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He is one of the world’s most prolific and inspirational domainers. He started with just $10 and a dream five short years ago. Today he holds tens of millions of dollars worth of Internet real estate. He has truly earned everything that he has with a devotion that is second to none. His story is like no other ever told. At the age of 27, he has mastered the art of domaining and is making a major impact on the world. He is Christian Chena, world famous South American domaining phenom extraordinaire.

This is what Christian Chena, of Chena Ventures, Inc. had to say:

Q: db – What is your full name, where are you from and how did you first come to be involved in domaining?

A: CC – My full name is Christian Alfredo Chena Núñez. To clarify, it is Christian Chena and not Christopher Chena as they usually mention on many reports online

I started with domaining between the year 2000 and the year 2001, looking for ways to make business in a productive way that would allow me to make a profit without the stress of visiting clients, providing services, developing websites, multimedia applications and other design works I did at the time that for some reason I use to enjoy handling personally, working with a very small team.

I started this business by doing a lot of research, late at night. I read about the big domain sales and about how some people were monetizing their domains with traffic (the monetization of domains with type-in traffic was starting) and while I was a little skeptical at the beginning, after I started seeing some results I decided to dedicate myself entirely to it (to domains and online businesses only). My colleagues in Paraguay doubted that this would work, specially having in consideration that I did not count with investors like other domainers had at the time, my only investments where my own earnings, so I was taking greater risks than other domainers (in Paraguay it is harder to make good money, and there are not that many sources for work). But I was always stubborn, and the type that investigates everything carefully; so I dedicated myself full-time, and kept polishing models that I still use today for my online businesses.

Q: db – What was it like growing up in Paraguay? Did you ever imagine that you would have ever become as successful as you are today?

A: CC – To grow in Paraguay has been a wonderful experience. I remember that in my neighborhood and school (especially in high school), I wasn’t very popular with the other kids who were more into physical activities and were more aggressive. My friends would always compete in sports like soccer, or in dating girls, etc. I was quiet and calm, more interested in mental activities. Since I was little I loved to draw, paint, build things (specially playing with electronics) and I always had a curiosity towards technology, science and reading. I had my first PC when I was 14 and a whole new world opened before me. I started browsing on BBSs since my country didn’t count on Internet services yet, it was among the last countries in South America to have an Internet connection. I made new friends this way, we were a small “net-community” of friends, friends I had more things in common with. From chat to chat we used to organize encounters and parties and have fun (I even met my first girlfriend on one of these parties ). I also spent hours in forums, letting a very hidden side of my personality escape; I noticed I was good at writing, communicating and debating. I loved what computers offered, and how they improved my work and were a tool for creating so many new things; being connected to a network was an excellent way to contact people and share ideas.

While I already had a nice group of friends, I also became more sociable thanks to the new local chat room (before the arrival of Internet connections). I was interested in reaching more people through this new technology, and I started researching everything related to communication and computers as I grew up. At the same time I was aiming my interests in design and animation towards computer graphics.

To answer your second question, I never imagined I would have this much success. But still, we all have an idea of who we want to be and I always said, especially when some classmates made fun of me for my shy and reserved personality, that the future had something for me and that I would be able to exploit my knowledge, and maybe even work with the same people who laughed at me before (which ended up happening on several occasions).

Q: db – What were some of your early successes that lead up to where you are now? You have talked about a $650 deal that would end up making you $400 per day early on in your career as domainer. That is nothing short of phenomenal. How pivotal was this to getting to where you are today?

A: CC – Initially in the “offline” world my achievements were big multimedia projects that I was assigned, after my work got known better. When talking about multimedia in Paraguay, my company was always first to be mentioned; the name of the company was “Hyper”. Even though I didn’t make much money with that company, it allowed me some time to research on the Internet and online businesses. Something I always remember is that I started to work with an old PC and 10 dollars (to buy some CD-Rs to start with).

Now, on the online world where I’m currently working at (and thank God I have been doing very well), I started in early 2002, after creating a domain registration and hosting service with very low prices, which was something we lacked in Paraguay. Very soon we had almost the full market of local companies hosting their sites with us, and many domain registrations each day. Up until today we follow the same strategy: we identify what the demands are and we develop solutions for that audience.

I consider my first real success on the Internet to be our flash animation and cartoons portal, Animacion.com, that became very popular and reached a lot of daily visitors just a few weeks after being launched. That made me pay better attention to the importance of a good name and good content, and made me interested in ways to monetize traffic once a site becomes popular.

And talking about online businesses and monetizing traffic, something that literally changed my life and my business model was the deal that you’ve mentioned on your question, that domain in which I invested only $650 and I ended up earning $12k a month with. That’s why I decided to focus on the development of sites with good domain names, instead of reselling them or parking them. This is the example I always use when someone asks me “why develop?”

Q: db – What are some of your other major successes that you have had as a domainer? We all know about the week that you bought a record-breaking, 8 of the top 10 domain names sold and reported by DN Journal. To this day it is a record that many believe will never be broken. How did you get to this point at such an early age and how meaningful is this record to you? Where did the funding for these domains come from? Is this all money that you have made with domains? Do you have any loans for domains or do you have any investors that you work with?

A: CC – All the money I invest in names, comes from those names; every penny is from my pocket. I started from the very bottom and I didn’t have the luxury of an investor nor companies to support my vision when buying a domain name. I think that what should really be the focus of attention is not how much I pay for a domain name, but how I gathered that money after having started with only 10 dollars, that is what is really interesting!

I was counting on many developed portals, sponsors who paid for spaces in them, sites selling products in an affiliate network, and top domains generating profits by type-in traffic. The obvious next step was to hunt the best names, and invest in what I always believe to be a great investment: high-traffic generic domains.

Always following my motto of “covering empty spaces” I looked into domains of a market that was growing bigger every day, such as the Hispanic market. Then I decided to invest my earnings into generic top domains, most of the Hispanic names. Only those that represent very popular categories for this medium, like Viajes.com (Travel.com), Juegos.com (Games.com), etc. That is how I got to show up with the record of 8 of the top 10 domains in the same week in DNJournal. This fact only represents another passage of my everyday work, a threshold that in some way shows my affinity and dedication on giving the right steps in this industry, and shows how far you can get with the profits of your own work (in this case, it helps to obtain some of the best names).

Up until today I haven’t had any investment from other parties, I haven’t taken any loans and I don’t owe a cent The best way of seeing if what you are doing is right is if you see the money you are investing is the result of the same business you are working on (and want to improve and make it grow).

Q: db – Spanish being your primary language you have taken it upon yourself to amass quite the collection of premium Spanish keyword dotcoms. Without question, it is one of the best collections in the world. What are some of your best Spanish dotcoms and how did you come to be the rightful holder of these domains?

A: CC – Thanks a lot This is a collection that I assembled with a lot of patience, dedication, and God knows that a lot of work too!

I think that the best names I have, and some colleagues would agree too, are the following: Juegos.com (Games.com), Viajes.com (Travel.com), Dominio.com (Domain.com), Peliculas.com (Movies.com), Empleo.com (Jobs.com), Fotos.com (Photos.com) just to name a few. I have a total of 20 Hispanic domains that are considered the crown jewels, like they were called before in different articles in the media. They all attract an enormous amount of traffic without major advertising investments

To get to them I didn’t have a big secret, it only involved a lot of negotiations and a lot of money, taking over 2 years to acquire some of them! I think that if you trust your instincts and your knowledge, you will not have a problem when investing large amounts to take the next step.

Q: db – Now while you do specialize in the Spanish language you also have some tier 1 English dotcoms as well. What would you say are your best English dotcoms are and how exactly did you end up acquiring them?

A: CC – My best domain in English is surely Animation.com, it took me a year for the owner to start answering to my offers

There is a long story behind this. Having bought Animacion.com (the Spanish version of Animation.com, and in fact the first domain I bought that was already registered), I always wanted the English version of it but I saw it as being very out of reach, since I could only afford about $2,000 for a domain at the time. With time and lots of work (and thank God), the day arrived in which I could finally make serious offers. You have to keep in mind that I was an animator and multimedia programmer, so the name had a special value for me since I am a big fan of animation.

I ended up paying $150,000 and I still haven’t had a chance to develop it as I want to (still in progress, sorry folks). However, it still makes 5 figures in dollars every month just with the ads!

Q: db – In total how many domain names do you currently hold and can you say what the approximate value of the portfolio is in today’s market? What kind of traffic does your portfolio produce and what kind of monthly revenue does it bring in?

A: CC – These are some tough questions

I have at least 100 names, and I’ll leave the approximate value to the analysts What I can tell you is that I’ve received offers of 8 digits for some of my domains/portals altogether.

Today we count with over 500,000 unique daily visitors. Most of this traffic is obviously Hispanic traffic, and the audience grows every day (we make sure of it by adding new services for our users in our developed sites).

The net earnings by month are of 6 digits in Euros.

Q: db – You are well known as being one of the premiere domain developers in the world, especially by the Spanish speaking world. How exactly did you get to the point you are in now within the development side of domaining? Many people these days develop low quality sites strictly for PPC and affiliates, while you are well known for developing full fledge sites that add great value to the net and are jam packed full of useful features. Do you believe that developing a site to its fullest potential is the best way to monetize a domain name? Many domainers are very adamant about parking or alternative forms of parking. Do you think every domain should be accessed on a case by case basis or do you believe that names will eventually perform better and bring a greater ROI in a fully developed state? Right now, your domain name, CheapGas.com, which you bought the very same week you broke the all-time top reported domain names purchased within a single week record. The name tied for the #1 reported sale of the week with Paraguay.com, which happens to be your country and another name that you bought the very same week, both for $150,000 a piece. The domain name, CheapGas.com, is currently parked at NameDrive. It was previously developed as a parking alternative type site. Is this a name that you ultimately plan on developing into a full fledge site or do you think that you will keep it parked? Speaking of parking, what parking providers do you prefer? Is NameDrive your parking provider of choice or do you use an array of parking providers to suite the category? How many of your domain names are currently parked and do you eventually plan on developing all of them? It has been reported that you have great plans for Paraguay.com, it is currently being developed. Can you say what the site will consist of at completion? When do you expect Paraguay.com will be up and running and how will it be monetized?

A: CC – Based on my experience, if you already count on a good domain that brings good visitors, the fastest and easiest way to monetize it is to park it. However, the best way to exploit it at full is obviously to develop it. This is something you can’t argue with, though there is surely a lot of work involved in it. You have to maintain in, optimize it, update it, etc. Many domainers don’t want to go through the stress of a development team, administering employees, support teams, maintenance, optimization, popularity and ranking research, search engine traffic ,etc. It is true that every case needs to be reviewed individually but it is not about if a name qualifies for development or not, it is about how long would it take for it to start making more than with just parking.

The idea behind developing a domain is to gain more traffic, to increase the audience, make it recurring, and also having advertisers that will pay more in a developed site than in a parking page, with more hot zones to sell. More traffic equals more profit. Usually if you say “this domain can not be developed, it only works for parking” it’s not the name, you are doing something wrong. If you look into the parking industry, many of the sites that have better conversions are those that have a look and feel of a developed website. You can do it yourself, investigate what the users want, add some content, a clean design and combining PPC ads with PPA ads. You end up making more, plus with dedication you can increase the amount of content and services and your traffic will go up higher for even more profit. And you can always seize the benefits of link exchanges within your own network, to increase your PageRank and the visitors to all of your sites.

To touch on your other questions, I can tell you that both CheapGas.com as well as Paraguay.com were bought for specifically for pre-defined projects. Paraguay.com is still under development, and we plan to launch the site this year. We were planning on doing it earlier but we decided to put more work into it. We have work a lot with highly important people in the areas of culture, education, tourism and more. I carry the responsibility of having a domain name of my own land and we want to do this right. We want a site that truly portrays our country on the Internet. We have developed an immense amount of content, and I believe that the quality should be up to the level of what the domain deserves We are thinking of monetizing it through certain alliances and agreements that will push for big investments in our country and bringing more people for tourism (every day we get emails about investments in Paraguay, to buy land, properties, industries, workforce, brands that want to have branches in our country, etc).

I bought CheapGas.com because of an alliance with a colleague that had discount cards for gas. The project will take longer though, so I decided to park it in the meantime and try new options. Right now I’m doing good wit CPA, making a couple thousand a month with subscriptions to different offers for free gas.

There is an interesting story about this: with CheapGas.com I had a strike of luck. Even though we still didn’t get a chance to develop it as we want to, last year just months after buying the name something happened that made me make a lot of money. When the situation on gas prices was very hot in the US, several TV channels in made a review of the information on gas they could find online. They visited many different sites with databases of maps and prices. In one of those reports, one network highlighted the “cheap gas” section of a very popular site and indicated that the address for it was “CheapGas.com”. This was transcribed and posted online with the same error. So, it was on live TV during the top rating hours, and with an online report showing on the website for over 2 weeks, “CheapGas.com” was mentioned. The domain received over 50,000 unique visitors from the USA for about 10 days. Since I had it parked with Google ads relating to automotive industries, you can guess I did pretty well during that period.

About your question on parking: I have to confess that I am the seed investor for one of the most well known parking services we have today, so I will have to keep my opinion on which one is the best so I don’t sound biased (all parking services will always work to be considered the best). What I can tell you is that each one has its advantages, and the ideal way to work is for a domainer to test each one of the options available and make your own conclusion.

When I was just starting I made the mistake of sticking to one parking service for a long time, just because I felt comfortable with it. Every domainer must make sure to try out every parking service available, since some services have a lousy performance on some sites, while they end up being excellent in other ones. I always end up rotating my sites and trying several parking services (ppc, cpa, pps, etc). It wouldn’t be very objective or realistic if I only used my own service. Well, I try out the parking services I’m allowed to try, since I’ve been banned from some when they found out I was investing in a new service that was very innovative (and they kept my referral revenue, terrible thing! Shame on them!). Well, they will lose my clicks, these things happen Right now I count on some sites parked in one service, others in other services, combining PPC, CPA, direct affiliate links to sell products, among other things. All those names that are still on the waiting list –I develop one site at a time so I take care of all the minute details– are parked to find ways to generate an income through PPC, CPA, PPS or any other way, or just feeding traffic to other sites in my network.

Q: db – You mentioned that you one of the seed investors for one of the major parking companies. Can you say what parking company this is? What role do you play at the company? Do you just supply the capital or do you also extend ideas that you have gathered through your experience?

A: CC – The company is NameDrive, and I am one of the investors on the project. A colleague presented it to me a while ago, and since he is a person that I highly respect in this industry, I didn’t hesitate to supply the capital “first who, then what” . Aside from these investments I also provide support for the design of the parking pages as well as ideas and feedback on how to improve the service, based on my own experience as a domainer and above everything else based on the suggestions sent by our highly appreciated clients

Q: db – What aspects of domaining do you actually participate in these days? How is it different, if different at all, than when you first started?

A: CC – Nowadays I’m more of a developer than anything else. I consider it pretty different than when I first started in the domain business as a buyer, reseller and parker of domains.

I also like to mentor those who I consider are doing a good job in this industry, or that count on some good names to work with. It is good to be around people you can teach and learn from at the same time. I never get tired of posting in forums, reading all the news, and even though I don’t let others invest in my projects I have started to invest in projects of other people that I see have a lot of potential, with almost immediate results.

Q: db – Now we know you have a great dotcom portfolio but what are your thoughts about alternative extensions? Do you currently hold any and if so, what are they?

A: CC – Only dotcoms and nothing more than dotcoms In my case the only exceptions are some sites with the extensions from my country that are aimed to my country, but in a general you can’t deny that the kings will always be the .coms and my main interest is always on them only.

Alternative extensions are for companies that want to use them once their dotcoms have been taken already, and they would have to pay too much to get them once their sites grow. I’m not saying there is no business in it, its just that in my case I only focus on dotcoms: generic, with no typos, and with high-traffic only

Q: db – You currently have a staff at Chena Ventures, Inc. When you first started domaining did you start out with a staff or was this something that you worked up to? If so, at what point was it that you started adding staff members to the Chena Ventures, Inc. roster? How vital is your staff to your success?

A: CC – You have to keep in mind that I started by providing services to others, and I was eager to improve on the way I handled my business and be able to “liberate” myself from the stress of dealing with clients. This got me into the domain business and the Internet. Obviously, then I had to start with a small staff for my first company, and it was very important when deciding and being able to finish any type of development on my side. It might have not been the decisive factor on the success (with bad ideas or bad business models there is no business that can be saved by your team), I can’t deny that it was an advantage that helped me in doing things with haste and being more efficient when creating those businesses that where my main channel for business. With time I had to modify the original team and hire those who were more used to working directly with web, and also explaining for days, weeks and months how this “machine” works when dealing with traffic and online businesses.

It was in 2004 that I started to add new team members and it wasn’t until very recently that I overcame some fears when handing over big responsibilities, adding new people and training them, which helps me to keep focused on just “making” new ideas, do more research, and improve on our current businesses. For any development it is key to have a good team of honest intelligent people that are skilled at what they do, and having this in mind, I believe that today I work with some of the very best.

Something I am always criticized for by some colleagues that own big companies is that I can’t seem to get up from the PC and work all day. They say it gives me less time to think, which is what I should be doing as the company owner. But in fact I don’t consider myself a businessman but an entrepreneur, and as such I don’t have a problem with doing whatever it takes to meet my goals, and I can’t stop moving around. I am elbowing around with my employees as one more of them, I don’t have a problem in bringing them some coffee or some soda, or sharing my know-how so we can all do better together. This I owe to the fact that I am so much into what I do and I have a great joy in working on this every day (I think others go through the same too, right?) So I see it hard for someone to make me stop typing, analyzing, making worksheets, sit down with my employees and even develop some things by myself every day. I haven’t changed much in the way I am since I started. It might be because of this harmony and good treatment I have with my team members that we work so well together.

Q: db – In your opinion, what is it that you believe makes a domain name valuable?

A: CC – The target, and the traffic the name brings (I think we can all agree on this). We can also mention the language (English is worth more in general), the way it is typed (typos have less value), that it has no issues with currently registered brands, and the extension.

Q: db – How do you go about monetizing your other domains? Do you park them, resell them, develop them, a combination of all of the above? What exactly do you do to maximize your returns?

A: CC – I try all the options in the cases of names that are not developed (PPC, CPA, PPS, direct affiliate links, etc), and I stick with the one that works the best of course. To maximize revenue, these tests can take me weeks and even months (and still the revenue can not be compared to what I can make if I develop the site). You have to learn to be patient so things are done the right way, especially when talking about monetization

If we are talking about the best way to maximize revenue, it is hard not to talk about development. In the case of developed names, I combine everything from before by using the formula that works best, and I dedicate myself to add more options that create recurrence and increase the daily traffic.

On reselling: when I started I used to buy and sell, but in some cases and only when the offer was very interesting and I had no major plans for the particular domain I would sell them, especially if it was a domain I was developing for that particular purpose (so I could buy a new and better domain after that). Nowadays I prefer to develop and not sell at all.

Q: db – Have you ever made any large domain sales, if so what names and for how much? To end user or reseller and what kind of return did you get?

A: CC – Yes, like I mentioned in the previous answer, I have sold fully developed sites and domains before. In most cases I would sell it to end users that would pay up to 10 times what I had paid originally, and in other cases to resellers that gave me about 2 to 3 times the price for them.

Some I sold for very high prices, some for low prices compared to the current value models, but I sold them because I needed some immediate money, especially at the beginning of my career. Many of these sales are visible through Internet reports (Vcd.com, Warrior.com, etc), and some are subject to confidentiality clauses, like the ones for fully developed websites for 7 figures. Or in some cases I traded some of these domains for other ones. All of this was in the past, when I first started.

Today I’m no longer interested in selling any of my domains or sites. I am fine with alliances and other types of cooperation but not with selling. I think that my electronic assets are in an infantile stage as far as traffic and earnings are concerned. For this reason, I feel that it is better to keep them and work with them rather than to sell them at this time.

Q: db – What tips could you give to the rest of the domaining community that you believe makes one a successful domainer?

A: CC – Never stop researching and reading! Get into forums, register, ask, and participate. The best way to get there fast and safe is by being hand-in-hand with those who have more experience and have traveled a longer path. Surround yourself with experienced people, “First Who, Then What”. I always emphasize how much I’ve learned (and keep on learning) from other domainers and developers. Every domain and development forum is a goldmine of knowledge, where you can find shortcuts and avoid common mistakes. Plus domainers in general are very generous and open when providing help to their friends to make their businesses better.

When working on your business, look for those things that are lacking, there is always something lacking. Dedicate yourself to filling that empty space, the Internet is a gigantic space and don’t believe those who say “all the good things are taken already”, just by digging a little deeper you’ll get very surprised. Don’t stop investigating; don’t lose the interest in learning more every day. This WORKS, if you study it properly, if you ask enough, if you are cautious (never invest too much until you have real numbers, traffic data that is trustable and verifiable), so the risk is always small. Keep analyzing successful cases and you will do very well in your own business.

The only ones I’ve seen having a bad time where those who end up fantasizing and dreaming too much without having their feet on the ground first, by investing compulsively without analyzing or studying. We’ve seen many domainers with over 5,000 domains, all crap.

Q: db - Where do you see domaining heading in the future? In what ways do you think it will be different from now? How do you intend to adapt?

A: CC – The PPC bubble will explode, advertisers are going to look for direct alliances with domain owners and not with intermediaries. This is already starting to happen, the model will change completely to pay per action (CPA or cost per action). The most efficient domainers will work as independent advertising agencies, increasing the audience every year, and adding more value to type-in traffic and domains as ideal niches for direct advertising investments.

It is because of this that we are starting to adapt from today on, developing sites as independent TV channels, so we can bring more advertisers in a direct way and become independent from intermediaries.

Q: db – How many offers have you received for your domains/sites? Have you ever seriously considered any of the multi-million dollar offers that you received for some of your top domains/sites? Will there ever be a time that you will look to sell your top domains/sites?
A: CC – So many I can’t remember. From the funniest ones to very serious ones (of the type that really surprise you and make you get up from the PC and walk around for a while) But I am at a stage in which I don’t want to sell, even in extreme cases it’s more reasonable for me to take an alliance instead of selling it all out, because they are good names and an excellent bet for the future. Will there ever come a day in which I decide to sell? Time will tell, maybe someday I’ll change my strategy, and take a super-offer (it will have to be super to be able to take all of the dedication I invested), then I will take a new path into new challenges, I am not about to stop, I have to keep moving.

For now, if I took a big offer I don’t know what I would do with such a large amount of money rather than what I am just doing now. I like this a lot, it is a job that doesn’t feel like a job to me (it feels effortless, I love it). The day in which I stop having fun with it or I stop liking what I am doing (or at least feel that I like something else better) is the day when I’ll sell everything

Q: db – Do you have anymore projects in the works that the domaining community should be on the lookout for?

A: CC – Yes, and the domaining community will find out when it is time

Q: db – Do you have anybody that you would like to thank for helping you get to where you are today?

A: CC – To God, to my family, and to those colleagues around the world who answered to my questions when I asked (they know who they are)

These guys keep going down but you can check the ricklatona interview copied from www.domainingblog.com

“Rick Latona, young serial entrepreneur, is helping take domaining to the next level. One of his latest companies, DigiPawn, is actually the first licensed pawnshop that pawns digital assets such as domain names and intellectual property. This is a big step towards banks and lending organizations recognizing domain names as actual assets that one could borrow against. While it still might take years for these types of institutions to recognize domain names as a stable form of equity. If and when this time comes it will completely revolutionize the domaining industry as we know it. In the meantime, for those in need, feel fortune that Rick is able to offer this very unique service that actually grants you the opportunity to borrow money on your digital assets. Not only that but Rick is one serious domainer himself, who currently holds over 11,000 domains, and knows a couple things about the domaining industry to say the least.

Here is what Rick Latona of DigiPawn & iWebmasters had to say:

Q: db – What is your name, how old are you, where are you from and how did you come to be involved in domaining?

A: RL – My parents call me Ricky but everyone else calls me Rick Latona. From time to time I’m called “Rick with a silent p.” You figure that out. . I’m 32 (as long as you publish this quickly; it’s October [whois DigiPawn.com for birthday gift address]), originally from New York and I’ve lived in both Europe and Asia. Like most early domainers, I was involved with toll-free or toll-numbers, pre-web. My father had a system similar to 800-CAR-LOAN where you could apply for a car with your touch-tone-phone, 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, regardless of your past credit history.. *pant *cough *wheeze. We instantly recognized the vanity value of domains, the 800 number guys I mean. I only wish I believed in my foresight more. I didn’t follow what I knew was right because I listened to others. I regret that, but I don’t dwell on it because who hasn’t had failures in life due to not listening to others?

Q: db – You recently came up with the idea to create a digital pawn shop. In fact, it’s the first of its kind, correct? How did you come up with such an original idea and what lead you to believe that there’s a market for this service?

A: RL – I’m going to answer this from back to front. I’m trying to create a market for this service. The problem with being the first mover is that no one understands exactly what you’re doing. We have the unfortunate/fortunate position of having much more money than we have customers.

As for the idea, I came up with it years ago but never acted on it. It wasn’t until my good friend, a lawyer, with cash, wanted to partner with me on a business sprung from the idea that I decided it was time to act. I tend to not act on ideas unless they survive my own mental due-diligence for a long period of time, so that was the delay. I usually come up with ideas daily and spend the first week or two picking them apart. Then, if it’s still a good idea after a year, I seriously consider it. What should be interesting for you readers is that we started DigiPawn to acquire domains cheap, but no one defaults! It has really just turned into a bank account for us with high-interest returns. Not that we’re complaining. It was just not what we set out to do.

As for the concept, to the best of my knowledge I invented the idea of pawning intellectual property. I have seen one other company try IP loans but they weren’t doing legal state licensed “pawns.” It’s possible that someone else came up with the idea, they may have even tried it, but they didn’t have my two competitive advantages: 1) I used to own a pawn shop and understand how the finance (read: money management) aspects work; and 2) we’re also pretty wealthy. And that’s good because pawning intellectual property is as cash intensive a business as I’ve ever seen (I’ve seen a lot for those that were wondering).

Q: db – What is it that people can pawn exactly?

A: RL – Excellent question. Most transactions are domains, but we except all forms of intellectual property that have liquid value and don’t consume a ton of time on due-diligence. In other words, we will loan anyone, slightly less than or equal to the wholesale value on their digital asset. Nearly all transactions are domains, but the bigger we get the more active website, content libraries, and in one case, patent rights deals we are doing. What makes non-domain IP loans complicated in most cases is the due-diligence, or in layman’s terms, the work we have to put into making sure it is a solid deal worth backing.

Q: db - What exactly does somebody have to do to qualify for a cash advance? Are there any specifications one must be aware of?

A: RL – That’s another excellent question. “They” don’t have to do anything. We don’t care who it is or where they are. Values are based on liquidation ability and nothing more. It is very simple really. We decide that we could get X if they default and therefore will not loan more than Y. We take physical (we become the registrant but the client keeps the DNS record so the site is unaffected) possession of the property during the pawn so as long as we are under wholesale they can be a fugitive Romanian in Tajikistan running from the Hungarian police for stealing Outer Mongolian Hun artifacts; although we’d prefer that there isn’t that much drama. Seriously, the only criteria are that they own and have the rights to pawn the asset.

Q: db – How do you go about evaluating one’s digital property? Do you except appraisals from other reputable companies such as Sedo for example?

A: RL – Yes and No. We don’t except appraisals from Sedo at this time, but we recently partnered with Moniker, and we’ll soon be able to post “pawn values” on all of their appraisals. I’d like nothing more than to report that we’ve cut the same deal with Sedo because that would make them money (Sedo are you listening?). Our methods are 60% scientific and 40% from the hip. It’s 100% proprietary. We do have some customers that we advance more money than their assets are worth because we trust them, but those customers are all repeat customers.

Q: db – What percentage of the digital assets can one expect to be advanced?

A: RL – They can expect 100% or less of what we deem liquid value, which is probably much less than what your average readers think their domains are worth. That’s the tough part of our business. I agree that my domain aeiou.com could sell one day for 1 million, and I should have it priced at 100,000, but you have to realize that I couldn’t wholesale it for more than 10,000. That’s what we have to think about. We need to be able to get the cash back if you, as a customer, default so we can give the money to someone else. That’s just the way business is done and pawnshops are run.

Q: db – Do you have any plans of offering actual loans on digital assets?

A: RL – No, we’ll pawn only. We have millions, but standard loans would require an extra zero or two, or worst case, three. None of us are here for prime plus one so it isn’t fair to ask us to fill that gap. Companies like banks and insurance organizations that loan money at those rates are loaning other people’s money so that +1 over prime is their cash flow. We use our own cash and I’d buy a bank or insurance company before doing standard collateral loans. So everyone knows, if that day comes, credit will mater. The industry will need to be advanced enough for prices of domains to have stabilized. Banks look at personal credit as a hedge against market fluctuations. You can’t borrow money traditionally, against a domain, unless you could borrow money on your signature alone. The domains will only slightly increase your loan amount. My guess is that we are 15 years from everyone having the ability to take regular loans. It is not that it will take that long for domains to reach high-values; it’s that banks will want to see the market stabilize and stay that way. DigiPawn’s goal is to brand a service that people know is the last stop instant cash guarantee when in a dire situation. We are a pawn shop, not a bank. We’re here to save the day, not finance growth.

Q: db – It’s understood that you also buy digital assets. What kind of percentages of the appraised value can one expect to get from selling their digital assets to you?

A: RL - I do buy and I buy often. I don’t really pay retail unless I need the product (like my 27,000 dollar purchase of contactcenter.com from Moniker last week because I’m actually in that business—I was the end-user and I believe in good domains). My clients get the best deals on portfolios. Portfolios are my favorite things to buy. I step up and pay more when there are many domains that could save the deal if I made a mistake. Single domain purchases for a high-price make me nervous. I wouldn’t buy a high-end single residence for resale either. A duplex or quadplex would be a good start. Give me an apartment complex, 1000 acres, or a shopping center and you have my attention. That’s my approach to domains, but I’m also lucky to be able to buyout portfolios, which many people can’t because of their financing options.

Q: db – Not only do you buy digital assets outright, but you also broker them, correct? How does this process work exactly and do you take on any digital asset for sale or is there a minimum requirement one is expected to meet?

A: RL – We charge the standard 10% on consignment sales. It isn’t a big part of our business because you need a parking system to attract retail buyers on type-in but brokers do frequently browse our site. In the near future we will be proactively marketing the best names. I have unlimited access to cheap labor. I had one Filipino spend 5 months trying to sell Dollars.com to currency trading and Forex institutions for an astounding 5 million dollars. He failed, but he covered his salary in the extra clicks I received from him calling everyone. We will need to refine our approach before rolling that service out.

Q: db – Let’s say somebody wants to purchase a digital asset from you. What forms of payment do you accept and how long does the typical transaction take to complete?

A: RL - If someone wants to send me money, the world is their option. They can FedEx a 60 kilo/25 pound bag of coins if need be. We are capable of processing any currency in any method. Please don’t forget that I come from the hosting/processing industry. Except for my sites in www.SickSiteNetwork.com, all my properties are infrastructure companies that cater to webmasters and medium sized Internet enterprises. I have an offshore staff leasing company called www.iWebmasters.com, where I rent cheap labor to companies that actually want to pocket profits, a semi-parking company with www.warningpages.com, an advertising firm with www.cjtraffic.com, a cash advance company with www.DigiPawn.com and lastly, a software company that has applied for 5 patents on object delivery intelligence (I’d explain it in detail if I understood my own concepts, but I confuse myself at times and won’t subject you to that torment).

Q: db – Do you worry about fraud? Have you had a customer run a scam of any type?

A: RL - This is one of your best questions. We become the registrant during the term of the pawn. It’s Georgia law. Technically a pawn is defined as a purchase and the buyer has a right to buy it back for 1XX% (one hundred and change percent) of the price in a pre-agreed upon time. What makes it work is that we don’t change DNS settings so the clients’ site remains unaffected during the term of the pawn. Think of it like an automobile title-loan where the pawnee keeps driving the car but leaves the ownership with the pawn broker. All of this means that fraud is unlikely but still possible. It comes with the territory and we manage that risk. As an ex-real-world pawnbroker, my bullshit detector works exceptionally well.

Q: db – Now we know that you own and operate the world’s first digital pawn shop but are you a domainer yourself? If so, how many domains do you currently hold, what are your most prized and how do you monetize them?

A: RL - I own 11,000+ names if you count all my entities. Personally, I own probably 7000+ alone with no partners. I am currently parking undeveloped Overture one-click names at HitFarm and names that can’t be one-clicked on Overture at Fabulous’ 4.0 system. That said, we develop often and relentlessly. Due to my infrastructure, we can acquire a name like xxxanime.com and have a free site live within a week with relatively no overhead. Next week we’ll launch www.PDAGames.com and on and on and on. We have hundreds of active sites. I can’t really get into my most prized domains because my most profitable domains are leased. In 2004 I was very aggressive in securing long-term leases on great revenue generating names for less than they were making per month and got most leases for greater than 5 years. I currently am leasing 2000+ names. I also “pride” myself on the more creative deals. For instance, I bought adolfhitler.com purely to donate the domain to the Anti-Defamation League two years from now for enough money to have real and significant gains via a tax-break. My prize possessions are the deals where I got away with something and created a value-proposition for everyone when others tried and failed. I bought Dollars.com off a guy in an airplane because instead of being annoyed by others, I asked the guy next to me in business-class what he did for a living. Those are prizes.

Q: db – Do you have anything planned for the future that the domaining community should be on the lookout for?

A: RL – Those who know me know that I’m always planning to launch something. I’m a serial entrepreneur. It’s an addiction and I admit it, so I’ve passed the first step.

Q: db – Do you have anybody that you would like to thank for helping you get to where you are today?

A: RL – I’d like to publicly thank Rick Shwartz for indirectly (no direct talks) reminding me who I once was. You see, I was the guy that gave speeches in 1997 about the Internet spreading democracy and capitalism everywhere so that wars would end because countries that owed each other money didn’t launch missiles. I was the ultimate evangelist and believed in domains as much as he did. I was the dotcommer guy people watched on CNBC in disbelief! I lost my way… When the bubble burst I lost 100,000+ a day for 6 months straight while I was in a stock lock-up and couldn’t sell my shares. It was not motivating. I lost my gusto, gumption, pizzazz, and *try to insert another buzzword. Between 2001 and 2003 I just did the best I could in business by running good companies, expanding great brands and being a leader that got my team to produce. In 2004, I sold Spanish.com for 250,000 dollars and afterward looked to see what HitFarm (Kevin Ham) did with it. Then I joined Rick’s targetedtrafficforum.com message board. It was at that point that I started to realize that the industry was ready for a guy like me. Screw not being there in 1994. I was there but didn’t make the bucks I make now. After I sold Spanish.com I dove headfirst into domaining and I’ve been more productive in 2004-2005 than I was previously. Most domainers are timid and I’m a deal maker. I buy and sell large portfolios and loan money on single or portfolio values. I created a niche for myself when I started paying attention and I think it was Rick who woke me from my slumber.

Slavik Viner is my personal domain hero. He’s a great guy and I feel as though I can truly trust him. He’s been a mentor for me when I’m so used to having protégés in other ventures. It’s nice to change sides from time to time.

Matt Collins, my partner in DigiPawn, is one of my best friends and he’s a brilliant lawyer to help deal with the pawning of intellectual property intricacies that I’m sure you can all imagine.

Paul Dinin and Marc Womack, my partners in the www.sicksitenetwork.com are simply great consumer entertainers. I could never do what they do and I’m damn glad to have them on my side.

Deepak Agarwal, my partner in www.iWebmasters.com is brilliant.”"

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Most of you who follow DNSindex.com know that we have provided expired domain lists in the past and occasionally when NSI unloads a lot of domains.

Since the boom of domains, there have been many “copycat” expired domain lists. The value of this? I guess if you are able to register one or two good domains, it may be worth a few dollars, but for the most part, it takes a lot of time going through these lists week after week and you are competing with hundreds of others. It is essential that you search and find a good service for this.

As you might know, NSI is now selling some domains that are due to drop on Great Domains for $70. That might be a better way to go. Furthermore, you can use the whois.net deleted domain database as well for some expired and now available domains. A useful resource. Some people sell this information for $15 believe it or not. It all depends on what you want to do with the domain … resell, develop, or use it for email, ftp or some other purpose.

The reseller market is in a slump and unless you have a good domain or one that is in demand, three letter dot coms, it will be very hard to sell your domains. I often get requests to help sell domains which I see have no resale value and would not even register for $10-$15 if it were available.

Be realistic when it comes to domains because you can spend a fortune and be left with a lot of worthless domains and when it comes time to renew them, what will happen?

Whenever you register a domain, ask yourselves these questions :

Will I develop, resell, or use for personal purposes?
Would I renew this domain if the domain makes nothing and gets no traffic at renewal time?
Is it a dot com?
Is it brandable and does the name make sense?

People talk about domains getting traffic without advertising. Yes these are valuable but a domain that is branded and also has this inherent traffic is much more valuable.

For example, how much would you pay for the domain hostglobal.com? $100, $200?

Now if it was developed and started making $1,000, $5,000 etc per month, how much would you pay for the domain and the company? If it was getting 90,000 visitors a month and was generating a good income with little effort, then what would you pay?

The domain name is the first step to an online presence and a very important one but branding and developing it increases the value of that domain many more times.

Now take the domain business.com. Sold for $7.5 million. If that company was making another $1 million on top of that annually, how much would that company be worth or just the domain alone?

Now fast forward two years to 2003 when the Internet traffic increases 100 fold.

Just wanted to give you some perspective as the forum was getting these ads for expired lists.

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so i turn my tv on and theres this cuban guy crying about a no hitter… we i had no f#$cking idea what a no hitter is and i am sure you dont, well here at buydomains.com  decided to come up with and explain what a no hitter is.

This is a game where the other team prevents an opposing team from getting a hit. Which would be kinda hard but some dude from cubs gave them a no hitter.

Poor guy was so emotional and honestly i dont give a hoot.

Cheers.

this blog is about buying domains.