Forbes publishes an annual list of the “Best Places for Business and Careers“. Raleigh, NC was ranked the #1 city on the list because of the ”strength of strong job growth, low business costs and a highly educated workforce”. The study looked at the 200 largest metropolitan areas in the United States.

Other North Carolina cities ranked in the top twenty nationwide including Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Asheville, Wilmington, and Durham. That’s six (6) North Carolina cities in the nation’s top twenty!

Two years ago a CNBC study ranked North Carolina as having the #1 workforce in the USA. High technology, health sciences, and banking & finance are leading industries here in North Carolina.

Raleigh is the state capitol and the second largest city. North Carolina is now the 10th most populated state with around 9.2 million people. The economic climate varies across the state as some areas have been hit a little harder due to the exporting of textiles and furniture manufacturing.

However, newer industries are moving in to take the place of those that were ultimately oursourced to cheap labor. Dell, FedEx, IBM, Cisco, and Honda Jet are among a few of the newer additions having established a major presence. Bank of America is headquartered out of Charlotte.

I’m glad to be a resident of North Carolina. The state has always offered a wide variety of attractions –> beaches, mountains, quality academic institutions, sports dynasties, moderate cost of living, and great people.

Incidentally, Raleigh received this honor each of the previous two years making this year’s recognition an exceptional, enduring achievement.

.BIZ Domain Names, .INFO Domain Names forbes, North Carolina, raleigh

Recently, I was reading a blog entry from a noted domainer in regard to his negotiation style with domain name sellers. He posted a piece outlining a somewhat aggressive approach in which he aims to ”knock them off their high horse”. The domainer’s context had been his attempt to buy a domain name from a seller who was asking “too much”.

In reading this piece, it reminded me that domainers have varied personality types, as well as core underlying beliefs and principles which drive their attitudes, choices, and behavior in business, and in life.

Much has been written about personality types and the constellation of qualities associated with being successful, whatever one’s aim. Remember the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”? One of the key components includes a “Think Win/Win” approach when dealing with other people. Some hold the belief that in a negotiation one person must win & the other must lose. This is an incorrect view, and an underlying attitude which will repeatedly lead to poor outcomes.

Most investment-oriented individuals do share certain common traits such as an analytical nature, an innate curiosity and a thirst for learning. Maybe it’s here that domainers sometimes begin to split onto different paths.

My step-father, now retired, was a car salesman for 30 years. Not only was he one of the most financially successful, but one of the most genuinely respected people in his field. He was a high school graduate. He was not a showboat, or a fast-talker. Most importantly, he was not a phoney, or an aggressive salesman looking to exploit people who walked into the dealership.

He knew about “Win/Win” before anyone ever wrote about it. As a seller and buyer in his role as dealership manager, he understood there was greater value in working with others instead of against them. He also understood the value of simply bowing out when mutual terms could not be agreed upon between he and someone with which he differed. I call that class. And in the end, it’s the place to be.

There are many approaches to dealing constructively with buyers & sellers. Quite unfortunately, some look at a potential customer as an object to be manipulated to their end. In which one must win and someone else must lose. Isn’t there a downside to creating this type of polarization in a possible sales transaction? Of course.

I once heard a self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur say “It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there. You have to screw them before they screw you!” What does this underlying belief say about that person? And is this the type of person that you would be comfortable doing business with? Lastly, makes me wonder what kind of reputation this fellow had in the greater business community where he traveled.

If you’re interested in taking a personality profile online, you might try this site which appears to be based on the famous Myers-Brigg Personality Inventory. It’s free. Not comprehensive, but may shed a little light on some of your own foundational values and style of interacting with others –>

iPersonic Personality Test 

Have a great day, and thanks for visiting.

Internet Domains business ethics, domain negotiation, negotiation strategy

The Austin Business Journal posted an article recently which reports that Verisign processed a peak of nearly 50 billion domain name system queries per day. This statistic was disclosed with another report that the total number of top level domain registrations had grown to 177 million worldwide.

These astronomical stats suggest that “global adoption” of the internet is eclipsing most other technological milestones throughout history. One is left wondering at what point does this evolutionary medium begin to slow down, if ever? By contrast, the light bulb remains still relevant. The automobile essential. Air conditioning obviously a favorite. All of these a figment of someone else’s imagination … that one day became a tangible, permanent reality. And which significantly elevated culture and civilization as we know it.

What does the internet provide for you? How did you get hooked? In reflecting on why I first obtained “internet access”, I had to cycle back through the many various reasons which sparked my curiosity initially. One incentive was an ad I read that told me I could download to my PC, for free, a Roland synthesizer patch (basically an MS DOS file). A bit later, it was the ability to listen to music samples on the “internet”. Before the net, you had to order these by telephone and wait for snail mail to arrive 7-10 business days later.

Today, I use the internet for more things than I can list here. It has become so pervasive and essential to my daily life, that I feel awkward if I do not have access to it. My wife uses it. My mother. All of our friends and co-workers. It’s almost as common as the light bulb. And I even know people who have no car, but they have a desktop and laptop computer.

Which brings me to the rest of the world. How essential is the internet to everyone else? The 2008 World Economic Forum published an incredibly comprehensive study (The Global Information Technology Report) on internet usage throughout the world. One of the more interesting sections was entitled …

From Mobility to Ubiquity: Ensuring the Power and Promise of Internet Connectivity… for Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime

That title describes so well the ultimate meaning of the internet itself: power, promise, connection … for all people, everywhere, and all the time. In retrospect, the internet transcended so easily all of the skepticism and lack of vision which fueled the early doubters.

People mocked Christopher Columbus when he sailed “off the edge of the earth” (assumed to be flat). Same with Thomas Edison’s light bulb. The Wright Brothers. Henry Ford. And Bill Gates as he negotiated with tunnel-visioned IBM execs who authoritatively concluded the real juice was in their hardware, not the software. Laugh out loud! Those are history-defining moments.

To become truly “ubiquitous”, something must be present most everywhere, all the time. Readily available in mass. The internet, to even the casual observer, will most certainly fulfill this criteria someday. The aforementioned World Economic Report broke down into 6 stages the internet’s journey toward becoming ubiquitous or omnipresent within any given country. They are …

• Proto-Internet: a penetration of less than 5%. A select few have internet access (elite businesses or government).
• Early Days: 5% – 15% penetration, but growing fast. Internet access spreading in urban areas, but not in rural.
• Familiarization: 15% – 25% with added emphasis on household penetration. Pent up demand for internet is building.
• Extensive Use: A transitional stage in which at least 25% of all households have internet. Half the population are internet users.
• Intensive Use: Half or more of all households have broadband connections. E-commerce, e-government, social networking, and business collaboration are now commonplace.
• Ubiquity: Approaching 100% connectivity everywhere, at any time, by a majority of citizens. A world in which the internet connection follows the user instead of the user seeking a connection. The study concludes that NO COUNTRY HAS YET REACHED THIS LEVEL!

So, you and I now live in a world that not only enjoys the internet, but is becoming monumentally dependent upon it. Like a home heating system, indoor plumbing, and the light bulb. We consider them essential to the quality of our lives.

I have written here before about the profound power of human language, and the meaning which is conveyed in a single word. Domain names … will remain the most logical, and essential, access points for the internet. We’ve come a very long way already using the existing domain name structure.

The internet would have never moved beyond the “Proto-Internet” stage had thinkers not instituted the “domain name system“. That connected human language with high technology, and in so doing gave us an internet that would have universal appeal for all people. Driven by our existing dependence on & utilization of language.

Now, we have billions of domain name system queries per day. People searching for everything imaginable … using keywords and domain names. Welcome to the future.

Internet Domains, Registrars domain name investing

Domain name investor, Omar Haddedou, has formally launched the geodomain travel site ParisFrance.com. The website provides hotel booking & apartment rental functions as well as providing a wealth of information on local tours, restaurants, and attractions.

Readers can learn about the history of the city and access information regarding many of Paris’ famous landmarks and monuments.

ParisFrance.com is available in both the French and English language. Quite nice. And a hotel search engine located on the front page produced 799 hotels in Paris with vacancies for immediate booking. A “Travel Resources” link at the bottom of the homepage yielded more sites for those who really want to explore getting around in Paris via the metro or other means.

A general Google search of ‘Paris France’ finds Omar’s newly launched ParisFrance.com on the second results page already. Won’t be long before ParisFrance.com is dominating the first page. Of course, with a premium geodomain, search ranking is often a secondary consideration because of the quality direct navigation traffic such a domain will pull on its own merit.

For geodomain investors, you may be interested to know that Omar Haddedou is the owner of other fine quality location domains such as SanDiego.biz, Tulsa.US, and PebbleBeach.US.

With the launch of ParisFrance.com, the site will now be promoted on the official mobile internet version at ParisFrance.mobi.

.COM Domains, .MOBI Domain Names france, paris, travel

The domain industry has matured with age and so have those who have followed it for years. Many domain name players have authored books, articles, blogs, and made the lecture & radio circuit sharing their particular points of view. Much information is now out.

Through this haze of fact and opinion emerge several irrefutable constants, or universal truths, that pertain to the proper selection of domain names for business. Significantly, Entreprenuer Magazine writer, Job Rognerud, posted an article recently entitled “Choose the Right Domain Name“. While not a ground-breaking piece, the article did represent a more mature and realistic perspective than I have read in general internet media about domain name selection.

Jon writes sensibly about the need to pick logical domain names that fit one’s business focus and which are easy to remember and share in casual conversation. While these domain “qualities” are nothing new to domain industry pros, it’s noteworthy that general articles are beginning to reflect accurate information to potential domain investors and business owners. Entrepreneur Magazine obviously cater to business-oriented individuals, many of which may have little experience dealing in domain names specifically.

I was especially pleased to see Jon’s comments here …

Generally, the best domain names are short, contain no hyphens, and offer an excellent one-, two-, or three-word summary of what the site is about.

These are good recommendations for choosing an appropriate, business-enhancing domain. Outdated thinking from the early days of the net often led to cutesy names or long domains that did not accurately describe the company, product, or service which was being offered. Sadly, I see companies today making the same mistake! Branding themselves with an odd sounding domain name that does not tie in with their primary business.

Jon adds in his article that your domain name is your online identity. Much better to get off to a great start in launching a new business (or upgrading an existing one) by choosing a quality domain that other businesses and customers can easily understand.

Here are PremiumDomains.biz criteria for choosing good investment grade domain names. These factors fit perfectly for small and large businesses preparing to make their move with a new domain acquisition. Critical qualities are …

Side Note: Entrepreneur.com are also online now with their official dotMobi mobile internet site, at: Entrepreneur.mobi

Another sign of a progressive, future-oriented company recognizing the importance of the mobile web!

Internet Domains domain selection, entrepreneur, investing

The domain name market is continuing to move forward at an impressive pace. And the reason for this is universal acceptance that the internet is an incredible, history-making technology essential to every person, every business, and every country on earth.

Everything imaginable is being channeled to the internet. And this tidal wave of information is accessed through logical, intuitive web addresses otherwise known as premium domains. 

From an investing perspective, domain names are demonstrating not only unprecedented price appreciation and return on investment, but an ability to hold value through time while other investment vehicles experience decline. Premium domains possess a rare combination of attributes which increase their business application & value … especially to those companies who are looking to distinguish themselves on the internet world stage.

Domain marketplace, Sedo, reported last month that for select tld’s the sales growth of domains in 2008 was as much as 57% higher over the preceding year, and that …

The secondary domain market is one of the few industries withstanding the economic downturn of 2008.

Sedo also reported that “Marketers are seeing better returns in acquiring domain names as opposed to search marketing in their efforts to drive traffic to their businesses”.

Domain name sales for 2009 have been projected to increase over 2008. It appears thus far that this calculation is going to be proven true. In the early days of the internet, companies were either not aware of the importance of domain names in driving their business, or they were skeptical that the internet would become a long-lasting, robust medium for furthering their growth.

Fast forward 10 years from 1999 and we now see the future is here. Company stocks are a risky venture. Real estate has declined, but is consequently now offering good buying opportunities in select markets. And domain names have taken a seat alongside every other major investment category. In fact,  the rate of return on many premium domains has surpassed any other investment in history.

Investing in anything requires due diligence. It also requires intelligent speculation and an ability to look forward toward evolving trends. Today’s internet entrepreneurs looked forward at a time when everyone else was looking backward.

Capturing high return investments is the end result of: persistent learning, open-mindedness, an ability to weigh alternatives, and the will to act while a window of opportunity remains open. Enjoy your day.

Internet Domains domain investing, premium domains

dotMobi (.mobi) – the mobile internet address, is being advertised in different media venues across the internet. While checking out Fox News the other evening, the FoxNews.mobi web address was clearly displayed to the viewing audience. Went to the site and sure enough a nice layout tweaked for mobile phones with lots of news headlines, links, stories, and pictures refined for mobile phone display.

Also recently featured on the dotMobi website is Time Magazine at Time.mobi. Very well done. Mobile internet, in a class by itself.

.MOBI Domain Names

The past few months have shown that domain investing is in the spotlight. Just out is the news that well known domain investor, Rick Schwartz, is working on a $3 million dollar deal for his Candy.com premium domain. Rick posts on his blog (Rick’s Blog) that Candy.com is set to sell for $3,000,000 plus an ongoing percentage of future revenues. Beautiful! Not only for Rick, but also for whichever company is acquiring a top class domain portal.

Noteworthy sales of late are:  YP.com, Fly.com, Toys.com, Dubai.info, Miami.US, Movie.info, RT.TV, Wife.com, Auction.com, B2B.net, and now Candy.com. And many, many more at various price levels in the four figure to six figure range.

2009 –> No internet recession from what we can tell. More like an Indy race car coming around turn 1. Hang on! Don’t blink!

.COM Domains, Internet Domains