Fresh off the heels of the release of the new GTLD’S that we discussed here last month, Registry.co.com last week started selling hundreds of .co.com domains for a mere snippet of the premium .com pricing. I have to say that having our business registered under a .co TLD this news got my attention.

There is absolutely no question in my mind that having a simple .com domain would in most cases be the most preferable choice, how many times do we all just automatically put .com at the end of a website of interest that we may have seen advertised on a billboard in a magazine or on television and actually end up at a different site to our original intention.

With over 30 millions .com domains registered last year I think we can safely say the demand is still as strong as ever despite the growing competition from other GLDS extentions. With all that said I have to find myself wondering are the new.co.com domains a way to even the playing field? The guys at Registry.co.com seem to think so! With most small business’s not even online when the best .com’s were registered and now they are are so in demand small and start up business’s cannot afford the premium pricing that they carry, is grabbing a .co.com domain instead a chance to really compete on a equal footing in the online world…?

One thought is that if you own a .co.com domain you may benefit from keying errors with the intended destination being your .com counterpart, but increasing traffic and driving loyalty this way is a dubious tactic and one that I cannot see standing the test of time. On the other hand I do see a certain element of stickiness to these TLD extentions that I have never really felt before. Having lived a period of my life in the Uk I saw first hand the rise of the   .co.uk extentions. Currently there are over 7 million of these registered and only recently one was sold for a six figure amount. To the British to type in a .co.uk comes as naturally as to many in the US to type .com and for any business that is purely based in the United Kingdom this TLD is seen as a premium extention to have.

But the big but with this example is outside of the Uk this TLD is rarely seen so if you want your business to have a Global presence on the web you most likely will have to look elsewhere….

This is where the .co.com TLD becomes interesting for me. Currently there are 60+ countries that use .cc.com extentions proving they already popular and succesful and the double . truly has gone global. I for one think that coupled with the relativley low price you can pick these up for they are worth a second look.

For that reason we purchased ExpiredDomains.co.com yesterday and I have to say I think it looks kinda cool!

Clare Coggins 

Clare@Expired-Domains.co