Domaining Noise – How I Made It Stop

Lately I’ve found myself getting distracted. There is too much noise in the industry and not enough real, fact-based, valuable information. I thought I’d share with you some strategies that are starting to get me more focused and back on track.

After sitting down, I thought about everything that was distracting me and/or was taking my time away from focusing on my goals. I then thought, what can I do to eliminate this? Here is what I did; I have:

1. Stopped reading most of the “popular” domaining blogs, in particular the ones that churn out opinion pieces, day after day. Unless they have something valuable, I’m just not going to read them.
2. No more RSS reader. It just aggregates crap and ties up my time – now gone.
3. Decided not to go to any conferences this year. My time is valuable and I need to concentrate on building my portfolio, not going to the next “must attend” domaining conference at some exotic venue.
4. Posting on forums. Don’t get me wrong, I like helping newbies ( I created the Domaining Wiki ), but I believe there is a better way of giving back to the community.
5. Unsubscribed from HEAPS of mailing lists. As email is no longer coming in, I don’t have to read it.
6. Unsubscribed from domains for sale lists. I figured that if people *really* want me to look at their portfolio, they will contact me. I don’t want to be on a “broadcast list”.
7. Unsubscribed from conference announcements. I wont be attending them this year, so there is really no point.
8. Unsubscribed from forum post / threads. Some forums I’ll still frequent, but I really don’t need to subscribe to the thread and get those notifications every time someone replies. This is too distracting.
9. Unsubscribed from registrar marketing material. I have special discount pricing and unique coupons for me as a “bulk buyer” so there is no real point.
10. Started renewing domains as soon as I could. Given the size of my portfolio, if I renew domains as soon as I’m able, then I receive less email. Some of the more valuables ones I’ve renewed for multiple years.

Why No Conferences In 2009?

1. I thought … when was the last time I *really* learned something new?

2. There are a lot of vendors pushing the same old crap, but just in a different city or country. They get paid to travel the world and do this. I don’t, and it ties up too much time.

3. What became of all those business cards I collected during my last conference? Did those “contacts” come in handy, or did it lead to a heap of Facebook and useless LinkedIn connections?

I must admit, cleaning out all that email was a lot like cleaning my garage. I felt free again!

What do you think? If this gives you a few things to think about, let me know. Its now gone 12:30am, so its off to bed to get some sleep – something else I need. Good night.

Domaining Companies Breached: Why Changing Passwords Is Not Enough

Early last year I posted my Top 10 Tips For Keeping Your Domains Safe. Tip #9 covered password protection and recommended that you use a program such as Password Safe and use the random password generator. If you followed that advice, then its likely that you only have to change one password. If you didn’t follow that advice, you could be in a world of trouble.

Over the past week I’ve received far too many notices from parking companies telling me to change my password. At first I thought I had been transported back to 1990 or a scene out of the Matrix whereby someone types in a password and gets access to “the mainframe”. Here is why changing your password isn’t enough.

Identity Theft

Your parking accounts provide valuable information such as your name, address, telephone number, credit cards etc.. While there are legitimate reasons for companies asking you for this information (such as to verify your identity when you sign up), if the information is stolen then it can be combined with other information so that:

• Loans can be taken out in your name.
• Credit cards can be obtained in your name.
• Other identity documents can be issued.
• Someone else can become you!

Domain Theft

Just when you thought that getting your identity stolen was bad enough, your portfolio is being transferred. I’ve already written about how you can secure your domain names before, so I won’t go into it here – just read the article.

Money Laundering

Change your passwords on your paypal account and bank account. Paypal have a Security Key that costs you $5. It provides extra security on top of your password. It’s not fool proof, but will help deter the dumb crooks. I suggest you use it. The last thing you need is for your paypal account or bank account to be emptied and/or used to transfer large sums of money on behalf of criminals.

Next Steps

1. Use Password Safe and randomly generate a passwords for all your accounts.

2. Change your EMAIL (pop3/IMAP) passwords. These are often used to reset passwords. eg: people click on “Reset my password” or “I’ve forgotten my password” and an email is sent to you. Of course, the crooks know your ISP (from your domain name in your email address)and can probably login your your email via webmail and get that password reset email before you. Didn’t think of that, now did you?

3. Change your server, blog, paypal and any other passwords.

I hope this has given you a few things to think about. Your domains are valuable assets. It’s time to treat them that way.