"The Domain Game" Has The Potential To Influence And Ignite The Next Generation Of Leaders...

Following-up on Fractional Domaining Blog's 4-part interview this week with David Kesmodel, author of "The Domain Game", here is my personal review of this important book that I believe has the potential to influence and ignite the next generation of Internet and business leaders...

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Many of us have a valid excuse why we missed an early wave of opportunity to invest – or invest more heavily – in Internet domain names. We may have had no idea what was happening and what we were missing out on, or we may have had a clue but could not quite grasp how to get a handle on it. With David Kesmodel’s “The Domain Game” now available, though, there are few excuses to sit on the sidelines anymore!

Some books focus on one industry but are really about so much more. They are about people, about business, about life. They are about how one’s perspective, creative thinking, actions, and persistence can make a difference in his or her success. “The Domain Game” is one such book, and I highly recommend it both as an insightful view into the world of domaining and as an interesting and enlightening story that is worth reading whether you know what a domain name is or not.

Kesmodel, a staff reporter for the Wall Street Journal’s Chicago bureau who formerly worked as technology reporter for the Journal’s online edition, expertly weaves Internet domain name industry facts and history into the context of events, sharing the true stories of successful domainers. He tells how individuals of varied educational and work backgrounds found success through foresight, smart thinking, and/or aggressive pursuit of domain names that they acquired for prices as low as under $10 to many thousands of dollars.

But Kesmodel doesn’t stop there – he offers insights into opportunities that exist in domaining today, and he introduces readers to many key players and domain industry resources.

Readers who know nothing about Internet domain names beforehand will sooner or later realize that they could have hand-registered a couple of “.com” domain names for the price of the book... and know that buying the book first was a good investment because it can help them make smarter decisions.

That is not to say that you cannot have success in the world of domaining without reading Kesmodel’s insightful historical look at the evolution of the domain name industry – far from it, because readers will see that many successful domainers over the past 15 years or so have done phenomenally well without Kesmodel’s near 20-20 hindsight.

With over 500 Internet domain names in my own “portfolio”, I am by no means a newbie to the world of Internet domain names and have had some modest successes as a domain buyer, developer, and seller... From personal experience, I can attest to the fact that names purchased for tens or hundreds of dollars can sell for thousands if you find the right buyer... I am aware enough about the domain industry to have become a geo domainer, a domain developer, a domain name reseller, the author of a blog about Fractional Domaining, and an active participant in domain industry social networks. Looking back, though, I sure wish I had the knowledge contained within “The Domain Game” years ago when I and so many others were learning on our own and guessing what we should do when opportunities were great and the very best ways to success were not always as clear as they could have been.

The good news is opportunities in domaining still abound, and Kesmodel provides insight, perspective, and direction that can benefit newbies through experienced domainers.

The knowledge you will gain from “The Domain Game” will be invaluable in framing your approach and mindset about domain names and domain name investing. Warning: You may catch yourself beginning to think of concepts, places, and things in terms of domain names! (But that could be a good thing!)

If reading “The Domain Game” generates one idea for you or gets you thinking differently about how you approach things or what you are currently doing, then its value far exceeds the price of the book.

Also, because of the relatively low price of domain names, it is easy to apply the knowledge gained from “The Domain Game” in your personal life. And while it may be possible, you do not have to achieve the astronomical successes of some of the individuals mentioned in “The Domain Game” to have success as a domain name investor yourself.

Are there risks involved with investing in domain names? Absolutely! And to his credit, in Chapter Nine when Kesmodel talks about “The Future”, he is upfront about what some of those risks are. He is also clear in stating that the domain market has changed over the years and some opportunities are different now than they were previously.

“The Domain Game” has the potential to influence and ignite the next generation of Internet and business leaders. Every self-learner and every business school should make “The Domain Game” required reading because it chronicles one of the most important business evolutions of our time and tells how readers can get involved.

The sequel to “The Domain Game” will be played out in real life whether Kesmodel pens its history or not (and I hope he does)... What will the topics be next time? Geo Domaining? Fractional Domaining? Cluster Domaining? Domain Exchanges? Something else?... Who will the main players be? Will YOU be one of the players? That’s a question only you can decide by your actions!

But that’s jumping ahead... Read this book, and enjoy the story!

My recommendation... Buy the book. You’ll want to keep “The Domain Game” handy as a reference that you can read and refer to again and again.

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I hope you find this book review to be helpful! Your comments are welcome!

-- Neal