Two of the largest newspapers in the country have Front Page stories about domain names and its all about new gTLD and new ccTLD’s like .Co and .Me
Yes I know a LOT of you are getting tired of stories about new gTLD’s and .Co but this is what the mainstream press is covering and covering hard, so on to the stories
The New York Times article entitled “For Countries That Own Shorter Web Site Suffixes, Extra Cash From Abroad” talks about some of the new ccTLD’s.that always seem to be in the news, Yes .Co, and .Me.
Interesting the The article sites Facebooks recent acquisition of FB.Me but not of FB.com.
“Logging on to Facebook? You can use the social networking site’s full Web address, or you can type www.fb.me.”
The most interesting part of the story for me is about the financial relationship between the .Co registry and the Colombian government.
I know there has been a lot of interest in what the government gets out of all these .Co registrations and now we know as the article quoted Juan Calle CEO of the .Co registry:
“Colombia, for example, gets 25% of the revenue from sales of the “.co” name under its deal with .CO Internet.”
We also now know how much money is being generated by the .Co registry and its impressive:
“Last year, the company generated a total of $20 million from the sale of “.co” domains; this year, that is expected to rise to more than $30 million, Mr. Calle said.”
Finally there has been a lot of conjuncture of how many .Co registrations there will be over the next few years and today Mr. Calle made a bold prediction:
“The company predicts that the total number of “.co” registrations will rise to five million within five years.”
5 Million in 5 Years?
Strong.
The Washington Post Story story entitled; “Rush is on for custom domain name suffixes”
Talked about the new gTLD program saying:
The trusty .com domain, is about to face vast new competition that will dramatically transform the Web as we know it. New Web sites, with more subject-specific, sometimes controversial suffixes, will soon populate the online galaxy, such as .eco, .love, .god, .sport, .gay or .kurd.”
“This massive expansion to the Internet’s domain name system will either make the Web more intuitive or create more cluttered, maddening experiences. No one knows yet. But with an infinite number of naming possibilities, an industry of Web wildcatters is racing to grab these potentially lucrative territories with addresses that are bound to provoke.”
The article raises some points that we have talked about before like who gets an extension like .amazon the Internet company or the country of Brazil?
What happens when several groups apply for religious extensions like .Jewish or .islam who is entitled to those
Other possible new extensions the article mentions are .sport, .lawyers.gay, aids., .hotels, .music .paris and .nyc
I will not only be at that show but speaking as well.
(Speaking of that show, I’m heading off this morning and have another busy week full of meetings and a sessions so I’m going to apologize in advance for not jumping into the comments that are sure to follow.)
Like it or not, ccTLD’s absolutely are THE area to be looking for maximum ROI if you are a domain investor. We’re grabbing keyword-rich ccTLD’s hand-over-fist right now and will sit on them for a few years before even considering selling.
– TBC
I am 3 months new to the domain business and I own about 20 domain names. Some being .me’s, .co’s. and .com’s. I am fasicnated with this business and how it largely stays under the radar.
It seems that domain investing is finally getting a little buzz. I am interested in developing my websites because I think those would be easier to sell than undeveloped ones. Has anyone ever used iPage on the MAC?
I just purchased a MAC and am trying to see ways I can profit from my domains.
Any help from you seasoned vets would be appreciated.
“The opportunity for us is to become the platform of choice for entrepreneurs around the world,” said Juan Diego Calle, chief executive of .CO Internet, a company based in Miami…”
=======
Miami.FLORIDA.USA ?
“the platform of choice for entrepreneurs”
Anyone believe Obama was born in Hawaii ?
Big Lie is shouting from the mountain-top again. Nobody can understand a f*cking word he’s saying, but he keeps on shouting anyway…dude, it’s getting old – speak Engrish please.
The shortest extensions (i.e., two-character) will rule the day. All these long-tailed gTLD’s will ultimately FAIL with a capital “F”.
For the money, the best extensions on the planet right now are: .co, .tv, .vc, .me, and .cc. I’d venture to say that .CC will eventually be the #1 extension in the world…only one key on the keyboard is used, easiest to type-in.
Brevity, baby…brevity.
– TBC
I find strange the very low number of .US domains, just 1.7 millions … and less than three times the .CO
“I find strange the very low number of .US domains, just 1.7 millions … and less than three times the .CO”
Well some people need to understand the world consists not only of US. This will become even more visible when .co overtakes .us
Hello Mike,
Perfect, Media pundits are now Marketing Analysts? The same pundits that were brain dead on the DOMAINERS world until now??? Someone way late to the game now tea leaving what is ahead? We do not think so. Beware the media pundits !
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
@Jeff,
The media grabs the attention of the sheeple with their words and stories, accurate or not – to ignore them would be foolish, IMHO.
– TBC
“What happens when several groups apply for religious extensions like .Jewish or .islam who is entitled to those”
Lol, I wonder how long it takes to decide who gets all those ones 😉
.xxx will be a walk in the park compared to most of those religious extensions.
Don’t forget the dot BS
regarding the press and domain extensions – just wait till the fortune 500 each have their own TLD..
meanwhile ask your kids if they give a damn about dot-com versus any other extension, or whether they even direct navigate as opposed to search, as direct navigation is what underpins dot-com right now..
also ask them if they would rather a long tail .com or a short sweet alt gTLD or ccTLD
domainers have a unique historical perspective and are very smart but that wont shape the future, no more than original radio spectrum holders etc
and not when the world conspires to take power from the US, and verisign, and where every country and person likes to be patriotic where possible (except ‘progressive’ Americans it seems)
the times they’re a changin folks – meaning to the right of the dot is the trend
.co has meant company forever so if they can keep Columbia quiet..
.me means me so if they can keep Montenegro quiet..
but with straight up with ccTLDs you cannot go wrong IMHO
especially .US when you look at size of market versus uptake so far:
http://www.quicklycode.com/cheatsheets/country-codes-map
shame Neustar wont spend 50 bucks this year to promote that extension, but soon enough they’ll lose their contract as a result..
@ Aniol
Well some people need to understand the world consists not only of US. This will become even more visible when .co overtakes .us
—-
Fine as long as we get our fair share of the .coca
Companies with a global presence or trying to have one absolutely must own the .com of their business name. It seems that the more extensions that come out, the stronger the .com brand becomes.
I sometimes even typo my own .ca domains with a .com at the end. If I am doing that with domains that I own, what chance does a company have with the general public if they aren’t using a .com?
But there is a place for entities that market mostly in their own country to do fine with a domain that is their own cctld, and some countries are better than others for this.
Let’s face it, the best .com’s were hand regged long ago, and are either being used or have a ‘high’ price tag. You have to be doing enough business to afford a high-priced .com. So the only choice for many out there is to get a lesser quality .com or a better keyword alternate extension.
Using a .co or .me is still untested, but if they are repeatedly exposed and marketed to the public like in the Godaddy commercial and in newspaper articles, they might make some headway.
But I think there is money to be made both in the high and low ends of the market. Like in the auto business, there is a place for Ford dealers and a place for the Mercedes Benz dealer.
All these extensions are the same.
There is no difference between .com, .net, .me or others. Only some are more popular than the others.
The only new and with different functions extension is .tel
@dirk
“.co has meant company forever so if they can keep Columbia quiet..
.me means me so if they can keep Montenegro quiet..”
Which is exactly why I’m bullish on dotPRO. It is what it purports to be (i.e., actually means ‘pro’). It’s priced right, and it’s available now. With a good helping of dotCO style marketing muscle behind it, huge success is within sight.
My website’s name is long and tedious. However, it states what
my website is about and the services I render. I think that part
of a domain name will be most important part in years to come.
In addition, we live in a .com world. It has essentially been that
way for a least 15 years. Do you really believe other existing extensions and any new extensions will overtake .com. I highly
doubt it.
In a world of youtube i think .tv is where it’s at , followed on by cctlds which people trust because of the sense of dealing locally
agree that .xxx will be a walk in the park compared to some of what will follow on
I think if Warren Buffett were a domainer, he’d be buying up keyword-rich .us domains like crazy. It’s definitely the most undervalued extension of the bunch. It’s the ccTLD for the frickin’ United States of America! Largest economy in the world with hugely patriotic citizens who would prefer to buy U.S. goods and services when they are competitive with imports. After .com, the best extension for an American company or a foreign company doing business in the USA (see http://www.Maserati.us, for example) is dot US.
Vegas.VC sold today for $500