Successclick, Domain Monetization

By Rick Schwartz on Apr 13, 2009

Just for the record “Friend”……I posted EVERY response you ever made to my blog. Most of them were nasty, some were two faced. But no matter how the tone of those responses were I have posted EVERY single one. I figure if you want to make a fool of yourself, why not let you. So I post ALL of them!

Sooo….if a post had an error, it was NOT with me not accepting the post.

As for kicking you off the board years ago that you repeatedly bring up…..Get over it big boy.

As for WhyPark….I talk with experience. I used that service. My income was cut by 66% and I have NEVER gotten paid for that traffic. So THERE you go! Not ignorance, experience.

Rick Schwartz

XXXXXX Stephen Douglas Responds:

Hi Rick,

This comment by you has been lingering in my “posts to consider” container for months, so I decided to let your comments here be known in order to get a new assessment from you regarding WhyPark’s success after we sold to Parked.com in March 2009.

I have stated many times in support of you, and that you DO post every legitimate post made on your blog, which you have acknowledged. The case in question was based on your website software failure which was noted by other readers since then. I suppose you have fixed that.

As far as my opinion of you, I have made many comments on my blog and on almost every respected blog regarding your expertise in domaining, and that’s factual.

I never told you this, but you kicking me off your “exclusive living room forum” was one of the defining moments of my domaining career, because you immediately put me in a huge group of successful domainers who you also kicked off your forum! You, my friend, created the monster that is… me. I owe my “Broadway Debut” to you… So thanks!

All due respect… and best wishes truly. I wouldn’t deny to anyone that you are the DOMAIN KING.

I hope you can write a new comment about your experience with WhyPark in the last six months. Some of my own longtail generic domains, that were making nothing being parked, have started making $.70 a month average per domain, just enough to pay for their renewals… and who knows where the OST will take them in the future?

By Leonard Britt on Apr 13, 2009

I will have to agree that while one can admire Rick’s vision and risktaking many years ago, one cannot repeat his success by spending 15 hours a day going through drop lists. No doubt every week there are some good names which drop and it is worthwhile to periodically look for good names. But the quality and quantity of drops is certainly not what it was 8-10 years ago. So one’s time is probably better spent on development of an existing generic domain portfolio than searching for a premium drop that isn’t there.

By Sahar Sarid on Apr 13, 2009

Hi Stephen,

Rick does his part like all of us. Not one person is responsible for this industry and we all have ups and downs. At times kings of yesterdays are princes of today and servants of tomorrow. Time changes everything.

While I don’t always agree with Rick I tend to agree more than disagree. He is a shrewed and experience business man with many years of experience behind him. Rick not only talk the talk, but always walk the walk. As far as development, take a look at TargetedTraffic.com, a business based on a domain with no traffic that has generted tens of millions and worth a fair amount these days. With that said, like all of us, none of us is expert at all. I remember when I first started Rick was preaching manual purchasing while myself and many others were automating everything. When I first started Rick was focused on prime domains while we were focused on sub prime. There are many ways to climb a mountain my friend.

Mini sites are the buzz word today but will they be the buzz word tomorrow? I take none of it for granted. I think the bottom line is we all need to see liquidity, proven formulas. Today we have some of it but not to the level I believe we should. Will mini sites bring liquidity? How many sales are they responsible for? The numbers are not there yet.
In any event, I think any industry is a reflection of its participants. If all would do a tenth of what Rick does for the industry we would all be better off, many times over.

Cheers

Sahar

By Howard Neu on Apr 13, 2009

As far as I can see, Rick publishes every post to his blog, but apparently you don’t. Also, I also use WhyPark, but the results have been so dismal that I am giving those domains second thoughts. I love Craig and think that he’s doing a great job, but the proof is in the pudding, as they say, and the proof is that the monetization has been less than spectacular.

XXXXXX Stephen Douglas Responds:

Hi Howard,

I’ve been ruminating whether to post your comment here about WhyPark, which was made before we secured the Parked.com acquisition. If you see my response here, do you wish to make any ‘update’ comments to Whypark’s astounding success since Parked.com picked them up?

Thanks for writing…

By TheG on Apr 14, 2009

I think your comments were right on the money.
Rick’s comments on his own block had clearly shown the world of how clueless the man really is. Not to mention he knows nothing about developing sites or running active sites. Slapping some banners together and riding the type ins does not constitute a developed site.

Sorry you had to retract your statement.

XXXXXX Stephen Douglas Responds:

I appreciate your support. I felt it was best to admit my mistake, mainly based on the assumption that his site wouldn’t accept my comment. He did accept it, and by doing so, took a lot of bite from my article on my blog, and even though I made my points, other comments about not being accepted on his blog were not fair to Rick, so i retracted the whole article. This doesn’t mean I will not question his opinions in the future. I believe you can teach an old dog new tricks! (me, I’m an old dog).

By Bob on Apr 14, 2009

Good for you Stephen! It takes a big man to toss out a virtual sorry! I know that you probably didn’t mean to stick that virtual fork in Rick’s eye! Live and learn……

XXXXXX Stephen Douglas Responds:
Aww, its for the best. I can’t say anything really to disagree with my friend/debate partner Rick because he is who he is, and truly, he has way more respect and a killer track record in the industry than I do. I realize that I must respect his statements, even if they go against my own experience, and be careful how I present my opposing opinion.

My clear mistake was not waiting to see if he posted my comment before posting my comments as an article on my own blog. This was a mistake on my part, because Rick does indeed post my comments, and has done so for years. I just had problems getting my comment accepted on his site at that time…So it probably was a tech glitch on his blog I should have waited to see if it would clear up and my comment be posted. I can admit when I’m wrong… it doesn’t make me weak, just stronger.

Truth be told, Rick has allowed me to speak my mind several times on his blog, and some of my comments were debating his position, so give him that credit. I do. This is where the misunderstanding first started, but it was late at night, i was tired and not willing to wait to see if he allowed my comment. I jumped the gun, my mistake, hence I retracted my total article just to settle things down, and I think it was a fair thing to do. I respect Rick and his incredible contributions to this industry, even though it’s well known that I disagree with his positions at times. BUT, he’s always been fair to me in my comments on his blog. That fact I want to make clear.