First Look: .CO Billboard in Times Square

.CO Billboard in Times Square

As you are well aware by now, the .CO Registry has been spending a lot of money to ensure that people know about .CO domain names. The Super Bowl commercial cost about $3,000,000, not including production and endorsement costs.

I was in Times Square in New York City today, and I took some photos of the new .CO billboard, likely seen by tens of thousands of commuters and tourists every day. Anyone traveling up 8th Avenue can see the billboard, which is located on the north side of the street at 42nd and 8th. It’s one of the most  noticeable  billboards to anyone leaving the Port Authority Bus Terminal and several large subway stations.

The concept of the campaign is neat: being able to take your “lightbulb,” inspirational moments and turn them into domain registrations. Oftentimes, people have great ideas and try to register the .com, only to find the domain name already registered. With .CO, there are many more available, and the .CO makes more sense than a .net or .org.

I’ve been told there are other .CO billboards in New York City, including two in SoHo – on  Broom St. & Lafayette and on Great Jones & Bowery. Billboards are also visible in US tech hubs like Austin, Texas and San Francisco. The full outdoor campaign includes billboards, bus shelters, and other interesting outdoor signage in New York City, San Antonio and San Francisco. It coincides with other marketing efforts that are ongoing.

Kudos to the marketing team at the .CO Registry and the Pappas Group. I am pretty sure this is the largest marketing effort by a registry, and it’s likely the first Times Square billboard campaign by a registry as well.

CO Billboard in Times Square NYC

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

113 COMMENTS

  1. Dunno. At first glance I thought it was a billboard for a clothing store. The orange block looks like a sale tag. The site name should be much bigger to avoid folks going to opportunity.com. And the tag line is meaningless so it should be subservient to the call-to-action (the domain name).

    Established brands can get all creative with happy people and floating puppies. Completely unknown entities like .co just need to get simple, straightforward messages through.

    Or maybe I’m just grumpy today.

  2. SL maybe your just being grumpy today, lol. Good points you make but from a large advertising campaign point of view they are probably working more on getting that logo seen and known than an actual .co reg or 2 or 3… Brand recognition. Show hot bodies and your logo and work out the details later if anybody even notices. IMHO.

  3. It’s not the best, but not the worst either… Really better than nothing at the end of the day 🙂

    We’ll see what happens though in then next few month’s…. Time fly’s and before we know it July will be around the corner. That is when I suspect 50% if not more of .co’s are dropped… BYE BYE!

  4. @Mark: Yeah, most likely it’s for the logo recognition. In that case it works fine.

    I just pictured more of an “in your face” campaign. Something like

    “Is your dot com taken?”

    That resonates with everyone who’s ever tried to register a domain. The frustration causes a visceral and automatic reaction that’s remembered well in the future. The solution, of course, is .co.

    In any case it’s definitely the most any tld has done and they should be commended for it.

  5. This ad is fine for continuing to build awareness of .co, but that doesn’t alter my fundamental underlying concerns with the .co model : as far as I can see, .co’s potential value is limited at best to generic terms as anything else is pretty likely to be a candidate for a cybersquatting claim from the equivalent pre-existing .com owner.

    “Is your dot com taken ?”. Well, if it is, go off to the bar with your team for a creative brainstorming session and come up with an original name !

    So, the ad is great if you buy into the concept, but I feel the concept is the bigger issue.

    David

  6. sedo air time, godaddy commercial, moniker not brokering a single letter.co pushing it back since it would flop and now billboards.. oh sedo brokers hyping up .co in domain blogs too and so they get paid a comm. whats next?

    dying hear whats next stunt..

  7. Oh man… this is awesome. Nice to see the domain industry doing cool things and growing up. Regardless of what you think of .CO, that company rocks. Very cool.

  8. I don’t know how much billboards and tv commercials help with the general population. The best thing is to get websites built with .co and get people to type the urls in, that is how they will remember. Make them use the domain to get access to the website they want.

  9. I been keeping an eye on .CO sites being developed by typing:

    site:.co

    on google and the number is now up to 220,000,000

    it has been going up just about everyday. Not bad for 7 months.

    Check it everyday.

    It has long passed by .mobi which seems to be stuck at 201.

  10. That’s pretty impressive and I only wish that .US and .biz would have pursued that kind of marketing initiative early on. For its time, .mobi did a good job of marketing, better than any tld before it. But I think .co has pretty much set a new standard for getting the tld out in major venues.

    So credit to them for trying. They won’t fail for lack of trying. I can pull for a company that puts forth this much effort to make a niche in the market.

  11. ..and a few hours later, when the average Joes who see this billboard get home to their computer, they think, “Gee, it’s about time I got me one of those .COMs they were advertising in Time Square.”

  12. @Robert Cline – Yeah, the .CO registry wishes it had 220 million domain registrations. Unfortunately for them though, there are only 130 million domains across all TLDs, mostly in .COM (73%)

  13. “With .CO, there are many more available, and the .CO makes more sense than a .net or .org.”

    Wow Elliot, really? I think that’s still a stretch and depends on the word/usage. I am not saying .co does provide good alternatives in many cases (heck, I am using one for a domain conference… albeit in COlorado) but to hear you say it makes more sense than .net or .org is very surprising!

    I agree with Max and wish that .US would have thought of this kind of marketing strategy early on. My personal preference after .COM is .TV and I am comfortable saying .TV makes more sense than .net or .org in some (not all) cases. I guess we all have our preferences.

  14. @ Mike

    IMO, .org is for organizations and a guy with a Silcon Valley startup likely won’t want a .org. Similarly, .net is so 90s, outdated and meaningless, IMO…

    I would never build on a .net, and I would only build on a .org if there was some type of non-profit involved.

  15. .CO hits on the largest biggest hugest market which is small to medium size businesses.

    You simply cannot beat this.

    No company is going to build on a stupid .org or a .net

    nudephotography.net or nudephotography.org

    No way! hosay

    nudephotography.co

    Yes!

  16. @ Elliot – Gotcha, making more sense considering we are talking specifically about start-ups here as the billboard implies.

    Anyway, kudos again to .CO – They are really doing some interesting things.

    @ Robert
    I’ll take the .net in that example anyday – as an investor or developer..

  17. @ Robert Cline real name James Kim

    Did your mother not teach you not to lie,

    your posting bogus numbers on .Co makes you look

    like more of a idiot then we already know you are!

  18. Well, despite my reservations of .co, I hand registered
    about 10 more with Name.com when they had them on sale for $7.49 and was surprised to find some good ones, though
    you have to spend a lot of time looking and doing research.

    But they are for the long run, I don’t think they will have any real value until a few years go by and .co catches on. In the
    mean time, the .co registry should lower the price to compete with .com!

  19. I SO HAVE TO GET BATTLE:LA on 3.13

    I mean seriously!!! That’s twice the says of .CO and more than twice as important.

    I will rush home and order that .co but ONLY after I pre-order BATTLE:LA!!!!

    Are you kidding me? That game looks awesome..

    Sorry. You can go back to .co now.

  20. COInternet has been doing a great job. Kudos to them.

    For a business-related website, the best extension is .com but since a new business owner can’t register a good name in .com (which is at the same time a short and dictionary keyword), I agree with Elliot in saying .CO is the right choice. It makes much more sense than .org because it’s a shame to see high-selling domains like Poker.org (the most lucrative keyword with the TLD made for non-profit organizations). .Net had huge potential but it’s ALWAYS been considered the stepbrother of .com (practically many domains that are taken in .com, .org and sometimes even .info are available in .net)

  21. “…Oftentimes, people have great ideas and try to register the .com, only to find the domain name already registered. With .CO, there are many more available, and the .CO makes more sense than a .net or .org.?

    Why?

  22. Aside from the .CO billboard being pretty Cool, which it is, I think it’s important to look at the bigger picture for the whole domain industry. This exposure is good for everyone and every extension. It increases the awareness of domains in general.

    “What’s a .co”
    “A domain”
    “What’s a domain?”
    “A web address”
    “A web address, you mean like google.com or government.us?”
    “Yes.”
    “I see. So .CO is just a new one?”
    “Right.”

    Really good for everyone, in general.

  23. A couple more thoughts. .CO gaining attention is somewhat good for all domains in that it can spark increased interest in the value of domain names and get companies to thinking about their internet presence. I would rather see .co on a billboard than no domain promotion at all … which is something that has been missing for long stretches of time.

    The other thing that seems to be emerging very gradually and which I think is very important is the inherent meaning of the extension on the right side of the dot. Elliot alluded to .org and the general consensus that it is used pretty specifically for “organizations”. This is good, and actually makes domain extensions more valuable when they are utilized in conjunction with the specific meaning contained in them.

    As the net becomes more junkified and crowded, a certain logic & order gets reinforced when the domain extension actually symbolizes something to users. With .co, I initially wondered if users would really get that .co = company. When there is some doubt or ambiguity, the marketing can help solidify what the extension represents. Like with .TV, its very clear. Anyway, keep promoting domains whatever the extension.

  24. @Robert Cline
    Mate, I think that is inclusive of all ccTLD’s that have .co in them e.g. .co.uk
    Still, there are many sites being developed for .CO and may getting up everyday.
    I invested quite a bit in .CO (purchased 80 domain names) and scored some very awesome one and two word domain names.
    I also have many .org, .net and .com.
    I would love to see .CO flourish, but it will take time and it all depends on saturating the public and business with marketing. Give it 5 years and we may see it boom past .NET! Let’s see, time will tell I guess. Just like any investment, you take a gamble, but I have a good feeling about .CO and I ahve teh cashflow to continue re-registering if I feel the returns will come.
    Hell, even at 4% value of .COM my .CO portfolio alone is valued between 160K – 240K. It would be nice to see that hit 10-12% like a .NET.
    Let’s see what this registry does. If they keep it up with their marketing it may well be a very lucrative investment indeed. 😉

  25. .CO not only makes more sense than .net and .org, and is way up and beyond the misfortunes of .mobi and etc…, but also makes me sometimes even wonder why .com ever existed to begin with. .CO is shorter, more brandable, covers not only commerce, but company, corporation, hell even communication…
    If you guys are not aware, even before the existence of the internet, 100s of thousands of companies around the world built their brands around the “CO” two letters.
    Many of those companies named like “crapco, flapco, raspco, etc.. would eventually rather be represented online by CO than by COM, and just as com was enforced upon people’s brains by advertising, CO can be also.
    Just give it a short time and you’ll see… I promise…
    I know winner when it passes by, and I’m glad I entered the domain industry late enough not to be too turned off by previous TLD misfortunes to recognize a winner when it passes by.

  26. @ Shaun,

    As I said above, IMO, .org is for organizations and a guy with a Silcon Valley startup likely won’t want a .org (unless it has to do with non-profits or other organizations). Similarly, .net is so 90s, outdated and meaningless. Maybe from a SEO perspective the .net would be better, but I just have 0 interest in .net domain names and wouldn’t personally buy any for investments.

    I personally would never build on a .net, and I would only build on a .org if there was some type of organization involved where .org made sense from a branding POV.

  27. What you all forget…

    “I really would like XXXX.com but it’s taken”
    “Have you tried .CO? I saw it on a billboard – you can own your dream”

    “No!…But it’s appears to be a new gateway to the future”

    type type type….

    “Oh.. it’s taken there too and someone wants me to make an offer on something called Sedo”

    “What is that?”

    “I don’t know… it says make an offer.. I put in $100 to see what will happen. I don’t know why.. I might as well just get that other .com we talked about”.

    Wait wait wait.

    “We got a counteroffer!!”

    “Cool, what is it?”

    “$15,000”

    “Oh… well that killed the dream… oh well, lets get that .com we wanted, it’s only $8 with a coupon”

  28. @Robert Cline, hey great shout out! I own nudephotography.co!! Any takers? 😛

    @Mike Law, As you said it’s all about personal preference, and I think more business owners would prefer .CO as it can actually stand for something (like a vanity extension). .TV definitely has it’s spot, but it’s more of a niche with a smaller audience which is why it won’t get quite as big as .CO

    @Elliot, .CO is great competition for .NET, but still has a long way to go. Do you think it would be worth my while to contact the people at CoInternet to try to get them to assist me on an ad campaign for .CO in Vancouver BC?

  29. “.co is the country code top-level domain assigned to the Republic of Colombia.

    Other than that, it is a money machine for Registrars.”

    Well, and The United States was once the land of Red Indians… So, what?
    I don’t believe what difference does the Columbian factor makes if google treats .CO as a Global TLD.
    Imagine that .COM stood as a TLD for comradery before it stood for what it did in the end… Would that make much difference to you?
    You sound to me like an old tape scheduled to loop…

  30. Hi,

    With just a few exceptions, this domain extension only makes sense for cities and towns and some business’s in ‘Colorado’.

    Otherwise, I think it just another 2nd tier domain extension.

    IMHO….as always.

    Now,

    If things in the ‘real world’, keep going the way they are going and oil is about $180+ a barrel by July, and gas is $5-$8 a gallon, no one is going to be able to visit NY to see this wonderful .CO display.

    So I say, they park a huge ‘Billboard’ right dead center in the 2k acres…out of the 20 million acres in: Anwr, Alaska that they want to drill for oil & Nat Gas.

    Declaring, Now Open For Oil & Gas Drilling ~ Anwr.CO

    __

    I might be a little ‘bias’, as this is the only “.CO” I own 🙂

    Other than that, I have as much interest in .co as i do .info ~ .biz ~ .us

    I wish the best for .CO domain asset investors and developers…I really do.

    But let see if they are still going to pony up 3 million plus for an ad….when the next Super bowl comes around.

    Best To All,
    Dan

    BTW: Facebook.com was a much bigger winner than .CO in the “SB” ads…they were in about 5-8 or so of 3 million dollar ads and did not have to pay a penny for the massive FREE PR & Traffic.

  31. Hi “CM”…

    I think that is a sensible move….anything they do in “Colorado”, fishing, hunting, horseback riding, white-water rafting, sking etc.. could prove to be OK.

    I have no problem using .CO for that, if the .com is not with in reasonable range.

    ___

    I had this thought to late of course….

    But I found a list of all the towns and cities in ‘Colorado’, from Denver down to a town with just over 6K people listed as the population…must have been 100-150.

    All taken… or I would be owing a least a couple more .CO

    ____

    BTW: I wonder if any of the drug cartels in Colombia are taking advantage of their countries new domain extension?

    Like say like:

    www. best blow south of the USA .CO

    or maybe:

    www. pay us 50k via paypal or you will never see your family member again .CO

    All in jest… 🙂

    —-

    Peace!
    Dan

  32. @Rich

    That’s part of the problem. Everyone with a .CO overvalues the .COM first… then prices accordingly.

    14 names were reported to DN Journal for 500,000 last year.

    Not every great domain is worth that much. You can find great .coms for well under $100K especially if you’re not focused on direct keywords.

    Most big companies have the .com they want.

    The “dream” is for small/medium business and they’re not going to throw away 15K on a domain that is second rate. If they had 15K they could buy a damn good .com and really that’s all you need because you still have to factor in overall marketing budget which will be needed on a .co because it has no more natural traffic than a second-tier .com

  33. Bold move and maybe a good spot to get eyeballs but imho the placement is poor with the surrounding ads. yikes. Battle:LA missiles bombing a city and floating .co people above that. . . looks a bit strange, as if the people are floating up to heaven after being bombed ? Yikes. I know they’re 2 separate “products” but the 2 ads stacked that close don’t do any good here. Have your ad agency check on that next time maybe. 🙂

  34. @jp
    i though you meant xxxx.co.
    i got confused,well ! here are two LLLL.CO that the price is $3,700 BOHN.CO, ATIS.CO ,not 15k.
    So you could still dream about that specific 4letter domain.

  35. Elliot – thanks for pointing out the billboard because I never would have known it was a .co billboard without you telling me.

    I the artwork on the billboard stinks. It doesn’t catch my eye and the text is so small that I can’t read what it says from the street. The other neighboring ads steal the spotlight.

    Great idea but poorly executed. I don’t think they “owned it”.

    I feel like my .co names are worth less now than before I read this post.

    Eddie R.

  36. @ Elliott

    I agree about the .org and somewhat agree about the .net. I totally disagree how that means .co is a viable auction in any way. It is the extension of Colombia and has almost no meaning to the mainstream public or business. A start-up in Silicon valley is more likely to choose a “made-up” or vanity .com thatn chooise an extension they have never heard of… IMO

  37. The best points on this page are those that have had a broad enough of a perspective to remember when .com was unknown. There are countless, countless, countless companies who used Co as part of their name long before then internet was an everyday feature of our Western modern day lifestyle. Com was not a business term, it didn’t stand for company, it would more likely be better identified as standing for computer.

    Fast forward, and .Com is king, through advertising, the internet revolution etc etc. Now .Co is growing faster than Jack’s Beanstalk and its partly riding on .com’s success but is a shorter and logical alternative, which inevitably will surpass .com, (you can argue about when).

    This is why I CANNOT accept this notion that .Co is some residue of a Columbian sneeze that has no inherent meaning or has no corporate purpose. This is not .mx, this is a domain ext that my country and others have ACTIVELY chosen to use as their main goto address at the second level. .CO.UK Britain, .CO.JP Japan, .CO.IL, Israel

    So far I have made tentative statements on this blog about .CO, with an uncertainty of its future. But the more time goes on and the more the public are exposed to this, as happened with .com, the more I can only say to the pair of eyes reading this, “Invest in this goldmine before it’s too late”

  38. @Richard: Beyond the bitchfest that always ensues with .co, there is one inescapable nuts-and-bolts problem.

    It leaks badly. Both traffic and mx (email addresses). Which should be taken into *very* serious consideration, especially the latter.

    Otherwise I agree that it really is the nicest tld to come out since the original three (treating it as a gtld, not cctld).

  39. Re @Shaun’s statement that “a start-up in Silicon valley is more likely to choose a “made-up” or vanity .com than choose an extension they have never heard of…”

    You are definitely correct in that we have a long way to go to get the level of awareness we want in Silicon Valley…
    This said, it has been less than 8 months since the launch of .CO, and the word is definitely spreading in the Valley…

    Here are just a few examples…

    http://www.t.co
    http://www.Angel.co
    http://www.draper.co
    http://www.frontier.co
    http://www.dfj.co
    http://www.disrupt.co
    http://www.duck.co
    http://www.naval.co
    http://www.ivp.co
    http://www.nwc.co
    http://www.vh.co
    http://www.vwp.co
    http://www.kamal.co
    http://www.braintrust.co

    Just today — straight out of “The” Launch Conference being held in San Francisco (as we speak) — 2 very notable companies officially “launched” on .CO domain names… both with great press coverage!

    You can learn more here:

    http://venturebeat.com/2011/02/24/screener-co-launch-stocks/

    http://www.nytimes.com/external/venturebeat/2011/02/23/23venturebeat-top10-jumps-into-crowded-list-sharing-space-47926.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

    So yes, it will take us some time to get where we want to go… for certain… but we will get there! Billboards and Super Bowl commercials are just a small piece of the puzzle. It’s the passion of our team – and the inspiration of the people developing great things on .CO domain names that will really move the needle. Just watch!

  40. ooooooooooooooewwwwwwwwwwww!

    I can’t stand it.

    The excitement is palpable.

    oooohhhhhhh!

    My heart pounds,

    it’s a .CO world now

    there is no stopping her now.

    the best companies I believe will develop on the .CO platform

    If you are not on .CO platform, you are not a real COmpany or COrporation

  41. @ Robert Cline real name James Kim

    ooooooooooooooewwwwwwwwwwww!

    I can’t stand it.

    The excitement is palpable.

    oooohhhhhhh!

    My heart pounds,

    _____

    That girlie above sums it up!

    Like a bunch of emotional shool girls after school
    getting excited about a silly new extension they just
    meet .Co they love (C**k) they ALL rant on and on
    like the sissies they are ABOUT A DOMAIN EXTENSION,
    ( get my drift )
    what a sordid sad bunch they are.

  42. Robert Cline (real name- James Kim) is engaging in classic hyping. I used to know another Asian dude who did that with penny stocks on BBS’s in the late 1990’s.

    BUY XXYZ!
    HOT HOT HOT!
    I GOT WORD THAT A BUYOUT IS IN THE WORKS!
    DON’T MISS THIS GRAVY TRAIN!
    SEE YOU ON MY NEW YACHT!!!!!

    It’s pathetic, Kim. Give it up. Must be a cultural thing because I don’t know anyone of my own stripe who is remotely swayed by your brand of BS.

  43. If .CO (COLOMBIA) means COporation and COmpany, then:

    .DE (GERMANY) means DEntist, DElicatessen, and DEnver
    .IN (INDIA) means INnovation, INteresting
    .AD (ANDORA) means ADvertising
    .AT (AUSTRIA) means ATlanta, ATlas,
    .ST (SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE) means STyle, STates, STrategy,
    we can go on and on……

    This .CO garbage is getting old. Whenever someone tries hyping up .CO, just refer them to DNJOURNAL.com and tell them to look at the sales page for any given week. That should be the end of the discussion.

  44. What do they use to designate “Company” in South Africa? Germany? and even Colombia? What about France?

    What does this mean:

    “.CO Internet S.A.S (.CO Internet) is a strategic venture formed between Arcelandia S.A. and Neustar, Inc.”

    I count one INC and one S.A… and no COmpany in sight. Oh well.

  45. Hey Lori Ann,
    Hello Richard

    Lori Ann, I doubt it if some of those commenting left and right do actually understand the Global orientation that you come from and that you speak from.
    Some of them may even believe that the earth corners at the Texan/Mexican border
    I can’t believe it has not hit them yet the authentic and natural value of a TLD like .CO and the unique opportunity it represents amidst a sea of helpless TLDs that came and yet to come but never will resemble CO or even come close.
    CO should’ve been from the start, and as I said, its availability now makes me wonder why COM ever existed to begin with.
    With the role that the internet is playing globally in even triggering revolutions that could overthrow dictators and leaders, and with half of the earth now moving fast towards democratic systems, a huge opportunity lies out there for .CO owners, and if anyone in his right mind puts himself in the shoes of people who know little to nothing about TLDs and they are just now thinking to go online and they are to choose between co and 100s of other TLDs and some of them would like to move a small business they own online — a business like Malco, Hellco, Belco, Napco, Setco, you name it you’ll find it right there ending with a co (all around the world), they’d gonna wanna own the .CO version before and more than anything else.
    Its a matter of time, and time is zipped and compressed in the cyber world. A 10000 MB worth of time could end up less than 1 Mega – everything is moving towards smaller and more powerful, and nothing is smaller and more powerful than a COM other than CO.

  46. @Chadi

    You are the most sensible and smart person on here. I don’t know why we can’t have more of you here.

    Lori and .CO and company are going to smartly advertise .CO where small and medium companies congregate, like web conventions and forums.

    They say that you need to here something 3 times to remember it. Well, SuperBowl was one, and now the hard work of getting people to see .CO couple more times begins. People telling their friends and more and more sites coming on line all helps in this cause.

    Long live the new .CO era.

    Remember, .CO is what it should have been from the start not the other one.

  47. everyone should just start unloading their .com domains now. They are worthless. Please start by sending me your lists of generic .coms with TRAFFIC. I will be paying reg fee for these worthless piles of domains. You will thank me soon.

  48. @adam

    Remember google is destroying generic sites by ranking them on page 1000 that does not have good original content updating every hour.

    The days of money making by coning people to empty sites are over.

  49. @RobertCline -THE GOOD
    You are crazy!!!

    @Adam -THE BAD
    you make me laugh!!!!

    @Mike -and THE UGLY
    Men…you are killing the spirit here!

  50. Thank you Robert, I believe the CO logic will prevail eventually.

    Adam, it doesn’t have to be a 0 vs. 1 polarity, one must rule out the other.
    There is a spectrum between 0 and 1 called number, and there is a spectrum between black and white called color, and there will be a spectrum between com and co.

    COM will always be like good wine, but this doesn’t mean that CO won’t be the second best alternative with a potential to be as popular as Coke.

    However, whats for certain is that Between the CO and the COM, many TLDs will get lost in the gray areas of the spectrum.
    .Net will still have its fans and its sometimes the best TLD for domains that involve internet or digital products, and .org has its prestige amongst organizations (it makes them stand out for what they are).
    However, if you consider basic common logic, lets see the pros of .CO:

    1, The 2 letter CO has been around sitting in people’s minds globally and has been used to brand Companies around the world for decades before the internet existed for public use. CO is already an integral part of thousands of company names and brands around the world. On my side of the earth, you can’t even hear of a company name that doesn’t end with CO. Lebco, Medco, Malco, Getraco, Napco etc….

    2, CO covers Company, Corporation and Commerce, whereas COM represents a narrower spectrum.

    3, CO as 2 letters is already typed in Premium TLDs like COM, CO.UK… And with everything leaning and operating by the motto (smaller is bigger), then CO is the only smaller that can beat a bigger like COM.

    4, Masses memory is short lived, and internet time is zipped, and nothing is sacred on this earth, not even religion. There are millions of people just being introduced to the internet now as we speak, and those people are way more familiar with the CO mentality than with the COM.

    5, A Great JOB on top of all that that Lori Ann and those folks who are behind CO are doing and top dollar being spent to reinforce all that. You cannot risk too much on something that is not inherently valuable to begin with.

    So, please, if you’ve invested too much on TLDs that turned out to be losers, or you feel threatened by the CO era, don’t let it out by belittling or mocking the TLD itself. You are better off trying to acquire some COs instead now while others are still mocking and craping, because you will have not the virtue or money later on when CO becomes like COM.
    You have to see a winner at a time when not everyone does and act fast in order to become one. And to those who are selling short and prematurely on their .CO, I say that they are even worse than those who are mocking because they haven’t acquired any.

  51. @ Chadi Graith who wrote this:

    “Well, and The United States was once the land of Red Indians… So, what?
    I don’t believe what difference does the Columbian factor makes if google treats .CO as a Global TLD.
    Imagine that .COM stood as a TLD for comradery before it stood for what it did in the end… Would that make much difference to you?
    You sound to me like an old tape scheduled to loop…”

    First, I did not know that Google treats .co as a TLD, can you please point me some evidence of that claim?

    Second, I fail to understand why every time there is a new extension, Americans companies try to squeeze as much money as they can out of domainers by selling them a new story and how the new extension means something.

    It was the case of .tv (Tuvalu), then .me, then many others and last is now .co

    On top of that, all new .co addressed to a public used to visit .com, will create confusion and eventually they will visit the .com version of the names.

  52. Thanks Joe…I’m quite surprised…I did not know Google had done that move, therefore my previous comments are void.

    Strange decision by Google. I wonder if other search engines are doing the same?

  53. Hello Italian Dragon,

    I just launched a website with .co less than a week ago, and its already picked up and indexed (in full) by google, without me even submitting it. Every page on my website is prefectly and equally indexed.
    I do not like blogvertising, it undermines my point, otherwise I would refer you to 10 similar sites that I myself own and are climbing faster than ever on google’s ranking (naturally). I can also point you to 10s and 10s of .co sites I don’t own that are also doing so. We’re speaking only very few months after the TLD launching.
    I receive 100s of daily clicks from parked .COs that I own. This is another example.

    + Besides all the Registrar’s thing which I don’t differ much on you with, .CO has inherent value different than the .tv, .mobi etc…
    Someone mentioned that .CO is a money making machine for registrars. This is but a proof to the success of the TLD. Not all TLDs were money making machines, and there are some domains that you can find in .net (completely virgin — unregistered before) but which you can no longer find in .CO.

    Registrars hope to make money out of any new TLD, however does this change the significance of the .CO as a two letter extension utilized by companies all over the world for decades before the internet. Does it change the fact that it is one letter short of a .COM and its already typed anyways by those who type premium TLDs like .co.uk?
    Does it change the fact that its very brandable, highly sonic, and it happens to stand for company, corporation and commerce 3 in 1?!!!

    What was .COM before all the registrar’s hype and the advertisement and the global appeal based on its reference to commerce?!! Was it part of a parable quoted from the bible that we are not aware of? Was it a revelation from the Book of John?

    Plus, the internet is a Global Space where the same name of a given company can be found in 50 different countries worldwide. What’s wrong with a company down in Venezuella who’s been called (lets say RIPA) for decades having a chance of owning RIPA.CO, when it can never own RIPA.COM because a company in the U.S. that goes by the same name owns it.
    Hell even Armani means Armenian in my side of the earth, and I’m sure the Aremnian nation have more right to own Armani than Georgio Armani.

    I hear the same remarks over and over that only represent very few domainers who have capitalized on .com, have lost money on .mobi and othe extensions, and are too tired and worn off to pickup on the opportunity that .CO represents or to see beyond their Yard’s borders.

    Does it

  54. @Chadi: Interesting. For the direct nav traffic you mentioned, is that 100’s of clicks across 100 or 10,000 .co domains? What kind of CTR?

    Further, assuming parking means a typical Y/B feed, are you seeing any clicks that weren’t smart-priced?

    My understanding is that .co isn’t supposed to be discriminated against any more, curious if that’s true.

  55. Hi SL,

    Somewhere much closer to 100s than 10,000s.

    What I can tell you is that same as any .com or .net parked domains – no discrimination noticeable.

    CTR is not miraculously good. However, the positive factor comes from the possibility of owning shorter domains in the .CO extension, and you know that shorter = more type-ins.

    Also, I’d like to mention that when I tried to acquire a .com extension of a .co website I own, which has been uselessly displayed for sale forever, the price was 4 times its estibot value a xxxxx figure, which is ridiculous. Here I am, with a 29$ and a little adwords, I am already set to go, and I’ve totally took my mind off the .com version.

  56. @Dan:

    “With just a few exceptions, this domain extension only makes sense for cities and towns and some business’s in ‘Colorado’.”

    I guess colombians have a slightly different perspective 😉

  57. @Landon White
    “The only people who will SEE that Billboard way HIGH up there,is the people looking up skyward for pigeon shit.

    I couldn’t agree with you more,olso.
    And there is about 60,000 to 80,ooo being droped every they,in .COM

  58. @ aniol
    @ mike
    @Lori Anne Wardi

    I did do some thinking last night and “MIKE” Is 100% right.

    The .CO is the domain extension for “Columbia” and “Columbia” ONLY.

    This making yourself and others believe that .CO stand for or means anything else than the main domain extension for the country of “Columbia”….

    It is… well, A complete LIE! It does not mean “company” or “Colorado” etc…

    When a client or client ask you about what your domain name means or stands for are you going to lie to them?

    Are you going to tell them that the the domain extension is the country of “Columbia” domain extension, but in your case and for your company it means and stands for “company” or “Colorado”? Just because that is what you want it to mean and what others to think it means.

    So,

    I myself do regret and apologize for my backwards thinking that this is was an OK domain extension for: “Colorado”…or anything else.

    Because it is NOT, has nothing to do with “Colorado”.

    Now, I want to call EVER company listed “Lori’s” post and ask them do they have offices outside the country of “Columbia”….

    Like maybe in the USA or Canada etc…?

    All the company’s listed would be more ‘honest’ if they all had .US ~ .CA (if in Canada) ~ .biz ~ .info

    Just admitting my miss-guided thinking on this…

    And think I have it right now…

    Best to All!
    Dan

    BTW: “The Truth Is Still The Truth ~ Even If You Do Not Believe It”

  59. Hey Dan,

    Ok, I’ve done some thought based on your the logic you exhibited in your latest remark and just decided that there is no need for .co.uk — .uk alone is safer, because now people will think Columbia lies somewhere in the UK.
    Also, I feel .gr would’ve been better fit for Germany than .de, if it wasn’t of that country named Greece existent. Hard luck for Grozny too.
    You know, maybe it will make you feel better looking at things in the following manner:
    Think of .CO as a coffee bean grown in Columbia and exported to the U.S. if that makes you feel better. I’m sure the folks at Columbia would have no problem whatsoever with you manufacturing any product or brand you wish using their coffee beans so long as you pay for it. Also, I’m sure those who buy the product from you can still enjoy a cup of coffee or a mocha truffle without them being haunted by the image of a Columbian Man Holding that Coffee bean in his hand.
    You know, we are living in a world of free commerce, aren’t we — a world where anything even passports and citizenships can be bought and sold. So, whats wrong if Columbia decided to sell its rights over the .CO TLD, and major search engines like Google accordingly accepted to treat .CO as a Global TLD?
    I mean if the folks at Google are Ok with this, I don’t know who are you (with all due respect) not to be OK with it?

  60. I think Dan is someone who missed the boat on the .CO domain extension and now he refuses to believe he was wrong for not jumping on the ship when he had the chance.

  61. no restrictions on .co thus people can use it as they want/desire

    read the original meaning/use of .com .net .org etc. at wiki

    things gravitate to where they are most useful

  62. Hi Elliot,

    I ‘spell checked” the wrong: ‘Colombia’ (my bad!) 🙂

    But I guess now .CO can be used by students and professors writing research papers etc at/from “Columbia university” and then posting them online…with the .CO extension, letting people assume that the .CO stands for the official domain extension for: “Columbia university”

    _____

    @Chadi

    “So, whats wrong if Columbia decided to sell its rights over the .CO TLD

    NOTHING ~ Still does not change the meaning of the domain extension…

    If ICANN wants to change .CO to mean: Company or Colorado or Coffee….fine by me.

    And this part of your argument really convinced me with this:

    “I mean if the folks at Google are OK with this, I don’t know who are you (with all due respect) not to be OK with it?”

    Yea, if its OK with Google…it must be OK with the rest of us 6 Billion living in the world….

    With all “due respect”… I am a lot of things (one being a bad speller…just ask Elliot) 🙂

    But, one thing I am not, is a “Google Sheep”….

    I do not know you either, but maybe we will have a chance to meet and chat someday at a .CO domain conference. 🙂

    Peace!
    Dan

  63. “But I guess now .CO can be used by students and professors writing research papers etc at/from “Columbia university” and then posting them online…with the .CO extension, letting people assume that the .CO stands for the official domain extension for: “Columbia university”’

    @ Dan

    That’s the thing with .CO… it can be .COlumbia University if someone wishes 😉

  64. Hey Dan,

    Make sure not to invest in .TV – In case you didn’t know, it means Tuvalu. And don’t invest in .ME either. That one means Montenegro.

    Leave them all available for us “suckers” who think they mean something else. We’ll be happy to buy them and continue making a killing!

    Peace.

  65. @Collabo

    I have missed a lot of ‘boats’ in my lifetime… I have regretted to this day.

    The .CO ‘boat’ is not one of them., not now ~ nor will it ever be….no matter how successful it may turn out to be.

    And like I said in a post in this thread… I hope people profit and succeed with their .CO domain name assets. I wish no ill feels or wish anyone bad luck.

    But, if this ‘boat’ starts to take on water…there is not going be enough ‘life-preservers’ to go around.

    Best to you, (really)

    Dan

  66. @Dan
    Open up your mind and you will be free. Chadi is absolutely correct. No one is denying that this “product” comes from Colombia. Should .net and .org only be allowed to be registered by folks in the US only because that’s where the Registry is? Or let’s be completely literal as you suggest – should .net only be allowed for people with an Internet based business, if you have any brick and mortar aspect to it, sorry, you’re not welcome here…Should I give up one of my .co.uk sites because I don’t have a company in the UK? Are you familiar with marketing or advertising? A product is whatever you sell it as. It’s not a lie. Is an Apple a fruit that you eat or an electronic device? By your logic, Steve Jobs -> LIAR!!

    I’m not claiming .CO to be the end all be all of the future of the internet, it’s simply another choice. If you can market a site on .CO because you make a connection to Colorado, that’s great for you, and you do it because it works for your customers. Choices are good. I think the .CO team and Lori deserve a ton of credit for original marketing, impeccable execution and monumental passion. By my calculations and as so many suggest, they could simply be taking the money of a very successful first year and riding into the sunset, but it seems to me they’re building a global brand and anyone with any common sense would recognize that any additional successful virtual real estate that is created and thrives is good for EVERYONE within the ecosystem.

  67. Why does this Landon White person keep posting such negative comments? Every domain blog I visit seems to have his posts EVERYWHERE and they are almost always either negative or confrontational. He posts so much that I must ask, sir, do you have a job?

    – Pradeep

  68. @JR

    “Open up your mind and you will be free”

    I did…last night.

    My post today, are almost a complete 180* from my post in this thread on this subject before.

    ” Should I give up one of my .co.uk sites because I don’t have a company in the UK? ”

    NO…

    But at least people know what and where your domain comes from….even if your main office or business is somewhere else.

    ____

    @ Jason

    I own: DanBrown.ME ~ You want to ‘broker’ this domain between “ME” and the famous author ‘Dan Brown’?

    I would be happy to pay a 20% commission to you, if you can get mid $$$$$ for it from him….he can afford it with ease. 😉

    Peace!
    Dan

  69. @ Dan

    Do you live in Montenegro? I don’t understand why you would own such a name if you have no connection to Montenegro.

    Oh…. wait… I get it… .ME, as in “me.”

    Ahhhhh…. makes sense now. I totally get the marketing side of things.

    Sorta like how .CO can stand for things like company…etc. 😉

  70. .CO is technically a ccTLD, but if

    1) everyone from all around the world can register it as a gTLD
    2) Google treats it and ranks it as a gTLD
    3) the registry is located in Miami
    4) it is known worldwide in almost every language as a short for “company”
    etc.

    I fail to understand why people have to insist that it can only be the ccTLD for Colombia. We live in a world where TLDs can be used for a purpose different than the original one, a perfect example of which is .org, that is often used in conjunction with lucrative keywords.

  71. @Elliot

    LOL….

    I reg it a few years back, before the the ‘light from above’ shined down upon “ME”…. 🙂

    Best to all, have a great weekend!
    Dan

    BTW: Elliot, this is going to be a great thread to look back on the day after the Super Bowl next year…I do not mind coming back to see how ‘wrong’ I might be,

    ___

    Back in 2007, when “FS” was blogging almost every day, and MS bought 1.69% of Facebook for $240 million…. giving “FB” a market valuation of $15 Billion.

    I made several post on what a huge ‘blunder’ that was at the time.

    I was more than 100% wrong, but MS was also, even when the do something right…they seem get it a bit wrong….they should have bought 5%-10% 🙂

    I am not afraid to be wrong….I in fact sent Owen Frager the original old thread about 1.5 months ago…and he ‘re-posted it on his blog. As he had been doing “FS Gem” blog post(s) from posting’s made at ‘sevenmile’ from 2007 -2009.

  72. Who the rat cares where the product comes from

    Toyota, Lexus, BMW, Mercedes

    they are all great products

    do I care where my bananas come from?

    In this global economy you have to think globally

    Remember .CO is a global brand, global product, with a global reach, who the frick do americans think their opinions are the only thing that matters.

    Remember, little america makes up only 5% of the world.

    People like Landon are delusional to think they are the center of the universe.

    The bottomline:

    .CO

    has the goods. Where is the beef – .CO has got it.

    Welcome to the

    .CO world

    .CO is simply CO ol !

  73. @Joe

    a ccTLD is a ccTLD, period. You can’t “register” .CO, a ccTLD, as a gTLD. You can check off a little box in Google Webmaster Tools, whatever that means, and Google can do with it what they want- “treat” is in their search engine better than other ccTLD’s. But it is still a ccTLD, by its very nature.

  74. @M

    OK, technically it’s a ccTLD, but nowadays a lot of things are originally made for a purpose and then can be used for another one, at user’s discretion. It’s its commercial meaning that matters to people. Just like there are countless audio/video-related websites that use .tv So, as long .CO works as a gTLD, I have no reason not to consider it so.

  75. Sorry Guys, I admit I misspelled Colombia. But I guess being able to speak 4 languages can cover up for my few misspellings every now and then. English is not my first language.
    Sorry!!!
    Now, .CO is freed from being the University of Columbia’s TLD.
    What a relief!

  76. @Chadi

    No worries… 4 languages, that’s great!

    I have problem’s with just English and it is my 1st language,…speaking (I stutter a bit) & writing.

    Lately my ‘stuttering’ seems to been a little worse… I think it may have something to do with: Colombia & Columbia …LOL

    Peace,
    Dan

  77. Another nice

    LLL.CO sale

    sold UON.CO for $550

    Please put this one in the books.

    Thank you.

    Just to let you know

    If you have a

    LLL.CO

    do not let it go for under $500

    $500 and over is the going price now for

    LLL.CO s. Have sold 7 now with another offer for $500 but have counter offered for $800. Will keep you advised.

  78. Hi,

    Nice one “duke”….

    Maybe ‘ICANN-NOT’ do anything right will come out with a TLG…

    For: .con

    Just for all the ‘prison inmates’ around the world… 🙂

    Or maybe:

    .GB

    For: “Guantanamo Bay”

    And then people can convince themselves it stands for: GreenBay, Wisc…..

    Peace To All!
    Dan

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