The document discusses how .CO built its brand as a top level domain. It summarizes that .CO focused on having a great product with short, meaningful names; targeted early adopters and innovators; partnered with influential individuals and companies; and showed love for its customers. The document outlines seven lessons learned, including the importance of a great product, focusing on customers instead of features, gaining traction through early adopters, targeting the right audiences, leveraging partners, loving customers, and ignoring critics. It provides examples of Indian companies using .CO domains and contact information.

1. BUILD A BRAND
TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS

2. .CO is…
WHERE BIG IDEAS BELONG ON THE WEB
2

3. .CO is One of the Fastest Growing Global TLDs in History
Today more than 1.5 million domains registered in 200+ countries & territories worldwide
July 2010
Overstock
acquired o.CO
March 2010
Twitter
acquired t.CO
August 2009
Concession
contract
awarded
2008
Formed
company to
compete to
win .CO
contract
2009
February 2011
.CO Super Bowl
commercial –
110M viewers
July 2011
Google
acquired g.CO
November 2012
Launched
membership
program
April 2013
Reached
1.5M
domains
1.5M
1.1M
October 2013
2 .CO’s featured in
New York Times
Square
900K
650K
March 2013
Nine .COs mentioned
in TechCrunch in seven
consecutive days
290K
June 2011
Reached 1M
domains
50K
July 2010
.CO launched
globally - 100K
April 2010
domains first 10
95% of Fortune
minutes, 300K in
500 register
first 10 days
28K
2010
2011
2012
3
2013
WHERE BIG IDEAS BELONG ON THE WEB

4. It’s All About the Brand

5. We Asked Ourselves 3 Questions:
1. Who are our major competitors?
•
.COM, .NET, .ME, .TV, .ORG, .INFO, Facebook, Search…
2. What have our competitors done in the past?
•
•
•
Fought over “shelf-space” at registrars
Competed over price
Treated domain names like commodities / utilities
3. How can we change the game and do it better?
•
•
Have a better product (-- we do!)
Build a Global Brand! (--DE-COMMODITIZE!)
WHERE BIG IDEAS BELONG ON THE WEB

6. The Ugly Search for a GOOD Name
(both to left and right of the ‘.’)
myhomebusiness.com
Search
Available Domain Extensions
TAKEN
.com
TAKEN
.net
TAKEN
TAKEN
.org
.biz
TAKEN
.bz
TAKEN
TAKEN
TAKEN
.info
.us
.me
.mobi
TAKEN
TAKEN
.eu
.pro
.tel
TAKEN
.tv
.co.uk
.us.com
WHERE BIG IDEAS BELONG ON THE WEB
6

7. Our Vision: To be the premier space where innovation and
opportunity flourish - the coolest “place to live” online.
WHERE BIG IDEAS BELONG ON THE WEB
7

8. 7 LESSONS LEARNED
While Building Our Brand…

9. Brand Lesson # 1:
To Build a Great Brand, You Need a Great Product
Short and meaningful.
It signifies .COmpany
worldwide
More than a Domain.
With a .CO you get
more than just a nameperks, benefits, support
& community love!
It’s available.
Provides new and fresh
inventory of domain
names
Real brands, real sites.
trademark friendly
policies and premium
pricing ensure no
domain ghetto
Strong SEO.
Endorsement by Matt
Cutts from Google
9
WHERE BIG IDEAS BELONG ON THE WEB

10. Brand Lesson # 2:
(While You Need a Great Product) - Your Customers Don’t Really
Care About it. They Care About Themselves. So Focus On Them!

11. Brand Lesson # 3:
Influential Early Adopters Can Help You Get Traction Fast
Naval Ravikant
“Mainstream awareness of .CO is building
with huge brands like Amazon, Twitter, and
Overstock; and so is awareness of
entrepreneurs that their next domain doesn’t
need to be 23 letters long or lack vowels.”
Dave McClure
“.CO is quickly becoming the hot new geek
TLD in Silicon Valley…With .CO, startups can
launch businesses and brands on a short, cool,
credible domain name -- without having to
shell out a million bucks to do it.”
11
WHERE BIG IDEAS BELONG ON THE WEB

12. Brand Lesson # 4:
Don’t Try to be All Things to All People – Target the Right Customers
Innovators & Trend Setters
Disruptors of the status-quo
Early Adopters
Design conscious and eager to
try new technology
The Masses
They go for what works
High Profile
Use Cases & Business
Development
Web Entrepreneur
Trickle Down Effect
Tech stars
Consumer Events &
Sponsorships
SMB
Channel Sales & Marketing
12
WHERE BIG IDEAS BELONG ON THE WEB

13. Brand Lesson # 5:
Great Partners are Force Multipliers That Will Help You to Succeed
Incubators & Accelerators
Event & Media Companies
Communities & Co-working Spaces
13
WHERE BIG IDEAS BELONG ON THE WEB

14. Brand Lesson # 6:
If You Love Your Customers. They Will Love You Back.
14
WHERE BIG IDEAS BELONG ON THE WEB

15. WHERE BIG IDEAS BELONG ON THE WEB

16. India Companies, Startups and
Entrepreneurs
Littleeye.CO
Eventifier.CO
Profiler service for Android
based smartphone
applications.
Analyze and archive event
media.
TheGraffiti.CO
TechCurry.CO
A brand consultancy agency.
A blog about the India market
written and produced in the
UK.
Thunk.CO
A green community site.
Samagra.CO
Provides sanitation and clean
energy to the urban poor
living in the slums of India.
Select examples. For a directory of .CO users, visit our website.
WHERE BIG IDEAS BELONG ON THE WEB
16

17. Brand Lesson # 7:
Don’t Listen to the Naysayers. Let Your Success Silence the Critics!
17
WHERE BIG IDEAS BELONG ON THE WEB

18. Crystal Peterson - Crystal@go.co
Director, Global Sales & Channel Marketing
@dotCO
/dotCO
WHERE BIG IDEAS BELONG ON THE WEB