The other day, I was trying to pinpoint the weak spots of the domain industry.
Some domaining “beacons” such as Rick Schwartz are adamant about it: the main problem is the sheer number of pigeon shit domains one owns.
But even if one owns pigeon shit domains, there is still a market for guano – that of fertilizer that will produce riper investments.
Others believe that ICANN is the biggest enemy of domaining, simply because ICANN’s bureaucratic role takes the industry along an unsure path. For example, the upcoming gTLD launch has lots of parties objecting to on the grounds of necessary trademark protection against violations. Think of it as having to buy insurance for every pest known to man.
A few domainers point the finger at giant Google and the PPC industry. They are the ones that generate passive income, after all, in the form of clicks on millions of parked pages’ ads. While the number of clicks increases, each click is valued less and less as time passes.
Then again, some consider cybersquatters to be enemy #1 of all things domaining. The term was coined at a time when any domain registration was deemed as unscrupulous when there was no legitimate business built on it. Let’s face it, the WorldWideWeb was started as a network of information and as the extension of one’s brick and mortar business into the virtual world.
Personally, I think that the biggest enemy of domaining is the common cold. It has tormented the heck out of me. It has given me fever, the runs, chills and a stomach more upset than the ocean. It has rendered me unable to focus, blasted me with weird nocturnal thoughts and has kept me away from blogging.
Remember: next time you attend a domain conference, stay away from handshakes, keep a safety “spit reach” distance from other domainers and bring plenty of germ-killing hand lotion with you. In domaining, if you survive the common cold, you can survive everything else.
