The .CO sunrise and landrush has generated a tremendous amount of interest. One of the main challenges for past TLD launches has been the anemic level of actual development, which ultimately resulted in the irrelevance of the TLD — .ws, cc, .mx, .whocares? In the case of .CO, a lot of the best keywords have now been taken. So, what’s different about developing on the .CO TLD?
.CO domains cost more
It is one thing to spend $7 a year to be wrong. It is a whole different story when you are spending $30 per year. The clock ticks faster when you are burning $30 a year for the privilege of finding out whether you bought into a failed launch.
The .CO is not going to be a big typo story.
Typographic studies don’t suggest that .CO will be a big type-in story, unlike .CM, which profited handily from the wildcard pattern. I routinely type .CM but honestly can’t ever recall typing .CO. I know I am not alone on this point. So, anyone counting on big type-in traffic from their .CO name is probably in for a rude awakening.
The .CO means business. Or does it?
The fate of a TLD is largely a function of the brand story behind it. Just as .ORG is associated with not-for-profit, it goes to follow that .CO should be about business, as the near-cousin of .COM (or commerce). What is the fundamental value proposition positioning of the .CO brand? Not clear yet, but from the registrations I have seen so far, .CO is about business and not about individuals. For example, as of this moment, nobody own BarackObama.co. That makes sense to me in spite of the search volumes.
.CO could still be a busted launch
While I am not a huge fan of TLD proliferation, I do think the .CO has legs. However, do not underestimate the task ahead. For the emerging promise of the .us TLD, I believe we have just witnessed what is likely a failed .TEL launch despite the single best TV campaign for a new TLD that I have ever seen. If you missed it, enjoy:
And for the record, we did register DomainDevelopment.co plus a few others.
Epik embraces the .CO
We would be delighted to see the .CO succeed. If you bought a .CO TLD, the good news, through August 31, we will give you a $30 discount on development of your .CO TLD. In other words, if you manage to get a .CO TLD, and develop on Epik, congratulations you got the domain for free and have a year to find out if the .CO is going to be the hit that I think it can be. And if it is a hit, I would say, give a big hat tip to Lori Anne Wardi — from about day one, she has been relentless in breathing life into the .CO story.
Hi, what is the cost of a mini-site? BTW, I am so ready to submit content to a site that is set up to receive content from the domain owner! Epik wiki is no charge . . . it is automized. What is the cost for Epik to help us set up a mini-site?
@Louise – The cost of a Minisite is $249 to $349, depending on development complexity. With the $30 landrush discount for .co, it is $219 to $319.
We can also power these sites with DevRich.com, which can be as little as $7.95 setup. This is a great option for large portfolios.
So, depending the size of a .co portfolio, there are 2 flexible solutions that can handle almost any domain name that has 500+ Domain Quality Index (DQI).
You mean a DevRich site can be set up for as little as $7.95?
Yes, correct. DevRich setup costs are low in order to encourage the practice that we call Domain Greenhousing: https://localhost:8888/epikblog/domain-greenhousing.html
We have now had a number of domains start on DevRich, get traction, and move to full development.
It is perfect for hand-reg domains since you never know how long they stay in the sandbox!
I agree with you Rob. The type-in traffic for at least the short-term will be non-existent compared other established TLDs. Bought a few .CO domains yesterday with a definitely business slant. Not many as I think the $30 price tag was just a money grab.
EntertainmentNews.co
TicketStore.co
TicketShop.co
SoftwareShop.co
PerfumeStore.co
DiscountBroker.co
DiscountBrokers.co
RealEstateDirectory.co
RealEstateNews.co
All of the names I bought have done very well in ecommerce applications or info websites for other TLDs. Will try to develop mini-sites in stage one of building their value to at least cover the annual renewal cost and maybe even make a little profit.
Rob, sorry to jump in but I have to disagree on the assumption that .mx is stagnant and irrelevant, when in fact its quite the opposite. Here is a published study based on research of .mx end-user adoption that offers a much different view
https://www.sales.mx/mexico-embraces-mx-top-level-domains-study-finds/
the extension is actually meeting the challenge you describe, and should not be lumped in with the others you mentioned. regards, Mike
@Sales.mx – I don’t own any .mx. I don’t know any successful .mx developments. That does not mean they don’t exist.
Wow…thanks for the heads up. This is so great…now I can own some premium domain names…I just bought an amazing premium domain home-for-sale.co Hope this is a good investment.
Rob – Thanks for the Hat Tip! And thanks too for making such a generous discount available to .CO registrants! I just tweeted about it! Please make sure to ping me when you have some sites up and running! We’d love to see them! We’re always looking for more sites to showcase on https://www.Opportunity.co!
Cheers,
Lori Anne
.co looks better in the url. Didn’t anyone else besides me read a article from some Harvard professors saying something about .co becoming more popular for business than .com over time? As for as non-profit, .co works equally well as the technical term is non-profit corporation. Am I wrong? I might be but I don’t think so. Everyone I have shared the .co story with seems to express genuine interest. It is good extension people can bank on.
@Paul – Sounds like someone has a large .CO position. 🙂