Will .co domains be big?

Another top level domain launch and once again the question: Will .CO domains be big? We have had numerous domain launches the last years and more are yet to come. .asia, .tel, .mobi, .rf etc. However I believe that the .co domain launch is special.

There´s a story behind. Back in 1995 there were talks whether .com or .co should be launched as the commercial main top level domain. Why .com instead of .co? .co is even one character less and just as easy to remember. After the initial rejection, the idea behind .co stuck however, and many country hostmasters introduced later their top level domain with .co. To name a few; co.uk, co.in, co.hu etc. Anyway, justice for all, now 15 years later .co is finally launched for the general public on 20th July 2010.

Here are my 5 arguments why .co domains will be big, and could easily get in the top 10 inside the next years.

1. The timing is right.

the timing of the .co domain launch is perfect. The well of good .com domains has dried up with 150 million registered .com domains since 1995. If you start searching for a .com domain for your new company website, new blog or new product it is practically impossible to find any 1-5 letter character combination with .com. So what do you do? Ignore the snappy name on your wish list and go for a longer .com domain, try to buy the domain from the original registrant or look for another top level domain where it is available? .co is an obvious alternative.

2. Great recognition value

.co just have great traits when it comes to being memorable, intuitive and catchy. Hotels.com vs hotels.co? the difference is hard to spot. In Internet time 1 year is a long time, and Internet users are quick to adapt. Especially if the new version is better than the old one.

3. Low registration barriers for .co

The .co domain launch has no restrictions and a low price, which will make it accessible for all. This is where .cm failed and never recovered. Again, referring to my argument from before .co is a lot more catchy than .cm.

4. Multiple usage possibilities

One character less and you have certainly much more abbreviation possibilities. Whether you are based in Colorado, have a company or other type of commerce (consultant!), promote a community or is part of a Coop, these are all great arguments for using a .co domain.

5. Typo for .com

I just wanted to mention this one. For brand protection it is ultra important to have the .co domain. How many hits do you expect to get at Facebook.co from spelling mistakes? A lot. This will also count for premium keyword domains like hotels.co, travel.co, cars.co and all the other ones, which surely already have been registered months ago by the professional domain businesses.

CONCLUSION

Come 2015 and will we really remember if .com or .co came first? If new fresh .co web sites pop up, could it be that we will even develop a mindset that .co is for the web 3.0, web 4.0, web 5.0 companies while .com is the old web 2.0 stuck in the past? .co domains will be big.