White Salmon entrepreneur featured in New York Times

The business feature comes close on the heels of an article that appeared in the May 12 edition of The New York Times. In that issue, feature writer Linda Baker described how "a growing number of second-home buyers and retirees are moving to the quieter Washington side," and expounded on the area's real estate market and growing focus on the arts.

The new article, "New Web Sites Seeing Profit in Wiki Model," explained how millions of people around the world research questions "both trivial and serious" using "Wikipedia," an Internet information site billed as "the how-to guide to everything."

The writer, Robert Levine, points out that John Gotts -- who moved to White Salmon several years ago -- recently agreed to buy the "Wiki.com" Web site for $2.68 million.

In the article, Gotts admits it's a huge investment, but he is optimistic it will pay off.

"I would never have paid that much for any other domain," The New York Times quoted Gotts as saying. "I can't think of one that would be worth more.

The article describes Gotts as "an entrepreneur known for buying the right to domain names."

According to the article, Gotts has been paying for Wiki.com "in $10,000 installments with a final payment of about $2.8 million due within six months."

Gotts explained that he planned to "share revenue with those who used his site to start wikis." Gotts explained that users who register Wiki.com sub-domains hopefully would able to attract advertising or e-commerce.

"The main way we're going to make money is to lead the trend for users to make money," Gotts said.

Gotts said it was gratifying to make The New York Times.

"It's absolutely fantastic," Gotts said on Monday. "This shows there is real interest in Wiki space right now. We're being mentioned everywhere. We were in the right place at the right time, and that's why we made the newspaper."

Gotts added that the success of Wiki.com could bring benefits for White Salmon as well.

"I believe it could ultimately mean a lot of high tech jobs for White Salmon," Gotts explained. "This is an opportunity for White Salmon. As we grow we want to expand here locally."

Gotts' business partner in the Wiki.com endeavor is his father, John William Gotts. The younger Gotts noted, however, that success did not come easy for the father and son team.

"From 1993 until 2004, we struggled and totally failed in the business," Gotts said. "We had 12 years of failure, and it wasn't until the last two and a half years we've had incredible success. That's why it's so important to believe in yourself and your dream, and don't ever give it up."