If you want to develop your domains, networking with others in the field can also help you establish partnerships or find reliable service providers for web design, search engine optimization and marketing skills you may lack.

It is also simply a lot more enjoyable business if you spend some time with like minded people who have the same goals and aspirations you do. The easiest was to start networking is to join one of the many domain forums on the Internet. The three biggest ones are DNForum.com, DomainState.com and NamePros.com. They each have their own unique character so you might want to sample each one to determine where you feel most comfortable.

The forums can provide you with a very valuable free domain education and the contacts you make there can serve as a built-in customer base if you want to roll  out a new website. Most of your interaction on the forums will consist of notes you post or private messages sent to other members. As you get to know people you might make a phone call to get to know each other better and perhaps even meet in person if the opportunity ever arises.

While exchanging messages online and talking on the phone is a good way to network, we believe there is no substitute for meeting people face to face when you really want to get to know someone. Until recently there were no organized functions where you could do this. Now there is. The organizers of the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. domain conference hold three events a year, with the next three scheduled for Silicon Valley (just south of San Francisco), Las Vegas and Miami Beach. Another group stages an annual event, Domain Roundtable, in the western U.S. The first one was in Seattle. The location for the next one in the spring of 2006 should be released soon.

Scene from 2005 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Conference in Florida

It is expensive to go to live shows. There is the cost of registration fees, airline tickets, hotels and ground transportation. As a result most attendees are professionals who have been in the business for awhile. Of course, those are just the kinds of people you can learn the most from, so if you can afford to do it, attending a domain conference is well worth the expense as it can propel your business to a new level.

If you make an effort to get to know others you will very likely make close friends whom you will not just share business relationships with, you will share life with them. One thing we have found is that the domain business attracts very bright, entrepreneurial and personable people who are a delight to be around. It's a relatively small club, so there is a genuine camaraderie among those of us who have discovered this amazingly enjoyable and rewarding corner of the Internet world!