready to be put out last year saved as a “draft” just as a reminder so that I can go over this stuff. Just never got to it… Until now.
So I was given some info from a couple of friends / associates who work for some of the top domain companies and they said clearly that their “active user base” has been shrinking year over year since 2007 levels. We’re talking about registrars, parking companies, etc. Now it can be easily perceived that the industry is booming because there is all these blogs, and forums, and other new websites providing services, and conferences, and a million other things related to domains but really… That does not mean that there are more participants and that there is even more business being done.
Things have slowed down for many companies… Lots of people also cashed out who got in this game early on, because that is what domainers do. Get in and get out when the time is right…. Many people who were just starting out in 2006/2007 overpaid big time and got burned… Were squeezed out. Boot in the ass… Bye bye.
Well, it is what it is… Maybe it’s a good thing? The industry is small, and only getting smaller if you look hard at the trends, counting all of the full-timers and professional domain insiders who total up most of the biz. Not talking about the hobbyists who are here playing around with domains for a few weeks or month’s but gone tomorrow. One of the things that I like about this business is that it is such a small and tight-knight community…. It’s not something I always like, depends on the days and mood… But overall, I think we can all agree that it makes it a very special industry and fun to be part of.
As the band’s manager said in the movie Spinal Tap, “Our audience isn’t getting smaller, it’s getting more specialized.”
The shit hit the fan in 2008….no doubt about it.
You see it now with business that closed up in 2008 and now their domains are hitting the market.
Same with lots of domainers.
I don’t find it fun anymore really, but the crazy thing is I am so good at this biz after years and years of practice and experience it is hard to walk away from.
I just don’t find it challenging anymore, plus it’s not that fun to be part of something that is not alive, kicking, and growing.
Where’s the inspiration? Money? I need more than that to stay inspired.
You can jump-start many online ventures if you can score the right domains… Especially on the cheap. Insiders can do that all day, everyday. Now that right there can be a whole lot of fun, and profitable too. Capitalize!
Started declining about the time I got in? Sounds about right.
Aside from the economy, domaining has been much harder work since that time. Though some people put more effort in, others did well enough with parking and fielding unsolicited offers,or so it seems . I’d rather have my money in domains than dollars .
i agree with you to a certain degree, and sometimes i ask myself that as well cos i was constantly doing 5 or 6 deals a month back in 07/08, and then in 2009 the thing just took a dive on me. there are still opportunities around though as castello pointed out the guys left are simply getting specialized and they’ve learnt their way of doing domain business.
there’re still good opps around if you look hard enough and turn to be an enduser oneself would help as well
I got in in 2006/2007 and every year has been better than the last tbh. I did sell / drop a lot of domains I got back then, but yeah, prices were much higher for the lower end stuff than they are today.
Guess the main difference is that I spent the first six months in the business reading up, which helped from buying too much crap and that’s because I already had some domains / websites since 1998 and was just looking for updating my SEO knowledge at that time.
If you don’t follow trends and think of domains as you would other investment vehicles you can get in today and make a good living just as easily as people did if they got in back in 2000.
I believe the return is still higher then putting the money in a bank and letting it slowly grow.
Like all businesses there is a cycle. There are great names in the drops everyday now. But there also seems to be more competetion for those names.
Stick with .coms and continue to add domains.
So far so good.
I have been blackballed by sedo for complaining about the non-existence of sales.
I had 1000 domains parked on sedo for two years. One offer of 60 euros and sedo wanted its minimum 50 euro commission.
lol just a joke.
I have worked insane hours for the last three years in addition to running my own business of 30 years.
The domain business is a small, incestuous, slimy, cut-throat, shark infested septic, toxic, pool of …… well you get my meaning.
I am as tenascious, doggedly persistent man as you will ever meet. I will not quit this business until I flesh out the truth. Something smells bad here. Something is definitely wrong with this “industry.”
The registrars and auction sites’ owners and employees, being domain investors and speculators themselves are in direct competition with their customers.
Inherent is a “conflict of interest” that feeds the insular, incestuous, greed and hypocracy that is at the seed of the decline. Anyone with any inteligence, starting out in the domain “industry” finds out very soon that there are a few giants that got rich selling the one word, generic dom coms who rule and run this business now.
There are but scraps now and one is left only to explore developement.
To develope you have to know it cold or have hundreds of thousands of dollars to develope.
In light of the difficulties and obstacles, I will not quit.
I will see this through.
Robert McLean
Amen brother