After more than 20 years online, I’ve decided to launch my personal blog and “get back on the bike”.

What Does This Mean For DomainerIncome ?

Our domain investment blog on DomainerIncome, will continue to cover some of the really innovative (and very cool stuff) we are doing in this sector. We have a very active development cycle and are working on some category killer services and applications right now – so stay tuned.

Our TV show at DomainerIncome.TV will focus more on the domaining industry, with high quality, indepth coverage that you just can’t get anywhere else.

SimonJohnson.CO

A couple of people have already asked the question, “Why .CO” ? The answer is simply because .com was unavailable. While I do own a number of domains with my name in them, there is an Aussie gourmet food company (with the same name) that owns the .com; in fact many people incorrectly assume that I own the company! Unfortunately, not – I can’t sell you organic italian pasta sauce, sundried tomatoes or olive oil (even though my name is on all of them).

From an IM point of view, its going to be interesting to see how the .co ranks against the other “simon johnson’s”…. and you thought one was enough!

My personal blog at http://www.simonjohnson.co already contains a number of somewhat embarrassing snapshots from sites and posts I made in the early 1990′s. Head on over and check them out!

I have to admit, I’m impressed. Over half a million .co domains have been registered in just the two months since the public launch of the .co extension.

Check out this article for more information on how .co is doing (it’s also going strong in the after market…).

Early this morning, Google enabled geographical targeting on the .co domain name extension. This means that you can tell Google that your website is targeting people in other countries (other than Colombia) – which is what .co was originally for.

I’ve created a step-by-step video showing you exactly how to turn on geo targeting for your .co domain name.

If you like the video or have a view in relation to .CO, feel free post a comment and let me know what you think.

In Australia, we have some consumer protection legislation called the Trade Practices Act (TPA).

The Trade Practices Act “prohibits conduct by a corporation that is misleading or deceptive, or would be likely to mislead or deceive you. It makes no difference whether the business intended to mislead or deceive you—it is how the conduct of the business affected your thoughts and beliefs that matters.”

While reading The Domains post about .CO, it occurred to me that perhaps some registrars are omitting that .co is the country code for Colombia. If they are telling people that .co is for “company” (when its actually the ccTLD for Colombia) – is that misleading or deceptive conduct?

I am not a lawyer and this isn’t legal advice, but its something to think about. When I stand back and look at the conduct of registrars – I think to myself – “Will Joe or Jane average person think that its Colombia?” The answer to that is “probably not”.

If you are a registrar who has jumped on the .co bandwagon – perhaps now is a good time to get legal advice on this.

As I wrote this article, I decided to have a quick look around at a few registrars. Melbourne IT did a GREAT job of “telling it how it is”.

Smack bang on their page is this description (image left). There you go. Its up front, tells you the “place of origin” and the benefits of the good (domain). In my view, its a perfect description.

Now contrast this with Network Solutions (image right) and you’ll see what I mean. Ummmm…. no mention of Colombia there!

So here is the bottom line:

1. .CO is going to mean, whatever the public thinks it means. It’s a great extension and has been promoted by an excellent marketing campaign.

2. There are laws in many countries protecting consumers. These need to be factored into your marketing campaigns.

Over the next few years we will see more of these new TLDs come out and promoted as “the next best thing to .com”. I hope this that gives the marketing people (behind these new TLDs), something to think about. No doubt it will also provide lawyers with many billable hours.

How was it for you? For me, I’m coming from a standpoint of constructive feedback based on an assessment of RISK. People appreciate that. Why? Because its not “blind faith”, which is what we have seen from many people (aside from greed).

It’s easy for people to be critical about .co – after all, they have been burned by other extensions. On the flip side, most people are ignorant. They just dont know the facts before they jump in. That may sound harsh, but its just reality.

Risk is something 99.9% of bloggers and domainers don’t talk about. I believe its largely because they dont REALLY understand it. Yes, its easy for me to sit back and say that, particularly with many years of Risk Management experience…. but its true. Sure, buying domains has an element of risk; as such many people are exposed to it. Whether they realise or not is another matter.

In terms of .CO – Francois summed it up perfectly in a comment – “People play lottery when they know their sale chance is almost null“.

Many .co buyers are now saying that they are just speculating and are prepared to spend their $$$ on buying .co. That’s completely fine! Good on them. They deserve the rewards.

What Is .CO Anyway?

1. Its still Colombia. The bottom line is that you can put lipstick on a pig, but its a still a pig. Perhaps in this case a flying pig? (Twitter joke)

That’s not to say its bad. It is what it is. IF I was to register a .co – it would be something relevant to the country. eg: coffee.co. This is because Colombia is a major exporter of coffee. Get the idea?

2. Using .co for company is a “domain hack”. Just like Tonga is .to. Ultimately, its whatever the public thinks it is! That is where the advertising $$$ will help to shift public opinion. Watch out for this.

3. Unfortunately, .CO presents an opportunity for typosquatting. This is something I really DONT support. Its not a sustainable business; if you are doing this, you will end up in a lot of trouble.

I’d also note that typosquatting is not unique to .CO. We have seen it with .cm for Cameroon and .om for Oman.

Changing The Way People See .CO

The money spent on marketing .co has not been disclosed, but it has been described as unprecedented.

The really interesting thing will be IF search engines decide to change their algorithms to reflect .CO being global and not just for Colombia. We haven’t seen that for any other ccTLD, so why should we see it for .CO ? I wonder how much $$$ is being spent on that? How many lobbyists have been descending on Mountain View? How many are still to come in the next few weeks/months?

There have been some rumblings about changing algorithms with a Google spokesperson saying:.

“We will rank .co domains appropriately if the content is globally targeted. Webmasters will soon have the functionality to be able to specify this by using the geotargeting options in Google Webmaster Tools.“

Its still early days, so lets wait and see. If the search engines do change (and there is no precedent to indicate that they will), then .CO might just be the landgrab people have been wishing for!

If you bought a .co, good luck with it! Seriously. You took the risk, you deserve the reward.

If you have a .CO, I’d love to hear from you. What do you have planned? Flip, develop, hold? Feel free to post a comment and let me know.

Over the past 24 hours I’ve personally received emails and private messages from people asking about .co. It seems everyone is asking one of two questions:

Question 1 – Am I buying .co ?
Question 2 – Should they buy .co ?

Instead of replying to everyone individually, I thought I’d post this.

Answer 1 – No I am not buying .co
Answer 2 – That’s up to you and your appetite for risk.

The reality is, people make mistakes. We saw it with .mobi .me .asia and other TLDs.

What I’m about to say isn’t going to be popular, but it’s the reality check that most bloggers and other companies simply aren’t going to give you.

Where The $$$ Is

The people that make REAL money from these new extensions (most of which are over-hyped), are the Registries and the Registrars. In other words, the companies that sell them to YOU. There is only ever a small number of premium generic keywords that sell upwards of $200k. When you look at who is buying them, its often large corporates with the marketing $$$ to spend. Having worked for many global brands, I can honestly say that when it comes down to it, they do this for two reasons: 1. Fear and 2. Protecting their trademarks (brands).

Marketing

Now onto .co – its really no different from any other TLD we have seen. The method is quite simple; get a huge marketing budget and buy advertising.

As a domainer, you may be reading through blogs and press releases saying to yourself “I have to get in on this – everyone is buying”. In reality, what you need to do is have a look at WHO is supporting .co and WHY. Let me give you two examples:

Example #1 – Blogger

• Is their blogging site plastered with .co advertising? How can they be objective?
• Is it “cash for comment” ? Do they have a policy or statement on their blog about how they handle conflicts of interest?
• Are they a full-time domainer or is domaining just a hobby for them?
• Perhaps the only reason they blog, is to sell advertising on their site?
• Do they work full time for a vendor? Perhaps one who is involved in selling .co domains?

Example #2 – .co Founders

This is a great marketing initiative for people who want to register .co and get in first (before everyone else). Seriously, I think its a great initiative – my hat goes off to the .CO Registry.

Here is how it goes…. .co founders come up with an idea, submit an application and “develop, launch and market your .CO domain per your proposal and our agreement“.

I’d also note this clause: “During the license period, you must agree to actively market and promote the .CO domain in a manner that is likely to produce widespread awareness of your site based on industry best practices.”

So – you promote .co as the biggest, greatest thing in the world, to as many people as you can. During this time, the .co you selected is being wiggled over your eyeballs, just like a hypnotist with a pocket watch.

Risk

Many of you know that my background is in Security, Fraud Prevention and Corporate Risk. This is the lens through which I often view my own domain investments. What is interesting is that nobody is looking at sovereign risk / geopolitical risk. Call it what you want – .co is for Colombia. If you are going to invest $$$ into multiple domains (no matter what the extension), then you need to know the risks associated with that investment.

Conversion

We have all seen TLDs like .jobs and .pro; so is the general public REALLY going to use .co ? Sure, everyone knows about .com, but not .co. That’s only going to change with time, but how much time? Months, years? How does .co rank in the search engines? Can your business afford to wait?

Cash

Each dollar that you invest in .co (or any TLD for that matter) is money you are taking away from your business. That’s money, that you could be spending on something else. I was thinking about two of my most important food groups – chocolate & coffee.

Usability

When I start my iPad or iPhone and browse the digital interwebs, there is ONE button on the keyboard that I use all the time. Its a .com button – not a .mobi button. I think you get the point.

Look, I know this is a bit blunt and its not going to be popular. Honestly – the intent of this post is to help educate the marketplace. Hopefully it gives you something to think about when you are deciding whether to register a .co or the next “landrush” that appears on our doorstep.

Feel free to post a comment and let me know what you think. Are you buying .co ?