The Dot Com King

Who is Kevin Ham & why have we never heard of him?

Kevin Ham is the Dot Com King. He reigns in the kingdom of Domain. Until recently I have never heard of him, bet you haven’t either. He rules his kingdom from the seat of Reinvent Media Group, a Vancouver based company that owns over half a million domain names and who is arguably the most powerful and successful member of a small, albeit growing elite group of Domainers; landlords of valuable real estate on the internet. Kevin appears to be a very private man.

I recently sat with royalty and didn’t even know it. No, it wasn’t with Kevin Ham, but with Conor Shankey, the CTO of Reinvent Media. Conor is no mean dude himself when it comes to internet savvy and his role in it. We were both guests at a birthday party at the Cellar Jazz Club in Vancouver. Over dinner he sat across from me. I reached over my dish of lamb shanks – no, there was no asparagus; I did not ask him for a date and besides his lovely wife was seated by his side - and engaged him in polite dinner conversation.

Turned out that Conor was in internet marketing and that’s when all semblance of politeness dropped as at the mere mention of anything internet my ears perk up and my “inquisition mode” – as my husband likes to term my natural curiosity - kicks into overdrive. I was floored when I learned that his company owned over half a million domain names, the largest domain owner in the world. My eyes must been the size of saucers as the sheer enormity of that number sank in. He then told me about Kevin Ham.

Conor Shankey is the founder of the very successful Visual Knowledge which was acquired by Reinvent Media in 2008.

OK … enough with the name dropping. What am I getting at? For several years now I have been following the development of virtual real estate. Ed Dale
and Kevin Wilke to name just two big guns in the internet marketing world are big players in this niche, but I first heard of virtual real estate at a seminar I attended almost two years ago in Los Angeles. I honestly don’t remember who it was that spoke about it. What I do remember is that the concept immediately began to churn cogs and turn wheels into motion as the very idea galvanized me completely.

I wrote about virtual real estate on this blog:

- There’s Money in Them Thar Blogs - April 13



That was Danielle Friedland I was referring to.

And again in:

- Owning Google Real Estate: - April 04

Dealing in virtual real estate is a growing business. From domains being auctioned off at seemingly ridiculous prices – Kevin Ham is known to have paid as much as $350,000 for a single domain name – to buyers wheeling and dealing with existing performing sites such as Danielle’s celebrity babies blog and pulling in a mil or two and oftentimes more.

No matter how you look at it, it’s a big business. I began to assemble a portfolio of domains shortly after my return from that Los Angeles seminar. I thought I was doing ok with 27! ...lol... These are all domains that actually have a web presence as sites and require my attention. They are monetized and bring in money, but not enough yet to outsource any of the functions.

It never occurred to me to buy domain names and hold them for future resale whilst systemically monetizing them in the meantime. My previous understanding of virtual real estate has expanded exponentially. Henceforth I’ll view my modest domain portfolio with a little bit more respect and continue to buy, hmmm, that would be "invest." It’s a lot more affordable than the stock market; the downside is negligible and the upside at best stratospheric. It is after all still a game, a domain name game, and its not just kings who can play at it.

It’s a thought … have I expanded your horizons? Just a wee teenzy bit? I hope so.

Happy Blogging!

Valentina
Blogger for Money

PS. Now that’s cheese worth biting into!

Quick Links:
Reinvent Media Group
Cellar Jazz Club
“I reached over the asparagus and asked her for a date” John F. Kennedy
Kevin Ham
Conor Shankey
There’s Money in Them Thar Blogs
Danielle Friedland
Owning Google Real Estate:

Ed Challenges Twitter

The pre-season for the Thirty Day Challenge has begun. There is excitement. Lots of chats and questions going on in the forum. Teams are being formed ... and, the "boxes" have begun to arrive.

Thirty Day Challenge goodies come in boxes - just like presents. The goodies are the training sessions, some are video, some pdf(or both). The second box has arrived in the training section and its on Twitter. I just knew that Twitter would be a key player in our 30 Day toolkit this year.

Already the sheep mentality is being challenged. Ed says follow no more than 10, or at best 12. Why? Register for the Thirty Day Challenge and find out for yourself. Its a very interesting take and makes total sense.

Happy Blogging!

Valentina
Blogger for Money

PS... that's a little bit of cheese but oh so powerful.

Quick Links
Thirty Day Challenge

News Flash - Ed Dale Kicks Off Pre-season 30 Day Challenge

Short and sweet.

Before you buy any Internet Marketing course, you need to check into the 30 Day Challenge. Its free. Its nothing like you’d ever expect. It’s a full blown course with lots of free resources and even some software. The Pre-Season has just started.

You can register at Thirty Day Challenge

I wrote about Ed Dale and his annual 30 Day Challenge here on May 08. Ed runs this course every year in the month of August. To have a handle on the course you need to familiarize yourself with all the tools that we will be using, things like Facebook Connect – hey get this, you can take the entire course within Facebook if you want. There are going to be lots of bells and whistles to get used to. The first pre-season lesson is already up. Ed says its something like spring training camp before starting the baseball season.

This is a course I recommend without reserve. The idea is simple. The course is set up for you to earn your first dollar on the internet.

To register click on Thirty Day Challenge

Ed and me at Mass Control in San Diego where Ed got a standing ovation for his presentation on internet marketing and the importance of the role that social media plays in it.

Happy Blogging!

Valentina Bellicova
Blogger for Money

PS... Go and get your cheese at the Thirty Day Challenge


Quick Links:
30 Day Challenge: Thirty Day Challenge
May 08 Post on Ed Dale & 30 Day Challenge:

Ed Dale Launches intro to 2009 Pre-Season 30 Day Challenge

It's started!

The legendary Ed Dale has just kicked off the Pre-Season to the equally legendary 30 Day Challenge for this year. The material for 2009 isn't up yet, but the broadcasts have started.

A little bit of background.

Every year in the month of August, Ed Dale runs his 30-day Challenge. This is an awesome FREE course that gives you the nuts and bolts, the squeaks and tweets, the niggledy piggledy of launching your internet marketing career. There are no holds barred. Completely transparent, all details delivered, and tons of free product including some software programs. This is beyond blogging --- but you'll learn a lot about blogging as well.

Ed has run the 30 Day Challenge for 5 years now. Each year is better than the last and listening to Ed tonight, the 2009 version will literally blow your socks off.

Watch this space for the sign up ... shouldn't be much longer ... the Pre-Season prepares you for the August launch, kind of like limbering up your muscles.


The legendary Ed Dale and me at Frank Kern's San Diego Mass Control

Rock Stars at Frank Kern's Mass Control

Hey! Just got back from a San Diego weekend.

Surf Dude and big time Internet Marketing Rock Star, Frank Kern, taught, entertained and delivered as he played host to a crowd of 500. We rocked, we rolled, we had fun, but most importantly we learned.



Frank Kern and me.

The happening was appropriately held at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego. The stars at this venue did not come playing their guitars or drumming on their skins; instead they played on their strings of knowledge, experience and success. Headed by Frank himself the retinue included names like Filsaime, Deiss, Carlton, Moffat, Dale, Serling, Walker, Mulligan, Koenigs, Belcher, Reese, Lemberg, Jenkins, Johnson, Rozmanith - and those were just the speakers! Now that’s what I call an Internet Marketing Rock Star lineup! And then there was a passel more of them in the audience. So …. Does that make us their “groupies?”

Two pads of notes … too much to cover here, but over the next few months tips will be dropped into the appropriate postings so that you can apply them to your own blogging.

Some observations:

1. The thing that impressed me most was not the content, although undeniably that was awesome. No, what impressed me most was the graciousness and ease of accessibility of these extraordinarily successful men. Is it just me or is it a universal truth that the more successful a person is, the more generous and giving?

2. Twitter and all that Web 2.0 stuff. I have mentioned it here before that I haven’t quite got the hang of why social media is so important to internet marketing. Ed Dale, who runs the annual 30 Day Challenge gave a most compelling talk on this subject. In his view, the holy trinity in social marketing are Google, Twitter and You Tube. There was much more meat on Ed’s talk and for that he got a standing ovation. There will be more posts on this subject in the future.

3. Jason Moffat talked of the 7 Characteristics of Highly Successful Marketers. They were all good but the ones that caught my ear were nos. 6 and 7: Connections and Cause. Connections is not just who you know, but who they know. Cause is do you really know why you are doing this? It really is more than just the money. Another one I liked was courage, that speaks for itself.

4. Jeff Johnson talked on becoming a super affiliate. I thought that was an appropriate subject for this blog and will write a whole post on it, but the gem that I picked up was to make sure that you choose the right product/offer to promote. It’s your time, your list, your reputation. By becoming an affiliate of someone’s program, you are in effect endorsing it.

5. Your ideal client. Who is your ideal client? In other words who are you marketing to. If you could advertise for your client, what would your ad look like?

6. Determine what you want to be known for. Do you want to be the brand or do you want your business to be the brand? Both have their pros and cons.

7. Time Management: Are you doing your highest valued activity? Too often we get bogged down doing the small stuff, the admin: things that don’t really advance our business. Concentrate on those activities that make a difference to your results. The other stuff can wait.

8. Back to Twitter. Be selective as to whom you invite and equally selective as to whose invitations you accept. Follow the right people and the right people will follow you.

People often wonder what is so great about attending these weekend seminars. Aren’t they just pitch fests? Are they not self serving? What do you get out of it?

I am not fond of the term “pitch fest” because that implies that all you hear are pitches to buy, buy and buy. Let me tell you, when you attend a seminar weekend like Mass Control, the host has taken a lot of time and trouble to line up quality speakers who have valuable information to give to the attendees. Moreover, the host will also spend a good deal of time on stage, giving more good free advice and tips on how to ramp up your online success.

Speakers typically are on stage anywhere from one hour to as many as three. During that time they give you information on some of their most successful campaigns, what they did that was different, how they pulled the whole thing together. Granted, there is a lot that is not fleshed out, but hey! give me (and them) a break! You can’t do that in the short period of time that they are on stage. Yes, of course, they invite you to purchase their course – what? What’s wrong with that? I think it is a wonderful opportunity for attendees to purchase valuable courses at “a seminar price” which is often significantly less than the cost of that course on their sites. So you get:

- valuable free information, and
- big time cost savings if you want to purchase the speaker’s course.

Attendees are typically at different stages of their online careers – there are some that are just starting out and others that are well along to big pay checks. There is something for everyone. A seminar is a good place to make connections and form alliances. I for example, have several dog sites and was able to make connections with other internet marketers who also have dog sites. The importance of that is that you can support each other’s endeavors resulting in increased traffic and sales.

Seminars are fertile hunting grounds for joint venture partners – again, very much like connections, but somewhat more advanced and more appropriate to advanced marketers who already enjoy a list of subscribers in your category. Joint ventures differ partner to partner, but in a nutshell say you have an awesome product that you just completed, you are new, do not have a large list to send the offering to, but you meet a few people who also play in your niche and already have a list of hungry buyers who would be good prospects for your product … how valuable do you think such a joint venture would be.

I like meeting and talking with people who are like minded, success oriented, open to new ideas and to sharing. That’s the kind of person you meet at a weekend seminar such as Mass Control. It invigorates, motivates and confirms your own beliefs as to why you are in the market you are in.

When you go home you have a few new colleagues that you can stay in touch with, and you know, just positively know with certainty, that there is a financial future in internet marketing and that you are in the right place at the right time to make a success of it.

Happy Blogging!

PS... talk about cheese! The kahunas of the big cheese were in San Diego!Quick links:

Frank Kern's Mass Control

Ed Dale Thirty Day Challenge

Jason Moffat

Jeff Johnson Super Affiliate