The 4 Worst Things About Writing a Blog on Our 4th Anniversary

by

Today marks TheDomains.com 4 year anniversary

So as I do every year, I have to once again start off by blaming my friend and fellow domainer Sahar who told me to start blogging.

Thanks.

I would say more but its a family show.

With that out of the way, I thought to celebrate my 4 years blogging, I would recount the worst things about writing a blog to celebrate the journey (that’s what they always call it on reality TV, a journey)

1. Every conversation I have starts with this phrase: “You can’t blog about it, write about it, its not for publication.”

Everyone I talk to, starts off every conversation now with that phrase.

What did you have for dinner last night?

Well you can’t blog about it, but I had a pork chop.

Do you have a girlfriend, yes her name is Ann but don’t blog about it.

Sucks

2. Not being able to write about stuff people tell you not to write about it.

When someone tells you about a million dollar sale or about some news about the industry but says you can’t write about it, well its brutal.

While I always honor these requests, its not easy.

Especially if its really good or really juicy news, everything in your body wants you to shout it from the mountain top but you can’t.

3. When you don’t write about something someone tells you not to blog about, only to see it in writing by someone else.

I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve been given info on a domain name sale or industry news or something big omn the industry and told “but you can’t write about it because it “hasn’t cleared legal” or “is just in Beta” or “it can’t be published just to see it hours or days or weeks later on another blog as “A World Exclusive”.

Usually you get the answer, “sorry someone else released it”, or “you were sleeping” (the 6 hours I get a night).

Sucks

4. Its Hard

Blogging is a tough deal.

Since I started blogging, Frank Schilling stopped, Sahar stopped and most recently Rick Schwartz announced he was basically calling it a day.

NewfoundDomains.com also stopped blogging this year.

Its the domain industries loss.

Its your loss.

When I started in the industry there wasn’t one blog.

There wasn’t anyone telling you how they found success much less giving that information away for free.

For a while you had some of the smartest domainers whoever lived giving you information and advice for free that in most industries people pay big money to hear.

Everyday

Now there gone.

There voices have been extinguished.

and you are not better off for it.

Some of the pull back is because of the inordinate amount of time it takes to write a blog, moderate comments answer comments, deal with spam and other gameplaying

So on this our 3rd anniversary I would ask readers of all domain blogs to appreciate the resources that have been made available to you.

Because one day, in the blink of an eye, they can be gone.

About Michael Berkens

Michael Berkens, Esq. is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TheDomains.com. Michael is also the co-founder of Worldwide Media Inc. which sold around 70K domain to Godaddy.com in December 2015 and now owns around 8K domain names . Michael was also one of the 5 Judges selected for the the Verisign 30th Anniversary .Com contest.

Comments

  1. Chicago.me says

    Mike,

    I for one want to take the time to say Thank you, I know thats not what you trying to garner with your post. But sincerely the amount of energy you put into your blog and the articles that you get response traction is so valuable to anyone ! new or seasoned veteran alike there is always something to come to your site for!! I hope that until you mentor someone else you continue to share your valuable time and energy. So thanks again!

  3. Jamie Zoch says

    I kept shaking my head YES through this whole article!

    Thanks for sharing as much as you always do Michael and all the help you always provide.

  4. JJ says

    Always looking forward to your posts. Unfortunately I can’t say that about any other domain blog these days. Thanks for writing and sharing!

  6. Joe says

    Thanks, Mike, for providing the community with such a resource. Well deserved!

    PS: according to the history, the blog started in December 2007, which would make it 4 years old.

  7. Rick Schwartz says

    Yesterday DomainGang wrote a blog post about me blogging again. In it he said something I take issue to.

    “So come on, Rick.. It only takes a max of 20 minutes to type in something of substance, utilizing your usual staccato style and wisdom.”

    While I appreciate the overall thought, I just want to say that not many of my posts took 20 minutes. Many took hours. Some took days. Others took weeks. My last blog post was started in Late August and it took me all those months to not only write that last post but the supporting posts in the month of November as well to fully articulate what I was doing by explaining where I have been and where I intend to go.

    I am sure many of your posts took days to compose and more. 20 minutes?? Not very often.

    I aslo want to blame Sahar, Owen and Jarred Cohen for my years of blogging. In adult we would say lovingly…”Fuck You Pal.”

    I never took a paid advertisement and that allowed me to go places others just could not go. Sometimes, many times, I paid the price. Luckily I don’t care. I stopped caring about stuff like that in about 1980 when that employer had me by the balls when he owed me all that money and I was stuck.

    Mike, you have the most valuable blog in the business. Without you and Ron Jackson, I am afraid the Industry would be much smaller and directionless. Happy Anniversary!!

    I hope those that read know how lucky they are to read somebody that actually gets it and is accomplished. Even this comment took me more than 20 minutes to compose.

  9. Shane says

    Ironically I will say the same thing you said about Sahar on my 4th anniversary. If you remember I sent you an email saying that I was going to quit and your words and a few others realized that having a voice is difficult but can be very rewarding. Your voice is THE voice of domaining and I think I speak for everyone when I say Thank You for spending the time each and every day. I know as well as anyone how many hours per day it takes to put out content.

    PS: It is also nice to see someone else besides myself mess up their, they’re and there. 🙂

  10. Shane says

    I don’t think I could have screwed that up more

    let’s try this again “If you remember, I sent you an email saying that I was going to quit and your words (and a few others) made me realize that having a voice can be difficult and time consuming but can also be very rewarding”

  11. RK says

    Mike,

    I agree 100% blogging is very time consuming and hard thing to do.

    I stopped blogging on our DNBlogger.com blog more than a year ago.

    I was not able to spend time with family/kids so finally I called it quits.

    I have lot of respect for the folks like you who blog every day and provide us cutting edge news info.

    But there are couple of domain blogs by the so called experts (actually marketers) that were started just a year or 2 ago and they declared from day one that they are the experts…….these blogs are just annoying because these so called experts just write posts to pump their sponsors and advertisers.

    In fact, one of these expert will actually delete evry comment if it is critical of their advertisers.

    I recently warned this expert to be careful before he gets reported to feds for being the cheerleader for the advertisers in his write ups and because of deleting the critical comments. In fact this guy is very misleading. I am sure many of you know who I am talking about.

    Sorry for going off track, I love your blog it is among the top couple of blogs I read and very open and fair all the time.

    Thanks!

  15. Tony says

    Congrats and thank you for the definitive blog in the industry.

    On a side note, are you in the LL.biz auctions at NJ and thus will be able to give an update on the end prices when the time comes?

  16. Dan says

    Hi Michael,

    Great post, every word very true… now its 4 years not 3 years 😉

    Thanks so much for a great 4 years of very professional blogging on your part, and all your great insights into the ‘domain world’.

    I love your blog…as you know…here is to hopefully at least another great 4 years!!!

    Very Best!

    ‘D’

  18. Domain Michael says

    Mike, congratulations on 4 year anniversary! Blogging is hard, I was really expecting to spend less than 30 min everyday, but it takes hours. I do think we need more bloggers; I started mine because there just isn’t enough to read. And yes, it’s a big loss that Rick’s quitting.

  20. Francois says

    I never found anyone who like domaining that don’t appreciate your blog, you have been doing a great job sharing your experiences and comenting news.
    I hope you will continue blogging a long time.

    Happy birthday!

  21. cm says

    Mike, thank you for sharing your experiences and knowledge and for all the work you do to stay on top of breaking news.

  22. Muscle Sprouts says

    I love your blog.

    You are very right. I miss some of the old blogs.

    Frank’s was tops. He is/was such an eloquent writer and his intelligence shines through so strong whenever he presents his thoughts to the public.

    I think there is one style of blog that is missing as far as blogs go, and there really has never been a dedicated one in this regard, and that is one that gives out techniques for acquiring domains, evaluating domains, selling domains, etc…….. “techniques”, what ever that may be. It’s giving away the golden goose, so to speak, but if we want to grow the industry, that may be what is really necessary to get people jump-started in the industry and not fail from the beginning.

    I’m getting ready to take a multi-day class on WordPress from a wickedly bright friend of mine, and I am going to spend a couple days teaching him how to buy, analyze, sell domains, so maybe I’ll create a domain blog and start showing domain-related techniques and add a twist the domain blog world. I’ve been around since 1995 buying domains so I think I have something to add. We’ll see how it goes.

    I also think that JamiesBlog.com is one of the best out there. He’s very bright and the only thing close to a “technique blog” out there. DomainShane.com and Fusible.com are great also. I think what sets any of these great blogs apart is when they are different from everything else out there.

    The ones that are not different, just become a run-of-the-mill rehashing of the same old crap, worst being FragerFactor.com and DomainGang.com.
    Talk about being annoying even having to scan the headlines of those two blogs!! Sh*t!! They are not pigeon shit farmers, they are blog-shit farmers.

    IMO, those two are just useless, spammy, unentertaining, gobbledygook that everyone in domaining would prefer see disappear forever. I’m not trying to hurt anyone’s feelings, just being honest since I feel it is an abuse of the blogging sphere for those two guys to incessantly crank out trash like that, much of it appears to be disinformation.

    Without the good blogs they’d have nothing to write about. They are essentially parasites that cling to the reputation of great sites like RicksBlog.com and this blog. Nothing original.

    Thanks for your blog!

  24. Richard says

    Happy Birthday to TheDomains.com!
    I just want to say thank you Mike for all the information you pass on through your blogging. I read a few domain blogs, I don’t always read every post. I read all your posts Mike, even if it has .xxx in the title…From your views on recent sales, to ICANN coverage. You post the stuff that matters, I like that.
    Happy Holidays

  28. Kevin Murphy says

    Congratulations on the anniversary Mike.

    I, for one, hope you continue to blog. You’re successfully carving out a niche as a blogger from the buy-side of the domain name industry who’s gathering influence on the sell-side too, imho.

    And I feel your pain on all four of your bullets. But remember that just because you’re off the record with one guy doesn’t mean you’re off the record with other people who give you the same information later.

  29. Alan says

    As far as I’m concerned, The Domains is the best domaining blog on the web!
    Happy Anniversary!

  30. Jp says

    Mike, I appreciate you! And looks like lots of other folks do to. Happy Birthday and many thanks!

  31. Morgan says

    Congratulations Mike! You’re blog has been putting-out top-notch content since day one and continues to be one of my favorite daily reads. Thank you for everything that you do, the domain industry wouldn’t be the same without your voice!

  32. Rich says

    Mike@
    I read your blog for the last two years every day and i have learn a lot.
    I THANK YOU, happy 4th anniversary.

  33. Tier 1 Development says

    TheDomains I believe is the go to blog for anyone who wants to really get great information.

    DnJorunal has been called the domainers bible. Then that must make TheDomains something that’s half USAToday and half Business2.0.
    (Which I would love if they would bring back!)

    Congratulations Mike, keep on posting we’ll keep reading.

  40. Michael H. Berkens says

    Unknown

    “”I think you done good.. and you’re getting better, actually.””

    Well I’m certain glad I’m not getting worse

    )))::

  42. afternic1 says

    Muscle Sprouts: Can’t wait for you to publish your blog so someone can write a long winded ass-kissing piece of copy to tell you it sucks. Since you can’t even use you real name here, I can’t imagine what background, experience or reputation that you could offer that would make your blog credible. It’s easy to talk the talk. It’s easy to tell Mike to keep blogging. Very few people can get a single article out and of 60 million blogs on the net less than 5oK of them have sustained themselves over time.