I must admit that Ive never really understood the business model underpinning domain sales. I know that in this article I may rain on your parade and for that Im sorry.but please help me out in getting over some of my possibly faulty logic The state of the market for domain names is that it has fallen from a peak growth of 11.7% in 2015 to 1.2...

I was chatting with a friend of mine the other day and he asked me a question that in many respects stopped me in my tracks. What are the keys to business success? I paused before answering and I thought that it would be worthwhile sharing my answer with readers. Vision Having a vision is fundamental to providing a direction for your business...

As many readers are aware, during this year Ive been sharing a number of the principles that I endeavour to follow in my own life. Ive found they have helped me enormously in relationships and making better decisions. Early this year I had a friend give me the book Principles by Ray Dalio and recommended that I read it. I found it was really intere...

For the last thirty-six hours Ive been in a state of wifelessness. It just so happens that Roselyn went away on Friday afternoon to attend a conference with one hundred and sixty other women. Its fair to say that when the cats been away the mouse has been playing..playing some old school PC games that is! Just to reassure you, I made sure that...

For quite some time now Ive been digging through the different domain development platforms to determine which one is best. Is it Joomla? Wordpress? Or how about Weebly or Wix? What Ive found is that they all fall short for domain investors. Developing a domain into a business is one of the four principle business models that domain investors ...

Have you ever had a time when you feel like your helpless? No matter what you do nothing seems to work and yet, those around you seem to be doing incredibly well. This is what its like to be in the grip of a business failing. Running a failing business is a scary proposition. There isnt enough cash to pay all the bills and creditors start houn...

I had a discussion with a domain investor today that went like this.."Michael, ParkLogic isnt performing for my portfolio so Im going to stop the test. I replied, Lets take a look at the numbers and understand what they are saying. We have a standard report that compares a baseline for domain names versus the most recent data. It only took a f...

We live in a hyperpaced fast world and surrounded by so many distractions that no wonder many of us feel under increasing levels of stress. So how can you reduce your levels of stress and return to that subline state of enjoying life? The age of the smartphone compounded the numbers of distractions coming through to us as Instagram, Facebook, ...

As many of you know, Im one of the founders of ParkLogic and for over a decade weve been working with clients to extract the maximum possible value from their domain traffic. In blogs and at conferences Ive gone to great lengths to explain WHAT we do and HOW we do it.but up until now Ive never tackled the WHY. When I reflect about my personal ...

For a long time Ive been putting off conducting open heart surgery.but this past week I decided that it was about time I pulled out the scalpel and made an incision. Thankfully, not on a human but on a platform I developed. Like many things in life I've been procrastinating about doing this big slab of work for several years. Id kept running i...

Back in 2014 I was sharing the platform with a couple of the new gTLD registry representatives at a TRAFFIC conference (one of the last). Both of them were telling everyone at the conference that they needed to buy what they were selling before it was too late. I had a decision....should I gag myself or not? I listened as they both told the au...

This past week was a complete mess for me. Monday and Tuesday were fine but Wednesday morning I woke up with a bad case of the flu. My brain was about as useful as a squished tomato and my body felt like a truck had driven over every square inch of it. In this sense of stupor, I developed a fresh love affair with the couch and television remot...

I recently said to a person, Would you rather I cheered as you leap over the edge of a cliff or say something to stop you from jumping? As Im sure you can appreciate, it was a tough conversation. A true friend is a person that says something to you when they think youre in danger of losing your shirt in a business deal. A Facebook friend is a ...

During this past week I watched my wife, Roselyn, cross the finishing line of a thirty-kilometre charity walk. I was incredibly proud of her achievement as it was the culmination of a large amount of sacrifice, hard work and dedication. I remember when Roselyn first told me that she would like raise funds to save people's eyesight by participa...

I've been watching the Internet explosion of interest surrounding the news that prominent domain hall of fame recipient, Sahar Sarid, has been charged with a number of serious crimes relating to mugshots.com. If you read the many articles and forum posts you would assume the trial has already happened and that he, along with his three associates ar...

As I write this, I'm sitting in the LAX Qantas club, wearing my traveling clothes of loose jeans and a really comfortable Escrow.com T-shirt that I picked up when I visited their office in San Francisco on the last trip. I've just had a shower before the long-haul flight to Melbourne and I find myself in a bit of a reflective mood¦..was the trip to...

Over the last several weeks I've been sharing with readers on the principles that have helped me in my life. If followed, I believe the principles of truth, trust and learning will assist you in your own decision making and help you grow as an individual. This article will cover the principle of communication, which is one that encompasses everythi...

Once again I find myself sitting in the Qantas club waiting for good old QF93 for Los Angeles. Although I spend a lot of time in the airline lounge I did find it a little disconcerting when the front desk staff greeted me by name before I'd handed them my passport. So what am I up to? I plan on hitting all the sites and living it up a little.....I ...

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 wha...

As many readers already know I've been relating my efforts of attracting birds to my yard to starting a new business. In the last article in the series I wrote about trying to develop a new market vertical for my burgeoning bird business. So how's it going? Like any good entrepreneur I tried a number of different techniques to attract clients ...

Time is often viewed as the ultimate commodity but is it? Other than our last day on this planet we all have exactly the same minutes in the day as each other. It's my birthday today and I find myself thinking about what I'm doing with my allotted minutes and whether I'm doing the right things with them. Iin an interview at NamesCon I passed o...

Eric Lyon from NamePros just sent through an interview that I did with Edward Zeiden at NamesCon 2017. It was great revisiting the 2017 interview to see what is still relevant in 2018 and whether any of the predictions came true. The video also reminded me that in 2018 domain investors need to continue to focus on the outcomes for their investments...

NamesCon 2018 has ended, attendees are on their way home and the exhibit hall is now all packed up. So was the conference really worth it? Did it deliver for me what I was hoping it would? Most importantly will I fork out my hard-earned cash to journey across the Pacific to attend next year? NamesCon 2018 would have to have been the best confe...

This past week has seen a dramatic turn-around right across the board in the crypto-currency space. Literally billions of dollars have been slashed off the market value of many of the currencies and the once darlings of the media have quickly become pariahs. I watched a financial commentator on the local news speaking almost with glee on the ...

For the past five weeks Roselyn and I have been traveling all over Europe. It's been fantastic to experience different cultures, food and a lot of adventures but now I'm focused on ICANN in Abu Dhabi. I'm writing this from the Rome airport where we're catching an Emirates flight through to Dubai. Once landed, a car will take us to Abu Dhabi and the...

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 stoo...

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 ...

The first two articles in this series discussed the different aspects of the exciting new ParkLogic Next platform. Below is a video that demonstrates a number of the features of Next in the client interface. Don't forget to catch-up with a ParkLogic representative at the Merge conference in Orlando over the next few days. I'm sure they will be happ...

Part 1 in the series on the new ParkLogic Next platform covered a number of the innovations that have been built into the new platform. In this article, I'm highlighting some of the new features in the client interface that greatly assist in managing a domain portfolio. On top of the revolutionized backend the ParkLogic team have poured a huge...

It's not often that I directly highlight what my own company, ParkLogic, has been working on to better monetise domain traffic. This time I'm going to make an exception. We're really excited to announce that several weeks ago we completed the migration of the last of the ParkLogic clients onto our new Next platform. Around 3 years ago, based u...

A number of weeks ago I decided to stick my neck and develop a survey for the industry to determine who is regarded as an individual of high regard. Unlike other surveys, this was not a popularity contest but based upon actual experience with the individuals nominated. The questions were divided into three main categories: 1. How succe...

I often find myself in the Qantas club at Melbourne airport and is my custom I like to write a few thoughts down. For the past 11 years I've largely been traveling for business but this time's it's different¦..Roselyn is with me. After 5 years of planning, delays due to too much on and a myriad of other reasons we're finally leaving on a 5-week vac...

Have you ever had one of those blinding flashes of brilliance where you realise something really important about your life? Both Roselyn and I experienced this recently when we realised our kids were old enough to fend for themselves. Let me assure you the sudden freedom is nothing short of exhilarating! So what's the first thing we did? Yes, ...

The clock is ticking as we're on the downhill race towards the longest vacation we've taken in over 11 years. Now that our children are old enough to look after themselves, Roselyn and I are heading away to Europe for six weeks as a part of our 30th anniversary celebrations. There's a myriad of infinitesimal details that need to be rounded up ...

I have a lot of friends in Florida and many of them have suffered and are suffering as a result of hurricane Irma. Natural disasters are often terrifying and the wake of destruction they leave behind in both property damage and emotional trauma is terrible. I just received word from Jeff Sass from .CLUB that their new office in Fort Lauderdale ha...

I'm celebrating my 30th Wedding Anniversary today. We're having a bit of a party with 50 people in the evening I've got a new suit with a bow tie so that I look a bit like a silver haired James Bond. This does have it's benefits as I can fend off the other guys from the most beautiful girl in the room......and I get to take her home with me. I...

I've recently been reviewing a number of new gTLDs to better understand the trends and which ones will potentially be of greater value than others. In my opinion, this regular practice is crucial for any investor that is wanting to gauge when is the best time to stomp down their cash and invest in an extension. Overall, the new gTLDs have not ...

In the rush into the new gTLDs many domain investors have almost forgotten about the ccTLDs. The country codes are full of incredible domains that are in many cases still available at registration fee. The question we need to ask is why? There is one thing for certain, most ccTLDs have neglected marketing to the domainer community. When you co...

This is the final video in the 10th Year of Blogging anniversary series and it covers the topic of Traffic Monetisation. In this video I give my thoughts on the domain monetisation industry, where it has come from and where it is going to in the future. One thing is clear, if you are doing the same thing now as you always have done then you ar...

So here I am again sitting in the Emirates business lounge at Melbourne airport waiting on my flight through to Madrid and the ICANN GDD domain conference. For those of you that think a 3 hour domestic flight in the US is a long way I would like you to pity me (at least for a little bit) as I begin journey my 24 hour journey. Yes, you read right it...

This past ten days have been a little crazy in my household. Our son Tim and his girlfriend dropped in for a few days before heading out again with his work. Sarah had her birthday and then moved into her own place and Elise had her car window smashed and bag stolen. In amongst these personal comings and goings ParkLogic has been rolling out i...

This is the third video in the 10th Anniversary of Whizzbangsblog. In this video explore the topic of domain sales and how you can increase your own domain sales. I've sold a lot of domains over the years and in this video I discuss a number of techniques I've found that greatly assist in selling. I also begin to open up my thoughts on the fut...

As a part of the 10 year anniversary celebrations I discuss my thoughts on development. I hope you enjoy this second video in the series. I have developed a lot of different websites over the years using a large variety of software platforms. From this experience the current suite of content management systems (eg. wordpress, Joomla etc.) lack...

Our house has been in the midst of a lot of change over the past week. Tim and his girlfriend flew down from up north for a flying visit and our daughter Sarah is in the process of moving into her own place. Life's been a little bit chaotic with people coming and going. Come Tuesday next week and there will just be Roselyn and I with eighteen-...

This is the first in a series of videos that are a part of the 10 year anniversary of blogging. The videos released over the next couple of weeks will cover topics including: The Problems With Development Domain sales Traffic domains In this video I discuss a number of pertinient domain management topics, including; business mode...

As a part of the 10th Anniversary celebrations I'm talking with Colin Campbell from .CLUB. Colin is the CEO and one of the founders of .CLUB, and in the video he discusses what's been happening with .CLUB over the past year. Colin then shares his thoughts on the controversial pricing increases that some registries have implemented. More import...

At the beginning of every year I like to think about the previous year and did any articles touch upon some interesting concepts that required further investigation. After trawling through my blog I came up with the below list of articles that I believe were some of the highlights of 2016 for me. How To Conduct a Domain Traffic Test So many ...

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all those readers of Whizzbangsblog a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I would also like to say thank you to all those companies that have sponsored my blog over the last twelve months. Your continued support has inspired me to keep on writing about domains and business on the Internet. In p...