DOMAIN SMARTS: GET THEM AT THE DOMAINCONVERGENCE CONFERENCE
September 27th, 2008 Posted in Domain Conferences, General Domain News
UPDATED 9/29/08: (FRANK SAYS THERE MAY BE A DOMAIN AUCTION AT THE EVENT, WATCH FOR A PRESS RELEASE.
ALSO, SUCCESSCLICK READERS CAN USE THE COUPON CODE “SUCCESSCLICK” to sign up for 20% off).
My good friend and a very respected domain player in our industry, Frank Michlick, is hosting a Canadian domain conference, DomainConvergence.com, October 6 - 8th at the Marriott FallsView Hotel at Niagra Falls, Ontario Canada. The conference, a “must attend” event for all Canadian domainers (and Americans) will focus on the three slam-dunk basics of domaining: Revenue, resale value, and legal issues!
I like one of the agenda topics, “Don’t Send Your Visitors Away”, which focuses on the extremely important issue of capturing information on your visitors and bringing them back to your website. You have a great domain name and you get visitors, but you don’t want them to come to your site and see nothing and never return, right? This is an interesting and very viable concept to follow if you want to see higher revenue results from your domain names, especially if you’re building them out.
This is Frank’s first domain conference, but judging by the hotel, the experts who are attending, the fact that the Canadian Domain Owner’s Association will hold it’s first meeting, Frank himself, and the great information/networking from the country that brought us the most powerful domainers in the world, (Frank Schilling, Kevin Ham, and Frank Schilling’s mentor, Gary Chernoff, to mention a few) should prove this event to be a memorable one. If you missed TRAFFIC NY this week, you need to get off your butt and make it to the Domain Convergence Conference. The ticket price is very reasonable: $595 (includes several food functions).
That’s not all. Check the DomainConvergence.com website for hotel and ticket information. One thing is stated clearly for all attendees at this conference:
“Welcome to the Marriott Niagara Falls Fallsview Hotel & Spa -Niagara’s premier AAA four-diamond, 5 Star luxury Niagara Falls hotel, located just 100 yards from Niagara Falls. Experience world-class Niagara Falls hotel accommodations in the heart of the Fallsview tourist district.”
They have 432 rooms that have full view of the Niagra Falls. $179 a night. WHOOOOO HAAA!
This conference, by way of exciting outside and inside events, along with groundbreaking domainer organization and domain experts, is a precursor to the biggie TDU event in November. At the Domain Convergence Conference, you have mind-blowing scenic tours, incredible views, a monkey-barrel list of adrenalin activities, gambling, excellent food, and a perfect excuse/reason for bringing your wife or girlfriend/partner to an excellent vacation spot to make up for your dumb manly-man shortcomings you’ve perpetrated this year.
I can tell you from personal experience over the last four years that Frank has been a source of knowledge and inspiration to me, and helped me with my domainer clients with unabashed generosity and lack of ego. I predict his conference will be a great success, and if you’re a Canadian domain investor, (a historically proud mantle to embrace and exclusive “Royal” group to belong,) you need to be at this conference to establish and build the power of you being a smart Canadian Domainer!
4 Responses to “DOMAIN SMARTS: GET THEM AT THE DOMAINCONVERGENCE CONFERENCE”
By Joe Davison on Sep 27, 2008
I would absolutely agree and second everything you’re saying here.
You know, I would say it’s worth at least $595 just to spend 10 minutes with Frank and pick his brain, especially if you’re the kind of person who wants real world information without a bunch of extra fluff and hype.
Every time I’ve spoken to Frank, he gets to the heart of the matter right away, pulls in his years of experience and expertise, and makes concrete suggestions that will help you.
And you’re right, there’s no ego at all, just pure and true desire to help people. This kind of commitment is truly rare and it’s not something you will find every day in this industry.
I’d go as far as saying that $595 for this event isn’t just reasonable — it’s DAMN CHEAP!
He really should be charging at least double.
But again, I understand why he’s doing this, and it’s definitely not about the money. So take this chance while you can, and be one of the first on the inside of what will undoubtedly become the premier Canadian domain conference!
Heck if you’re in Canada or anywhere in the Northeast US, it’s a total no brainer that you need to be at this event.
Joe Davison
Electron.com
XXXXXX Stephen Douglas Responds:
Frank is good people, not just because he’s very very smart about this industry, but because he shares it without an ego. I think his conference pricing is PERFECT for the budget of any beginning, novice and professional domainer. Domain investors should be all over this conference. It’s not going to be big, and if you go, you most likely will have the opportunity to talk to Frank and many other domain experts without waiting in line, or pushing through a crowd. Great opportunity, DomainConvergence.com
By Frank Michlick on Sep 27, 2008
Thanks Stephen for the post!
By Frank Michlick on Sep 28, 2008
Now you’re making me blush guys.
XXXXXX Stephen Douglas Responds:
That’s not us making you blush, that’s the photos you just saw of Jothan Frakes NAKED! I blushed too! (mad search on Google images going on right now by our readers - sorry folks, Jothan showers in his undies! Any photos of Jothan naked are photoshop fakes, promoted by TMZ.com)
(apologies to JF for using his name in my lame joke)
By jeff schneider on Oct 4, 2008
Hello Stephen,
I understand you are now the Vice President of Business Development at WHYPARK.com a great COMPANY, Congratulations to you ,but I cannot help thinking you are a west coaster, Seattle? As I mentioned I have had coffee with your President Craig Rowe.
Let me know if you are currently located in Ohio as I would like to meet you for coffee as well. I have been a happy WHYPARK client and would like to discuss some brainstorming ideas with you.
Also I would like your opinion on why there has, as of yet, NOT been a domainers conference that focuses on online branding, the next logical step in the evolution of marketing on the internet. There are many Madison Avenue firms that are looking to alternatives that are branded. Any comments?
XXXXXX Stephen Douglas Responds:
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the kind words and kudos to WhyPark. I joined them because they are new movers in this industry, and ahead of all others trying to do what I’ve been attempting to do (sidetracked by client work) for five years — provide inexpensive but search engine indexable content.
I can’t talk in detail about my involvment with producing the DRT 2007, but my initial focus was on what you’re talking about — bringing in corporate sectors for backbranding their online presence with generic descriptive domains. That didn’t move forward the way I wanted or envisioned in 2007, but I think it will soon at some smart-thinking conference.
The problem with looking at MAAA involvement is that they don’t want their clients to “resolve” eyeballs to their sites with a simple $2 million domain name. MAAA charges by the hour, and by the ads (15% ad agency fee to the agency by the publisher), so it’s much more profitable for MAAA to avoid the keyword generics and “buy domains that match the MAAA ad campaign”. Watch primetime TV commercials very closely (I know it could be boring, but you’ll get the tactics), and you’ll see the the domains they promote match the ad campaign slogan, NOT the client’s prodserv.
So, the only solution is for us to be able to reach the marketing directors at the major companies and the marketing websites and convince them to come to a domain conference where we show them how they can save their company a lot of money. When J&J bought Baby.com, and promoted it back in 2005, it caused a huge stir in the ad industry, because traditional ad agency reaction was “new media” is going to cut our jugulars. Of course, a smart ad agency would get involved in buying domains, but they still think they can make more off their clients by keeping them “dumb”. What we domainers have to do is EDUCTATE THE CORPORATE MARKETING DIRECTORS ON DOMAIN VALUE AND AD COST SAVINGS.
Who will lead the way?