As Executive Director of Associated Cities, I make it a point to study each of my members – their plans for the future, what they are currently working on, and a very complete history of how each of them got involved in the industry. I have made it a point to visit many of their offices (7 thus far) to further learn how their company operates. When a new member of Associated Cities first joins, I collect information about the new member, compose a brief on them, and introduce them to the existing membership which is currently over 110 member sites. Having looked through the list of our members, over 95% of them began as (and still are!) domainers. There are only a few exceptions to the rule, such as the real-estate agent who purchased his GeoDomain to capture more and better leads for his business (who has since developed the site into a city portal, purchase others, and joined the ranks as a domainer).

I can’t think of any “domainer” that I have met at the 8 TRAFFIC/DRT/DF conferences that I have attended who does not have aspirations of developing their prime domains. As Ahmed points out, at other conferences (and throughout the industry blogs) we have “heard ‘we want to develop’ for the last 3+ years.”

There are media owners of GeoDomains who, as many Associated Cities members have been, were way ahead of the curve in realizing the future value of GeoDomains to the success of their businesses, such as the Miami Herald (Miami.com), Boston Globe (Boston.com), Hotels.com (Orlando.com & MiamiBeach.com), etc., but to make a generalized statement that GeoDomain owners are not domainers, and are provincial in nature is inaccurate and misleading. Perhaps a better statement would be that very very few GeoDomain owners are not domainers. It would be more accurate to say that most GeoDomain owners have begun a while ago what most domainers have aspired to for years – morphed into developers as their core business, secondarily as domainers. I know domainers who have purchased GeoDomains which they have developed, simply because they want to be part of the work-tank that is Associated Cities, and begin breaking away from the traditional domainer routine of purchase – park – $$$ – purchase – park – $$$ – purchase … as profitable as it has been for them, its excitement is wearing, and their enthusiasm for the future that is development is ever budding. When the TRAFFIC/DRT/DF attendees begin focusing more of their energy on development, and less on domaining and parking, does that mean that they can no longer be classified as domainers?

To say that there was no market was not there for a Parking company is also inaccurate. Between the three parking company sponsors of the 2007 GeoDomain Expo, TrafficZ, Parked.com, and Fabulous, only Parked.com focuses solely on parking. TrafficZ now has a new development arm, and LeaseThis, their domain leasing company. Fabulous.com also has a domain aftermarket system and a registry. On top of that, 20% of Fabulous.com’s portfolio of over 550,000 domains are GeoDomains. Does that mean that they are not domainers? I don’t believe that there an argument that “the match wasn’t there” for any of the sponsors of the expo, including the Parking companies.

There were tons of attendees at the Expo who have decent sized portfolios outside of their GeoDomains, and have not had the time to develop much past their prime GeoDomains. Thus, all of the attendees at the GeoDomain Expo would be in need of a good parking company.

Ahmed, you have a great product, and we certainly appreciate your sponsorship, participation, attendance, and panel participation at the 2007 GeoDomain Expo. I have had a great experience putting together a partnership with iBegin, and look forward to working with you in the future.

Patrick Carleton
Executive Director
Associated Cities

Really this is some mis-directed and mis-understood anger

However, I also believe that the 2007 Geodomain Expo will be looked back on as a watershed moment in our industry. Never before has a niche market of domainers put development as, not an option, but as the only real option for financial security. Developing domain names is the future of our industry and I believe everyone, parking companies and domainers included, will eventually evolve with it. It is no coincidence that TrafficZ, one of the most popular parking companies and the main sponsor of the 2007 Geodomain Expo, is also our partner in developing Cost.com.