.CO Domains

[gmspitalio]

Dear forum,

I don't know if this have been discussed already but i want to hear your opinions regarding .co domains.

I have seen a lot of promotion regarding these domains, sometimes making them more than just another ccTLD.

The landrush is coming to a close on Tuesday.

Regards

[mdw]

Landrush is over. General registration starts this week.

I like 'em, because for one thing, I expect typo type-in levels to be substantial, and should get some nice bleedover traffic from .com

and for another thing I expect Columbia to be a more stable host country from a policy standpoint, more like Tuvalu with .TV than China with .CN

[basel]

general registration opened

[IDNCowboy]

general registration opened

not yet - july 20th in the states :)

The good names are already taken by the registrars. They should call it .BS

[Wot]

Great opportunity for some phishing expeditions methinks!

[alpha]

Paul the octopus is forecasting that Wot will get some of the .co's and flip them for a nice profit

[IDNCowboy]

Paul the octopus is forecasting that Wot will get some of the .co's and flip them for a nice profit

He's still busy with his IDN .tel :)

[blackops]

If we go back in time 25 years or so, when 'they' were deciding which domain ending to go with first, then I would say that '.co' probably would have been the most obvious choice (in comparison to '.com').

But, and it is a very big 'but'.. :-) ..'.com' was the one they went with, and the fact is that the internet was built upon it. I say this because I read a curious article recently from the promoters of '.co'. They were trying to suggest that '.co' is somehow better than '.com'.

Of course, fair play to them.. and, yes, it may well have been the better choice at the outset of the web, but now '.co' has no chance and will simply slide in to ignominy, like so many of the other TLD's that tried to start a fight with '.com'.

That said, however, I think the '.co' offering will do well and I wish them the best of luck with it.

Cheers,

[IDNCowboy]

well with all these landrushes we were all able to corner the IDN market with little competition....

IDNs will go up faster than anything else...

.biz ...yawn

.ws ..yawn

etc

[555]

IDN market
.co landrush opened today.
IDN Registration started 10 yrs ago.

Highest reported sale for a .co = $350k for o.co
Highest reported sale for an IDN = $216k for Москва.com

[alexd]

.co landrush opened today.
IDN Registration started 10 yrs ago.

Highest reported sale for a .co = $350k for o.co
Highest reported sale for an IDN = $216k for Москва.com



I know which of those two I'd prefer to have !!

[blackops]

I know which of those two I'd prefer to have !!

Me too, $350K for o.co is a steal... :p

[alexd]

Me too, $350K for o.co is a steal... :p

It is if your name happens to be Oco !!

[blackops]

It is if your name happens to be Oco !!

Ha! Or maybe 'loco'.. ;-)

[IDNCowboy]

didn't a .mobi sell for 200k?

dud :)

I'm not saying .co is worthless. I would love .co.... I'm just saying that the big players don't play fair and use unfair practices to score their names.

[Wot]

Paul the octopus is forecasting that Wot will get some of the .co's and flip them for a nice profit

Paul should stick to football.

Below is a list of the .co. I applied for and subsequently registered.

















:p

[gmspitalio]

here are the ones I ordered over a month ago. Some are definitely going to be declined or reserved. Either way, at least I will be left with 500USD in 101domain credits. Would have preferred supermarket coupons instead.

AUKTION.CO Sent to Registry, Pending create. --

ONLINEBETS.CO Sent to Registry, Pending create. --

GREENENERGY.CO Sent to Registry, Pending create. --

BUYINSURANCE.CO Sent to Registry, Pending create. --

BOOKHOTELS.CO Sent to Registry, Pending create. --

888POKER.CO Pending Approval --

TRAVELDEALS.CO Pending Approval --

VERSICHERUNG.CO Pending Approval --

BETTING.CO Pending Approval --

FREESEX.CO Pending Approval --

MP3DOWNLOAD.CO Pending Approval --

INSURE.CO Pending Approval --

[g]

I got

Registering.co

:)

[DktoInc]

anyone get idn.co?

[g]

anyone get idn.co?

idns.co was available when I was searching but someone grabs it minutes before me :D

[sarcle]

well with all these landrushes we were all able to corner the IDN market with little competition....

IDNs will go up faster than anything else...


.co is idn too... :(

[Wot]

idns.co was available when I was searching but someone grabs it minutes before me :D

AK

[gmspitalio]

101domain.com sucks so hard. Some of my .co that I ordered now a few minutes ago are active, whereas the ones I ordered yesterday are pending create, whereas the ones I ordered 2 months ago are pending approval...it makes no sense to me how their system works. At least activate or deny them!

[IDNCowboy]

Only spanish IDN sarcle..
also .co will translate to columbia in other nations so our investments are safe....

[yanni]

Only spanish IDN sarcle..

are you sure

[sprewellpj]

are you sure

Jeff appears to be right. Russian, Chinese, and Japanese IDN.CO domains all appear to be taken or not available, even the worst of names, meaning that they were never available in the first place. But I haven't seen a description of a policy towards these types of IDNs anywhere on .CO's website, and it is strange that they are not addressed. I wonder whether .CO is planning to make the ccTLD fully IDN compatible in the future?

[sarcle]

Only spanish IDN sarcle..


You can register French and German too. :) Well, certain letters anyways.

[o.c.]

Only Spanish characters are allowed per the .pdf by Cointernet that I had received about 2 months ago (Related section is pasted below)

I had interpreted that at the time as "If we go down in flames globally, we can at least survive in Columbia". I wonder what veterans think about overstock.com buying o.co and twitter.com buying t.co etc. Does that say anthing to you yet?

"1.3.4. Every Domain Name must meet the following technical and syntax requirements:

the A-label must consist exclusively of the letters A-Z (case insensitive) and the numbers 0-9;

the Domain Name cannot begin or end with a hyphen;

Spanish Internationalized Domain Names are permitted (e.g. á é í ó ú ü ñ) in the U-label;

the Domain Name can only have two consecutive hyphens (--) in the 3rd and 4th positions, when preceded by “xn” and followed by a label that corresponds with an internationalized domain name containing characters referred to in (c) above;

underline characters are not allowed

the Domain Name cannot exceed 63 characters (excluding the TLD);

the Domain Name must have a minimum length of 3 characters".

[yanni]

You can register French and German too. :) Well, certain letters anyways.

That was my point earlier. [add Turkish, Czech, Portuguese, etc.]

[sbe18]

My take on t.co and o.co is that the firms want the url's for URL shortening purposes.

bit.ly is collecting great data, at twitter/linkedin/facebook/google expense.

s/

[g]

advices.co registered :)

[atoms2me]

advices.co registered :)

You should give it to those guys:
http://aldaoshin.9gag.com/photo/7728_540.jpg:D

[sarcle]

That was my point earlier. [add Turkish, Czech, Portuguese, etc.]

Yeah I know, I was just responding to Aaron's post mainly. Personally, I think it's a good thing it's not fully IDN compatable. .CO won't be able to get "translated" IDN extensions for a long while; if ever. IDNlatin.co domains don't need to wait for that. So I decided to grab a few good German and French.

I figured, what the hell. They were taken in every other extension even .tel. One German.co generic I grabbed has great traffic. :)

[g]

You should give it to those guys:
http://aldaoshin.9gag.com/photo/7728_540.jpg

it is not for sale , I have personal plans

I already give phone advices but for money :p

but as long as you want free advice, take this

REGISTERING.CO IS ESSENTIAL FOR LIFE :lol:

[IDNCowboy]

Yeah I know, I was just responding to Aaron's post mainly. Personally, I think it's a good thing it's not fully IDN compatable. .CO won't be able to get "translated" IDN extensions for a long while; if ever. IDNlatin.co domains don't need to wait for that. So I decided to grab a few good German and French.

I figured, what the hell. They were taken in every other extension even .tel. One German.co generic I grabbed has great traffic. :)

does it really?

[sarcle]

does it really?

Well, it's only been a day so we'll see in a week. Namedrive says they are all from Germany. But it could just be Germans/Domainers looking for the domain. So we'll see.

I only got 6 IDN.co in total. I figured if nothing else they have some SEO value for some good keywords.

My only question is why is the registry holding on to this domain?

http://imgur.com/4On0v.jpg

[bumblebee man]

Apart from Übersetzer what else did you get in German?

[sarcle]

Apart from Übersetzer what else did you get in German?

I'd rather not post them on the forum. I'll pm them to you.

About the traffic in my earlier post. It's calmed down now. Probably just a first day rush/fluke.

It does look like Google is going to rank .co internationally according to content of website.

Link:
Google to Treat .Co as International Domain (http://domainnamewire.com/2010/07/22/report-google-to-treat-co-as-international-domain/)

[jose]

edited

[IDNCowboy]

I bought 3 for $78...

I am done. Threw $78 in the trash.. Asked $15k for a geo and got laughed at :P


o well :)

[sarcle]

Nice post Aaron. :)

http://idnblog.com/2010/07/23/untapped-co-opportunity-german/

[jose]

Nice post Aaron. :)

http://idnblog.com/2010/07/23/untapped-co-opportunity-german/

Indeed!

[squirrel]

I don't think it's fair to say that .co will be treated similarly to .com in the serps. It's just that .co will not have its geo attribute confined to colombia.

[alpha]

is it just me, or does anyone else not get the hoo-har over .co ?

The level of hype is higher then usual, is it just the fact that .co may be a typo for .com ?

if so, that's pretty desperate IMO.

[sprewellpj]

is it just me, or does anyone else not get the hoo-har over .co ?

The level of hype is higher then usual, is it just the fact that .co may be a typo for .com ?

if so, that's pretty desperate IMO.

@Gary - I agree with you and think there is good reason to be skeptical about .CO's as it is mostly speculation now.

But I don't think the speculation (unlike .CM) is based off of typo traffic. The letters "CO" are globally recognized as an abbreviation for "Company" or "Commercial", and as such have a lot more international weight than .CM, .ME or other secondary ccTLDs.

Will .CO be as popular as .COM or .NET? Not anytime soon.

Is .CO a better investment than .BIZ, .INFO, .ME, .TV or .CM? Probably.

But these are just hunches, and only time will tell.

[sbe18]

I think a few of the domain hacks will have some good branding possibilities..

puertori.co
ban.co

the bidding war or shooting war(?) for the colombian govt, US govt, or the cartels to get :

nar.co

should be interesting over time..:o

[bwhhisc]

is it just me, or does anyone else not get the hoo-har over .co ?
The level of hype is higher then usual, is it just the fact that .co may be a typo for .com ?
if so, that's pretty desperate IMO.


Time will tell...I did not register any, and not sure the majority will pan out longterm.

[Rubber Duck]

is it just me, or does anyone else not get the hoo-har over .co ?

The level of hype is higher then usual, is it just the fact that .co may be a typo for .com ?

if so, that's pretty desperate IMO.

Why have they left the .uk off the end?:confused:

[mdw]

.... The level of hype is higher then usual, is it just the fact that .co may be a typo for .com ? ....

The marketing budget was substantial, may have been the most expensive TLD (re)launch ever.


.... But I don't think the speculation (unlike .CM) is based off of typo traffic. The letters "CO" are globally recognized as an abbreviation for "Company" or "Commercial", ....

We held a local domainers event and the .CO Internet crew came to speak, just prior to the end of pre-registration period. Not once was the word "typo" mentioned in the presentation. They have been very careful to NOT market .CO as a TLD to invest in because of (probably true) bleedover traffic from .com

And I agree with the others, another great article Aaron. You're on a roll.

[sarcle]

is it just me, or does anyone else not get the hoo-har over .co ?

The level of hype is higher then usual, is it just the fact that .co may be a typo for .com ?

if so, that's pretty desperate IMO.

I felt the same way at first. I was resigned to not getting any at all. But as Aaron said it's better than .biz, .cc or any other ext. besides .com, .net, or a .cctld.

Now that we know that Google isn't going to limit .co as a regional .cctld in the Serps. I don't see how it's a bad thing to grab a good generic or two. I've lost more than the $200 dollars I spent on getting a few good generics in a single game of poker.

But as everyone else has stated. Time will tell.

I do agree with you though, if you are just trying to register "wwwbestbuy.co" for the typos then that's the wrong approach and is desperate. Which is 90% of most domainers.

Just my thoughts.

[IDNCowboy]

They spent more on marketing to get initials regs up and keep a smaller profit at the end run.... Their job is to milk domainers... Most will not be developed.

[Wot]

Paul the octopus is forecasting that Wot will get some of the .co's and flip them for a nice profit

Apologies to Paul

I had pre-regged one which I had forgotten about but just advised this morning by Name.com that I am the proud? owner of:

C-O.co :D

[Rubber Duck]

Apologies to Paul

I had pre-regged one which I had forgotten about but just advised this morning by Name.com that I am the proud? owner of:

C-O.co :D

I thought it was spelt Cocoa. :yawn:

[sarcle]

Their job is to milk domainers... Most will not be developed.

Kind of like our own saga with IDN. Stretch out this IDN thing for +10 years. Take the reg fees and keep them waiting on .IDN and email support. :bored: Meanwhile, most are waiting, not developing, for this to happen. Speculation is speculation doesn't matter what ext. it is.

Personally, if we are talking apples to apples. I wouldn't even consider trading keyword.co for keyword.biz, .info, .cc, .mobi in a straight-up trade. But again that's just me.

C-O.co

I seriously thought you were joking. I had to whois it. lol. Out of curiosity, can I ask why this domain in particular?

[IDNCowboy]

Kind of like our own saga with IDN. Stretch out this IDN thing for +10 years. Take the reg fees and keep them waiting on .IDN and email support. :bored: Meanwhile, most are waiting, not developing, for this to happen. Speculation is speculation doesn't matter what ext. it is.

Personally, if we are talking apples to apples. I wouldn't even consider trading keyword.co for keyword.biz, .info, .cc, .mobi in a straight-up trade. But again that's just me.



I seriously thought you were joking. I had to whois it. lol. Out of curiosity, can I ask why this domain in particular?
Let WOT wave his magic wand and it will be a six figure dnjournal sale... Just wait

[Wot]

I seriously thought you were joking. I had to whois it. lol. Out of curiosity, can I ask why this domain in particular?

My own peculiarities perhaps. :)

I also own M-E.me which recently, amongst others, had a €400 offer which for better or worse I did not accept.

[Wot]

Let WOT wave his magic wand and it will be a six figure dnjournal sale... Just wait


Not that greedy, high 5 figures would suffice. :p

[Wot]

I thought it was spelt Cocoa. :yawn:

You are thinking of Cocoa Chanel. ;)

[jose]

Huge Chavez is annexing Colombia and the ext. will be canceled.

[IDNCowboy]

Huge Chavez is annexing Colombia and the ext. will be canceled.

Cool columbia just got millions of dollars from domainers worldwide for their kewl .co names....

Now they have extra cash....... oops

[Wot]

Huge Chavez is annexing Colombia and the ext. will be canceled.



HugoChavez.co -Available. :)

[atoms2me]

.US .IN .ME are on sale @ dynadot....3.99~7.99
What's chances of .CO becoming cheaper than .COM? any timeframe?

[Rubber Duck]

Thursday?

[Wot]

Just added this not too shabby?

México.co (xn--mxico-bsa.co)

[alpha]

Just added this not too shabby?

México.co (xn--mxico-bsa.co)

you mean Méxi.co ?

[basel]

i just got www.spieler.co player in german language :)

[Wot]

you mean Méxi.co ?

Nope-Wot I said. :)

[sarcle]

Just added this not too shabby?

México.co (xn--mxico-bsa.co)

I didn't even check. I figured it was already gone. DAMN IT!

Nice grab Wot.

[Wot]

I didn't even check. I figured it was already gone. DAMN IT!




Got these as well, enough now!


Panamá.co

Perú.co

[jose]

I noticed 90% of the top latin (es,fr,pt) idn keywords are free... so I gave up on it.

[sarcle]

Got these as well, enough now!

;) Yep, adds up fast. But you got some great geos.

I noticed 90% of the top latin (es,fr,pt) idn keywords are free... so I gave up on it.

It'll come down to how .co ranks and commercial adoption. Right now, it's cost prohibitive for people to just buy up 200 .co IDN for speculation when they've been holding on to IDN for years.

If they take off and that's a BIG if; at least for awhile anyways. You can count on all of them being gone. But it's hard to see how this extension is anywhere near .mobi as I'm seeing many domainers compare it to.

I'm wondering what Microsoft is going to do with this one: Nube.co (Cloud) in Spanish.

[idnit]

look at this one http://www.xn--e1agoavb.ws/
will be a star:p