Manning the registration table (left to right):
Barbara & Howard Neu, 
Rick Schwartz and fiance Alina Rusu

Lets start on Tuesday, Oct. 18. I am still at my home in Tampa (a five hour drive from Delray Beach) when exhibitors start setting up their trade show booths at 10am. I tell myself I�ll be on the road within an hour, but when Noon rolls around, I am still trying to clear the decks while onsite registration is opening at the Marriott in Delray Beach.  

Finally, a little after 1pm I fire up the Ferrari (actually I just have a Ferrari key ring � in reality I�m driving my daughter�s Hyundai Elantra, left behind when she went away to college last month - but one can always dream, especially when headed to an event populated with more than a few multi-millionaires). I am now hoping I can get there before the 5pm cocktail party welcoming attendees ends.

Ron Jackson
DNJournal.com

Getting to Know You Cocktail Party
Tuesday, Oct. 18

After a quick change of clothes I walked into a packed cocktail party still buzzing with electricity more than two hours after it had started. I spotted many familiar faces in the crowd and spent some time chatting with Howard Hoffman (PPCIncome.com), Monte Cahn (Moniker.com), Marcia Lynn Walker and her husband Warren (MyrtleBeachInc.com) and several others. 

Michael Collins answers questions at Afternic.com booth in exhibit area. 

Brian Benko (left) and Brian Null

Hoult�s company was involved in the recent purchase of a portfolio of tax-related domains (including IRS.com) from Dotcom Corp. for $11.15 million in cash and stock. Hoult revealed that the purchase price amounted to 5.5 times the annual earnings the portfolio has been earning. 

Ryan Berryman (left) and Sumant Sridharan
DomainSponsor.com

Berryman said domain owners are now being recognized as a key traffic channel for major advertisers and have a bright future and bigger payouts ahead. He also said some major changes are coming to DomainSponsor landing pages that will include graphics, eCommerce product sales opportunities and possibly even content relevant to the domain name. In another interesting comment, Berryman said he expected all major TLD's to eventually become successful and that he is already seeing rapidly improving performance from country codes like .de, .co.uk and .ca, with Mexico and Asia also growing in importance.

After a two hour break for a luncheon hosted by Skenzo.com (a Directi company), it was time for the main event - the keynote address from Andrew Miller and Mike Zapolin of InternetRealEstate.com (the subjects of our September Cover Story). Miller and Zapolin delivered a fascinating account of their domain experiences which have included the acquisition and sale of such gems as Beer.com, Diamond.com, CreditCards.com and Shop.com. As just one example, they acquired Beer.com for $80,000 and left the original owner with a 20% stake in the domain. Just months later they sold the domain to Interbrew for $7 million! Zapolin observed that it was "crazy" that individuals sitting in that seminar owned priceless category defining generic domain names rather than the Fortune 500 companies you would expect to own such properties.  

Keynote speakers Mike Zapolin (left) and Andrew Miller
InternetRealEstate.com  

Miller and Zapolin detailed the various stages (and the time frame of each) that they take a domain through from acquisition to the end result � a fully developed business with strong cash flow. It is clear their methods have had a major impact on others in this space. I spoke with representatives from many other well funded groups who are planning to follow a similar blueprint. The emphasis is rapidly moving from passive monetization to active development of prime properties. Fabulous.com COO Dan Warner mentioned to me that a year or two from now we will not be talking about selling domains, we will be talking about selling businesses.

Mike Zapolin at the podium Wednesday Oct. 19

In the final seminar of the day representatives from six companies that offer PPC (pay per click) services took part in a very active panel discussion on the present and future prospects for pay per click domain monetization. Those on the dais included Google's Eytan Elbaz and Josh Meyers of Yahoo! Search Marketing as well as Matthew Bentley (Sedo.com), Dan Warner (Fabulous.com), Ryan Berryman (DomainSponsor.com) and Ammar Kubba (TrafficZ.com). 

Click fraud continues to be a problem in the PPC field and one that has to be solved to keep advertisers in the space. Warner noted that his company had actually hired a few fraudsters to learn their tricks and used that information to help combat the problem. 

PPC Panel (left to right): Ryan Berryman, Josh Meyers, Ammar Kubba, 
Eytan Elbaz, Matthew Bentley and Dan Warner

There was also a lot discussion about the future look and content on landing pages. While Warner�s company will let you design pages in a variety of ways he said their research shows click through rates drop dramatically as you move away from very basic page layouts. TrafficZ�s Kubba said the slick new pages his company recently introduced lead him to believe otherwise, indicating they have seen a large increase in click through rate as a result of the improvements they have made.

When taking questions from the audience the Google and Yahoo representatives both kept their cards close to the vest as they view much of how their systems work internally to be proprietary information that they can�t risk exposing to competitors.

Eytan Elbaz of Google.com  (above) 
and Josh Meyers of Yahoo.com (right). 

Though I had originally planned to post same day photos and highlights every evening I decided on the spot to drop that idea as it would clearly cause me to miss events that should be covered and included in our end of show wrap up. Missing the evening events also meant missing one on one conversations that often lead to some of our best articles on individual entrepreneurs. 

TrafficZ.com booth in exhibit area

As it was, I got Wednesday�s highlights online at the last possible minute before having to rush off on a 90-minute round trip to the Ft. Lauderdale airport to pick up my wife who had decided to fly in a couple of days after me so she wouldn�t miss a full week of work. That scheduling conflict caused me to miss a �can�t miss� event; DomainSponsor�s famous official show party!  I weighed the options: party or marriage (which would have been endangered if I left my wife stranded at the airport). That�s what you call a no-win situation! I finally decided I would eventually get to go to another DomainSponsor party but another marriage (especially to such a good woman) wasn�t in the cards, so I dutifully headed off to Ft. Lauderdale!

When we got back to Delray Beach close to midnight, I had to stay up for a few hours to prepare for a seminar I was to give Thursday afternoon. It was another night with four hours of sleep. I once worked for a TV News Director who loved getting people out of bed by giving them early assignments. He would growl, "No one ever made a living lying on their back!" He apparently never heard of the "oldest profession" but even though his analogies were poor, I know he would have been proud of everyone at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East where sleep was a low priority item.

Thursday began with another sumptuous breakfast sponsored by Afternic.com, another stop at the exhibit hall to learn more about what some of the companies on hand had in store, then on to the day�s opening seminar, a wide ranging panel discussion called Domains Behind the Scenes that featured Roger Collins (Afternic.com), Xavier Buck (EuroDNS.com), attorney Paul Keating (Renova Ltd. Of Barcelona, Spain), Monte Cahn (Moniker.com) and Sigmundo Solares (DirectNic.com).

Xavier Buck (left), Roger Collins (center) and Sigmundo Solares (right)

This session included tips on domain security and specific steps to take if you have a domain hijacked. Keating, Solares and moderator Howard Neu (all of whom are attorneys) covered how current laws impact how domain theft has to be handled. Collins and Cahn detailed escrow issues that have to be considered to insure you have a safe transaction.

On another topic, Buck detailed the explosive growth of ccTLDs (country code extensions). More than 23 million are currently registered and he said within a year the number will soar past 40 million. Buck noted that ccTLDs now have a higher growth rate than global TLDs. He also predicted strong success for the .eu (covering all of Europe) extension that will be introduced in December. Buck noted that the population in Europe is over 450 million (more than 50% higher than that of the United States). With more than 2 dozen ccTLDs in the region and 21 different languages, he thinks being able to cover those disparate elements with one domain will have widespread appeal.

Dan Warner
COO, Fabulous.com

Fabulous.com has done extensive research on the behavior of web surfers, the origins and nature of traffic. Warner estimates that direct navigation (type-in traffic) comprises 10-20% of all traffic on the Internet. He delivered a fascinating presentation that the company is making available on the web for those who were not at Traffic. Since it is all there in a complete Powerpoint file we will have you check that out rather than skim through the highlights in this article.

After lunch (where we met and greatly enjoyed a conversation with one of Sedo�s three founders, Tim Schumacher) I presented a 90-minute DNJournal.com seminar that covered three topics: Domain Sales Trends, .Com Vs. The Competition and Improving the Domain Industry�s Image. With respect to the first two subjects, I talked about a market that is not only seeing rising prices but a broadening interest in many TLDs, especially major country codes. 

While .com clearly remains the dominant extension and the �luxury� brand on the web, a market is developing at mid and low price points for other extensions. For example, Germany�s .de and Great Britain�s .co.uk continue to strengthen at mid level prices while .us, .info and .biz give smaller businesses an opportunity to acquire excellent keywords at a price that will suit their limited budgets. I discussed the tradeoffs made when selecting alternate extensions. As with any other class of goods and services, you get what you pay for in domains. However having something for everyone is healthy for any business, including ours. 

The business day ended with a final 4-man panel discussion on the Future Direction of Domains, Traffic and Values that featured Mark Ostrofsky, Bob Martin and Stuart Rabin of iReit.com and Monte Cahn, CEO of Moniker.com. Ostrofsky is well-known as the seller of Business.com (for $7.5 million in cash and stock), a transaction that is often cited as the highest reported sale ever for a domain name (a name he had acquired for $150,000 in 1995). His group remains extremely active in the market, buying both individual marquee domains and entire portfolios. 

They shared their views on how to prosper in today�s market and where they think the market is headed. They also echoed the optimism prevalent among all who attended that the best, by far, is yet to come. iReit continues to back up their beliefs with their wallets and wound up spending over $300,000 at Delray Beach (more on that a bit later). 

Mark Ostrofsky (left), Bob Martin (center) and Stuart Rabin (right) from iReit.com

Yahoo! sponsored a cocktail party/buffet dinner Thursday night. My wife and I missed the entire cocktail portion of the event even though we were just 30 feet from the ballroom door when the affair got underway. First I stopped in the lobby to talk for awhile with Andrew Miller and Mike Zapolin, then moved about 5 feet in the direction of the party before bumping into Business 2.0 Editor-at-Large Paul Sloan who was in Delray Beach working on a major story about the domain industry that will be out before year end. We talked for another 15-20 minutes. This happened twice more with equally interesting individuals and by the time we hit the entrance to the party, the cocktail hour was over! It is a perfect illustration of the endless networking opportunities at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 

Photo courtesy of MyrtleBeachInc.com

The very short version is that at a time when they were in a bad financial situation, Grant�s wife rescued a cat that was being mauled by two coyotes that had wandered into their back yard. Seeking care for the cat caused them to stumble upon the domain business. They took the little money they had left to start buying names in the 1990�s (encouraged by  Rick Schwartz to do so). They prospered in this field and today that cat has a bedroom of his own in their Los Angeles home!

Prior to Traffic a question I asked Rick Schwartz was why someone who had been at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West in May (in Las Vegas) would need to come to another T.R.A.F.F.I.C. event in Florida a few months later. One of the reasons he gave was the opportunity to build on relationships that began with an earlier  meeting. I see what he means now and can tell you that the follow up meetings are often far more rewarding than the initial introduction to like minded people in your business.

Matthew Bentley
CEO, Sedo.com

During this party I was sitting with Monte Cahn when he spotted Ostrofsky talking to a couple of people about 30 feet away  and playfully tossed an ice cube at him. Amazingly the cube landed in the pocket of Ostrofsky�s Hawaiian shirt. Cahn when to the University of Kentucky which is legendary for their basketball teams. Talk about being able to hit from anywhere on the court! 

Thursday night party at Boston's Upper Deck
Photo courtesy of MyrtleBeachInc.com

Stahura and Holmberg covered all aspects of the drop catching business and fielded a number of questions from the audience. In response to one, Stahura said that new extension drop catching services would eventually return to his company�s Club Drop. They had nominally added .info and .biz drop catching early this year, then quietly removed those extensions a few months later because the infrastructure for catching those domains had not been fully implemented. 

Paul Stuhura
CEO, Enom.com

Kjel Holmberg
SnapNames.com

Friday�s lunch was hosted by Casale Media and featured a business meeting of the WADND (see the organization�s website for its mission statement) . Everyone who registered at Traffic was given a free membership to WADND and was eligible to vote for a new 9-person board of directors. Nominations were taken from the floor with the attendees then filling out ballots to choose the board. Those elected for 2005-2006 were Rick Schwartz, Howard Neu, Ron Sheridan, Mark Ostrofsky, Monte Cahn, Jeff Reynolds, Brian Null, Marcia Lynn Walker and Ron Jackson. In its first meeting later in the day, the Board elected Rick Schwartz President, Monte Cahn and Jeff Reynolds as Vice Presidents and Howard Neu as Secretary-Treasurer. The four officers and Ron Jackson were elected to the board�s Executive Committee. 

Photo courtesy MyrtleBeachInc.com

Though it was his first time selling domain names, Langbaum extracted well over $400,000 in winning bids from the audience. He deftly discouraged low bids with wisecracks. In response to the first $10 bid Langbaum loudly declared, �Thank you Mr. Rockefeller!� When someone tried to avoid scorn by opening another auction with a $100 bid, Langbaum deadpanned, �Thank you, you gotta have it back by Thursday though.� Even $500 bids weren�t safe. To one of those, Langbaum said, �Congratulations, you�re only $29,500 off the money!� 

Monte Cahn looks on as Auctioneer Joe Langbaum plays the crowd

Grant Keiser chalks up auction win

With Langbaum keeping the audience in stitches, inhibitions fell away and the money started flowing. Grant Keiser made the first buy, getting BackyardFountains.com for $1,000 and things quickly escalated from there. 

Mark Ostrofsky�s group spent over $300,000 alone, taking Consulting.com for $180,000 and Bachelor.com (in a three name group with Bachelor.net and Bachelor.org) for $125,000. 

The list below shows the larger winning bids (these will appear on our sales charts once transfers have been completed).

Keating did a very good job of making a complicated subject (tax treatment of domains) understandable. Chesler�s advice on building banking relationships was also very helpful. Cahn, who has used creative financing to get many important domain deals done at Moniker.com discussed a variety of interesting acquisition strategies and Sturgeon talked about the elements that will have to be in place before banks start accepting domains as collateral (especially accounting and appraisal standards). 

Paul Keating
Renova Ltd., Barcelona, Spain

Steve Sturgeon
Sturgeon & Associates

Alan Chesler
Ehrenberg Chesler

When that session ended, most headed for the EuroDNS.com cocktail party, while I went to the WADND board meeting (leading to my third missed cocktail party in a row and a mid-meeting phone call from my wife who, how shall I say this...expressed some mild displeasure at my repeated tardiness). 

We did however make it to the big final blowout, the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Awards dinner, a lavish affair thrown by DomainSponsor.com, where filet mignon and lobster graced every plate. I sat with Rick Schwartz and his fianc�e Alina Rusu and Mr. and Mrs. Neu (one of the few times I actually saw Barbara Neu sitting down and relaxing rather than attending to someone else�s needs). Howard (who did another masterful job moderating the various seminars) and I shared stories about our days in Florida TV (he was a talk show host in Miami) and bit parts that we each had in various movies that were filmed in the state. Then the lights went down and the real stars of this show took the stage � the 2005 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Award winners.

The �Best Overall Solution� Award went to Google.com with Eytan Elbaz accepting the award (in left photo below with Howard Neu). DNJournal.com was also presented a special award for expanding public awareness of domain names (Editor/Publisher Ron Jackson accepts the award from Rick Schwartz in right photo below).

Finally, the coveted �Domainer of the Year� Award went to Frank Schilling who unfortunately had to leave the conference early to check on his home in the Cayman Islands which were sideswiped by Hurricane Wilma. Vern Jurovich of Name Administration.com accepted the award on behalf of Schilling. 

Participants in the "Domainer of the Year" Award presentation (from left to right):
Howard Neu, Vern Jurovich (who accepted on behalf of winner Frank Schilling), 
Rick Schwartz and John Berryhill.

I had gone to the show with a list of names of people that I did not want to miss meeting before the week ended, several of them domain pioneers whose names I had seen since entering the business but had never met. Going into Friday night I had found everyone on my list except Canada�s Garry Chernoff. Rick Schwartz took me to his table during dinner and introduced us. Garry, like everyone else I met, was a real pleasure to talk to and modest about his own success. He attributed it all to luck (though I believe we generally make our own luck).

I was back in my room by 11pm, watched a little TV news to see where Hurricane Wilma was at, then went to bed, thinking I would finally get 8 hours of sleep. Wrong. I woke up at 3:30am and started thinking about the events of the week I had just been through and how rewarding on every level it had been. As my mind raced, I never went back to sleep.

Shepherd (left) and Vern Jurovich

I�ve never had an experience to compare it too � spending so much time among such a large group of universally brilliant people  - people who have kept their feet firmly on the ground despite their obvious talents and unbridled success. I believe the opportunity we had in Delray Beach was like having a chance to go back in time and hang out in one place with people like Bill Gates and Paul Allen (Microsoft founders), Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google founders) and David Filo and Jerry Yang (Yahoo! founders) in the early days before they became household names among Internet aficionados.

* * * * *

Post Script: We would like to take this opportunity to extend our best wishes for a lifetime of good health and great happiness to Rick Schwartz and Alina Rusu who will be married on November 5, 2005.

Photo Courtesy of MyrtleBeachInc.com