“Parking is Dead”. It may be down but it’s certainly not dead. If anything it’s more competitive than ever. There are so many companies going after domainers that it’s become a cut throat business. One thing that stuck with me is that the people that seem to have made it through all the ups and downs are the some of the nicest people in the industry. Is it chance? I don’t think so. Here’s a few of the guys (and girls) I really enjoy in the monetization industry (in no specific order). I realize the return is the most important part of monetization but if “nice” has anything to do with your choice I highly recommend the following.
Craig Rowe of WhyPark/DomainApps– Craig and I get along well because he and I have a lot in common. We both do triathlons and family is an important part of our lives. Craig does almost EVERYTHING at DomainApps. He even codes the site himself. You know you’re going to get personal attention when you work with him because he’s always smiles and really loves what he does. He may be the only guy that smiles more than me. The kind of person I want to work with in this industry.
Donny Simonton of Voodoo: Donny is one of the bigger domain investors. When I mean big, I mean physically. I actually joked that he would be my left tackle for my offensive line with Ron Wells, and Chris Stroud filling out my line. Donny’s built a heck of a platform at Voodoo and it’s actually become one of the top 3 among domainers. I’m not sure if that’s official or not, but most people I talk to have a few domains there. Donny is always good for conversation and has a great sense of humor. Donny had a medical scare that changed how he looks at life and it comes across. He comes across as positive and thankful.
Dwayne Walker of Oversee/DomainSponsor: Dwayne and I have been friends for years. Dwayne is always trying to make things better. He is always asking questions. Wanting to know other than returns, what is the parking guy looking for. Oversee has over a million names in parking so I imagine they have a pretty good idea of how to get the most out of them AND they had meetings with Google this week on enhancing their returns as well. They’ve recently added Chris Stroud (former writer at DomainShane) so I know they will continue to give good service.
Frank Schilling/ Heather Pierre (Internet Traffic) Noticed how I threw Heather in there. If you don’t know Heather, she is one of the customer service reps for Frank and she does a heck of job. Ironically, as someone was telling the story at Webfest of the article I wrote about her, she tapped me on the shoulder and said “That’s me”. She is even nicer and brighter in person. We all know Frank is a good person but his staff is hand picked to reflect that same kindness.
Victor Pitts (Above.com) Victor is another good person in this industry. They were one of the first people to support my blog. He provided some entertainment at Webfest with his scratch off cards giving users a free 10 domain parking account. We had some good fun looking at what people got. My favorite was Ron Wells getting “increased male penis” in Spanish for a domain. And surprisingly it was doing well. Above rotates a few parking companies to monetize their domains but I’m hoping they don’t shuffle the people behind the scenes.
Why thank you Shane. It’s always great to see you and have the chance to chat in person. In some cases, the smiling is likely from the open bar, but I’ll take it. The one thing to note is that you actually do well in races, where I just try to gimp through them.
Craig
Nice post Shane. I agree, all of the above mentioned people are some of the nicest and brightest people that I’ve met in this industry!
We’d have to throw Dwayne in a slot on your offensive line too! 🙂
As far as that male enhancement name, I just looked at it today and it still seem to be doing just fine (doing an average of $2.67/day at Above.com).
Correction:
Instead of $2.67/day … it’s only doing $0.93/day (I missed a few columns)
Hello Shane,
I have to agree with you, Craig Rowe is a nice guy and I sat with him for coffee years ago. He has a smile that goes with the job of being a salesman, I know the turf being a salesman myself.
Sometimes the price of a smile can be very costly in the scheme of things. There are many well meaning people in industries that for the most part Obstruct progress though. There are many players in the domaining Industry that obstruct and tamp down .COM business expansion for the good of all, not just the few.
The parking Industry has done more to obstruct Internet Commerce expansion than any other factor in Marketing Analysts opinions, than any other one factor. This is just a fact of Marketing Dynamic Principles. Its what keeps the search engines stranglehold on Domain Owners and would be End users efforts to form Capital Structure Formation.
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
It is interesting to see the omission of 3 of the largest.
Sedo
Namemedia
Namedrive
And, we all can agree that Ammar is also a nice guy. 🙂
But, is no longer one of the top 5.
Meyer,
Nothing against those three but don’t know anyone personally from any of them. Ammar has been nice to me (let me come to a party or event) but has never personally talked to me. I hear nothing but nice things about him. Same thing with Sedo or Rook, neither has acknowledged my presence. Not that I have to be acknowledged it’s just I have no idea if they go on the “good people” list.
Shane – I needed a good laugh. Thanks. It was funny the 3 years we went to the playboy mansion, me and Ron sat next to each other on the bus every time. I would definitely work with him anytime. 🙂
And I know that I will always talk to Shane at every DomainFest on Tuesday, after the Steel Panther concert.