Years ago, Rick Schwartz got 100 plus domainers out of their basement. They all followed the Pied Pipper to a small Marriott in Delray Beach. It was truly a special time. Most of us had known one another by name for years, but this was an opportunity to see the face behind the voices. Because of this show Demand Media was later formed by Richard Rosenblatt. He had read the Business 2.0 article Paul Sloan wrote about that show and turned Demand into a billion dollar company.

I went to the first 10 traffics. Some were amazing, others simply the opportunity to see old friends and network. It was only a matter of time that others would start shows. Competition started coming from Oversee’s Domainfest, Domainroundtable and some other smaller shows. Domainfest was such a hit, they are added 2 one day shows (New York and FLorida) and a European show.

There was a rumor that there was a Traffic Show in Milan this week, but even so, would you care?

Traffic over the last year had started to get dated. Same Speakers, same people, higher prices. People didn’t care if they missed it as there were more advertisers than attendees. Rick Latona licensed the Targeted Traffic show from Rick and Howard. He brought in a much needed overhaul. He started by asking what domainer’s wanted to see. He set a goal to have 5 shows all over the world. Latona is a great entrepreneur. If anyone can pull it off, he can.

Traffic Shows used to be a must go to event. Important connections were made. When you missed it, you know you missed it. Many domainer’s don’t feel that way anymore especially after the powerful Domainfest show this past January.

I hope Latona can build Targeted Traffic back to a show that’s one looks forward to going to.