Like a freight train, that is how the Business 2.0 December 2005 article – Masters of their Domains - hit me. It was one of those classic “aha” moments. I was just about to board a flight and figured some light reading would do great in passing time. It turned out to be much more than that for me and judging by many testimonies I have seen or heard since, it seemed the story had the same effect on many.

I sat there and wondered if something so simple could be that fruitful, I mean financially rewarding…if something so obvious could be after all…not so obvious. It was definitely a “eureka” moment: Essentially, men with tremendous foresight like Rick Schwartz had recognized the value of the Internet, but more importantly the value of domain names - envisioning that they would become the new real estate – virtual real estate if you will.

The story claimed that domains were outstripping the investments in condos and strip malls in terms of returns. Savvy speculators were making millions from their portfolio of names – numbering in the thousands in some instances. This could not be true…where was I…and all of us for that matter?

Apparently domain investors or Domainers have been around since the early 90s. They recognized the role domains would play in internet search and ultimately the significance of traffic that a quality domain could generate. Aha…this is it…these men were able to see that the traffic generated was gold in that it could be converted…converted into sales.

Wow…and get this…despite the Dotcom bust of the late 90s these pioneers were steadfast, seemingly knowing that the shakeout was only for a time. They must have believed that somehow, somewhere there would be a rebirth – a "second coming" if you will. Sounds familiar?

Rick Schwartz who owned over 5,000 domains names at the time of the article has crowned himself “King” through his exploits with Men.com, Property.com and many others. Today, the fire still burns in me just like the first time I read that article and apparently in many others as there are now thousands of Domainers seeking to become the next Rick Schwartz.

If you don’t believe, just visit the well known Domain Forums such as DomainState.com, NamePros.com, and DNForum.com. These bring you face to face with the growing sea of domain name speculators. And for those who doubt the second coming mentioned above, just check weekly domain sales at DNJournal.com.