After my interview with Rick Schwartz someone asked me to interview Rick Latona.  Well, I have come through again.  I have been asking Rick for months to do an interview, I must have caught him on a good day last week because he finally agreed.

Besides being the 2008 Domainer Of The Year, Rick is the LARGEST domain broker in the world and most recently has been added to the TRAFFIC auction events.  In his first TRAFFIC auction which was held in Brooklyn NY only two months ago Rick’s auction brought in roughly $700,000.  We will find out very soon if he can top that, next TRAFFIC event is in two weeks which will be hosted in Australia.

OK, lets see what Rick has to say about some of my questions.

Q. What is your educational background?
A. I dropped out of high school when I was 16 years old. I do not regret my decision but at the same time do not endorse someone else dropping out of school. In my circumstance, I’ve read thousands of books since. I’ve made up and then some for any lack of education except for areas like math and science which are entirely too boring to study on your own.

Q. When did you start domaining and why?
A. I’ve been “into” domains since 1995 but didn’t trust my instincts and didn’t act aggressively about them. During these years I acquired many premium names which I later sold like Dollars.com and Spanish.com but I could have had thousands of them. A story I’ve told before is that my sister told me it would be unethical to register domains if I didn’t need them so I didn’t. It took me ten years to stop resenting her for that and take responsibility in my own decisions.

Q. What did you do before domaining?
A. With the above question answered, I believe my domaining career started in 2004. It was during this year that I started DigiPawn.com and really following the aftermarket. During the late 90s and the early part of this decade I spent time in the hosting business where I held founders shares and helped take Interland, Inc public, now Web.com (NASDAQ WWWW). I’ve also owned and operated a myriad of websites. Some I’m proud of and some I’m not so proud of.

Q. How many domain names do you own?  Want to share any of them?
A. Currently I have around 40,000 names. I’m always reluctant to answer this question because I buy and sell names so frequently. Anyone can get a snap shot of names I own by subscribing to my newsletter at RickLatona.com.

Q. I asked Rick Schwartz this question, have to ask you.  What do you drive?  I know you have that classic Lincoln that was on your site before, what else do you have?
A. I have a 1965 Convertible Lincoln Continental, a 1958 Corvette C1 (convertible of course), a 2005 Bentley Continental GT and a 2006 Range Rover SC.

Q. What is an average day for you?
A. I often tell people I answer emails for a living. Somehow, answering emails for 10 hours a day I direct a dozen companies and get everything done.

Q. I see on your blog different travel spots, where is your favorite place to travel?
A. I like adventure travel like climbing mountains, snowboarding, surfing and the like. You wouldn’t notice it by looking at me because I’m not a model for physical fitness but where there is a will there is a way!

Q. Do you spend any time in the domainer forums?
A. I stop by all of the major forums to search for my name and my company names from time to time to make sure I don’t need to defend myself. Other than that, I stay away. I think blogs and forums stunt your ability for original thought. I don’t want to find myself registering random LLLLs because I read a 20 page thread that everyone else is doing it.

Q. Imagine starting out as a domainer today, what type(s) of domains would you register?
A. I hand registered 4000 names in the last 30 days. I am finding new ways to make money on HR names all of the time. You’ll find out what I’m registering now, years from now when I’m trying to sell them. I can give you a clue though, they are all .com names or ccTLD names. I never touch mobi, info, biz or alternative gTLD names. ccTLD names have a lot of growth potential.

Q.  Do you use any tools to register your domain names or search for new ones?
A. I have my own custom built tools that I use. I can’t go into details.

Q. What are your thoughts on short domain names, 5 characters or less?
A. For the most part, they don’t justify their value. Right now I’m selling cr.com which makes sense because it gets a lot of ccTLD typo traffic. That’s a big part of why LLs make sense. The idea that any LLL.com is worth at least $4,000 is ludicrous to me. Just because someone might have those letters as an acronym doesn’t mean you are going to make a killing on that name. LLLLs make even less sense. Again, this question is a product of board manipulation. I suggest you and your readers come up with your own independent ideas and to do that you might need to close your laptop and take a 2 hour walk around the neighborhood.

Q. How would you recommend an average domainer sell their domain names?
A. They should start by buying names that are sellable. You wouldn’t believe the amount of crap that I have to look at every day. My father used to tell me that when he bought raw land to flip he wanted to make sure there was timber or something on the land that could pay for the mortgage payments if he wasn’t able to flip the deal. Think about that. Don’t buy a name you aren’t willing to own if you aren’t able to sell it.

Q. On your site you say you are the largest domain broker in the world.  How did you build your client list?
A. It pays to advertise. I’ve made some big moves. I have two page ads in Website Magazine and Internet Retailer. I’ve also sponsored message boards and more. I’m getting about 100 new subscribers a day to my newsletter at this time.

Q. How do you put a price tag on your domain names?
A. Years of experience. I buy and sell so many names I don’t think anyone could appraise a name better than I could.

Q. What is the most profit you made on a single domain name?
A. I’ve done a bit of deals that made in the high xxx,xxx range. I’ve yet to crack 7 figures on a single deal but I’m not greedy. I believe that pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered.

Q. How much do you make every year, six figures, seven figures?
A. Use your imagination.

Q. How does it feel to be named 2008 Domainer of the year?
A. It feels great! I don’t think there is any bigger honor than your peers selecting you as the best for a one year period. I’m incredibly proud of that award.

Q. How is aeiou.com coming along?  The company is somewhat new to my understanding but creating a very nice buzz.  Are your clients making a good return on their investment with you?
A. I’d like to think they are happy. If your name has the right keywords in it we can make your name make more money. I’m my biggest client. I spend a lot of money every month putting mini-sites up on my names.

Q. Is there anything else you want to share or words of advice?
A. That’s about it. I’m off to Cairo this weekend to attend the ICANN event then to Australia for my next auction which is on the 20th. I’m always announcing new projects. The best way to stay informed is to keep an eye on RickLatona.com.

Thank you for the interview Rick and good luck in your TRAFFIC auction hosted in Australia November 20th.

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