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Ron, you're a prominent member of the domain community. Your work speaks for itself, so no formal introduction is required. However, your identity is somewhat a mystery. Who is Ron "Duke" Jackson?
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| R.J. |
You would have to start out with the toughest question! The standard biographical details have been put out there. Born & grew up in Central Ohio, went to Ohio State, started out as a radio and TV news and sports reporter (which brought me to Florida), then went into business for myself. My first entrepreneurial venture was a record & CD store that became very popular in Tampa and worldwide through a mail order division. That kept me busy for 12 years until file sharing brought the music industry party to a halt. From there it was on to door #3 and behind it I found…domains!
As to who I am as a person I guess I would say I am a typical Midwesterner (though I haven’t lived there for decades). Brought up to work hard, get along with and respect other people. I’m a family man with a daughter in college. She’s a freshman at Penn and since she is the first Ivy Leaguer in the family we hope to keep her away from domains so she can make something of herself!
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Why domains? What makes them so fascinating?
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| R.J. |
For me, coming from a background in journalism, it was fascinating to find a business that was based entirely on words. I thought it had to be tailor made for me and I would just walk in and take over because of my language skills. Boy was I mistaken! Understanding words is one thing, understanding words that have commercial appeal and will sell as domain names is something entirely different. It took 5 months for me to sell my first domain name and that was for peanuts. However over time I learned about the tools you can use to identify domains that will sell and as I mastered those my sales took off (I have now sold over 1,600 domains). Of course now I am better known for DNJournal.com than my own domain business. A few months after entering the business I recognized that the industry did not have a trade magazine like we had in radio/TV (Broadcasting Magazine) and in music (Billboard). Since I was the only domainer I knew of who was also a professional journalist, I decided I would do one myself and fortunately the publication has been very well accepted.
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What trends do you predict emerging in the domain industry a year from now? In five years?
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| R.J. |
It’s really tough to predict what will happen in this business next month, let alone in a year or five years. The industry has changed dramatically in the 3 1/2 years I have been in it. One thing that I always predicted and now see coming true and accelerating is the broadening of the market to value other extensions in addition to .com. I always felt that HAD to happen because of the remarkable growth of the Internet which fuels the demand for good quality generic domains in all major extensions. .Com is still the gold standard and is increasing in value, but just as there is a market for both Ferraris and Fords, there is a market for affordable alternatives as well, especially among small business people who have been priced out of the .com market. It’s a healthy situation because we have a market that has something for everyone from the mom and pop store operator to the largest corporation. We are at ground zero of the Internet explosion and people are realizing that domains are extremely important. As in the real world, success starts with the right address!
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How do you approach the acquisition of names for your portfolio?
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| R.J. |
Usually with a credit card in each hand. I don't think I do anything any differently than anyone else. I keep an eye on all of the expiring domain lists and enter orders with the major dropcatchers on the ones I am interested in pursuing. I register new domains fairly often after seeing or hearing about something that piques my interest in a particular field. One thing I haven't done that a lot of others do is make cold calls on individual owners of domains to see if they are interested in selling. I understand that can pay dividends but going after domains one by one like that is too time intensive for me to deal with considering that the success rate (success meaning getting a very good domain name at a below market price) is likely to be low.
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Are there domain name categories that you specialize in and, if so, why? What do you consider your "niche"?
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| R.J. |
I wouldn't say I specialize in any category, but I do have a "special interest" in some categories like news and media because I have always worked in that field and as a result probably recognize some opportunities there that others wouldn’t. If you do have special knowledge in a particular category it will definitely give you an edge and you’ll run into a lot less competition than you will with more commonly known words and terms. I also have an interest in new extensions as I think there is major growth potential for .us, .info and .biz and there is much less competition there than with the original three major TLD's (.com, .net and .org). Aside from that I am interested in just about any commercially viable generic word or term and I use a variety of tools (described in the April 2005 DNJournal.com Cover Story "Tools of the Trade") that I used to identify the ones that have the best potential.
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What domain name marketing techniques have proven to be the most successful for you?
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| R.J. |
I have never done any active domain marketing. In my experience, almost all end user sales come from interested buyers coming to you. Trying to convince someone who is not already actively seeking a specific domain name to buy one from you is like trying to sell ice cubes to Eskimos. They aren’t going to see any need for it. Most of my sales have come from the buyer having a name in mind, typing it into his browser and landing on my page - which is usually a PPC page with a clearly marked notice that the domain is for sale. They can then click on that link to send an inquiry directly to me. There are also some buyers who have just a keyword in mind and are willing to consider several options that include their keyword. They will go to one of the major aftermarket sales venues like Sedo or Afternic to see what is available. I list my domains with both of those sites because they are big enough and well enough known to pull in that group of potential buyers.
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Ron
Jackson, 
