We need to talk regarding what’s going on at Clubhouse
Fresh domain investors are being fed a load of crap.
I love when fresh domain name investors get hooked on domains. They discover the excitement that many DNW readers have experienced for years. Domain investing is fun and can be lucrative. But it’s also full of pitfalls.
Which brings me to what’s happening on Clubhouse, a fast-growing app akin to live call-in radio shows.
The prior week, I wrote regarding how Clubhouse is driving a surge in registrations for .club domain names. Over the past a number of days, I’ve listened in on a number of discussions and researched to understand exactly what’s happening on the app. It’s been disturbing.
It seems that a sizable portion of the surge in .club has come from people who think .club is the hot fresh investing opportunity. Someone brought up the idea of .club domains gaining value since of Clubhouse a number of weeks ago and it caught fire. People started hand registering .club domains and buying up premium domains.
It’s fine to come to your own conclusion that Clubhouse’s success will lead to firms and people registering .club domains. It certainly won’t hurt .club. It’s also fine to make bad domain investments — we all have.
What’s disturbing is the amount of questionable advice being doled out by people who are either brand fresh to domain investing or trying to make a buck off of it by peddling a $2,000 course that’s still under development.
Some of the people doling out this advice are also very defensive, with some trying to discredit those that want to help fresh domain investors avoid mistakes.
In a call yesterday, one person stated that the reason domain investors are telling people to be careful with their investments is that those domain investors are busy snapping up all of the .club domains and don’t want others to get in on it. There’s also a lot of classic bubble talk regarding landrushes, getting in early, etc.
It’s a problem when so-called experts give people unrealistic expectations regarding their hand-registered 99-cent domains. When they mislead them into making more bad investments. And when they tell people not to listen to the “naysayers” who are only trying to help.
Last night I listened to a couple of people talking regarding how they jumped in headfirst this month. They regretted spending so much money on domains ahead of getting their head around it. One of them mentioned how they got their siblings in on it too, and they’ve been registering domains nonstop. They now realize they wasted a lot of money.
This regret is a right of passage in domain investing. But it’s troubling when people push fresh investors down this path.
Look, we can disagree regarding the best way to invest in domains. NamePros (and heck, the comment threads on DNW) are full of debate. That’s OK. What’s been happening on Clubhouse is different. There’s a lot of snake oil and it has caused many people to lose money.
There is good news, though. Many domain investors have joined Clubhouse in recent days. This morning, two concurrent sessions are going on with domain investors answering questions. I’m right now listening to Adam Strong suggest tools people can use and how to optimize for sales. Josh Reason is in another room answering questions.
These guys are setting realistic expectations. They’re not trying to sell anything. They’re trying to help people out.
So I encourage all domain investors with peoples’ best interests at heart — join Clubhouse. Let’s help fresh domain investors rather than send them down the wrong path.
