New domain investors are being fed a load of crap.
I love when new domain name investors get hooked on domains. They discover the excitement that many DNW readers have experienced for years. Domain investing is fun and can be lucrative. But it’s also full of pitfalls.
Which brings me to what’s happening on Clubhouse, a fast-growing app akin to live call-in radio shows.
Last week, I wrote about how Clubhouse is driving a surge in registrations for .club domain names. Over the past several days, I’ve listened in on several discussions and researched to understand exactly what’s happening on the app. It’s been disturbing.
It seems that a large portion of the surge in .club has come from people who think .club is the hot new investing opportunity. Someone brought up the idea of .club domains gaining value because of Clubhouse several weeks ago and it caught fire. People started hand registering .club domains and buying up premium domains.
It’s fine to come to your own conclusion that Clubhouse’s success will lead to companies and people registering .club domains. It certainly won’t hurt .club. It’s also fine to make bad domain investments — we all have.
What’s disturbing is the amount of questionable advice being doled out by people who are either brand new to domain investing or trying to make a buck off of it by peddling a $2,000 course that’s still under development.
Some of the people doling out this advice are also very defensive, with some trying to discredit those that want to help new domain investors avoid mistakes.
In a call yesterday, one person said that the reason domain investors are telling people to be careful with their investments is that those domain investors are busy snapping up all of the .club domains and don’t want others to get in on it. There’s also a lot of classic bubble talk about landrushes, getting in early, etc.
It’s a problem when so-called experts give people unrealistic expectations about their hand-registered 99-cent domains. When they mislead them into making more bad investments. And when they tell people not to listen to the “naysayers” who are only trying to help.
Last night I listened to a couple of people talking about how they jumped in headfirst this month. They regretted spending so much money on domains before getting their head around it. One of them mentioned how they got their siblings in on it too, and they’ve been registering domains nonstop. They now realize they wasted a lot of money.
This regret is a right of passage in domain investing. But it’s troubling when people push new investors down this path.
Look, we can disagree about the best way to invest in domains. NamePros (and heck, the comment threads on DNW) are full of debate. That’s OK. What’s been happening on Clubhouse is different. There’s a lot of snake oil and it has caused many people to lose money.
There is good news, though. Many domain investors have joined Clubhouse in recent days. This morning, two concurrent sessions are going on with domain investors answering questions. I’m currently listening to Adam Strong suggest tools people can use and how to optimize for sales. Josh Reason is in another room answering questions.
These guys are setting realistic expectations. They’re not trying to sell anything. They’re trying to help people out.
So I encourage all domain investors with peoples’ best interests at heart — join Clubhouse. Let’s help new domain investors rather than send them down the wrong path.
.clubed
P.T. Barnum once said, “there’s a sucker born ever minute. Do I hear an Amen or Awomen?
Andrew Allemann, you never cease to impress and amaze. Your nose for news, principled journalism and sustained excellence has served this industry with distinction for almost two decades.
This seems as good a moment as any to pause and thank you for your leadership and considerable contributions to the good and welfare of this industry.
* If this tribute makes you uneasy, too bad. You may resume your humility tomorrow. 😉
~ Scott
Scott, you are too kind. Thanks.
Nahhhh.
“Just tellin’ it like it is.”
~ H. Cosell
Here! Here!
Well done Andrew ✔ .Once it involves quick buck,people throw their reputation to the wind.
In a room where broker Ryan Colby was speaking, I listened to an “investor” M.L. Billion talked about how he *hand registered* *11,000* new domains on a *credit card* in lieu of purchasing physical real estate, under Ryan’s guidance, and was encouraging his panel of over 300 people to do the same. Then he and others proceeded to talk about some get rich quick schemes and scamming the SBA for PPP funds. Pretty appalling stuff, very sad to see people in the domaining community take part.
“M.L. Billion” That’s a red flag right there. LOL
That is a lie. He bought them on his own discretion and Ryan Colby had absolutely nothing to do with his decision to make any purchase. What do you gain by telling lies ? Plus he said he bought 8,000 domains not 11,000.
Whats the difference between the affordable DNAcademy course and Ryan Colby $2,000 course?
Is Ryan going to make them millionaires? Or another pump and dump!!!
This was the same thing happening in most domain conferences from yesteryears.
I remember Rick Schwartz call out those pricks somewhere on his blog.
Prentending the domain investors are experts just because they crave attention is the problem. Less than 2 years ago that 1 so called expert kept whining and whining that Godaddy wouldn’t let him dump his worthless domains in the expired auction feed. Also another of those so called experts sending me a private message trying to sell me domains they were going to drop and the lists looked way worse than a newbies list. I know at least 2 of the so called experts suck at picking domains.
I spent a bunch of money on .cm domains before getting my head around it.
I stopped by one of the rooms today and can confirm the discussion around .Club is an absolute disgrace, even the registry was in there trying to drum up business.
registry claim is that more than 34% .club domains (out of 1.3M) is live site, hope most of them are real sites and not just landing page for sale.
Last night I popped into a Clubhouse room organized by one of the snake oil salesmen and heard him tell his audience that he was not aware of any course on domain investing so that’s why he created the one he’s flogging on Clubhouse for $1,000 (although I see the list price on his Website is $1,997). He’s either a liar or clueless about the domain industry since Mike Cyger’s excellent and affordable DNAcademy.com course has been around for over five years. I have no beef with someone wanting to educate up-and-coming domain investors, and profiting from that. That is entrepreneurship. What I object to is charlatans with little or no relevant experience selling people false hope and an expensive, unproven course. Buyer beware.
Mea culpa: This is a follow-up to my comment above about DRE Academy and its promotion. Today I had a constructive call with founders Ish and Ryan and got their perspective, which I should have done *before* venting publicly. I now trust their sincerity and intentions, and I wish them the best. Peace.
So, what’s so special about Ryan’s course?
So whoever bought Ryan Colby’s course, can you share any testimonial?
Since the arrival of covid-19 there is more of everything, they have become super smart and when you see the year they have registered on social networks they are university students, workers who have lost their jobs or are teleworking and before participating in social networks at other times that many of us have never seen their publications.
During these months they have begun to see where money is made and they have followed many blogs, websites and have learned not the good thing if not to seek the trap of deception by pretending to be intelligent believing that those who listen or read them are going to believe it many people and this is increasing.