How is the Santa Clara Traffic conference going?

[Beachie]

I think irrespective of the method of searching (search bar, voice search, keyword etc), the technical functionality of the DNS system is not going to change, and therefore the value of good domains will remain. Whether I type "ebay.com", or "ebay" or even say it, it won't alter the fact that it needs to resolve to a number that represents a piece of hardware in a datacentre somewhere.

As for the keyword system, it's been tried - AOL, RealNames etc. Someone may try again, and even succeed, but the fact remains that there is only one "auction" keyword, and it has to resolve to an IP, so is therefore essentially the same as a domain. Can you imagine the Land Rush for keywords??

 

[GT Web]

I think the point is, none of us control the internet.

We have no idea when/if/how much things will change, we just need to keep working hard and let the cards fall as they may.

 

[JMJ]

wonder if there be spell check with voice search ?

Is that voice search going to input all 85 or 8.5 million search results into your mind? Watch a bit more Star trek

 

[DomainTurn.com]

always remember the easier you make it the more "user friendly"

the more will use iti want a bank my bank "washingtonmutual" say it im there

why should i go through yout 85 of 85000 sites to get to minebetween typo's

google or msn typo's i get this

kalsey.com,shadows.com;ask.metafilter.com;flickr.com;groups.msn

.com and so on if I don't put it in like this "washington mutual" I will

wonder around. why waste so much time. msn or ibm or apple or sony or

domainturn can sell computer's with this service free. the price would be less

then giving everyone free wifi and a can charge yearly rates to businesses

that want my 100% no ppc fraud "no access typo error" pure search and

no star track fans searching all over the internet clicking to find them

pure 100% voice search will reach the accurate site 99.9% everytime

mind you a voice directory to narrowing your search to the country state and

city, even to the block with a name, number, a map that can provide other

services like taxi or bus lines. The bottom line is watch listen and try and get

into this century

 

[stuff]

it will not happen
Why?
Because who are also making money from this typo`s? - yes its google, yahoo and msn.
Come on think about it

Did You see hat happend to google stock`s after they published that they where not making so much money with advertaising. They pay theyre bills with advertaising money!!!

 

[maroulis]

I had written a huge response but decided to not post it. pretty much summarises your point stuff..

Google and Yahoo have "real estate" which is as limited as their own developed pages. Google develops more products (GTalk, Sitemap, Analytics, ...) whereas Yahoo is playing more in the portal space.

Without their advertising programs expanding to include average Joe (let alone Joe's typo portfolio) quite frankly their revenues would be considerably less of what they are now..

It's commonly known that GoogleParking has the highest number of Quality typos out there inluding yes!! TM-typo domains...

to go back to domainturn and his voice-activation search - yes this can happen in the mobile or in the car i.e. in an environment where you're constrained either by the device or the bandwidth or even the time/situation and it would simply be more convenient to be taken directly to the "correct" result.

 

[Beachie]

I agree with stuff also. Google is Google because of their domain. Take that away and it instantly diminishes their brand.

Voice search is great until late at night when the kids are asleep and you have to say "b^tt f^cking sl^ts" into your microphone.. voice recognition is a gimmick for the common person. In industry (particularly in mine) it has it's place.

 

[izoot]

so anymore comments on the conference? Did the hotel have free wireless?

 

[izopod]

Contrary to popular belief the "internet" is not about surfing sites. Actually the #1 purpose of the "internet" is email. It is the lifeblood of many organizations as well as a convenient way to say "hi" to mom. Guess what is needed to do this? Yup a domain name (IP addr).

Until Google and Microsoft come up with "virtual" email that can be sent seamlessly through the spectrum and magically appear in someone's "v-mail box", without a domain name, I wouldn't worry about the various doomsday scenarios floating out there.

I do think JuniperPark brings up a good point indirectly, and apparently was discussed at the conference. Google and Microsoft ARE trying to figure out ways to control the internet. Thankfully they don't own it. Microsoft will continue to get sued by the US and EU if it keeps it up and Google will find itself on the short end of a long list of legal disputes. I don't think either of them want it.

The other "legal" issue would be "emminent domain name" (new word--izopod, 2/5/06). Several billion dollars a year are being spent to promote one's URL address. If Microsoft tried to change their browser system so that it made it harder for people to find a business quickly the lawsuits would make the current ones pending against them look like chump change. The IP system or domain names in particular are our way to communicate in cyberspace directly. If I have to "search" to find somone instead of "dialing" direct (typing) then there is going to be lawsuits.

Hope this settles the argument.

 

[mole]

The Superbowl today will apparently carry a lot of ads with URLs, can someone count how many commercials used them?

 

[actnow]

so anymore comments on the conference? Did the hotel have free wireless?

I know that Duke has been working hard on the conference wrap-up. I assume he
will publish it on Monday. I know he took hundreds of pictures.

Yes, the conference had free wifi. However, I was reluctant to use it since
San Jose probably has more hackers than any other city in the U.S.
(McAfee's huge office building was one block away.)

I paid $9. a day for ethernet in my room. I did make one observation
while using the connection in the room. When, all of the people at the conference
were using the free wifi, the speed of my connection dropped drastically.
I was happy to pay $ 27 instead of worry about someone watching my keystrokes.

Most of the major players were at the conference.
Vertical, Marchex, Buy Domains, Name Admin., iREIT, etc.

 

[JMJ]

it will not happen
Why?
Because who are also making money from this typo`s? - yes its google, yahoo and msn.
Come on think about it

Did You see hat happend to google stock`s after they published that they where not making so much money with advertaising. They pay theyre bills with advertaising money!!!

Correct. Wipe out PPC and you're looking at the next .com bust. If you leave it up to a corporation to be honest in paying out dues when there really is no accountability then we all have problems. I've used this senario before and I'll use it again. Picture a boardroom meeting.

Mr. CEO: Mr. Internet marketing manager we need to cut spending and increase sales.
Mr. IMM: Yes sir, I get right on it!

Mr. IMM heads back to the office and implements his PPS/PPP shaving. Job done, white collar fraud in motion.

 

[Ed30]

The Business 2.0 article on Masters of their domains portraited domainers as "people who hate work" and "like to drink and womanise, especially when its free"

Are they not right? :laugh:

 

[JuniperPark]

Correct. Wipe out PPC and you're looking at the next .com bust. If you leave it up to a corporation to be honest in paying out dues when there really is no accountability then we all have problems. I've used this senario before and I'll use it again. Picture a boardroom meeting.

Mr. CEO: Mr. Internet marketing manager we need to cut spending and increase sales.
Mr. IMM: Yes sir, I get right on it!

Mr. IMM heads back to the office and implements his PPS/PPP shaving. Job done, white collar fraud in motion.

This has already happened - I caught Commission Junction, red handed, ripping me off on the eHarmony promotion. After sending hundreds of leads with 0 signups on the reports, I followed my own link and signed up myself. To this day they show 0 sales -- clearly a case of fraud. They refuse to respond to support requests because they know they were caught.

Back to Santa Clara, I saved nearly $500+ staying next door at the Holiday Inn enjoying free Wifi, free parking, and free (good) coffee. I've played the overcharged-convention-hotel game before That works out to over $1,500/hr for my time walking across the street, about the rate of a top-shelf hooker

 

[NameTower]

Voice search is great until late at night when the kids are asleep and you have to say "b^tt f^cking sl^ts" into your microphone..

lol

 

[maroulis]

That works out to over $1,500/hr for my time walking across the street, about the rate of a top-shelf hooker

so did you get to spend the extra cash you saved lol

 

[actnow]

so did you get to spend the extra cash you saved lol

It did seem that everytime I saw Juniper he was talking to the pretty women
at the conference. Some guys have all of the luck.

I also heard thru the grapevine that the hotel staff called his room a couple times
requesting that he keep the noise down. arty:

 

[hiOsilver]

The Conference was quite good. It was nice being able to drive 15 minutes from my house to the Conference. :>)

Richard, sorry we had such "terrible" weather. You missed the good weather by a week (68 yesterday, with no clouds in the sky). It's supposed to be that way all week.

It was good seeing old friends like Richard (ActNow), Ron (Duke), Michelle Miller (formerly manager of BuyDomains), Roy Messer, and many others. It was also great getting to meet Dale (Juniper Park) and Adam (who needs no introduction) and so many others.

As for the questions about the future of domains, this is what I wanted to hear about at my first TRAFFIC, back in Florida in 2004. There is risk in putting so much of our time and money into domains. However, where there is risk, there is often reward. I think that the risks are reasonable, but you can figure out many ways to be in the domain biz and mitigate your risks. Discussions like the ones at TRAFFIC SV just reaffirm my belief in continuing to own as much Internet real estate as I can afford.

As for access to bandwidth, I look forward to having fiber right into my house some day. Pretty hard to beat that.

 

[Duke]

DNJournal's complete wrap-up of the Silicon Valley conference was published last night: http://www.dnjournal.com/cover/2006/february.htm

I have been playing catch up (and losing) ever since I got back Friday so haven't had time to post many personal comments on the show. Certainly a highlight was meeting several DNF friends in person for the first time. Adam was the first guy I saw when I arrived at the hotel which got things off to a great start. He had to leave a day early so I'm glad we had a chance to have dinner before he left. I've been in touch with Juniper Park and Page Howe by email and forums almost since the day I entered the business so it was great to meet them as well. I had already had the pleasure of meeting many others but it is always great to see old friends - "old" in Internet time - like ActNow and HioSilver.

Now it's back to work. Have to get tonight's sales column done and it is going to be a big project since it will contain two week's worth of data (the Santa Clara trip postponed last week's column).

 

[JEsports]

Fantastic article Duke. Its nice to be able to read an indepth article presentation like this to make those of us unable to attend feel as if we were there the whole time. Your work is extremely appreciated.