.co TLD

[scwebsites]

What's the general opinion of .co domains?

Are they / Will they be ... worth decent money?

Would you build a UK site on a .co domain?

 

[Edwin]

I would put the pecking order of extensions (for a UK site) like this:
.co.uk
.com
--- gap ---
.net
.org.uk or .org
--- gap ---
.info
.uk.com
.biz
.me.uk
--- gap ---
.anythingelseyoucaretoname (including .co)

Reverse the top 2 positions for a UK-based site that's intended to reach an international audience.

Personally, I would never build on anything lower than .info and even then I'd probably give it a miss.

 

[foz]

Would you build a UK site on a .co domain?

No, it's a ccTLD for Colombia - www.iana.org/domains/root/db/

 

[sdsinc]

Would you build a UK site on a .co domain?

I wouldn't.
And not just because a number of people will add the trailing .uk they think is missing..

 

[KingDomainNames]

Hi scwebsites,
I picked up a couple of .co domains when they first arrived, and after reading numerous articles ever since on their usefulness/popularity etc., I do feel a bit daft now for registering them, although they have just been sitting there so far, neglected, so I haven't attempted yet to see if they have any potential.

So if you anyone here on AD has a couple of .co domains they picked up when they first arrived, and don't think you'll be developing them any time soon, would you just try and sell them on Sedo/GoDaddy/Afternic, etc. and be done with them ?

I can't see them becoming more popular (!) than they are now, and cannot see myself trying to sell to a Colombian. Would you just try and sell to the .com / .net / .org owner ?

Cheers,
Steve

 

[Edwin]

The snag with .co (like all the "failed" new extensions e.g. .mobi) is that proponents of the extension will be able to point to a handful of high value sales to "support the value" of .co. In practice, this is just a manifestation of the law of large numbers: with hundreds of thousands of .co registered, there are bound to be a FEW that catch somebody's eye. But that's like saying that in a lottery, there are bound to be a handful of tickets that win big. Doesn't actually say anything about the value of all the "losing tickets", no matter how much some people might wish it did...

 

[scwebsites]

I'm glad I asked because travelandtourism.co is dropping today and I was considering back ordering it. I don't think I could bring myself to develop a UK site on what is the Columbian TLD though, and your opinions confirm I was right not to.

 

[dta]

i wouldn't build a uk orientated site on it, but they do have an aftermarket where folks will pay money for the right name. I've picked up a few for reg fee and flipped in the mid to high xxx range. so not bad for a buy and flip type of investment.

 

[KingDomainNames]

@ dta

they do have an aftermarket where folks will pay money for the right name

Do you mean a particular marketplace website just for .co's, or just an aftermarket generally speaking - i.e. there is opportunity to sell them, through regular channels - i.e. seek end user / sedo / godaddy / other auction sites etc. ?

Any advice appreciated.
Steve

 

[dta]

hi - i meant general opportunity via the usual channels.

as long as your asking price is reasonable and the quality of the domain name is good and generally already taken on other extensions then it does sell.

 

[KingDomainNames]

Thanks dta

Thanks also to Edwin, and scwebsites for starting the thread.

 

[the_poet]

As a domain investor, I own a few .CO domain names (including a few geos like Sheffield.CO) and I think there's a market for them, even though not as big as .com and .co.uk. There are big names using their .COs, like Armani.CO, Laney.CO or RollsRoyce.CO (as a side note, RollsRoyce.co.uk and RollsRoyce.net aren't even resolving for me), not to mention O.co and Twitter's T.co (recently, Google joined the team with G.co). Even artists are using .COs: if you search for Charlotte Church on Google, CharlotteChurch.CO, the singer's official website, is second on page 1, while the .com and .co.uk are nowhere to be found (I'm not sure whether she owns them at all).

I don't think these (and much more) big names have anything to do with Colombia and that's because .CO, like .ME, though technically a ccTLD, is used as a gTLD and even Google confirms this by letting owners set the preferred country for geotargeting on Webmaster Tools.

 

[dta]

nice first post - welcome

agree with all your comments, well put!

 

[KingDomainNames]

@ the_poet - very interesting - many thanks !

 

[the_poet]

@dta

Thank you very much for the warm welcome I invest in several TLDs because I believe there's money to be made in any extension, anyway I do believe .CO is one of the most promising. As a matter of fact, I do not see any big brand developing TLDs like .me or .info as it's happening with .CO

@KingDomainNames

You're welcome mate

 

[the_poet]

I would put the pecking order of extensions (for a UK site) like this:
.co.uk
.com
--- gap ---
.net
.org.uk or .org
--- gap ---
.info
.uk.com
.biz
.me.uk
--- gap ---
.anythingelseyoucaretoname (including .co)

Reverse the top 2 positions for a UK-based site that's intended to reach an international audience.

Personally, I would never build on anything lower than .info and even then I'd probably give it a miss.

Mine would be:

.co.uk
.com
.net
.org
.co
.info
.biz
all the others

 

[the_poet]

Interesting article.

What is G.co.uk worth ? Not as much as G.co at least not for Google

 

[dta]

i read that too and was going to post about it.

g.co.uk vs g.co

can only imagine the thinking here is:
1. a global domain vs something uk centric
2. a better short url (a full 3 characters shorter!)

 

[the_poet]

2. a better short url (a full 3 characters shorter!)

Typing 6 chars for the extension goes against the advantage of buying a one-letter domain

 

[Maccke]

Except for typos and as an URL shortener, .co is crap!