Risk In .CO – Blind Faith or Informed Decision?

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.

You’re Not Seriously Buying A .co Are You?

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 ?

Godaddy Registers Its 40 Millionth Domain

Over the years I’ve seen registrars come and go. One registrar that I really admire, is Godaddy. Bob Parsons has led the industry for many years and the recent stats published by Godaddy are simply amazing.

“GoDaddy now holds a near 50 percent market share of all active new domains registered in the world and is more than three times the size of its closest competitor.”

“Over the next twenty-five years, I see the Internet growing exponentially,” said Parsons. “Think about it, whether you are communicating, learning or conducting business, being on the Internet is where it’s all happening. I’d say if you aren’t online with your business, you really aren’t in the game.”

Congrats Bob.

Missing eNom Domain Recovered

Remember that domain name that disappeared out of my eNom account? Thanks to a good deal of escalation at both eNom and NameJet – its back in my account.

I’ve yet to be told how Domain Jingles is involved in this, but

From what I understand, Domain Jingles is a Partner Registrar with eNom for acquiring dropping names. It appears that when I won the domain name from NameJet, the domain was registered in that credential by the eNom process that picks up names in the drop. Later on, the registry at Domain Jingles couldn’t communicate with eNom because a server had changed its IP address due to a subnet modification. For those people that have no idea what I just said – its basically “two computers couldn’t talk to each other”. Of course this doesn’t answer the question as to 1) why the name was removed from my account in the first instance and 2) why eNom support claimed it was no longer registered at eNom. When I contacted support to clarify the error message I was getting with the AuthInfo code (due to Domain Jingles changing their subnet), it seems that the support representative “marked” the domain name as transferred away in the eNom system which caused it to no longer appear in my account.

As you know, I tend to judge people on their auctions, not on their words; so if I was to summarize the experience I’d say that from a customer standpoint, eNom first level support were the main issue as they didn’t identify the problem from the outset. Once the matter was escalated, eNom management sorted it out. Their Tech Support Supervisor was in regular contact, as were senior management at Namejet and a former employee related to Domain Jingles (who just happens to read DomainerIncome).

From my point of view, the message from eNom has been clear – “If there are issues with a pending delete domain they should be reported. Should the problem remain the ticket should be escalated, and the issue will be worked until it is resolved.”

Thanks go to the staff and management at eNom and NameJet who sorted this out.

eNom Loses Domain – Uses Schultz Defense

I am often astounded at the incompetence of others. One of the major problems with these “virtual assets” is that we rely on other companies to hold them for us. Its not like money, where you can take it out of the bank and put it under your mattress.

Here is a classic example of a story that is unfolding right now about one of my domain names.

The registrar in question, eNom is using the Sgt Schultz defense of “I know nothing” and its driving me crazy. Has this ever happened to you?

Timeline

1. Win NameJet auction on December 4, 2007 and the domain goes into my eNom account.

2. Receive renewal notice on October 20, 2008 from eNom saying that my domain name will expire on 11-30-2008.

3. Try to transfer the domain name out to another registrar. When I try to release the lock at eNom I get “Failed to get Registrar Lock Status“. When I click on “Email Auth Code to Registrant” it says “Domain does not have an AuthInfo key“. Very strange – so I contact eNom support.

4. eNom support say “This domain is not registered with eNom at this time” and that its with “Registrar: DOMAIN JINGLES, INC.”. This is interesting, because I can SEE THE DOMAIN IN MY ACCOUNT !!! I also don’t have an account with Domain Jingles.

5. I check the Domain Jingles whois and it says my domain is “Registration Service Provided By: eNom, Inc.” Hmmm….

6. I update the support ticket with these new facts and receive this response from eNom: “We have forwarded this ticket to our senior technical support staff to research further. Depending on what we find it might be a few days before we have a solution or additional questions for you. I have requested a resolution as quickly as possible to minimize your wait time.”

7. Today I login to my eNom account and the domain name is no longer there. It’s just disappeared! I have received no notices to transfer it out. The whois data is registered under my name and my contact email address. Nothing has changed except that its no longer in my account.

8. I called eNom phone support in the USA. They tell me that the domain is with DomainJingles (who is  an eNom reseller) and that I should call them. The support staff also tell me that they will flag this ticket and ask their techo’s to investigate. I explain the obvious concerns I have about:

• Having a domain in my account that suddenly disappeared.
• The fact that the domain name expires in a months time and nobody can tell me where it went!
• The registrar asks me (their customer) to contact THEIR reseller, who I don’t know.

I’ve tried to make contact with Domain Jingles, and will keep you all posted on further developments. In the meantime, if you can think of anything feel free to post a comment.

auDA Releases Industry Competition Draft

auDA’s Industry Competition Advisory Panel has released draft recommendations for public consultation. Here some interesting points:

1. “The Panel recommends that auDA should require all overseas accredited registrars to register with ASIC to trade in Australia.”

That’s going to irritate the overseas registrars who have largely operated remotely; some of which have multiple credentials.

2. “auDA should work with the registrar community to develop a policy to ensure fair and equitable access to the registry so that the ownership of a number of registrar accreditations does not create an unfair market advantage.”

Again – they are worried about registrars having multiple credentials and picking up dropped domains. Lets share the love and hold hands.

3. “The Panel believes that the current policy on the registration of domain names by registrars on their own behalf is satisfactory. The Panel believes that auDA should work to ensure fairness and transparency in the provision of registrar services and access to information that may provide a market advantage. The Panel makes no recommendation in this draft document but will consider the issue again after receipt of public comments.” I think this might be code for lets stick our heads in the sand and see if anyone notices.

Yes I’m a capitalist – if someone can put up the cash and run multiple registrars, then great. Why should a growing industry like domain name sales, be hampered by further regulation? It doesn’t make sense to me.

Network Solutions Backflip On Front Running

Network Solutions has tried the good old “Jedi Mind Trick” – and its FAILED big time.

These aren’t the domains your looking for…. move along… move along.

The company has issued a press release saying:

“Network Solutions has long called for a fee-based solution to eliminate the related abuses of domain name “tasting” and “front running.”

Umm… guys… just in case you DIDNT actually know…. YOU were the morons people who were sprung big time registering other peoples domain names without their knowledge engaging in this practice! Hello!!!!! Your magical jedi powers don’t extend to rewriting history. Now you write a press release saying that “these practices are abusive”.

What you guys need to do is, get a dictionary, now lookup the word hypocrisy [hip-ok-rass-ee]. Just in case you are too busy counting the great big piles of cash you are making from your monopoly (I’m sure you know the meaning of that word) – hypocrisy means “the practice of claiming to have standards or beliefs that are contrary to one’s real character or actual behaviour”.

Thanks to the guys at TechCrunch for bringing this to light. By the way Network Solutions, your so called “explanation” is not credible. Why do it in the first instance? What steps are you taking internally to ensure that you (as a company) don’t condone and/or engage in such unethical business practices in the future?

ICANN: Who Wants 5,800 Domain Names?

Two ICANN gTLD registrars have bitten the dust and ICANN wants to palm off their domains to another registrar.

Who Was De-accredited?

1. Best Registration Services, Inc. dba Bestregistrar.com (IANA ID 473). They had 5,400 gTLD registrations.

2. DotForce Corp. dba DotForce.com (IANA ID 461). While they only had 400 gTLD registrations, they were based in Korea, so there could be an opportunity for someone to play in the international space.

How Do I Get 5,800 Domains?

If you are an ICANN accredited registrar, you need to send an email to Mike at ICANN by no later than 23:00 UTC on Friday, 13 June 2008, and include the following info:

1. Registrar experience, including number of registrations and customers managed;
2. Availability of sufficient customer service staffing to timely respond to customer service requests during and shortly after the bulk transfer;
3. Ability to communicate with customers in languages other than English;
4. A list of the TLDs in which accredited and operational;
5. Experience with and knowledge of bulk-transfer procedures;
6. Documentation of procedures to resolve potential disputes of domain name control or registration rights;
7. Experience as a customer-facing / “retail” registrar business;
8. Experience with second-level IDNs in the com & net zones;
9. Ability to provide ICANN with regular status reports.

Of course, if your company name is Godaddy then you probably don’t need any of this. (See sarcasm). Incidentally, if you have not read Bob Parsons 16 Rules then be sure to check them out – excellent work. Go and order the poster.