Wow! The last day of 2009! What a great year this has been!

At the time of writing countries such as New Zealand and Australia have already entered 2010!

Today is the end of a year, a decade, and an era. Tonight, a new year, a new decade, a new era and a new season begins.

Unfortunately, I don’t have time to give a proper review of 2009 or the last decade, or even to make any predictions for the new year and decade. All I will say is that once 2010 kicks in, unbelievable changes will happen at unbelievable paces.

I remember that 10 years a go, we were just losing bulky analogue mobile phones to embrace heavy digital handsets with monochrome screens. I used to struggle to find space on my desk after the bulky computer monitor took up all the space, and the desktop then sat beneath the monitor. Internet connection was a mere 56kbps.

Fast forward to 2009, we hold the power of the Internet in our hands. We can do video calls, take pictures (color), send text and multimedia messages and browse the internet at well over 10mbps from hand-held devices than can fit in the palm of our hands.

I am one of those people that judge our technological advancements by the innovations in mobile technology. After all, mobile phones will dictate the future in a lot of ways. Internet surfing will be completely different from what it is today in a few years time, thanks to mobile technology.

Businesses had to wake up to the idea of doing business on the Internet (ebusiness) or at least having an Internet presence. Going forward, businesses will have to grasp and embrace the concept of social networking and mobile browsing.

As for the domain industry, I don’t know how it will pan out. Lots of changes are already slated for 2010. However, I believe the domain name industry will have to decisively take care of a few problems before it can progress. It has to clean up its practices, most importantly, its image and reputation.

But, saying that, the domain industry needs to be properly defined. Domain parking seems to be on the decline. The question is, can there be a domain industry without domain parking? How will domain parking evolve in the next 10 years?

Will mobile browsing kill the need for a domain name? Will there be a new Internet? Will improvement and further widespread usage of mobile browsers spell the end of the domain parking, AND the domain industry?

There are just too many questions. We all just have to be proactive and stand ready to be flexible to adapt to the new realities coming our way.

Nonetheless, there are some that believe that the world will end in 2012. As a Christian, I do believe that we are in the end of days. The signs are all around. But as they say, plan as if you will live forever, live as if there is no tomorrow.

I believe though, that for people who are proactive, hardworking and smart, 2010 and beyond will be very prosperous. There are loads of opportunities out there. I will surely waste no time in grabbing as many as I can!!

So, let me thank everyone for a great 2009 here at eBusinessDomains.com. I wish for you and your family a fantastic and prosperous 2010.

Happy New Year!!!

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I am the guy that decided to drop thousands of domains with General Top Level Domains (gTLDs) such as .biz and .cc over the past year alone.

I would not say that I have been burnt, as my domain portfolio had made much more than 10 times in profits than what I invested each year. Of course some domains made a lot of money, while some made nothing.

I simply took the decision to drop domains that were not monetizing well, and/or didn’t have any likelihood of selling within the next 24 months.

So I am not carrying any grudges. I haven’t made any losses in any of my years of domain investing, but instead made significant profits. The culling exercise that I have just finished undertaking with my domain portfolio is purely a business move to ensure further profitability and less exposure to risks.

Every day I wake up feeling exciting about the domain industry. Almost every day that goes by my web developers (who are located all over the world) have different projects working on that will enhance my businesses and help reposition them for growth, further profitability and success.

Some projects will not benefit us today, tomorrow, next week or even next year. This is the problem that I believe a lot of domainers have. They want success now. God said that he could have created the earth in one day, but he chose to do it in 6, resting on the seventh.

The domain race is not for the swift, but for those who can endure it to the end.

With the Internet, you have to understand that patience is a virtue that you will need in order to survive. Yes, with Pay Per Click and domain parking you may earn instant profits. However, as we have seen, the domain parking model is not sustainable as a business model and is rigged with the lack of transparency.

With the domain industry you can strike it lucky, but this is a business sector that is best suited for people who believe in getting ready for the main event.

We witnessed or heard of the Dot Com bubble bursting in the early 90’s. We saw the domain industry grow out of the ashes and flourish. We are now approaching the end of another decade and here we are been faced with uncertainties all over again.

Things work in cycle. That’s why we have seasons.

Something is coming. It is big. The ones who will laugh all the way to the bank are those who took the time to get prepared, instead of whining and moaning all day.

Is you domain business ready for showers of blessings? Those who prepare themselves will have an abundance of wealth.

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If you understand the term “there is no smoke without fire”, then you will understand this blog post.

I believe more and more domainers are now realising that quality domain names are now the order of the new domain day. Domain parking is now showing some slight recovery, but still a very long way to go. However regardless of any recovery, I believe domainers now realise that end-users are only interested in premium domains.

Domainers owning premium domain names that are not performing well with domain parking will try and approach end-users in an effort to make a sale. This is a clever idea. But…

I offer consultancy services to quite few businesses. Some are non-profit organisations while some are startups by friends etc.. When I am approached to give my input or to come on board, as an accountant, I automatically become more interested in the business plan.

Without a concrete business plan, especially in these hard economic times, the idea is nothing more than a fantasy or even a joke.

Almost in every country, there is a very high failure rate amongst small businesses. There are quite a few reasons for this. Many blame this on the lack of capital or access to borrowings. However, in my opinion, it is mostly down to the lack of a well thought out and structured business plan.

Anyway, lets get back to websites. I am literally confused by the number of startups today that are still trying to do business the old-fashioned way. They just want to set up shop, and if there were any form of advertising to be done, it would be through traditional media.

I spent so much time in so many meetings preaching the gospel of Internet marketing. I try to let these people realise that if they establish a web presence, not only would they cut cost, but they would reach far more people, and have much less work to do.

It is 2009. Websites were important in 1999, and even more so now. If you are serious about business, then you have to be serious about ebusiness. You can’t leave a web presence out of your business plan.

Now, if end-users don’t get the importance of having a website, they surely won’t “get” domain names. You can’t have the smoke without the fire.

Educate end-users about the need for a website, get them hooked, and then you can start preaching the gospel of domain strategies. Because all you really have to do is let them know how the right domain name will enhance their web presence and earn them more credibility in their respective niche.

Is your ebusiness build on a solid rock or is it build on sinking sand? Do you have a concrete plan or, are you just doing random things with the hope that one day you will strike it lucky?

A lot of people say that they want to succeed, but deep down they are lying to themselves. In high school, our motto was “Success is the result of hard work“.

You cannot cheat success, you really have to put in the hours and work hard. Some may say, well, you can work smart, instead of hard. There is no problem with that. However, in my experience, when one works smart, it may only bring short-term success, rather than long term gain.

I was reading the sales page for an ebook some years ago. In his sales pitch the author said that the Internet is a real gold mine. This is true. This really a fact.

However, have you seen any of those movies with plots centered around gold and precious stone mines, such as Blood Diamond? Sometimes the people mining the gems are not the ones who get rich. The ones actually doing the mining often end up getting burnt!

In your ebusiness efforts, you want to ensure that you are the one that makes money, and that all of your hard work will be rewarded.

There are a lot of “business opportunities” flying about out there on the Internet. Some of them are just mere ponzi/pyramid schemes. The only persons profiting are those that got in early or created the schemes in the first place.

Don’t get caught in those MLM and/or business-on-autopilot traps. The majority of them do not work. People are sick and tired of them, and quite frankly the competition for new recruits is extremely high.

Any business opportunity that relies heavily on gaining recruits in order to reap success will normally end up in failure.

Focus on product/service driven ebusinesses. You may hate selling, but you have a much less chance of been burnt.

I have read so many times, “if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is”. Don’t fall for these fly-by-night get-rich-quick schemes. You can make a ton of cash on the Internet, legally and ethically.

However, you will have to work hard. Really hard. If you are not prepared to work hard, then you should consider keeping your day job and kissing your boss’s ass so that you have a good chance at that promotion.

There is no shortcut to success. You may employ some smart moves that make things a little easier, but you will need to show dedication and be committed to your business.

Now there are quite a few ways to make money on the Internet. What will be easy for you will be extremely hard for someone else. We all have different talents, aptitudes and things that we enjoy doing.

In the next coming weeks, I will be writing a series of blog posts aimed at showing some simple ways in which you can make money online with your website. Stay tuned.

Remember, eBusiness success starts with a quality domain name. We have thousands of high quality premiums domains for sale on the eBusinessDomains.com marketplace. You may also want to subscribe to our domain newsletter, where we occasionally send out exclusive domain deals.

A new day has truly begun in the domain industry. For years, domainers failed to see any potential for domain names beyond domain parking. With the current economic downturn inevitably came a reduction in domain parking revenues, to say the least.

For most domainers, it was more like a monetization Armageddon. Parking revenues fell so sharply from glory, it’s like the domain parking world stood still.

I made very good income from domain parking. I still make good money from domain parking. I don’t list domains for sale that do exceptionally well with domain parking. As a matter of fact, I don’t market domains for sale based on parking revenues, but more on their keywords, generic characteristics, branding potential etc.

The ease with which domainers made money with domain parking acted like a magnet in drawing people to the domain industry. The force of this magnet was so strong that all that people could see, speak and hear was “domain parking, domain parking, domain parking, blah, blah, blah”.

No one was treating domains like branding tools or looking at domains in terms of their ebusiness potential.

Well, with the abundance of parking revenues, and the ease with which one could easily register a domain name and set up a parking page, why would anyone want to even think about lifting a finger?

My approach to domain name was never about parking revenues in the first instance. It was all about building a portfolio of ebusiness domains. I monetized my domain portfolio well through domain parking, and as is the case with so many other domainers, this resulted in a lack of urgency to develop brands.

Now, the tides have changed, and one has to look at profits rather than just a mere domain collection. With domains, either you brand them, sell them, monetize them or you drop them.

I was very careful from the outset to focus on domains with development potential. As I said, I did not acquire domains based on any traffic stats, but rather based solely on their ebusiness potential. So I think I got lucky with domain parking so to speak.

The domain industry is getting more and more focused on domain development. This has resulted in very fierce competition between web development companies that target the portfolio domainers.

At last, the vision that I had is slowly taking shape. I was preparing for this day for a very long time. As a matter of fact, I was getting ready from day one.

This is where people stop focusing on stats and gimmicks, and of course crappy domains, and start think business, or better yet, ebusiness. There is a big difference between the two in case you have not realised.

This recession, as terrible as it is for so many people and believe me, it is really horrible at the moment for a lot of people, it has created the right environment for success.

Did you know that some people use horse manure as fertiliser? Imagine something as disgusting as animals’ waste being used to boost the growth of vegetables.

Well this economic recession is like that horse manure. It is causing a lot people to think seriously about their future, re-energise their entrepreneurial spirit and start new ventures. This has resulted in a lot more people turning to the Internet to start an ebusiness.

With less focus on domain stats and more talk about domain quality, my domain portfolio is now a lot more valuable.

With a fierce competition now going on in web development land, it is the perfect time to get that fancy design for your website at reasonable prices.

With more people seeking to start ebusinesses, now is the perfect time to buy, sell and invest in domain names.

This is the moment I have been waiting for. I have been preparing for rain for years, and it looks like a storm is coming!