The Record-Breaking Blog

Saturday, February 11, 2006: New site about to be launched with a BIG BANG!

I've been working hard on the new site which will be launched this coming week.  It looks a lot better and more professional than the current one, so I expect it to be taken a lot more seriously by the public and the media, helping to propel my little domain to a whole new level.  It's going to have a lot of surprises, which will benefit all of my supporters and charity.  A new Press Release will also accompany it to announce the big changes, and Tom's T-shirts will be available for sale.  My next Blog entry will be on my new site, so stay tuned and keep supporting the feat! 

Monday, February 6, 2006: Tom Szczerbowski is our new Graphic Designer!

I know I haven't updated my Blog in like 5 days, I was busy traveling back to Brazil. But enough with the excuses, I want to congratulate our new Graphic Designer, Tom Szczerbowski, for winning the T-shirt Design Contest. Tom brings with him a lot of professional experience with Graphic Designing, having done magazine and bus shelter advertisements for products, poster and media-guide designs for professional sporting events, as well as promotional exhibits for the Detroit Auto Show. He has been working with many of Adobe's products over the last 7-8 years and has expert skills in Photoshop (as well as the rest of the CS 2 suite), Illustrator, Flash, Quark, and Cinema 4D. He's the real deal, so I'm very happy to have him on board as part of the team. He's going to be designing a whole range of merchandise for this domain, helping to advertise it to every corner of the globe, and even experimenting with some new logo's for my domain. Welcome on board, Tom!

I'm going to be in Brazil this month, and will then be traveling to Los Angeles in early march before I head over to Sydney, Australia, where I'll be calling home for at least the next few years. I'm going to look into doing some crazy advertising for my domain here in the land of Samba and "Futebol" before I leave. I'm going to call the Maracana Stadium, the largest in the world seating approximately 200,000 people, to see if they'd be open to letting me advertise my domain on their field using soccer balls, in exchange for a pledge to the charity of their choice. It will be interesting to see what they say, as I'm sure they've never had such a request. If they're up for it, I'll be traveling to Rio de Janeiro, before I leave Brazil, to get the job done.

Anyone catch the Super Bowl yesterday?  I'm sure MILLIONS of you did, so congratulations to all the Pittsburgh Steelers for winning their 5th title. What did you guys thing of the commercials? The Budweiser commercials are always the best, although I still think these companies would get a lot more bang for their publicity buck if they bough this domain and put one of their Ads on here! :) Only time will tell...

As I had mentioned before, this domain is undergoing MASSIVE changes, but none of it will be revealed until it is complete. Hang in there!

Wednesday, February 1, 2006: And the winner is....

It all started a little over a month ago when I thought about selling merchandise for my little domain. I thought it would be cool to have human billboards walking around proudly advertising my domain all over the world! But then I realized that I wasn't a professional designer, so I would need some help. And that's when it hit me! I decided to do a t-shirt design contest, open to any graphic designer in the world, and have my visitors, the target "market", vote and choose their favorite designer. Well, 1 month, 12 designers, and 420 votes later, I'm proud to say that I have found the OFFICIAL TheRecordBreakingDomain.com Graphic Designer! I won't spoil the surprise here on my Blog, but you can find out who won here. I've also announced the winning voter that will be taking home $1,000 in cash when I sell this domain. I want to say a big thanks to all the 12 designers and the people who voted, for making this all possible. You have to remember, this record attempt is not being attempted just by me, but by all of YOU who are helping to build the most incredible and international record-breaking team EVER!

Also, expect MASSIVE changes to this site in the coming weeks. I've been working hard with Vinnie, the new Web Designer, on the new version of the site that will look a whole lot better, provide an official response to the $12 million dollar sale of Sex.com, and invite even MORE supporters to help break this damn record! There will be a very big change to this concept when the new site is launched, so stay tuned for that awesome surprise.

And please don't forget about the charities! If there are any charities you think could really use the money from the sale of this domain, check out the charity page and suggest it!

I'll be talking about our new Graphic Designer, and what they have in store for this domain, in my next Blog entry. Until then, find out if you've won one of last month's random prizes!

Friday, January 27, 2006: The Record Breaking Domain flying Sky High!

After an arduous few weeks trying to find out how I could advertise on those damn planes that fly above Punta del Este, Uruguay, all the time and then waiting for Mother Nature to cooperate during the weekend (when the beaches are fullest), I am very happy to say that I have finally been able to pull off my "domain in the sky" publicity for TheRecordBreakingDomain.com ! I even got the pilot to do a 360 around where I was so I could take as many pictures as possible and the weather could not have been nicer, so it was definitely worth the wait. Thousands of beachgoers in this South-American Saint Tropez have, in one flying swoop, seen this domain, wondered what the hell it is, what the hell it's doing in the air, and will hopefully be curious enough to go to the nearest cybercafé and type it in to find out what this is all about. My hopes are not too high, though, because this is, after all, a Spanish-speaking country and my domain name is in English, but it is in keeping with my idea of advertising my domain wherever I go in extreme and unique ways. It all started when I wrote my domain out in stones at 2,000 meters above sea level a the top of Cerro Catedral in Bariloche, Argentina. Now Uruguay got a taste of this domain. Next stop: Brazil...what will be in store for this domain in the country of Soccer and Samba? A visitor from Brazil actually recommended that I write the domain with soccer balls in the Maracana Stadium, the worlds largest soccer stadium! If it can be done, it WILL be done. Until then, enjoy the pictures of the "domain in the sky" and don't forget to tell all your friends about it! (Click on the images to enlarge them for full view):

Tuesday, January 24, 2006: Sex.com proves my point (and actually sells for...$12 million?)

Anyone who saw the international edition of CNN.com (or various other new sites across the globe) today would have confirmed what I've been saying all along: breaking the record for the most expensive domain makes headlines all over the world! The Sex.com sale has proved that my concept actually works...except of course that the media attention surrounding the sale of this domain would be A LOT GREATER, considering the circumstances of the sale of this domain (i.e. that it was sold for the sake of breaking the record, making me rich, giving to charity, and creating the most publicized Ad in history) and that millions will be split amongst charities and my supporters! So I was very happy to see the Sex.com sale make headlines and prove my point!

The reason for all these headlines is a new article from Reuters, which claims that Sex.com actually sold for "$12 million and involved cash and stock, as well as requirements that the business meet certain performance targets." This is $2 million less than had been reported by Xbiz originally. There is also speculation that the previous owner of Sex.com also maintained a minority stake in it, so he didn't sell all of it. This goes to show what I mentioned in my previous blog entry, that we need to wait until the dust settles to see the exact details of this sale (I'm sure they will change again). Like I said before, if the Sex.com is confirmed and accepted by the general public, I will have to make the appropriate changes to ensure my domain remains TheRecordBreakingDomain.com

So keep supporting the feat, ladies and gentlemen, because this game just got a whole lot more interesting!

In other news, I have rescheduled my "domain in the sky" for this weekend (finally!), so if mother nature cooperates, my domain should be flying sky high in a few days. I will have cameras ready to record the event, which of course, I will post up here.

Friday, January 20, 2006: Sex.com sells for $14 million?

The news is running wild! Although not yet official, it seems that a Boston-based company called Escom has purchased the domain name Sex.com for $14 million. Many news sources are all quoting the same source (Xbiz, not a work-friendly link), which got its information on the deal through a company called InternetRealEstate.com. This company, InternetRealEstate.com, shares office space with another company called Domain Name Acquisition Group, which was party to a lawsuit a little while back over the failed purchase of Sex.com, so there are even rumors that the sale is tied into that lawsuit. You have to remember that this story, being reported all over town, is all actually coming from one source, so we need to take it with a grain of salt (hence the question mark in this blog entry's title) until other sources independently verify this claim. Assuming it is true, we will have to see the details of the actual sale (was anything else part of the $14 million deal besides the domain name?). Even that is not enough to officially break the record, as they would have to prove it to Guinness World Records, the only authority on world records, which not every company is willing to do for several different reasons (i.e. privacy concerns, confidentiality agreements, etc.). And even if they were willing to prove it to Guinness, family-friendly Guinness would probably be reluctant to publish that record, due to the adult nature of the site.

Regardless, however, if other independent sources come out confirming the deal, then I will have to respond accordingly. Because even if the Sex.com dealmakers are not willing to prove it to Guinness, the public will know that Sex.com sold for $14 million, due to all the publicity this sale has already generated. And no potential buyer of this domain would feel comfortable paying $7,500,001 knowing that another domain recently sold for $14 million because it opens the door for other domains to sell for more than $7,500,001.

This is not bad news for this domain, however. If you think about it, no other domain name could conceivably sell for more than Sex.com under normal circumstances...sex sells more than anything, we already know that, so anyone actually willing to break the alleged Sex.com record (think this domain) would in all likelihood maintain the world record virtually for ever. The only domain names that might be worth more than Sex.com, are the ones that are a part of well-established businesses, such as Google.com, which would never be put for sale because they are part of a trademark and make a lot more money (billions) from the services they provide than any sale of their domain name could generate.

So nothing is going to change about this domain until the details of this deal surface and the exact numbers revealed. The only thing I can say for sure is that this domain is the only record-breaking domain name in the world, and I plan on keeping it that way no matter what. Stay tuned...

Tuesday, January 17, 2006: It's voting time!

The time has come for everyone to vote on their favorite t-shirt design and thus help choose the Official Graphic Designer for all future TheRecordBreakingDomain.com merchandise! A total of 10 people from all over the world submitted designs, and I want to thank all of them for believing in me and my idea, and for taking a risk to become part of this world record-breaking team! So get your eyes and fingers ready to vote! The designer that receives the most votes by the end of the month, will immediately become the official merchandise Graphic Designer, and their winning T-shirt will be available to the world for sale in mid-February! So take a few minutes to check out the designs and vote!

In other news, I've rescheduled my "domain in the sky" advertising for next weekend since the weather has been so awful here lately. The weather has improved today, so that's a good sign. I just hope that Joseph Lewis, a British-born, Bermuda-based, self-made billionaire who's visiting Punta del Este in his 60 meter (200 foot) Yacht, stays long enough to see my domain in the sky because he just might be interested in buying my little domain! He keeps a pretty low profile so I don't really know if he would buy my domain, especially after exposing him here, but you never know. He is NOT the richest man in the world (by far), does NOT own the most expensive or biggest boat (by far), so this could be a perfect opportunity for him to make it into the record books! My fingers are crossed...Oh, and if I see his $50 million boat, I'll take a picture of it and post it on here because I know you guys are curious.

Also, I have a new web designer for TheRecordBreakingDomain.com. Vincent Valentine from DefinitiveLabs.com has chosen to sponsor my record attempt and become part of this awesome record-breaking team. So stay tuned for a re-design of this entire site! Thanks Vinnie for joining the team!

What are you still doing reading this? Go vote for your favorite t-shirt!

Saturday, January 14, 2006: It's raining...

I have some bad news...mother nature has won this round. The weather here has not improved and has actually gotten worse. I'm going to have to call off the "domain in the sky" for today and postpone it for tomorrow or the next day sunny day. I suppose it could be worse, those people running that fashion show on the beach have got it a lot worse than me. You can't exactly postpone something like that...

Anyway, remember that tomorrow is the deadline for the entries for the Graphic Design contest, so make sure you submit your designs to me by then. I will post them up on Monday for everyone to vote to choose the best design! I'm looking forward to seeing all the designs and thanks again to everyone who's participating to support this feat.

Now all I need is for the weather to improve...

Friday, January 13, 2006: Domain in the Sky!

After asking a local taxi driver here in Punta del Este if he knew where I could ask about advertising on those ubiquitous airplane banners, being given the number of a friend of his that is a friend of one of the pilots, and then calling up that friend to get the number of the pilot, and finally speaking to the pilot, I have finally scheduled my domain to go live in the air (literally) for all of Punta del Este and its beach citizens to see (and wonder what the heck it is)! That's right, my domain is going sky high tomorrow at 6pm local time (FYI: it gets dark here at 9pm), during a very exclusive beach fashion show that will attract a lot of people to the beach, weather permitting. Don't take that last party lightly, though, because the weather today is terrible, so if the weather does not improve tomorrow, I will have to reschedule for Sunday (weather forecast for Sunday is sunny, so it's a good enough Plan B!). I've also organized them to do a few 360 degree turns where I'm going to be at so that I can get as many pictures as possible, which I will obviously be posting up here. In line with my "advertising my domain in unique ways wherever I go", this should prove a very good investment!

I've started to post up the translations of the site that one of my sponsor has been working on. So the Spanish-speaking crowd here in Punta del Este should be able to understand what this is all about when they click on the "Español" link on the homepage. Eventually, this site will be in Chinese, Dutch, German, Portuguese, Korean, Spanish, French, Italian, and Japanese (and English of course!). This is a WORLD record attempt, so it has to be in the world languages for everyone to understand and support!

I'm also in talks with a Web Designer to be the Official TheRecordBreakingDomain.com web designer and turn this whole site into a more serious venture and get rid of that "get rich quick" feel to it. I got the idea of a re-design from people in the Forum, which has been very active lately, thanks to Tino and Fred 5000, the new moderators. I want the Forum to become a more central part of the site and to be the reason people come back, so I'm going to be working hard on making it so.

I just hope it's sunny tomorrow...

Tuesday, January 10, 2006: New Forum Moderators!

I'm glad to announce that TheRecordBreakingDomain.com has two new Forum Moderators to help make the forum more active, fun, and clean so everyone can participate, meet new people, discuss new ideas, and have fun. Martin MacRae and Alex Penman have given up the opportunity of winning the $50,000 Forum Grand Prize to become the Moderators of the Forum and win a cool $7,000 when I sell this domain. I think now that the Forum has 2 other moderators to help keep it active will make it even more so. So I wanted to say thanks to the two of them for their help with this. Remember that since no one won the $2,500 monthly forum prize last month, this month's forum prize has been bumped up to $5,000, so join the forum and keep posting! We have over 50 pioneers in the forum building a long-lasting community around this whole record-breaking concept and helping support this domain!

Speaking of which, the support from people has been growing tremendously. More and more people are signing my guestbook, linking to my domain, telling friends about it, joining the forum and registering domains from my site. In fact, the 100,000 visitor mark is fast approaching, which I think may be a convenient time for another Press Release about this domain. It is absolutely humbling and flattering to see all this support only 2 months since I launched my little idea. It already looks like this domain is well on it's way to building a record-sized, record-breaking team! Remember, we're all in this together, let's show the world what we can do!

And please, do not doubt for one second that this domain is not going to (or can't) break this world record. This week Alex Tew from the Million Dollar Homepage put his last 1,000 pixels up for auction (which I think was another brilliant idea) and they have already been bid up to over $38,000 (that's over $38 per pixel!). If that doesn't prove the value of good publicity, then I don't know what does. I mean, if someone is willing to pay $38,000 for 1,000 pixels that are surrounded by literally 999,000 other pixels, then it is not THAT far-fetched to imagine someone paying 200 times more for 1,000 times more publicity, especially considering the amount of support this domain is already building BEFORE the sale!

And that support will grow exponentially soon when people all over the world start walking around with cool TheRecordBreakingDomain.com merchandise, automatically spreading the word wherever they go. So don't forget about the Graphic Design contest and the opportunity to show the world your creative spark! Four graphic designers have already submitted their designs and I suspect I'll be getting even more designs as the deadline of January 15 approaches! The voting for best T-shirt design will begin on January 16, so get your eyes ready for some serious evaluating!

I'm going to break this record if it's the last thing I do! Mark my words...

Wednesday, January 4, 2006: Happy New Year!

I wanted to personally wish all my supporters and visitors an amazing 2006, it's going to absolutely rock, I can already feel it! I hope everyone partied hard on New Year's Eve, that's what life is all about. The fireworks here in Punta del Este, which means "East Tip" by the way, were as amazing as the sunsets. For those of you who don't know, this place is fast becoming the Saint Tropez of South-America, enjoying the presence of people like Puff Daddy and Valentino this summer (don't forget, it's summer down here in the southern hemisphere!). I know I promised pictures of this place, so I've included a few below, check them out:

Last Sunset of 2005.

Coffee anyone?

I want a boat. No, seriously, I do.

My girlfriend and I on New Year's Eve.

I would have updated my blog sooner, but I was having problems with the Internet here in Uruguay which is somewhat unstable, so please bear with me. Fear not, however, as I have been hard at work on the site. I've announced the December Monthly Prize winners, so check out the Support the Feat page to see if you're a winner! I've had to replace the Donations Award with the soon-to-be-launched Merchandise Award because offering financial compensation for any kind of donation is a big PayPal no-no. I'm still accepting donations, I just can't offer any financial award in return (don't worry, I'm still figuring out what other incentives I can offer). I need as many donations as I can get, though, to be able to advertise my domain in extreme (think "expensive") ways...like that plane idea I mentioned last week...I still haven't found how to advertise on there (I can't exactly yell out and ask the pilot) but I have a feeling it's going to be expensive since the local Casino keeps advertising there. I need to advertise this domain heavily wherever I am to give it the worldwide pre-publicity it needs to break the record, so help make it happen!

Also, don't forget about the Graphic Design contest. The deadline is January 15, so make sure you submit your entries before then. I want to thank everyone getting involved, this whole contest is going to be a lot of fun. Oh, and before I forget, I have a new Sound Engineer! That's right, soon your visits to this domain will enjoy an exceptional auditory experience thanks to 808talk.com's very own Jim "BigDaddy" Plummer who had the idea. Thank's Jim! This reminds me, I've allocated more money for miscellaneous help since I had to cancel the donation prizes, so if you have an idea about how to make this site better, let me know and win some cash!

In the meantime, if you have any suggestions about how I can advertise my record-breaking domain on the beach, drop me a line, I'd love to give it a shot. As always, keep supporting the feat, I'm surer now more than ever that TheRecordBreakingDomain.com is going to soon become the Most Expensive Internet Domain Name in History!

Saturday, December 31, 2005: Time for those New Year's Resolutions!

It's that time of the year when you draw up your New Years Resolutions, sincerely believe this year you will actually go through with them, only to forget about them by January 7. However, this time around, my New Year's Resolution is not to exercise more or eat healthier. It's to break this damn record and create the most incredible publicity stunt the world has ever seen. That's right, I'm breaking this record in 2006!

The support from everyone these past 2 months has been absolutely inspiring. It is incredible how many people can get behind an idea so quickly and help propel it forward. Take The Million Dollar Homepage for example. Alex Tew's is hours away from reaching the million-dollar mark no one thought possible 4 months ago. And as a result of it being featured on CNN, Yahoo News, and elsewhere, hits to every pixel on there, including those linking to my domain, have increased exponentially in the past few days. That says it all folks, these types of ideas work and they work exceptionally well thanks to the global accessibility the internet provides. The Million Dollar Homepage has become a black hole of publicity, sucking in all the attention that goes near it, while giving all the advertisers quick enough to have gotten a spot on there an incredibly good value for their money. If you think about it, The Million Dollar Homepage has given a lot of publicity to hundreds of advertisers on there. My domain, on the other hand, will be giving unparalleled publicity to only ONE advertiser bold enough to make it happen.

As everyone knows, to help break this record as soon as possible, I'm looking for a Graphic Designer to design all the merchandise that will help spread this domain all over the world. The initial response to my Wanted Ad was better than expected, so I've decided to turn it into a full-on contest and let YOU, the public, my visitors, my supporters, decide who will be The Record-Breaking Designer. All the details can be found on the Contest Page. This competition will help create record-breaking merchandise, which will be made available starting the 2nd week of February.

That's it for 2005. Try to stick to your New Year's Resolutions. I know I will this time around.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005: Year almost over, still have a full plate on my hands!

I've now arrived in Punta del Este, Uruguay, a summer resort town with beaches, parties, casinos, and sunsets, I'll post a few pictures of this place as soon as I take them. Today I saw one of those small planes flying in the sky here carrying a sign with an advertisement on it and I got the idea of advertising my domain in the same way when the beaches are full so everyone on there can see it and wonder what the heck it is and then visit this site. I'm going to find out who takes care of that and depending on how much it costs, I'll give it a shot. It would be awesome to have a plane flying my little domain name around, and I'll definitely take pictures and post them up if I do!

I've also given my site a bit of a Matrix makeover with the blue pill/red pill dilemma to compel new readers to actually read my argument for why this domain will sell to avoid people brushing this idea off as "stupid" without really understanding what it's all about. I'm hoping this will get even more people to believe in this idea and support it all the way!t all the way!

In other news, I got an e-mail from PayPal saying that I cannot use their services for any "games/contests involving the distribution of prizes or monetary compensation" and so I had to remove the PayPal donation buttons. I'm looking into this, but I may have to remove the prizes for the Donations so I can continue to accept them without PayPal giving me any heat. Donations are important at this stage because they help me raise money to pay for new and creative ways of advertising my idea (like the airplane advertisement I mentioned before). I'm also looking into doing some merchandising to raise money and create walking billboards. This is a cool idea because if people are walking around with TheRecordBreakingDomain.com t-shirts and caps, then more and more people will find out about my idea. I found this one site called cafepress.com that seems to do it all and requires no money up-front, so it looks ideal (it's the same company the people from SaveToby.com used). I know you guys won't wear them if I don't make them cool, so I'm going to spend these next few days designing the t-shirts and stuff so you guys actually buy them! If you have any ideas or suggestions regarding this, please drop me a line.

Well, 2005 is almost over and I hope everyone's year has been awesome. For me it has certainly been a thrill of a ride. 2006 is now upon us and I can't help but wonder with utter excitement what it has in store for this little domain...I have a feeling it's going to be something big...very big...seven-figures big.

Sunday, December 25, 2005: Merry Christmas!

Just a quick note to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and to say that hopefully by this time next year Santa will be bringing me a big fat check for $7,500,001, which I will be gladly sharing with my awesome supporters and the many charities on my list. What a Christmas that will be! For now, keep supporting the feat to ensure you get a slice of Santa's pie and remember that we're all in this together and I need YOU to make this happen. So take advantage of this holiday season, when you are surrounded by family and friends, to tell them all about the crazy 25-year-old who wants to break a world record, give away a total of $3 million, become a multi-millionaire, and create the most publicized Ad in history all with TheRecordBreakingDomain.com! Don't be shy, spread the word...I'm here with all my relatives doing the same!

Sunday, December 18, 2005: My first podcast interview!

Yesterday I had my first podcast interview with Vernon from 808talk.com in Hawaii. It was different from all my other radio interviews because it wasn't live and so it lasted a lot longer. Also, since it's a podcast, anyone can download and listen to it on the 808talk.com site at any time and at their own leisure. It will also be available on iTunes starting on Monday, so it could potentially reach MILLIONS of people! Vernon was great and I talked at my usual methamphetamine rate, but we covered a lot ground and it will hopefully give my idea even more much-needed exposure. If you found out about my site from the awesome 808talk podcast, please let me know when you sign my guestbook. With all the recent media attention and what's happened to me these last few days, I am more confident than EVER that I am going to sell this baby and make many people a lot of money and myself a multi-millionaire. It's just a matter of time...

Friday, December 16, 2005: The most surreal 30 hours of my entire life!

OK, I don't even know where to begin. Thirty hours ago I was the driver in this aquatic car, with my girlfriend as the sole passenger:

Kids, please don't try this at home.

For a few hours, we were the main tourist attraction in Bariloche as buses, cars, and pedestrians stopped and watched in awe, wondering what that car was doing reenacting a scene from Finding Nemo. Twenty-nine hours ago I was arguing with the car rental company whether this was a roll-over, for insurance purposes (look at the roof, it clearly isn't...I think I would know...). Twenty-eight hours ago I was in a local police station, still drenched in pristine waters, filing the police report. Twenty-five hours ago I was on an airplane, imagining the worst (complete engine failure at 32,000 feet), still in a bit of shock over my first experience in a car accident (caused by enjoying the scenery a little too much and missing a 90-degree curve, probably breaking the world record for most "spaced out" human). Twenty-three hours ago I arrived in Buenos Aires. Twenty hours ago I was sound asleep, in utter disbelief and complete amazement that I was actually alive and enjoying the comfort of a very inviting pillow. Then, three hours ago, I was doing a live phone interview with Gary Burbank in Cincinnati from Buenos Aires, talking at my modest pace of 3,400 words per minute (those who heard it, know what I mean). Now I'm off to my Uncle's birthday party...

If surreal does not describe my last 30 hours on this planet, then I need to go back to school. To top it all off, I've already surpassed the 40,000 visitor mark. Hopefully my interview today will further multiply that. I had to cancel my podcast interview last night with Hawaii's very own 808talk.com for obvious reasons, but it was rescheduled for tomorrow, so stay tuned for that.

Damn, I love living on the edge...someone please pinch me, I'M ALIVE!! And remember, always wear your seatbelt.

Monday, December 12, 2005: 30,000 visitor mark hit!

Wow, I can't believe it, in my last blog entry on December 8th I was talking about having hit the 20,000 visitor mark! Now, 4 days later, I've hit the 30,000 visitor mark! Traffic is picking up very quickly thanks mainly to new supporters linking to my site and helping spread the word. And I'm sure that after my interview on the 16th this will multiply even further. Everyone has been great and the support just keeps growing, this is all very surreal. I didn't expect to get this many visitors until at least next year, so I'm ecstatic about it.

I also got a new suggestion to donate to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, so I've decided to pledge $25,000 to help protect "our civil liberties in the networked world." My life is now spent mostly online, so this is something I want to help protect and maintain. If you have any charities or foundations you would like me to donate to once I sell this domain, just visit the charities section above and make your suggestion.

I'm still in Bariloche, Argentina enjoying the fresh mountain summer air surrounded by crystal clear lakes. The other day I climbed up one of the highest mountains in this region, Cerro Catedral. It felt like being on top of the world, probably what it will feel like the day I sell my domain:

On top of the world.

Then, I got the cool idea of advertising my domain in this very secluded and exclusive place, so with the awesome help of my very patient girlfriend, I wrote out TheRecordBreakingDomain.com in stones on the summit of the mountain so that every future visitor who makes it up there will know I've been there.

Advertising my domain 2,000 meters above sea level.

If that did not break the record for the highest altitude domain name, then it definitely broke the record for the highest altitude domain name written in stones!

This was a lot harder than it looks!

Anyone who reaches the summit of Cerro Catedral in Bariloche, Argentina will see these stones, walk over to them, wonder what the heck a domain name is doing written in stones that high up, then visit this site just to find out what it's all about, and connect in a very unique and long-lasting way to this very domain name which they will never, ever forget. This is the very same curiosity principle that will attract millions of visitors to this site once this domain breaks the record.

Does anyone still think I'm joking here?

Thursday, December 8, 2005: Hit the 20,000 visitor mark!

Yesterday I hit the 20,000 unique visitor mark for my site, less than a month after the launch! That's better than I expected at this stage of the game, so I'm really happy about that and everyone's support has been phenomenal. In fact, I have almost 30 people who are linking to my site via their own unique referral link (and vying for the $500,000 grand prize!), which is helping attract a growing number of visitors to this site from all over the world. Many of my supporters are also telling their friends and spreading the word which has also helped my traffic considerably. I've also noticed that a greater proportion of the recent visitors think I will break the record...I'm not sure what has changed to convince more people, but I'm glad that's the case. I also got a new interview lined up with Vernon from 808talk.com, a podcast in Hawaii...that will be my first podcast interview and will hopefully help attract even more visitors and supporters! It should happen on the 15th of December, so I'll let everyone know when it's up.

I arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina yesterday and will be traveling to beautiful Bariloche today. I will try and post a few pictures of this magical place in the Andes mountain range as soon as I can. I'm taking my laptop with me so I'll be in touch from there.

Monday, December 5, 2005: New LIVE Radio Interview Scheduled!

I got a call from Rob Ervin, a producer from 700 WLW Radio in Cincinnati, Ohio to do a live phone interview on the Gary Burbank Show on Friday, December 16th at 3:40pm US Eastern time! I think that's going to help me get a lot more exposure for my little idea and hopefully even more support. I'm really glad the media is picking up interest in this. I think the more media interest I get, the more supporters I will have, and the more supporters I have, the more media interest there will be, so please keep supporting this record attempt! I need as much publicity as I can get in order to catch the eyes of an interested buyer! You'll be able to hear my LIVE interview on this site: www.700wlw.com/streaming.html...so don't miss it!

If you look at the winners of last month's prizes, you can tell that this is truly a WORLD record attempt with worldwide support! The random winners were people literally from all over the world: New Zealand, Sweden, India, Venezuela, United Kingdom, and the US! That's the beauty of the internet, it lets us all come together regardless of our geographical location. So if you want to support this feat because you believe we can break this record, then you could be a winner no matter where in the world you are!

Thursday, December 1, 2005: November Prizes Awarded!

Today is a VERY exciting day! I've announced the FIRST random winners of the massive $2 Million Giveaway! So if you either linked to my site, donated to the cause, told a friend about it, registered a domain with me, joined the forum, or signed my guestbook in November, then YOU could be a winner! You can find out right now in the Support the Feat page. This is a HUGE moment worthy of a drum roll........

I've awarded $33,500 in November and there is still plenty to go around, so keep supporting this record attempt! Remember that the monthly prizes will be paid out when I break this record, so if you won, keep supporting the feat and make it happen! Also, let me remind you that no matter when I sell this domain, I'm giving away $2 million to my supporters. So if I sell this domain before I've awarded all the money, then those who already won will actually get their proportional share of what's left on top of what they have already won! So the SOONER you make it happen, the MORE you will get!

If you're just joining the party, or did not win this time around, don't worry cuz I'm giving away another $33,500 in December, and every month until 2008. Support the feat and YOU could be a well-deserved winner too! Be a part of a once-in-a-lifetime world record-breaking team!

Thanks to everyone for believing in my idea, it means a lot. I'm glad to be able to share the wealth with those who had so much faith in me so early in the game!

Keep it up!

Monday, November 28, 2005: $1,000,000 to Charity!

OK, Thanksgiving got the better of me and I've decided to more than DOUBLE my pledge to Charity to $1,000,000! I figured it wouldn't really hurt me that much to pledge more now, since I would still stand to make a cool $4.5 Million-and-one after I sell this domain and pay $2 million to my supporters and $1 million to charity. It actually feels good to help out. I got an e-mail suggesting the Cure Autism Now charity and so I've pledged $10,000 to that charity as well. I have a lot more money available to pledge, so if you have any charities anywhere in the world that you'd like to suggest, please click on the new Charity link above.

I was really busy this Thanksgiving weekend re-working my entire site. I've made the site wider and the menu buttons bigger so it's easier to navigate. I've removed the initial clutter from my homepage and added a cute little light bulb [I've since changed the light bulb to a more thought-provoking handicapped sign] with a very daring question: "Do you think I'm delusional?" I thought it would be fun to pose this question to every visitor on my site considering that if you search for my name, Andres Kello, on Google, the first result is a guys blog asking himself if I'm delusional. In all seriousness, if you read what I want to accomplish, yes, at first it seems completely unrealistic and makes me look a bit - delusional - but if you've read my arguments for the value of this domain, and gave it some time to sink in, I think you'd start to see the real diamond in the rough this domain represents. I have a feeling that a lot of people who think I won't sell this domain are not actually reading through my site and are just blowing the idea off without really giving it any thought, so I decided to make it a bit more interactive and interesting so people read through until the end.

So, do YOU think I'm delusional?

Friday, November 25, 2005: Closed my first Sponsorship deal!

I have a lot of good news. This week I closed my first sponsorship deal with my good friend Gabriel Fairman, owner of the international and very prestigious Bureau Translation Services company. His company is based in Brazil (with offices in New York) and offers very competitively-priced translation services to clients all over the world. His company will be translating my site into about 10 different languages, ranging from French to Chinese! That should give this world-record attempt the international appeal it deserves. People from all over the world will be able to understand the magnitude of what exactly I am trying to achieve and how they can help out and make it happen. The translations should be completed by the end of the year. Keep your eyes opened for Bureau's logo, it should appear shortly in the Sponsors section.

In other interesting news, today I purchased 900 pixels on the MillionDollarHomepage.com which has been getting even more traffic lately thanks to Alex's US media tour. That should help me get a lot of new incoming visitors who will hopefully love this idea, tell all their friends about it, and support the feat!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Monday, November 21, 2005

I was experiencing some "technical difficulties" with my Tell-a-Friend service provider, Tell-a-Friend-Wizard.com, which I do not recommend to anyone. You'd think a paid service for something so simple wouldn't have any problems, yet this service simply stopped working a few days ago. It doesn't matter though because I have already switched to a much better service, Tell-a-Friend-King.com. I apologize to those who were wanting to tell a friend. That feature is now back up. Use it to support the feat and win BIG!

Anyway, I received an interesting e-mail from Liz Stella-Ford who's 6 year old son has a site, www.noahville.com, where he sells posters to raise money to help build 100 houses for Habitat for Humanity. She kindly asked if I would consider pledging an amount to her son's cause. That got me thinking. It would be really cool if people could suggest Charities so I can already pledge an amount for those I accept. As a result, I've added a Charities section to my site and have pledged to buy $10,000 worth of Posters from Noah to help his cause once I sell my domain. Good luck, Noah!

As for my supporters, keep up the awesome work! In 10 days I will announce the first winners of the $2 million giveaway! I've even added a little stats box in each category in the Support the Feat page so you can see what your chances of winning that monthly prize are. I will update these stats daily.

Have fun!

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Things have been picking up very quickly a week after the launch! My press release got a lot of attention, more so than I could have hoped for. I have many people talking about my record feat and linking to my page from all over the world, which has increased my daily hit count six-fold! I'm also getting all sorts of advertising offers, which in unexpected this early in the game, although highly welcomed.

The funny thing is, though, more and more people think that I will NOT break this record, according to the polls I have on my site. Even stranger, there's a growing number of people who don't even WANT me to break the record. Now what is that all about? I really don't know. But it doesn't matter because that just makes me want to break it even MORE! I won't break the record...and then I break it? Now THAT would be even more SHOCKING and generate even MORE publicity! Bring it on! And I know my supporters will help me get there. Can you imagine if the majority of the world thinks

Speaking of which, I'm also really grateful to all the people that have been helping me out so far. You're in the minority, and that says a lot about you. I have a growing suspicion that I will get a lot more supporters on board after I announce the November prize winners. When others start seeing real people being awarded a lot of money, they will want their piece of the pie too.

I'm thinking of throwing a huge party for all my supporters after I break this record...not a bad idea, eh? Keep up the awesome work everyone and LET'S BREAK THIS RECORD!! It's going to be a lot of fun...

Oh, and my girlfriend, whom I haven't seen since July, arrives today from Australia. Now THAT'S something to smile about! I have to go pick her up in less than 2 hours...so I might take a little longer than usual to reply to any e-mails...perhaps a few days longer (just kidding).

Tuesday, November 15, 2005: Press Release Launched

Today was my busiest day yet!

I launched my Press Release letting the media know about my record-breaking feat and within hours started receiving phone calls for interviews. I'm guessing they liked the idea. My first interview was with Wireless Flash News, a pop culture news wire company with an impressive client roster including "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", "The Late Show with David Letterman", and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart". My second interview was LIVE with a Seattle Radio Station, KOMO 1000. That one was a lot of fun because it was my first live radio interview (yes, I was a bit nervous!). And I am in Brazil at the moment, so I was talking to Seattle long distance from the southern hemisphere, which is kind of cool. If anyone in the Seattle area heard my interview, please let me know. Steven Dee, from The Morning Skoop, also called me about doing interviews in several morning radio stations that he works with, so I expect that to get the ball rolling even further. Stay tuned for more...

As a result of all this more-than-welcomed attention, I've created a Press section on my site to keep track of all the interviews and stories about my domain. I've also included my contact details.

Hopefully all this exposure will help get a lot of supporters on board. I won't be able to break this record without YOU! For those of you already Supporting the Feat, thank you for being Pioneers. December 1 should be a lot of fun as I'll be announcing the winners of the $33,500 November prizes! Please tell all your friends about this...and your Uncle's.

Saturday, November 12, 2005

OK, it's been 3 days now since the official launch and a lot has happened. I've had a few people sign the guestbook, one guy join the forum in full support, and at least one other guy put my banner on his sites ( www.sendmyip.com and www.blowmeup.com ) with his unique referral code linking to this domain...so that makes me REALLY happy, more so than you can imagine, especially since I don't even know these people. I don't think these supporters will get much competition in November, so they have a really good shot at winning their share of the $33,500 November prize money.

I was talking with a few people on this forum about my idea, and the majority thought I was on drugs, delusional, and 15 years old. Hahaha...I had to laugh not to cry. Most had a hard time believing that this was NOT a joke. Then I had this one guy, who was at first skeptical about my idea, write a post that I think sums everything up. Here it is. Thanks Varlin.

The polls on my site so far show that 2 of every 3 visitor does not think I will break the record, although 4 of every 5 wants me to break it, which is quite interesting. In other words, people want me to do it, but they don't think I'll be able to. I'm just going to have to prove them wrong, won't I?

Another interesting tidbit: last night I experienced my first DoS attack (so early in the game!). It wasn't specifically on my site, just on the server I host with Sitelutions. It happened during the middle of the night and it made my beautiful domain inaccessible...or I should say my site inaccessible (my super domain is untouchable!)...for a a couple of hours. Here's what one of the Sitelutions guy had to say about this attack:

"This is the first time I can remember this big of an attack occurring towards one of our servers."

I'm a really lucky guy, 3 days after my launch and I get the biggest attack they've ever recorded. But it's going to take a lot more than a wimpy DoS attack to defeat this idea!

Anyway, I'm getting side-tracked. In other more relevant news, I finished my Press Release which I'll be officially releasing next Tuesday. That will hopefully get the attention of some of the media who will hopefully start spreading the word. I don't think any big media sources will pick up on this yet, but maybe an obscure small-town publication can get the ball rolling. I just need one journalist to believe that this will be the "next big thing" and things will really start to move forward...

Hey, I don't need convincing that this is going to be HUGE. I just need to convince others...and that's my ONLY obstacle at this point. So please...help me convince others by SUPPORTING THE FEAT!!

Oh, and by the way, this is my first time writing a Blog, so forgive me if it's a little rough around the edges. I'm new at this...at all of this...but I'm learning by the minute, and loving every second of it.

Tuesday, November 9, 2005: Guinness World Records Day!

Today is Guinness World Records Day! There is not better day than TODAY to be launching this World Record attempt!

So I had this little idea about a domain name that could break the world record for the most expensive internet domain name. It basically went like this: The most expensive domain name sold for $7,500,000. So all I have to do to break the record is sell it for $1 more than that: $7,500,001. When it breaks the record, it will make headlines all over the world. That news equals a lot of publicity for the buyer. That publicity could well be worth the millions they paid for. Plus, the domain could get a spot in the Guinness World Records book, which is equal to free advertising in the world's all-time best selling book. Not bad for $7,500,001, no?

And the idea was born...

But then I had to come up with a catchy domain name worthy of the price...at first I thought I'd just get the Guinness category for that record, which is "Most Expensive Internet Domain Name" and just make it that DOT COM. But it looked long and ugly...I needed something catchier, something that could be easily remembered and would stick in people heads...and then it hit me...

And TheRecordBreakingDomain.com was born...

But how would I give this little domain that could the pre-publicity it needs to open the eyes of a potential buyer? This was a tough one...and then it hit me again! $7,500,001 is a whole lot of money, and I don't need every cent of it for my next big idea. So I can give a big chunk of it away and get as many people to support this feat as possible. That sounded like a lot of fun! And that's how I came up with the $2 Million Giveaway! Plus another $400,000 to be nice.

Anyway, I kind of fell in love with the idea and quit my day job to invest my time fully into it. I know...HUGE risk...but in life, sometimes you have to go with that ALL-OR-NOTHING attitude, cross your fingers, and hope for the best. No record was ever broken with a half-assed attempt. I'm just curious to see how people react and what kind of feedback I'll get. Whether you find this idea annoying or intriguing, I want you to be talking about it. No one really knows about this yet, so I'm going to start spreading the word. Maybe I'll get Google to help me. Wish me luck...