Changes

'''Rick Schwartz''' is the self-anointed "[[Domaining|Domain]] King", who made millions off of [[domaining]] in the mid-90s, and continues to lead the pack of successful [[domainer]]s. He  purchased his first domain name in 1995; paying $100 for LipService.com. Eight years later, he made international news when he sold Men.com for  $1.32 million. He is particularly known as a pioneer of [[Direct Navigation|direct navigation]] traffic, and more generally as an expert on domain names, traffic, website flow and valuation.<ref>[http://www.ricksblog.com/about.html Ricksblog.com]</ref>

'''Rick Schwartz''' is the self-anointed "[[Domaining|Domain]] King", who made millions off of [[domaining]] in the mid-90s. He  purchased his first domain name in 1995; paying $100 for LipService.com. Eight years later, he made international news when he sold Men.com for  $1.32 million. He is particularly known as a pioneer of [[Direct Navigation|direct navigation]] traffic, and more generally as an expert on domain names and traffic<ref>[http://www.ricksblog.com/about.html Ricksblog.com]</ref>

Rick is the founder, CEO, and President of the [[T.R.A.F.F.I.C.]] domaining conference.<ref>[http://www.ricksblog.com/about.html Ricksblog]</ref>

Rick is the founder, CEO, and President of the [[T.R.A.F.F.I.C.]] domaining conference.<ref>[http://www.ricksblog.com/about.html Ricksblog]</ref>

He was a prominent blogger for a number of years, but he "retired" from daily blogging in December, 2011. He titled the post, "Mission Accomplished", and noted that he had brought a great deal of clarity and vision, and helped shape the domain industry, and it was time to move on to dedicate himself to a greater sphere of activities.<ref>[http://www.ricksblog.com/my_weblog/2011/12/mission-accomplished.html Mission Accomplished, RicksBlog.com]</ref>

He is a visible domainer blogger who has "retired" from daily blogging on different occasions.  

 

==Background==

==Background==

Mr. Schwartz dragged his feet through highschool and a few months of community college before discovering his passion for sales; as he began to truly excel in the sale sector he decided it was time to sell his own products rather than make someone else rich. He bean selling products produced in Asia at trade shows and in trade magazines. He immediately recognized the benefit of the Internet to a salesman, and claims the day that he learned about the [[FTP|File Transfer Protocol]] was the day that changed his life. He began putting his brochures and sales materials online, and around this time he discovered the monetary potential of domain names.<ref>[http://www.dnjournal.com/columns/cover020204.htm DNJournal]</ref>

Mr. Schwartz dragged his feet through highschool and a few months of community college before discovering his passion for sales; as he began to truly excel in the sale sector he decided it was time to sell his own products rather than make someone else rich. He bean selling products produced in Asia at trade shows and in trade magazines. He immediately recognized the benefit of the Internet to a salesman, and claims the day that he learned about the [[FTP|File Transfer Protocol]] was the day that changed his life. He began putting his brochures and sales materials online, and around this time he discovered the monetary potential of domain names.<ref>[http://www.dnjournal.com/columns/cover020204.htm DNJournal]</ref>

==Domaining==

==Domaining==

Rick credits much of his success to the countless other individuals and corporations that failed to recognize the value of domain names and act on the early [[domaining]] rush. His initial investment consisted of $1,800 dollars, but he was soon spending $42,000 on porno.com. To drum up more resources and focus his energy, Rick Schwartz sold his sales business for 7 figures in 1998. At this time he was purchasing domains such as candy.com, and men.com; he purchased the latter for $15,000. That domain is one of a very few number he has sold, others include escore.com, which was sold to the standardized test giant, Kaplan, for $100,000. He sees his parked pages and keyword-specific domains as the perfect advertising, a commercial that doesn't stop running, which allows for a constant sales-pitch.  

Rick credits much of his success to the countless other individuals and corporations that failed to recognize the value of domain names and act on the early [[domaining]] rush. His initial investment consisted of $1,800 dollars, but he was soon spending $42,000 on porno.com. To drum up more resources and focus his energy, Rick Schwartz sold his sales business for 7 figures in 1998. At this time he was purchasing domains such as candy.com, and men.com; he purchased the latter for $15,000.

Mr. Schwartz has over 4,300 domains that he claims bring in a combined traffic of 95,000 - 115,000 visitors each day. He's the first to admit that his sites tend to be "crappy"; in that they are mostly parked pages with revenue-producing links, and he's fine to see his hits come and go - and hopes that they choose to leave via one of those links. Schwartz's portfolio is managed by [[Moniker]].<ref>[http://www.dnjournal.com/columns/cover020204.htm DNJournal.com]</ref> Many of his sites, approximately half, are "adult" oriented domains; though he insists that none of these pages have any actual illicit content, beyond the name, and that they are merely parked advertising space.<ref>[http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2000/09/25/story3.html BizJournals.com]</ref>

Mr. Schwartz has over 4,300 domains that he claims bring in a combined traffic of 95,000 - 115,000 visitors each day. He's the first to admit that his sites tend to be "crappy"; in that they are mostly parked pages with revenue-producing links, and he's fine to see his hits come and go - and hopes that they choose to leave via one of those links. Schwartz's portfolio is managed by [[Moniker]].<ref>[http://www.dnjournal.com/columns/cover020204.htm DNJournal.com]</ref> Many of his sites, approximately half, are "adult" oriented domains; though he insists that none of these pages have any actual illicit content, beyond the name, and that they are merely parked advertising space.<ref>[http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2000/09/25/story3.html BizJournals.com]</ref>

Rick Schwartz has stated that he makes "a few million [dollars] a year" in revenue from his many parked pages.<ref>[http://www.chefpatrick.com/interview-with-rick-schwartz-the-domain-king/ ChefPatrick.com]</ref>

Rick Schwartz has stated that he makes "a few million [dollars] a year" in revenue from his many parked pages.<ref>[http://www.chefpatrick.com/interview-with-rick-schwartz-the-domain-king/ ChefPatrick.com]</ref>

Given his success and reputation in the industry, it is only logical that Rick would have his fair share of detractors who deride his portfolio and business model.<ref>[http://blog.domainlords.net/?p=322 DomainLords.net}</ref><ref>[http://www.dnjournal.com/columns/cover020204.htm DNJournal.com/ Royal King or Royal Pain?]</ref>

Given his persona, Rick has a large number of detractors who deride his behavior, ideas and actions.<ref><ref>[http://www.dnjournal.com/columns/cover020204.htm DNJournal.com/ Royal King or Royal Pain?]</ref>

 

===Notable Sales===

===Notable Sales===

Rick Schwartz does not usually buy domains to sell them, preferring to build up advertising revenues as opposed to one time profits.<ref>[http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2000/09/25/story3.html bizJournals.com]</ref> Those he has sold include:

Rick Schwartz does not usually buy domains to sell them, preferring to build up advertising revenues as opposed to one time profits.<ref>[http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2000/09/25/story3.html bizJournals.com]</ref> Those he has sold include:

==Awards==

==Awards==

* Domainer of the Year, 2005

* Domainer of the Year, 2005 (T.R.A.F.F.I.C Award, the conference he co-founded)

* Inducted into the Domain Hall of Fame, 2006

* Inducted into the Domain Hall of Fame, 2006 (T.R.A.F.F.I.C Award, the conference he co-founded)

* Received the Epik.com Domain Industry "Pioneer Award", 2010<ref>[http://www.ricksblog.com/about.html Ricksblog.com]</ref>

* Received the Epik.com Domain Industry "Pioneer Award", 2010<ref>[http://www.ricksblog.com/about.html Ricksblog.com]</ref>

* 2008's Domain Name Wire ranked Rick as the most influential domainer, and T.R.A.F.F.I.C as the best domain conference.<ref>[http://domainnamewire.com/2008/05/22/2008-domain-name-wire-survey-results/ DomainNameWire.com]</ref>

* 2008's Domain Name Wire ranked Rick as the most influential domainer, and T.R.A.F.F.I.C as the best domain conference.<ref>[http://domainnamewire.com/2008/05/22/2008-domain-name-wire-survey-results/ DomainNameWire.com]</ref>

 

==References==

==References==

{{reflist}}

{{reflist}}