Sedo.com is holding a premium auction of .Co domain names including many gems owned by Mike Mann’s Codom Holdings, LLC.
These represent some of the best possible .Co domains.
The auction will start right after the Superbowl on February 10th and end on February 17th.
Sedo is still accepting additional domains of like quality for the auction.
If you have any domains you would like to submit you will “have to submit a request via Sedo broker for acceptance or denial”.
Here are some of the domain names in the auction:
| Oil.co |
| Shopping.co |
| Money.co |
| Drugstore.co |
| Business.co |
| Advertising.co |
| Movies.co |
| Health.co |
| Computers.co |
| Girls.co |
| Weddings.co |
| Training.co |
| Shoes.co |
| Networking.co |
| Luxury.co |
| Gold.co |
| Gas.co |
| Finance.co |
| CreditCards.co |
| Clothing.co |
| Bank.co |
| Entertainment.co |
| Appliances.co |
| Technology.co |
| Dance.co |
| Art.co |
| News.co |
| Doctors.co |
| Boats.co |
| Women.co |
| Pawn.co |
| Gardening.co |
| Candles.co |
| Watches.co |
| Time.co |
| Men.co |
| Luggage.co |
| Handbags.co |
| Football.co |
| Antiques.co |
| Tires.co |
| Taxes.co |
| Retirement.co |
| Party.co |
| Office.co |
| Investing.co |
| Fun.co |
| Fitness.co |
| Cameras.co |
| Skating.co |
| Solar.co |
| Exercise.co |
| Tequila.co |
| Accessories.co |
| Racing.co |
| Parts.co |
| Linens.co |
| Cigar.co |
| Boating.co |
| SKI.co |
| Trees.co |
| Patio.co |
| Bath.co |
| Wheels.co |
| Jazz.co |
| Downloads.co |
| Bed.co |
| Automotive.co |
| Servers.co |
| Desktops.co |
| CigarStore.co |
| Brakes.co |
| Hybrid.co |
| Disability.co |
| LatinMusic.co |
| PetShops.co |
| FlowerShops.co |
| DisabilityInsurance.co |
| ExerciseVideo.co |
| SportStraining.co |
| FilmCameras.co |
| DigitalCameras.co |
| Tulips.co |
| TrainingVideo.co |
| Riding.co |
| Recipes.co |
| Recession.co |
| Projectors.co |
| Plants.co |
| Pawnshops.co |
| Orchids.co |
| Nuclear.co |
| Monitors.co |
| LiquorStore.co |
| JazzMusic.co |
| GunShops.co |
| DvdPlayers.co |
| Driving.co |
| Condos.co |
| ClassicalMusic.co |
| Classical.co |
| Biking.co |
This auction will be the true test as to the value of .co — looking forward to it.
– TBC
@CMT.Me
Not the only true test, but the FIRST true test.
after reading the .co domains list I believe that it may be a $100 million sale
I think it will easily gross over 100 million 🙁
These are great names. But not those ones people are trying to sell on NP or DNF.
If pressed, my guess would be $15M-$20M in bids for the entire auction, with many of the domains NOT hitting their reserve prices.
– TBC
Reaction from the average person on the street, after seeing the above list:
“Why are all those domains on that list missing the “m” on the end?”
🙂
– TBC
Well, these are top tier terms and the timing could not be better as well, but I don’t think there is enough interested capital out there to support high prices on all these names at one time.
It seems like there is real resistance at about Mid $XX,XXX even for the best terms in .CO
Many similar terms @ TRAFFIC did not get bids in the $20K – $50K range.
These were all assigned long before open registration.
Whatever these sell for it is almost irrelevant to the average quality .CO holder. Because Sex.com sold for $13M it doesn’t mean some mediocre .COM is worth anything. The same is true with .CO
Brad
but nearly all these domains seem very good
some of the best possible .co names
I would be very happy to own and sell just the first three of the list 🙂
Oil.co
Shopping.co
Money.co
wow thats alot of .CO domains – Time to submit some of mine and see if they sell!
this will be a good test and the best time since godaddy will hopefully create some hype.
Bill Clinton to Address ICANN San Francisco Meeting
but he not even has a site and the BillClintonDOTcom domain is just parked and NOT owned by Bill Clinton!
That is a nice list of keywords for sure.
How well the auction does will depend on what the reserves are set at. I can see the reserves being too high and not many selling. If they want to truly test the .co market, list them all with no reserve and see how it goes.
You would be a fool to buy into the hype! I feel like we are dealing with penny stocks, not domains. Take a lesson from Mann and Sedo on this orchestrated act and sit out this auction.
Long after the GoDaddy commercial you will be holding a non-premium extension.
this time I believe that many could buy these domains to use them rather than just resell later
Mike are you going to be bidding on any of these domains ?
Brad great comment.
Eaily over 100 million 🙁 ?
Of course I am kidding, don’t be a fool and don’t buy in to this hype.
It will BURN YOU imo.
Just reg’d these crazy domains, not for search volume, but possible future BRANDING potential, with a social-twist (co):
coMOVIE.co
coMOVIES.co
coHEALTH.co
coSHOE.co
coSHOES.co
coMUSIC.co
coGAMES.co
coCASINO.co
coPOKER.co
coSLOTS.co
coTRAVEL.co
coBOOKS.co
coCLOTHES.co
coCANDY.co
coCREDIT.co
coJOBS.co
coCITY.co
coHOME.co
coSAVE.co
coTOYS.co
🙂
– TBC
@TBC/5D.TV
Congrats to the .CO registry and your domain registration company.
@TBC
why? seems like u just blew close to $600
I’m doing my part to stimulate the economy 🙂
– TBC
@TBC
Really? I hope .CO has a grace delete.
Brad
@5D.TV – I’d ask for a refund asap!
@Tommy – what do you consider a premium extension besides .com?
Don’t want a refund, guys 🙂
Our intention is to start up a social-marketplace within each of those domains. I like the way coCLOTHING.co looks from a brandability standpoint. Is it as valuable as Clothing.co? No. But I would argue that coCLOTHING.co is a very brandable domain, especially considering how we intend to use the “co” from a social-standpoint. We’ll see. I look forward to your further criticism 😉
– TBC
Great looking list, if the .CoDaddy ad manages to bring some real big endusers to the party it should get pretty interesting, depending of course on how high the reserves are set.
Good luck all
@5D.TV don’t you have enough .TV’s to focus on in terms of development? 😉
@Mr. T,
There are six of us running this small shop and we have rather high-aspirations from a growth perspective. Thankfully, we haven’t failed at any of our business ventures yet, although we realize it may happen with some of these domains. Hard work coupled with a little creativity will work wonders sometimes 😉
– TBC
more useless domains 🙂
NOcomMOVIE.co
NOcomMOVIES.co
NOcomHEALTH.co
NOcomSHOE.co
NOcomSHOES.co
etc.
@5D.TV – Couldn’t you have invested the money you just spent on 20 soso .CO’s into 1 quality .CO domain instead?
Branding as a .co would be worse that branding with a .net
Imagine the traffic you would lose to the .com
“@5D.TV – Couldn’t you have invested the money you just spent on 20 soso .CO’s into 1 quality .CO domain instead?”
@5D.TV – Couldn’t you have invested the money you just spent on 20 soso .CO’s into 1 quality .COM domain instead? -Fixed
@Mr T,
We look at these domains as a high-risk-investment-experiment.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
– TBC
I have nothing further to add to this particular discussion. Conceptually, it’s hard to defend our plan without divulging the entire prospectus to you, which wouldn’t make sense.
Our investment today will either succeed or fail; either way, it won’t affect the quality of my life, nor that of my partners.
Good luck, guys. 😉
– TBC
@ TBC/5D.TV
Don’t want a refund, guys 🙂
==========================
We are so excited… NOT!
The con job … All the guys above have you down!
Your FRONTING for the .Co Registry,
and your Grace Refund goes unreported!
YOU and your small(minds)
i mean small shop, as you say
are like bad ACTORS.
Your upbeat phony sales crap, (ha)
is like a “Bad Info Commercial”
Almost forgot, we have coSHOPPING.co too — that one was my personal favorite 🙂
Later,
– TBC
I think people are just starting to realize that .co isn’t a premium TLD and never will be. This is a ccTLD for Columbia and it has a value of ccTLD of Columbia – nothing less and nothing more. Next year people will forget this extension and jump on some other new gTLD – there will be plenty of them, so why bother .co anymore..
It will be interesting to watch.I am more of a dot com guy but we will see.
@landon white
All I have to say to your last post is … “what”?
After reading through all the posts here, yours is the only one that I find incoherent. Who are you directing your conversion toward?
Who do you include in the term “We”
Who is the “ACTORS” that you are speaking of?
What exactly is the “Bad Info Commercial”?
I have to say, you lost me in that conversion.
I do not claim to be a smart man so please break it down as if you where talking to a non educated person.
Cheers
Great list of keyword domains except they are .co.
Michael Mann is planning to ride the wave of the .co ‘superbowl advertisement’.
If it doesn’t materialize, nothing lost.
If there is excitement, he will sell some domains at premium prices which will
cover his entire investment in .co.
He is in a ‘win-win’ situation.
I hope it is successful. And, I wish him well and much success.
@Daniel Dryzek
I agree that .CO is the ccTLD of Colombia, but does that mean it does not hold some sort of intrinsic value?
I mean if you look at .DE (ccTLD of Germany) , .IN (ccTLD of India), .TV (ccTLD of Tuvalu island (currently a sinking island), .ME (ccTLD of Montenegro (and recently did over $400k in sales at Sedo), or .CC (ccTLD of Cocos Islands).
All of those ccTLDs hold some sort of intrinsic value. I dont think you can argue that they sell for more then what you register them for (**If you register a premium domain**).
I will grant you that bird poop is bird poop no matter what extension you use.
Still .CO being the ccTLD of Columbia is not a bad thing. .TV is a strong extension even though it is the ccTLD of Tuvalu island. How many people outside the domaining world ever heard of Tuvalu islands or even better… how many inside the domaining world heard of Tuvalu islands and can point to them on a map?]
Still .TV does sell domains and those domains still have some value.
The same can be asked about .CC and .ME. They still sell for profit, even though they are ccTLDs of some non major countries.
I do not see your point in what you posted about.
Are you saying that because .CO is a ccTLD, its not worth anything?
Are you saying that .CO is the ccTLD of Colombia (not a 1st rate country) its not worth anything?
Please explain to me, because you may have some knowledge that I am lacking and I truly want to learn your perspective.
Cheers
after reading the .co domains list I believe that it may be a $100 million sale
—
I believe it will hit 100 Trillion. Surely, Money.co must be worth at least $10,000,000,000,000.
Indeed, the worlds economic woes will be thrust in Mike Manns hands when all available global capital is transferred to him to secure the .co domains that will bring us all back to prosperity.
In related news, I hear there are some intriguing opportunities presented by a British company with exclusivity contracts to trade in South America…
I’m sure everyone that used to laugh at people registering .CO domain names back in July of 2010, will admit that their initial arguments have changed. The .CO is steadily holding it’s own. As you can see from the reserves at Sedo on some of these .CO names, it’s not a stupid investment after all; even if they don’t sell this time around. The same characters deriding this extension, are still going at it, except this time, they are more timid. No one knows for sure what the future is for this extension, but, live with it, no matter what it turns out to be.
Some of my .CO names:
—————————-
ANTIDEPRESSANT.CO
CHEDDAR.CO
DICTATE.CO
DIVIDER.CO
BUSINESSPROGRAMS.CO
CUPOLA.CO
ELIMINATE.CO
IRRESISTIBLE.CO
PASTRAMI.CO
ONLINEBROKERAGE.CO
PEPPERONI.CO
PETROLEUMOIL.CO
PRODUCTSOFCOLOMBIA.CO
PLASMATELEVISION.CO
SORETHROAT.CO
TAMARINDO.CO
VEAL.CO
SECURESERVICES.CO
SALAMI.CO
ROASTBEEF.CO
Plus some others…
If you are interested in any of them, contact me. I am developing of of them, but I can share…
@ SLATE
(quote) I do not claim to be a smart man so please break it down (unquote)
=======================================
I agree …
In that, your cohort bullshitter tbc/5D.TV asked YOU to respond …
it seems that you are of the same cloth … DUMB!
@Landon,
I don’t know Slate and I didn’t ask him to write anything here.
Furthermore, those reg’s I listed above will not be deleted. By sometime this evening, they will all be pointing to our projects-landing-page.
coBOOKS.co is as brandable as Groupon.com, Yahoo.com, or Google.com. Our registration of that long list of domains above has NOTHING to do with gaming the search engines, but rather, symmetry in the way the domains LOOK and READ. If you don’t understand what I’m saying, well, I don’t really care 🙂
– TBC
@ 5D.TV
If you don’t understand what I’m saying, well, I don’t really care
======================================
Yawn,
YOU KNOW NOTHING!
AND THAT’S YOUR PROBLEM IN A NUTSHELL …
like a drunk at a Bar you just wont “SHUT UP”
CAN you shut up!
@landon white
You made it perfectly clear that you are no one of consequence!
Do you even own a domain?
How about a website?
I mean if you really wanted a soap box on which to stand so that you feel more like a man rather then a sniveling cowered that hides behind a opaque forum name, then I would suggest that maybe you start your own blog in which you can rail against what ever ails you that day.
Right now you have no credibility. You just randomly spout off comments… and worse, you direct them to other participants, many of whom actually have websites, domains, some sort of business, you know a reason to be here.
You on the other hand, some of your comments are not even coherent, none the less useful.
If you can not partake in an actual conversation (even if you disagree), that will get us further down the road, the it is best for everyone if you just find some one place in which to go off on your malicious rants.
All the best to you but I hope that I never really have to read your malicious comments again.
Cheers
VegasFlights.co – Coming soon – Taking bookings now….
@VegasFlights.co
Your script is a little off on your site, but it has potential when it gets developed a little bit further.
Cheers and all the best to you.
coSAVE.co is now pointing to our projects-page. Scroll to the bottom to get an idea of the symmetry I was talking about before…I’m more turned on by these “coNAME.co” domains than I was before. 😉
What do you think, Landon? Do we meet your sniff test? 🙂
– TBC
coMOVIE.co
“the Community-Movie-Connection”
😉
To everyone repeating .CO is just the ccTLD of “Columbia”: at least spell it correctly: it’s COLOMBIA.
Just picked up:
coFOREX.co
coJEWELRY.co
coLOANS.co
Time to go shopping for an island to buy in ten or so years…
LOL
5D.TV / TBC / Slate Are the Same 3 Girl’s …
(working in a 6 man shop, there Bathroom)
Are you happy i said your Little Fruity names again …
(ha) You don’t even know who i am …
NEWBIE PUNKS …
YOU JUST TOLD ON YOURSELVES
EVERYONE ON HERE LAUGHS AT YOUR DOMAIN BUYS!
Bye Girls!
Last comment was a joke…about the island…I’d settle for a beach-house in San Diego 😉
@Slate I am a big enthusiast of ccTLDs! And .co is as great as every other ccTLD. And sure – .co has value.. as a ccTLD. Because I see .co ONLY as a ccTLD of Colombia and not as substitute to anything (especially not to .com) or as another gTLD. And I have nothing against Colombia itself! I would love to go there one day 🙂
To Joe and everyone else: sorry for my mistake – Colombia, NOT Columbia!
.co is a scam worthless this auction will prove it. Next will be .c
If Sedo is holding the auction, it will be a success like the .me auction. The Go Daddy Superbowl .co commercial will increase exposure to the .co auction.
IMO, the extension is overrated. It doesn’t matter what I think because people are still spending a ton of money to acquire .co domains. The people that own .co will benefit from the auction.
I agree, there is a bit of hype surrounding .co. The free-market will determine .co’s value, regardless of what is posted here.
– TBC
Prescient move on Mike’s part to bail out before the .co bubble pops.
And how appropriate indeed to see tulips.co included:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania
@Daniel Dryzek
I wholeheartedly agree that .CO is no .COM
.COM has long been the king extension of domains. Any other extension will have a long long way to go to ever prove its self worthy to be a competitor to .COM.
With that said… .CO still has some intrinsic value and I will not begrudge anyone who can or tries to turn a dollar.
If they have a plan and fail, well hopefully they learn from their mistake.
If they have a plan and succeed, more power to them.
All the best.
Cheers
@landon white
Well, apparently you are not important enough (or as much as you think you are) to fly on my radar.
Or on Google for that matter… at least not with the pretentious name of landon white associated with domains.
There are some business people out there that have the name landon white, but they seem to be educated and well mannered (at least in the business life).
So since you seem not to be notable enough for any “NEWBIES” as you call us. Please, be kind enough to tell us who you are. If you are as big of a player as you believe yourself to be, then I am sure you do not need to hide behind opaque forum names.
Cheers
If you love .co domains so much, just wait and be patient for upto 2 to 3 years and buy them for a discounted price of over 95% off the current retail prices.
Look what happened to .mobi domains….same thing will happen to .co domains.
Rick paid $200k for flowers.mobi
I paid $6500 for flowers.mobi
LOL
I think what everyone seems to forget is that this is ALL speculative investments.
Regardless if you have been doing this for 20 years or if you just purchased your first domain today.
Its all on the speculation that you buy a domain name with intention to sell it down the road for (hopefully) more then what you paid for it.
The same could be said about purchasing gold. I remember just a few months ago when gold was selling at $700 per ounce and many said you would be crazy to buy at that range and here we are at $1376 per ounce.
But at any given time, we could go to war and have the value of the dollar go up through the roof and then we will see the price of gold plummet.
Its all speculative.
Why would you ever sit there and begrudge a person who made a decision to purchase something (granted it may not be in your taste) with the intentions to make a buck.
I mean if you are a domainer, you should do that all the time. If you are buying domains without the notion of turning a profit, let me know, I have a good deal on thunderousbirdpoop.com.
There are no guarantees.
The price of a domain is only what someone else is willing to pay for it (See mention of Rick in post above about flowers.mobi).
In conclusion, I say let the people who took a chance in .CO make a quick buck if they can. If it goes bust, their loss, and just hope they learn from their mistakes.
And for the record, I hedged my bets with .CO and picked up 11 domains. That means I only need to turn $300 from the sales of them to come out flush.
Cheers and all the best
Very nice domain. I’m very curious results of the auction.
GrenPark.co
Good God,
I want to try to find good words about .co (or any other flaundering non.com ships like .mobi dick in the bermuda triangle) – but how can I be in the final stages of 2 6 figure .com deals when the .co still is available – what is being sold here is a car with 5 good cylinders with 1 or 3 cylinders that will never work – and the mechanic knows that. Respectfully – why do you think one of the most respected folks in the industry is dumping all this east LA dirt ?
No offense to anybody – I am simply trying to offer an opinion to the gullable in an industry that was created – cut and dried 20 years back.
Best Friends,
now that a nice list of domain names… let me call the loan shark
I have two names in the auction:
Friendly (dot) co
Internships (dot) co
I agree that there’s a lot of hype out there for .CO, but I’ve received numerous private offers on these names, and have also talked to a number of entrepreneurs who see tremendous potential in new extensions. I sold a name to a guy in Canada last week, and it was a .ME. He said he went through over 1000 names that would fit his business idea, and settled on this particular one because it was catchy and memorable – perfect for branding.
From his perspective, a lot of the .com sales he reads about seem overpriced, and he sees new opportunities in .ME, .TV, and .CO.
.CO will never surpass, or even approach, the level of .com. But does it present a viable, affordable option for building a business? Sure.
@ Anunt
Flowers.mobi at $6500 is still overpriced
I don’t know why you’re bragging
Maybe ‘cos it’s Rick’s sloppy seconds…?
I agree with Aggro. I wouldn’t pay more than mid $xxx for Flowers.mobi.
I’m new to all of this but did pick up some good .co’s during July. Do you guys think I should submit these for this auction?
Mingle.co
WebDr.co
FloridaMotels.co
HealthClinic.co
MensClinic.co
MensHealthClinic.co
WomensClinic.co
MusicSchools.co
Appreciate your advice!
FloridaMotels.co is good
@Newbie,
Not to be critical, FloridaMotels.co may not score a high sale, or even be accepted into Sedo’s auction. It won’t to try and submit.
You’ll find out soon enough whether they will accept your domains. Don’t let Sedo discourage you if they reject your .co domains.
I would wait to sell your .co. You can try to submit them into Sedo’s auction. However, their auction criteria is strict. imo, HealthClinic.co is your best .co. Good luck.
Left out ‘hurt’ in last sentence in paragragh #1. Thanks.
To the guy(s) who registered coBUSINESS.co, coSHOPPING.co, coCREDIT.co, and the long list of other domains along this same thread:
From an SEO perspective, you’re a fu**ing bunch of geniuses. I picked up four myself last night (geo), using your same strategy. You fellows possibly picked up a million-dollars or more worth of domains yesterday for reg-fee, and noone here sees it…funny.
@Slate Agree! I wish good luck to all .co investors. I believe there’s money to be made in .co but only the smartest guys will succeed. And BTW – I strongly believe in Spanish / Colombian .co names and don’t care of English keywords at all.
“but how can I be in the final stages of 2 6 figure .com deals when the .co still is available”
the answer to that one is simple. the other domain extensions are not widely known right now. not everyone is a domainer and not everyone knows of all the different types of domain extensions out there. outside of the domain world .co is unknown for the most part. some businesses are catching on but still its widely unknown. a better question would be is why would several companies worth hundreds of millions spend several million to promote a domain extension. they would be crazy if they did not see that it would make back the money they spent to promote it and then some. give these companies their due. they know more about domains then all of us here combined. while we are fighting for the scraps of 5 digit deals here and 6 digit deals there *if we are really lucky* they are making 100 million 200 million 700 million or more a year. i have a sneaking suspicion that they know what they are doing. when godaddy gives half of its multimillion dollar commercial spot to .co. i trust they know what they are doing and that they know the extension will recoup that and more. when they hire a spokes person to represent .co i trust that they know what they are doing and that they know that it will bring in more then they spend on that.
i just have to believe that someone out there who has made more more then the few grand that i/we have made selling a domain here and a domain there may know what they are doing. i tend to believe that when mike mann buys domains he sees the ability to make a profit off those domains.
.com is a brand. Not “Commercial”.
.co is a brand. Not “Colombia”.
.com and .co are brands that have been advertised, “as is”. Commercial and Colombia are out of the picture, for the most part.
BTW, I think FlowerShops.co is one of the better deals.
@ Brad.
The i.co auction should also shed some light on things.
Thanks Most Expensive Domain and J I know Hotels are much more desirable than Motels but Florida has a unique beach motel culture, plus the spring break traffic so I grabbed it.
I also think healthclinic.co is the best one but I did receive a 2k offer for mingle.co shortly after I regged it.
We received a $1K offer for SandCastle.co four days ago from a Florida motel company. We haven’t gotten back to them yet, but I believe we’ll end up turning down the offer. I’m beginning to think .co may be the real deal.
– TBC
@ newbie
I’d say Floridamotels.co is slightly better because of the commercial aspect.
@TBC SandCastle is an overall pretty fine name. Both as keyword and in terms of general brandability.
Picked up coCOUPONS.co & coCOUPON.co today.
“Community-Coupon-Connection @ coCOUPON.co”
I own nearly 200 surname .CO domains, 250 top Jobs .CO domains and many other great names
NursingJobs (dot) co
AccountingJobs (dot) co
MarketingJobs (dot) co
StoreCoupons (dot) co
PrintableCoupons (dot) co
LaminateFlooring (dot) co
Sunrooms (dot) co
Sunroom (dot) co
Solariums (dot) co
ChimneyCleaning (dot) co
GroutCleaning (dot) co
FloorSanding (dot) co
StampedConcrete (dot) co
CarpetCleaningService (dot) co
HouseCleaningService (dot) co
SteamCleaning (dot) co
BasementWaterproofing (dot) co
I’m developing many, but may submit a few to the auction.
Picked these up for a quick flip:
CaliforniaPoker.co
LosAngelesPoker.co
LApoker.co
Will try to get them into the Sedo auction.
– TBC
Poker.ca sold for $400,000 two days ago. You have to either be a Canadian citizen or have a business presence in Canada to legitimately register a .ca domain.
If anyone in Canada sees this post…you should reg’ caPOKER.ca and market it to Californians after online poker gets legalized in California (2012, I’m guessing).
You’re welcome.
– TBC
Bad info, sorry. Poker.ca sold six months ago for $400K (July, 2010).
@5D TV
Good response on bad info
@ the rest
IMO, there is bad info on the entire co—.co movement. I wouldn’t waste $2 on an info—-.info domain. It’s hard enough trying to make back money on good domains.
Those who plan spend $25 to register these .co hacks for SEO purposes stand to possibly gain money. The upside is they can make money with developing the domains. On the opposing side, registering to wait for a deal is too risky.
If you have $25, $100, $1000 or whatever to spend, then throw all your chips in. What’s next? I noticed people have already included the com—.com in the mix. Why stop? Be creative and register net—.net, .org—.org, mobi—.mobi, and so forth. IMO, you’re wasting your money if you plan to sit on these names to make money. Your may do better if you develop the domains.
$25 is too much money to waste on registering multiple co—.co names.
What is the story behind the coXYZ.co? Why does putting the CO on the front end make sense?
I understand it allows you to get a better word, but why no just use “c” or “i” or a single letter?
Will these domains only be valuable to people in Colorado?
Just curious. Thanks!
@J,
We will be developing our “co—.co” domains. No interest in trying to sell them. We feel there is mucho-branding opportunity with these.
Love the way they look and feel 😉
coPOKER.co
coJEWELRY.co
coTRAVEL.co
– TBC
Thanks for the quick response.
Would it also work with netXYZ.net?
Is there any benefit specific to .co other than the look?
Has anyone done this successfully in other extensions?
Sorry for all the questions, just seems like something different and sometimes that can be a good thing, sometimes not. Trying to gather the background.
Thanks again!
@TBC,
From a development standpoint, the domains look cool. They will probably do well in the search engines. However, many people that have no development plans may look into purchasing the names, only to lose money because they don’t have any real value past the look and for development purposes.
New domain investors tend to follow the mass. IMO, the majority of revenue seems to come from beginners. Imagine a newcomer registering 200 domains that follow your approach. They will probably lose money because they assume they can resell these domains at a profit.
If you create a cool design like having the keyword appear as 3D, you may lead a movement to develop such names. Then, I will consider that a brilliant plan. Since I lack development skills, I rely on finding good names and building a rapport with buyers. I would rather stick to my resume, education, and job plan.
Good luck on developing the new look .co domains.
surely, the results of these auctions should show us IF the .CO domains can have a bright future or not
Whoa. Quite a wild discussion here. People are actually debating the merits of tldKEYWORD.tld and some are pointing to this as groundbreaking. Oh, man. I thought who would go and register such names, then I looked at my own URL and laughed. I still think it’s crazy. I hope I wasn’t the original inspiration for this and I hope no newbie domainers are looking at these names and see the registration of similar names as a path to riches. Employees at the .CO registry are probably watching the names rolling in, like coGoldfish.co, and shaking their heads.
Steve M
Prescient move on Mike’s part to bail out before the .co bubble pops.
And how appropriate indeed to see tulips.co included:
………………..You said it very well Steve……………….if Mike had any faith in a future for .co’s
he wouldn’t be in such a hurry to dump them………………..
I have seen very little resale activity with this extension but we shall see………
s
@Neon
I’m not convinced of that. Daily happenings/sales are more telling than auction events.
Business is a daily adventure, for the most part. Most naysayers would like to hear that it’s a make or break kinda thing, which it isn’t. Long-term relationships with GoDaddy and the selling format of single letters will be positive things long after this auction is over.
@Alan
You could look at it from a different angle. That Mike Mann is doing .co a favour by being a “market maker”. And yes, every market (especially in Intellectual Property arenas) does need a maker.
@ Newbie a/k/a Bullshitter and really is someone else
I did receive a 2k offer for *****.co shortly after I regged it.
===============================
Domain offers from Mummy and your Ugly Sister don’t count! (da,da)
@ Hype
Ouch….
I’ve been actively selling. I never receive offers unless I request the end-user to make me an offer. I receive a few offers on a few sales platforms, and always close the deal.
When I see posts that claim to receive an offer, I’m skeptical due to the challenge of finding buyers. If you’re new, you’ll sell your domain. A random $2000 offer for a new .co hand registration is unlikely. Completed sales determine market value.
When there is interest in a domain, buyers will contact you to ask the price. To receive an immediate offer at 100 times cost is unbeliable. Show the email to support the offer.
I don’t doubt that mingle.co received a $2K offer…why is that so hard for you guys to believe? We receive offers EVERY MONTH for at least one (usually more) of our domains, but we never sell (we only buy what we intend to develop, except for four exceptions…)
We did pick-up four ccTLD’s this week just to sit on and perhaps sell one day if .VC ever get pushed to a TLD (like .co & .tv did):
Bahamas.VC
Caribbean.VC
LasVegas.VC
Sportsbook.VC
– TBC
Soc
Just to be clear .Co and .TV did not get “pushed” to a TLD they are still ccTLD’s.
I don’t believe many offers. But then, DN Journal reports on numerous sales which don’t make any sense. You never know what people will offer. I don’t let any offer slip by without at least trying to negotiate a sale.
My offers are usually from a request I sent to make an offer, or through Sedo. I always work with the buyer to close the deal.
I would like to see the email. Of course, the name can be removed for privacy reasons. Last year many posters mentioned they made sales, which most could be supported. It’s easy to verify a sale.
A certain $1 million purchase back in 99 was rather interesting. Hint: a popular destination. 🙂
@MHB,
Sorry, I knew that – didn’t choose my words carefully enough.
– TBC
@J
There is a lot of BS going on on in the domain world, and many “offers” are totally bogus. However, there always is the random fluke offer.
Many newbies who get random “fluke” offers turn them down not knowing any better, thinking there will be a long line of people to buy their domain, which their isn’t.
Also, “offers” many times are just negotiating tactics. I had someone contact me recently saying they had an offer of $17,500 on a domain but would take $18,000. Then when I suggested if the offer was real they should take it, they all of a sudden lowered their price to $10,000.
It is hard to know what to trust, as even many sales reported on DnJournal.com have been confirmed to be bogus after the fact and have been removed.
Brad
@Brad,
Good info. Thanks. What is the criteria to report a sale to DN Journal? Any sales about $2k for a .com seem to be the standard, and $1k+ for .net, .us and .org.
Sedo and other popular platforms provide sales data. Would a private party need to provide proof such as an invoice?
Thanks in advance.
@Brad,
Awesome direct response on the $10K deal.
Probably a smart move to sell by the holders of these names before the .SO frenzy begins. What little traction .CO has made with the public will likely be lost by the similar sounding .SO. Maybe, when the hype fades, they can team up and form .SoCo.
Imagined conversation when telling someone their .CO address
“.you mean .com”
“no, .co”
“oh, .so,”
“no, .co”
“what?”
@Rusty,
.so will gain little traction. Not enough money behind it.
Em
Em
while I agree .So is not going to have the success of .Co its due to other factors.
The company behind .So has has quite a bit of money behind it.
Its in the hands of a Japanese company:
GMO Internet Inc. to provide services for new gTLDs.
Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, GMO Internet is the company at the core of GMO Internet Group a leading force in the Internet industry offering one of the most comprehensive ranges of Internet services worldwide including domain registration, web hosting, global online security services, e-commerce solutions, and Internet media.
At the helm of GMO Registry is prominent Japanese businessman, Masatoshi Kumagai who is also Chief Executive Officer of GMO Internet Group and GMO Internet.
The group comprises around 1,700 employees and 57 companies including five publicly listed companies.
Kumagai received a Nikkei Venture “Venture of the Year” award in 1999, and was named by US Newsweek in 2005 as a “Super CEO” one of ten of the most innovative CEOs worldwide.
GMO Registry Director, Hirokatsu Ohigashi joined GMO Internet in 2002 to manage the company’s access provider, web hosting, and domain businesses along with its systems department. In his concurrent role as Business Development Manager for GMO Internet, Ohigashi has overseen many start-up and acquisition projects. He began supervising the registry business start-up at the end of 2008.
Thanks for the info, MHB. I wasn’t aware of these facts. It just didn’t seem that .so advertising was so ubiquitous. I’m not quite sure what their selling point is.
.so isn’t going to have the success of .co simply because ‘so’ hasn’t any particular meaning among the general public.
Em
I think its going to be a very hard sale as well but they do have the cash
Bob Parsons at GoDaddy (and the other resistrars) know that if someone cannot get (or afford) the .com – then who cares – beat around the bush and sell them lots of what they really do not want .SO their .CO or .ORG can feel half good (left of the dot) about their.US .BIZ and the .INFO they tell their customers on the .NET, .TEL, .MOBI phones and the .TV.
Brian
Godaddy is a registrar that is in business to sell domain names.
Its really that simple.
While your correct when you say until now domains have been all about the left of the dot, with all of the new extensions coming in the next couple of years and for many years after the future focus for registrars and registries is going to be all about the Right of the Dot.
I submitted 7 domains (very low reserves) for the upcoming premium .CO auction. Unfortunately, this is the 3rd time, for various auctions, I have been denied. Not sure why I bother to make the effort with SEDO.com auctions anymore. Yet, I see several poor generic names approved….
– rentalproperty.co
– homeopathy.co
– arapahoe.co
– pbr.co
– par3.co
– par4.co
– par5.co
@INTERNET MEDIA
While I agree that the first four of your names might have been accepted, I don’t think par3.co, par4.co, par5.co could be defined as premium (unless I missing something).
@Internet Media,
Sedo’s criteria is strict. I got rejected a dozen times last year. For the most part, I gave up trying to submit domains into their auctions. However, I do negotiate using their offer platform. One particular negotiation has lasted a month. I could have sent the domain to the marketplace auction, but I elected to work with the buyer to settle on a price.
Sometimes Sedo rejects domains based on having too many in the same category. I have three .co that will probably be accepted, but I would rather wait to sell them. One domain is a generic medical position, another is a popular resume service, and the last is a 3 digit.
The par3.co, Par4.co, and Par5.co domains are probably golf-related domains. Maybe the Sedo staff values golf domains, or like to play golf. RentalProperty.co is a good domain. There are many ways to utilize the domain to make revenue. However, I would rather own RentalProperty.com. In terms of marketability, I think the keywords are undervalued.
Don’t get discouraged if they turn down your domains. It doesn’t mean they’re not good, or that you can’t sell them. Keep in mind that when Sedo rejects your domains, you can’t submit them again into another auction unless you push them into a marketplace auction – after an offer is received.
I want to be sure that I don’t get rejected when submitting my domains, especially when there are many more auctions in the near future. I question Sedo’s domain criteria in the same way that I look at how many employees obtain jobs that I have more experience and education to perform. To make matters worse, these employees complain about their jobs.
Auctions don’t guarantee a sale.
We decided not to submit any domains to the Sedo auction. This is a time to BUY .co’s, not sell, IMHO.
– TBC
@Joe, J and SandCastle;
Thanks for your comments and suggestions.
It’s unclear how things will shake out for .CO right now. The next month will be big in terms of determining the future of the TLD. What kind of pop will they get from the Super Bowl ad and how will that impact the Feb. Sedo auction. If you’re a .CO domain investor, these next few weeks could prove to be pivotal. Go Daddy seems committed to .CO and we could see some follow through after the ad runs. I’m starting to believe that this ad could go far in presenting the TLD to the public. Personally, I don’t own any .CO names nor am I a fan of this particular TLD in general, but I can’t deny that the impact of a Super Bowl ad could be huge.
Per Mike,
“Godaddy is a registrar that is in business to sell domain names.
Its really that simple.
”
And so are all the other registrars in the business of selling domains.
And I will add to that:
They are NOT in the business of making sure you are happy with what you purchased.
And if you are not happy with what you purchased – do not renew – but they dont care – they already got $50-$100 at least out of you and add speculator .co investments – and they really dont care. And by that time they will have moved on to .SO what.
Brian
I’m not understanding your point
Are you really trying to place onto a domain registrar some sort of responsibility to make sure that people only register good names or valuable domains or domains that will rise in value or make sure they are somehow happy with their purchase?
Wish my stock broker did that, or my real estate agent
Here is an article from USAToday.com
According to USAToday Article “While the “.net,” “.org” and “.gov” Internet domains are growing in popularity among those launching new websites, none have come close to threatening the decades-long reign of “.com. But the “.co” domain may be the hottest new Web address, one that could be the first real .com competitor, according to some inside the domain-name industry.”
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2011-01-16-godaddy-domain_N.htm
Just thought it was cool.
Cheers
@Mike,
It would be unfair to single out a single registrar – (as I believe I indicated) – as it is all the registars business to sell domains with new ??tlds as you indicated earlier in this post.
But per “Slate” – yes there is a lot of frustration out there – even from apparantly USAToday employees & writers – I do not make the rules – I simply play by the .com rules dictated my UDRP interpretaton and the US Federal Courts.
BTW – I just has another genius “volume” call today where the guy had no less than 15 non.com’s of the same term I had the .com of – with all this .com – oops .co knowledge on this post – why on God’s green earth did he call me in trade – all of his domains for my .com.
The article mentioned “may be the hottest new web address.” IMO, At $25 per year, it definitely is the most expensive address next to the .tv.
The $30 price tag definitely influenced me to stop buying the .co long ago. I don’t mind buying 10 good .com domains, especially when I can find a buyer much faster.The article is speculating that the .co is going to compete against the .com.
The day I see a company advertising a .co web address on a billboard, vehicle, or on a commercial, then maybe I will believe the hype.
I could have purchased many good .co names, but I didn’t take the risk because it is not worth the cost to spend $1000 on 40 names that may never find a home (IMO). I would rather buy 124 .com. The .com will always be the primary option.
Even a few blog owners decided to invest into only a few .co names. I generate traffic and ad clicks on my .com.
a buyer
“.gov” Internet domains are growing in popularity among those launching new websites”
That statement just shows what happens when someone who knows nothing about domains, writes an article about domains.
Brad
@Brad,
I translated the .gov reference to “frustration” – actually naive – but you hit the point harder – thanks
@J
– – –
The day I see a company advertising a .co web address on a billboard, vehicle, or on a commercial, then maybe I will believe the hype
– – –
What about Overstock’s O.co?
@Joe,
Overstock got sold a bill of goods on o.co – no different than the co?????.co nonsense – sorry friends. Putting O.co on a billboard no only will revitalize O.com but will say that Overstock could not get what they really wanted.
Play by the rules – a lot of money in it – do not get burned trying to change them.
@Joe,
Who competed against Overstock for O.co? At least E.co has a bidding history. However, O.co is Overstock’s international brand. Overstock still hasn’t secured O.com.
When I mentioned advertising a .co, I didn’t suggest O.co into equation. Companies such as American Greetings (AG.com) and Barnes and Noble (BN.com) understand the value of the .com.
OK, let’s put aside Overstock. What about huge companies which have developed their .CO (they could have forwarded these to their .com, but they didn’t), such as Twitter (T.co), Laney (Laney.co), Fender (Fender.co), etc. Even a singer name in there, Charlotte Church, who has her official website on CharlotteChurch.co.
600,000+ .CO
how many domais could sell a (possible) .mail TLD ?
Many companies are still depending on their .com sites. I’ll change what I noted regarding the billboard, commercials, and etc..
The moment I receive an offer or receive a reply requesting one of .co domains, I will then have more confidence in the extension. Only one resume .co is generating ad clicks. The rest don’t produce any traffic or clicks. I have my hometown city .co.
However, the Cityof___.com, ____.org and the ___.biz are performing far better. Even my .us for a top 5 tourist destination is outperforming the co. I gave it 6 months, and still nothing. My .com, .net and .info are performing far better.
I want to see more top companies choosing the .co over the .com. I don’t think that will happen.
@J
– – –
Even my .us for a top 5 tourist destination is outperforming the co. I gave it 6 months, and still nothing. My .com, .net and .info are performing far better.
– – –
You count 6 months as if the general public should be aware of .CO domains since July 20th, 2010. .CO registration opened worldwide 6 months ago, but the general public is just starting to realize the new extension is available.
@Joe
I agree with you there. Some people make some pretty funny comparisons. As if .co should be able to get more traffic , right out of the block, than a .us or .com that has been up for 2-3 years. I’m not sure how one can make this comparision.
**For those faint of hear… this is going to be long winded as I usually am. LOL**
Ok… I just want to make sure I get this straight.
I am assuming that there are some people in here that think Godaddy (the #1 registrar for domain names) must NOT know what it is doing when they are willing to spend, what ever half the price of the Superbowl add cost them and what ever they hired the new Godaddy Girl for… (I don’t care if it is Betty White, LOL).
I mean they are only a multi hundred million dollar company that makes a larger living then any of us could hope to make off of the sale of domains.
What would they possibly know of making money from an extension?
I am sure they split their Superbowl ads with every single extension that has come do the lane… right?
I am sure that they hire Godaddy Girls like its no bodies business for ever single extension.
There is NO WAY Godaddy could spot the possibility of .CO being a good competitor to any of the established extensions.
No, I am sure they do this for every extension. I am sure they spend millions of their own money to promote every extension in the hopes that it will reap some sort of benefit and make a return on their money.
Sedo also must not know anything about holding domain auctions. I am sure that I saw an auction come by for every extension.
Sedo has to know nothing about holding auctions that will not only draw in sellers of domain names but also draw in the potential buyers.
I mean look at the .ME auction. They sold over $400k at that auction for .ME domains. That is horrible… $4o0k! That is pocket change. Hardly reason for anyone to ever consider that there may be some intrinsic value in a premium .ME domain (sarcasm if you didn’t get it).
My point is that these larger companies that make their bread and butter from doing this stuff are doing it for a reason. They have analyzed this, and know that there is some potential in this extension otherwise they would not promote it to such the extent they are.
If there was NO FUTURE POTENTIAL for the .CO extension, the I am sure Godaddy would not be spending millionS of dollars promoting it. They would not waste the time, money, or effort in the production (lame as they are) in the Superbowl spot. They would NOT waste the Money sharing that time withe the .CO extension to help promote it. They would not waste the time, money, or effort in securing and promoting the NEW .CO GIRL…… if they didnt see a potential that not only would they be able to make back the money they spent in promoting it but more money then they put into it.
That is called business, that is how it works.
Sedo would not promote an auction for .CO if it did not see the potential of attracting new BUYERS. Sellers are plenty in any extension so they are not of consequence here.
So Sedo who holds auctions for domain names all the time, must see an opportunity to make some money holding an auction for .CO, otherwise I am sure they would NOT go through the time and effort to hold an auction.
They are in this to make money… again, they are a business.
So while not everyone sees potential in the .CO extension, Some do!
While there are those who claim to have seen ALL of this before, some would like to know when!
When has a registrar the size of Godaddy spent millions in promoting a single extension? I personally have seen them promote Godaddy as a business but never one singular extension. I could be wrong and if I am I am sure it would be pointed out.
When has Sedo ever held an auction for an extension that NO BODY cared about and did not show a profit.
Did they ever have a .MX auction, maybe .GS, or maybe .VG?
I do not recall ever seeing them but then again, I could be wrong and again I am sure it will be pointed out if I am.
Just for the record and I have stated many times before. I hedged my bets with .CO and only purchased 11 domains with this extension. That means I only need to sell any 1 or all of my domains for a little over $300 to make a profit.
After all, isnt that the name of the game in domaining…. make a profit?
Every domain we ever purchase is a gamble. There is NO guarantee that we will make a profit.
One last thing I would like to address before I end my time on the soap box.
@J
“The $30 price tag definitely influenced me to stop buying the .co long ago. ”
The article finished with this regarding the price tag.
************************
“Its annual fee at Go Daddy is pricier — $29.99 compared with $11.99 for .com and other domains.
Wardi said the idea was to prevent devaluing of the domain. People will be less-willing to buy .co names in bulk and have them sit useless while waiting to be resold at a profit, which is another reason why .com names have become scarce, she said.”
Just the way I see it.
I could be wrong but I love the debate and look forward to the coming comments.
Cheers
For those thinking GoDaddy’s $30 registration fee for .CO is too high, Namecheap has been selling them for $22.98 since July 20th (and if you do your search, you can reg .CO’s for even less).
It is not worth having side doors or back doors to your business (non.coms) unless you have a visible front door (.com) that everybody can see from the Internet Super Highway.
GoDaddy’s superbowl ad will benefit them in selling side doors and back doors – but more importantly brokering the purchace of front doors – when folks find it difficult to operate a business that cannot be seen off the busiest street in the world
Brian,
I think the idea behind the Super Bowl ad and the .CO promotion strategy is to break down that front door. Will it work? Maybe.
@ BrianWick
Then why has Godaddy NOT done that to ever other extension?
Why just this one?
Following your logic, it would be in Godaddys best interest to open as many “Side/Back Doors” as possible.
Why only this one instance?
Godaddy is nearly a Billion dollar business and are #1 at what they do. I have to trust that they have idea of what they are doing. I know
I am going out on a limb here.
So why would Godaddy choose .CO out of all the other extensions? That question also includes .NET, .ORG, .INFO, .US, .DE, .CO.UK, .IN, … ect.
All of those could be thought of or listed as a “Side/Back Door” to .COM but Godaddy has never spent any money on them that I know of.
I am just curious on what you base your statement on.
Cheers and all the best.
#Slate,
Because they think they can sell a bunch of .co’s AND promote their auction / broker service – pretty simple – they are probably more interested in .co signups vs. .co renewals.
Should someone decide they want the front door after a year or 2 – they can stay with Godaddy and use their brokerage services.
History repeats itself – this is all the same hype as .cc 10 years ago – and the slight success of .cc ultimately became its failure – i.e. the consumer got cunfused as to which extension to use to get to where they wanted to go.
To be honest, GoDaddy hasn’t done anything similar even for .me, which has always been one of GD’s favourite extensions (Bob Parsons has his personal website on a .me). The answer is GoDaddy recognized the potential of .CO since the beginning (if it had wanted to do the same for other TLD’s in the past – .me is a great example – it certainly wouldn’t have lacked the money).
.CO sign ups only is not a long term plan for anyone
Again, I have to think that Godaddy has to know what they are doing.
A small spike in sales does not a business make (in a manner of speaking).
As a former business owner, I can tell you that repeat customer business is what keeps you alive. One HUGE day of sales does not keep your doors open 3 months down the road nor does it put food on the table for your family.
In this case, I think that Godaddy has seen trends (probably has data that we do not), and has positioned it self to take this roller coaster ride with .CO for at least a few years.
I very much doubt that Godaddy would invest much time and effort into a single extension (which it has NEVER done before) just to make some change in the beginning.
They are a multi hundreds of million dollar business and have some of the top people employed in their ranks that can see trends and try to navigate the business to make money following those trends.
I am sure you would do the same thing if you had to protect 700+ million in assets.
As far as history repeating its self… Please remind me, what extension has Godaddy ever endorsed?
How was .CC ever branded? I dont ever recall it being branded.
There where murmurs from the peanut gallery (domainers) that it would be a successful extension but even that was a very very low murmur.
.TV is a success.
.ME is a mild success
Still both of those (ccTLDs just like .CO) where never fully embraced by Godaddy the way that .CO has been.
Why is that?
Could it be that someone realize that each of those extensions (even though they are good extensions and make people profits daily) only have a limited reach by their respective promotion?
.TV is very recognizable. Most people in the western world know what TV stands for (television) and can associate TV with videos/movies.
Still the extension is limited in its appeal to only those sites that feature Videos and Movies or some aspect of that. Its not all encompassing for every business model.
.ME is also recognizable for English speaking countries. Everyone who speaks English is familiar with the self term of ME. Its all about Me, Me, Me,… not you but Me! Granted that is the way must of us think anyways.
Still it too has a limited draw. Again it will not fit the mold for every business…
.CO may or may not fit that mold.
*** BUT*** if you want to talk about history and how it does repeat it self, then you MUST realize that nothing lasts forever.
Kings do fall.
Technology does get replaced after they serve out their term regardless of how popular they where in their prime.
And in this case… Sooner or later .COM will have to be replaced.
Before you throw that hissy fit that we all know you are going to throw… take a breath….
I am NOT saying that .CO will be the one to replace .COM!!!
Any extension that tries to replace the king extension has its work cut out for it.
It will take YEARS before any extension could ever dream of making a move on .COM. Still you have to come to the realization that everything has to end sooner or later. .COM is included in that.
Just the way I see it.
Cheers
@Joe,
I only get traffic and clicks to a resume .co site. I upload quality content on all my 5 sites. The .com perform the best for me.
Not everyone watches the Superbowl. Many domain investors want .co to succeed because they have a lot invested in the extension.
Premium-name ccTLD’s are undervalued – all of them (except maybe .co, already alot of hype). Put in the work and they WILL show up on Google/Bing. You CAN build a brand around a ccTLD (it just takes more work and more money than it would with a .com domain, but in the end, you’re left with a great-keyword-ccTLD).
Along this thread-of-thought, we picked these up at reg-fee this week:
Credit.ac
Insurance.ac
Jamaica.vc
LasVegas.vc
Bahamas.vc
Caribbean.vc
Island.vc
Sportsbook.vc
In ten years, who knows what these will be worth….
– TBC
@EM
It’s not a funny comparison. Most people will not visit my .us sites unless I put quality content on it. I put plenty of content on the .co. It doesn’t matter the extension.
I get traffic to ResumeWriting(dot) mobi. People say .mobi is worthless. People type-in search terms to reach my sites. I know how they reach me. It’s not publicity that determines the traffic. IMO, it’s trust, familiarity, and being used to a brand.
Are you going to visit the .co of a popular website? Will the Superbowl reach people who don’t watch sports? It takes more than a commercial and domain blogs to change mass perception.
Just like any speculative investment… its not for everyone.
SEO is tricky, especially if you have a highly contentious market.
Lets say you have Coffee.co (for instance). Well the chances that you will get type in volume right now is slim.
Overall the general populace does not know about .CO, so type in will be scarce right now.
SEO will be just as difficult with nearly any extension. Coffee is a highly contentious market. (now I am just using Coffee as an example) You are up against sites that have most likely been in the top for years.
They have a set client and following. Their market and brand has already been established and there is a good chance that they have a team who actually takes care of their online presence (something that you NOR I have the luxury of).
So for you to break into that market on a site that is less then 6 months old… it pretty hard pressed. I dont care if you managed to get the .COM version of Coffee.
If you are starting off now, you will not get much traffic.
Remember one of the biggest things in SEO is domain AGE!
.CO is not very old right now, plus I would hazard to say that you probably spend more time on your .COM then you do on your .CO.
When you are just starting a website, it will require nearly all your attention.
I am guilty of the same thing. I spend most of my time working on my most popular website (building back links, adding content, updating, adding links…ect) and my other sites suffer.
My best site is my best site for a reason. Its not because it has the best name. NO… its because I spend the most amount of time on it.
That is just my point of view.
Cheers
“It takes more than a commercial and domain blogs to change mass perception”
It was singularly the Superbowl commercial that put Godaddy on the map.
I am going off memory here so please correct me if I am wrong!
If I am not mistaken, Godaddy was not the number one registrar before it launched its Superbowl ads.
Shortly after, it superseded long standing registrars as the #1 domain registrar.
I think it was last year that 106 Million people watched the Superbowl.
No that is NOT everyone. Still its a large number.
And I am sure some LARGE number of people watch the commercials after the game. Its a national past time in the US.
Then you have to factor in how much press coverage the commercials get.
How many people see the press coverage of the commercials. You hear about the commercials long after the game has been played.
There are even polls that show up everywhere on who had the best commercial.
Needless to say that even if you do not watch the Superbowl you will still probably see or hear about all the ads sooner or later. That is why they pay 2-3 million dollars for 30 seconds of air time.
Just the way I see it.
Cheers
According to Godaddys own site:
“Go Daddy’s Super Bowl commercials help boosts sales statistics and the company sets records for new customers and total orders.”
I assume they mean the same type of Super Bowl commercials tat they plan on running with .CO as one of the items they are promoting.
Just and assumption.
Cheers
In 2005 two things happen for Godaddy
1) Go Daddy.com launches a wide-ranging traditional media advertising campaign by debuting its first-ever television ad during Super Bowl XXXIX.
(happened first)
2) GoDaddy.com becomes the undisputed No. 1 registrar worldwide, both in terms of domain names under management and new domain registrations.
Did the Super Bowl have an effect on where GoDaddy is today.
I dont know, you decide.
Cheers
Domains are a small business compared to video games, DVDs, and others. You better get some kind of results when spending millions on a commercial.
As many end-users as I contact, most have little knowledge of how domains work and how to even purchase them. Just because a company is number #1 in the world, doesn’t mean everyone will identify their brand.
Apple is one of the most recognized companies in the world. It took them 30+ years to keep spending money and making products to maintain market appeal.
Domain investors is still new compared to most industries.
Per Slate:
“SEO is tricky, especially if you have a highly contentious market.”
My data suggests SEO intensity / competition has doubled since the october traffic conference. As a result about 40% of hits to my servers are SEO crawlers – which I strip out and do not count.
A non.com is only as good as SEO offers – nothing intuitive. However as the consumer gets smarter (like no longer liking PPC landers) – they will also get smarter and look at the URL and pass on that if it is not intutive .com.
Keep in mind the only UDRP / ACPA cases for a non.com, dashes, and other variants is when the complainant already owned the pure .com root.
What I am saying is no amount of money and marketing will put a ??TLD even in the same competitive planet as the .com Internet Brand – because the UDRP, ACPA and other courts told us so – I do not make the rules – I simply play by them
At $25 per domain, I’m sure price will be a factor Go Daddy will probably increase their sales. No matter what you say, .com is far better.
They will have to compare their $2+ million investment to the number of sales. You have to look at the difference of sales with and without the commercial.
Will I spend $5000 advertising a site when I only stand to make $1000 from it? Not a chance. What sales would Go Daddy expect? You can’t count overall sakes they already make.
Good example is to compare traffic. If they double their traffic, and grab a good portion of the customers, then the investment is worth it.
You can read press releases and everything, but detemine the success on your own without being manipulated.
Ok, I am a little lost
How does UDRP / ACPA cases factor in with SEO and the standings in Search engines?
I dont see the correlation.
Besides as far as UDRP/ACPA cases go, .COM/.NET have been around long before any other extension. They are the first and oldest (both the same age).
It only makes sense that cases would be held to uphold long standing sites that where around before someone came along to infringe on them.
With that said… **IF** (and that is a BIG if) the next Facebook, Google, or eBay happens to have the .CO extension, then you will see a case(s) where the .COM is the infringing extensions.
It all depends on who gets there first. If and when the next big things starts with an extension other the .COM, you will see the case loads shift.
Just the way I see it.
Cheers
@Slate,
Who do you think programmed the consumer to .com ?
Answer: UDRP & ACPA have dictated .com is the only one on the shelf – believe me – it cost me several hundred thousand to suggest otherwise. This means .co and all the rest are counter to 15 years of litigation and UDRP.
As the cosumer get smarter with SEO – they will be looking for an intutive .com in the search results – slam dunk – I am .SO sorry.
Sorry, Slate, but there is no way the next Facebook or Google is built on .CO, much more likely to be .ME if we look at where startups have been going recently. It has no appeal from that perspective. I don’t think .CO supporters should put very much hope in that.
If I listened to everyone about the .co extension, I wouldn’t be closing a sale today. I already knew what niches were popular. I purchase all extensions.
One elite domain investor told me to buy more .com. I did. And I managed to increase my sales. I also have done well with the .us extension.
Investing all my chips in the .co extension would have put me out of the domain game. I prefer Go Daddy to any registrar. I like the Go Daddy Iphone app.
The debate is that the .co will never overtake the .com no matter how hard registrars try. The price will matter in the end. If I owned any other extension other than .com, I would not be making a good sale.
I wasted two months trying to sell a good .net. I never had any luck. However, I don’t think twice about asking more for a .com.
@J
I could be wrong (this is just my opinion) but I think the profit margin is larger with .COM then it is with .CO.
The reason why I say that is because of one determining factor… Coupons. LOL
I have never known a business that will offer a sale on any merchandise that is less then what they paid for it.
Here is a little secret. There is a markup on everything you buy. When you buy something, you not only pay for the product but you also pay for the middle man, shipment (if it applies), and a whole gambit of other taxes and markups.
One way to get an estimate on who much market that a store adds is how deep their discounts go. Furniture for instance routinely sees 50% or more markup.
That is why they can get away with “CLEARANCE” sales of 40% and still stay in business.
Electronics…much tighter markup (only about 10% depending on the item).
Now watching Godaddy and their 99 cent coupons that come out about monthly.
This tells me that there is probably a really good size markup on their $11.99 .COMs.
So far the largest discount I have seen for .CO is a markdown from $29.99 to $22. That is pretty universal across the board for all registrars.
I will grant you that .CO is new and popular. They have been flying off the shelves even with the $30 price tag.
But .CO Internet S.A.S., the official .co registry, already stated that they have purposely made the prices high for the .CO extension. That has been a long standing fact.
True, they could have sold TONs more .CO domains if they lowered the price tag but they state:
“Its annual fee at Go Daddy is pricier — $29.99 compared with $11.99 for .com and other domains.
Wardi said the idea was to prevent devaluing of the domain. People will be less-willing to buy .co names in bulk and have them sit useless while waiting to be resold at a profit, which is another reason why .com names have become scarce, she said.”
And that is coming from the .CO official registry its self. That is in no way any alteration of what was stated.
Cheers
@ Rusty
I personally do not care where the next Google or Facebook starts.
.ME, .CO, .CC. or .AG… it holds no difference to me.
It was just an example of why all the court cases have been only .COM
Sorry if it sounded like I was snapping at you.
I do not mean it to sound that way.
Cheers and all the best
“Who do you think programmed the consumer to .com ?”
Businesses.
Remember there was only 2 choices in the beginning.
.COM and .NET
One story goes that .COM was made the de facto extension and was marketed as the COMmercial extension back in its hay days.
I can not find any real concrete evidence to support that but it seems to be the most popular interpretation that I have heard to date.
As to why people are programed to .COM. That is all we ever heard. Every business that ever stated its name over the radio or on TV always had the tag line
Follow us on the web at http://www.#####.COM.
I remember hearing that all the time just before the internet got really popular (with AOL).
Businesses latched onto .COM and put their adverting dollars behind it. They are the ones that made the commercials. They are the ones that developed the sites.
I dont see how you got to
“UDRP & ACPA have dictated .com is the only one on the shelf”
If that was the case, there would be no other extension today.
I could be wrong but that is just the way I see it.
Cheers
Sales dictate the market. There have been a number of .com sales above 7 figures. Will an end-user pay $1 million for a .co, excluding i.co?
I only own one .me domain. The domain produced an ad click. Every domain I own has a fair chance to compete because they all have quality content. Even after six months, my .co names are poorly performing.
I can purchase a .com today, and get traffic in 2 days. The debate is that people don’t know about the .co. Even businesses don’t know about the .co. There are some that don’t know an extension exists beyond the .com. The .com has been around a long time. In my opinion, a wannabe .co will not surpass the .com.
One end-user that purchased a mega education site told me that you got into the .co. They didn’t bother to but any .co. They own an elite education .com portfoilio.
My education and resume .con are performing very well. I’m even receiving ad clicks on .us and .info. Every site has a fair chance to perform. My .co are under performing.
People are biased when they have an investment. They will not look into the argument any other way. I will retain the 6 .co I own. However, I will always look to the .com as number #1.
After completing a .com, I would feel embarrassed to offer a .co at even 5-10% of the amount. In my opinion, it will take years for .co to even reach half of the success of the .com. Again, price will make the most difference.
If I found 140 good names, I would rather register the .com than to receive 40 .co. I stand to make much more with the .com. The .com are quicker flips. It’s easy to sell a good.com.
A company that purchased a few top sites in a popular niche refused to even consider the .co of the same service. Whereas, he paid 6 figures, he probably wouldn’t have given me $100 for a .co site that should net a $2K sale.
That’s my personal experience with the .co. I know a few domainers I can help sell their .co, but I have little interest in expanding my .co portfolio.
@ J
I have only 11 .COs
I have several hundred (mostly .COM) domains
I have hedged my bets when it comes to .CO. I did not mortgage my house to buy a speculative investment such as this.
I agree that people are biased to what they know. I see that all the time. No one ever wants to jump out of their comfort zone.
Still .CO has garnered the attention of Godaddy and Sedo.
Both are giants in their respective industries.
I personally would NOT feel embarrassed to offer a .CO at 5% of the .COM.
I have learned one thing in domaining.
The sales price is only established when 2 people agree on a the price.
If someone was willing to buy one of my .CO domains at $20,000 and if I thought that was a fair price…. then the sales price is ….. $20,000
The same is true with .COM and any other extension out there.
Look at .MOBI. Flowers.mobi sold for ($200k I think) when it launched. It recently sold at traffic for 6.5k.
The sales price is what it is. At first it was 200k now its $6,500 (way too much in my opinion but I will not begrudge the owner)
As far as being quick flips. If anyone can flip their .CO in less then a year for 1,000% markup (buy at 30 and sell at 3K … I think I did my math right?) then I have to say that it was a genius buy and flip.
Still 6 months is a very very very short time.
Not only to get the exposure, but to also get the word out.
I guess we have to wait and see.
Cheers
.tv would be more successful if the price was reduced. At $39.99, the extension is too much of a cost risk. It may be popular, but not enough to influence the mass.
Even a slight half percent increase in the interest rates can impact business loans. Until Internet brands such as Walmart, imdb, Wikipedia, and even Go Daddy convert their main site to .co, then the .com will always remain the premiere choice.
Companies that depend entirely on the .co are unable to secure the .com. Who wouldn’t want the .com? in my opinion,Go Daddy is pushing the .co because it is their opportunity to make even more revenue, considering the company has only been around since the late 90’s.
IBM used to be in position as a leader in time card machine. They knew to make machines that only used their paper. I’m sure that Apple knows the IPOD kept their business competitive in the early 00’s. IMO, Go Daddy wouldn’t throw in all their chips in extensions that have little chance to compete in a .com market.
The .co has a long way to go. Whereas, the .com will alway outperform all other extensions in both traffic and sales. (in my opinion). Experience matter most. I have never sold any extension other than .com, .info and .us. Even .net is a tough sale.
@Slate,
In my opinion, flowers.mobi was not properly developed. You can’t park a generic such as that site, and expect it to perform. However, the $200k investment was made back on other sales.
People are still buying .mobi domains. Some have produced sales comparable to flowers.mobi. I would want to own Resume.mobi.
Flowers.mobi could become a revenue generator. Parking the domain will not find repeat traffic.
I’m sure you know the .com is the premiere brand. Newspapers writing that .gov and .edu are accessible to the public have little information to know those extensions are operated in the relevant fields. There is no way I can secure a .gov or .edu domain.
New York City recently considered, or they may have already auctioned their local extension to raise money.
Businesses and blogs can try as hard as possible to promote the extension. Sales, traffic, and notoriety will dictate the market.
@Slate
Actually, with viral marketing, it’s difficult to understand what is a long time and what is not. It is not unreasonable these days to have a tremendous return after a very short period of time. It really is just an exponential equation.
Ive just submitted a few of mine, we’ll see what happens!!
Las-Vegas.co
3DGaming.co
CheapAutos.co
CheapVacation.co
ComputerGame.co
FlashGame.co
VegasCasinos.co