Many people have come to the conclusion that investing in domains is dead and yet from my perspective the industry appears to be flourishing. The first distinction we need to make is whether you are part of the industry or a customer of the industry.

Over the last few years many new gTLD registries have been stomping the pavement and doing whatever they can to convince investors to buy domains with their extensions. When investors purchase the domains, they are the customers of both their registrar and ultimately the registry.

The registrar and the registry have done their job…..they just convinced you to register a domain name. The ball is now in your court to decide what you’re going to do with it to provide a return on your investment.

It is NOT the registries responsibility to support the reason why you registered the domain. I know this may seem like bad news but the registries do not have a responsibility to ensure you get a return on your investment….that’s your job.

The only time a registry will possibly be concerned is if the net position of new registrations and renewals goes into a negative trend. If this is the case, they will attempt to stimulate demand through advertising efforts, but they are very unlikely to try and rescue your investments.

As domain investors know, for many years Escrow.com has been providing a critical part of the domain industry ecosystem. The trusted independent link between buyers and sellers have enabled many investors to complete secure transactions for their domain sales. So what’s new with Escrow.com?

While I was traveling through Europe at the end of October I received an email from Escrow.com announcing that they have now released a completely updated API for public beta. I knew this major upgrade was clearly going to be the platform upon which other products and services could be built.

For example, the new API potentially means websites, marketplaces, classifieds sites, shopping carts, and mobile apps can have escrow services built directly into them. This opens up a huge range of potential new clients for Escrow.com that is much broader than their traditional business clients.

I’ve seen so many domain investors look at their domains and have delusions of grandeur with building them all out. A huge amount of money has been sacrificed on the developmental altar with very few people being successful. So why is this the case?

I want to say up front that there is no such thing as developing a domain name. Too many people believe that if they have the right domain they can just build a quick Wordpress site and voila! The masses will arrive and make them rich. This couldn’t be further from the truth!

Platforms such as Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal, Wix etc. are fantastic at solving many of the technical problems associated with development. What they don’t solve are the business problems.

Don't forget to read Part 1 in my Journey into Social Media...

I’d fallen into a marketing trap. I did a market survey of one (ie. me) and decided that everyone must be like me and not be particularly interested in social media.

It’s dangerous to make assumptions that aren’t tested and after I’d detangled myself from my preconceptions I stood back and came to the conclusion I was wrong. It’s like a domain traffic investor believing what they’ve always done is the correct path while they watch their revenues plummet…..they’re just wrong. As Einstein said, if you keep on doing the same thing you’ve always done and expect a different result then you’re crazy.

My conclusion is that Social Media is becoming less and less about plates of food, cats, dogs (I’ve now becoming addicted to these….sigh….) and the like and more about communication and the sharing of emotional experiences. I post articles from my blog because they mean something to me and I want to share them. I also post pictures of Roselyn because I love my wife.

Social Media has always been one of those things that I’ve been both intrigued by and ambivalent towards. I’ve always assumed that social media is a complete time waster and a mind numbing parade of cats, memes and people speaking before they think…..then again I could be wrong…..

Up until recently I’ve had the following attitude about social media. I don’t really care what you had for dinner last night. Yes, I’m sure that it was magnificent but unless I’m with you then you’re just telling me how much fun I’m not having. I’m sure Donald Trump is/is not a complete moron but why tell me that? The cats are cute (sigh…..I miss Pepper) and the dog singing a song was clever but I’d rather watch a movie.