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Domain Investor Elliot Silver could be the best marketing weapon in the .CO Arsenal

"Bahamas.co"
Elliot Silver's grass-roots marketing efforts, include running a logo design contest at 99designs

Already marketed by well-established online companies like GoDaddy (www.x.co) and Twitter (www.t.co), there is no doubt that the .co registry has done a better job marketing the domain to companies and individuals than any previous country-code top level domain.

What sets apart .CO from other internet domain registries is they have created an outstanding marketing campaign that relies on ambitious web developers to promote the domain.

Instead of paying huge lump sums of cash in expanding their already expansive marketing campaign, the .CO registry simply granted premium domain names to their .COFounders.

But it’s not Twitter and GoDaddy that will help build the popularity of the domain, it’s the grass roots investors like Elliot Silver, a successful domain investor, who recently announced he would be building and launching Bahamas.co as part of the .CO Founders program.

What .co is saying?

The .co company website regularly includes news stories about its domain – including those of Elliot Silver who has been writing about the development of Bahamas.co.  The current home page links to Elliot’s blog which includes a story titled Don’t buy .CO’s for Typo’s.

Elliot’s tweets even made the company’s website recently.

Unlike most companies and individuals, that were granted a premium .co domain free-of-charge, Elliot is chronicling the development of Bahamas.co.  Here’s a look at his latest post:

Just a quick  evening post to let you know where I am at with the development of Bahamas.co and the steps I’ve taken so far. I want to show you how development doesn’t have to be time consuming.

1) Posted a coming soon page on Bahamas.co and submitted it to Google Webmaster Tools. It’s nothing fancy, but I figured that I might as well put up a placeholder for now. As you can see, it’s already been indexed in Google.

2) Held a logo design contest on 99Designs.  I invited some designers I thought did quality work, and others participated as well. Hey – why don’t you take a minute and vote for your favorite logo?

3) Found a few templates I like on ThemeForest.net, which will be modified and customized to my liking. I don’t have much time to get the site live, so the custom option is going to have to wait. I plan to have a travel search function eventually, but for now a template is going to have to suffice.

To keep updated on the latest development with Bahamas.co, visit http://www.elliotsblog.com/

You can see a list of other .co websites participating in the .CO Founders Program here.

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Idol.com owner unveils plans for website, Domain purchased for $155K in July 2010

"Idol.com"
American Idol season 9 which aired its Finale in May, helped send plenty of type-in traffic to the domain name Idol.com. Each season the show sends thousands of visitors to the category-killing domain name

Earlier this month, Sedo GreatDomains reported the sale of Idol.com for 120,000 Euro (which converts to about $155,000 USD). 

The website, which has no affiliation with the popular T.V. Show American Idol, has plans to launch an online video contest and reality TV platform.

As one of the single most popular shows on TV, idol.com should enjoy a lot of type in traffic from fans looking for the American Idol website, which is hosted at www.AmericanIdol.com.

Idol.com has a video posted, that features a slide presentation describing its plans.  The social gaming aspect could be one of its biggest draws.

According to the splash page that is now online, key features of the site will include:

Support HTML 5 and Flash video player
High Quality video viewing and interactive experience
Social game to become top critics on idol.com
Social network community to track your favorite stars
A place for entertainers to host, advertise and monetize their video contents
A place for organizers to host a contest or reality show and monetize on the videos

The company which runs Idol.com, Genie Capital, has picked a great domain for branding its newest venture and with American Idol, social gaming and networking on a tear, the site is headed to be the next startup idol.

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Flipping.co posts sales of .co domains, Establishes itself as major player in .co Aftermarket

"Flipping.co"
Cure.co tops the active auctions at Flipping.co, with 2 bidders and the high bid currently at $380

While the .co domain is literally only days old, Flipping.co has been posting sales of .co on the aftermarket already.  To date, the .CO registry has sold over 360,000 web addresses with no signs of slowing down. 

And that means a lot of speculators are looking for a platform to “flip” their domains.  Flipping refers to the investment strategy by domain investors, of buying and reselling domain names quickly.

Flipping.co Backed my Major Player in the Domain Industry

Francois Carrillo, the operator of Flipping.co and other domain marketplace properties like Catchy.com, has put together another aggressive marketing plan advertising Flipping.co on third-party websites and on websites within the Domaining network including Domaining.com, the popular domain blog aggregator that receives thousands of visitors per month.

The domain Flipping.co was registered July 20, 2010, and launched shortly afterwards, giving domain investors who have been speculating on the new domain an opportunity to quickly turn a profit.  

The .CO registry granted several premium domain names early on to people and companies who applied to be a .COFounder, a program that requires the owner to develop the name within 30 days.  Although Flipping.co was registered during the landrush, it surely has been one of the most notable developments in the .CO landscape.

.CO Domain Sales

While .co is still in its early days, a number of .co domains have already sold through the Flipping.co web site, and more are in active auctions like Tos.co with 4 bidders and a high bid of $300.

Other .co domains in active auctions include:

StAugustine.co
Rere.co
Nao.co
Entertaining.co
Carcinoma.co
RockyMountains.co
Geb.co
Xip.co

Showing signs that .co can penetrate the domain aftermarket, .co domains could be commanding much higher prices in the months ahead.   And Francois Carrillo’s Flipping.co has established its as a major contender in the .co aftermarket.

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Gambling Domains could be worth a whole lot more money

"Online Gambling"
Online Gambling could get a boost in the U.S., raising prices of domain names dealing with gambling

If you’ve been following the news headlines today, you’ve probably seen all the news on the possibility of legalizing online gambling in the U.S. 

SO what does that mean for you, if you’ve invested in gambling domains? 

Gambling operators need land to build on, and what better land to build on than well known phrases or sayings in the gambling world?

If you’ve been holding on to your gambling domains for the right offer to come along, it could be sooner than later, as the Gambling Domain industry could be showing even more signs of picking up in a blockbuster year of gambling domain sales (Remember, Poker.org selling for $1,000,000?).

2010 Could Be the Year for Gambling Domains

2010 already has several gambling domains in the Top 10 domain sales of the year, with slots.com sitting at the top at $5.5MM.  Now the second half of 2010 could see many more top gambling domain sales.

Here’s an excerpt from The Washington Post that discusses more about gambling online.

Congress is thinking about making it legal to play online gambling games like poker.

The House Financial Services Committee approved a bill on Wednesday under which Internet gambling operators could get licenses authorizing them to take bets from people in the U.S. If it becomes a law, it would overturn a federal ban on the payments of Americans who gamble online.

However, the bill would continue to prohibit betting on sports, which accounts for millions of dollars in online gambling activity.

The Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act passed out of the committee by a 41-to-22 vote. Now the committee can send the bill to the House for consideration, where it could be considered in September at the earliest.

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What’s so great about GreatDomains? The names aren’t so great after all

"Wager"
MakeWager.com appraised at $160 by Valuate.com, is one of the featured domain names for the upcoming GreatDomains auction set to run on Aug. 19th, 2010

GreatDomains.com has had some blockbuster sales that would lead you to believe they only accept premium domain names in their online auctions, but that’s not always the case. 

Once again, GreatDomains has another auction scheduled to start on August 19th, with names some might call “low quality”.  

While it’s surprising to see some of the names listed at auction, the requirements according to the web site are strict. 

Who decides what’s a Great Domain?

To the uninitiated who haven’t attempted to submit domain names to GreatDomains, a name you consider premium can very well be rejected.  Making the entire selection process, questionable and confusing despite the clear-cut submission requirements that state the domain name must generic, e.g. car.com and creditcards.com.

What juggernaut domains are slated for the mid-August auction at GreatDomains?

ByKids.com
Laugher.com
Allhere.com
PrintingIndustry.com

A quick scan of the list currently shown at GreatDomains, shows that a number of the so-called “Great” domains are available in the .NET and .ORG extensions.

BANKINGFEES.ORG
LAUGHER.NET
MAKEWAGER.NET
MAKEWAGER.ORG
RAPIDSHARING.ORG

It’s not to say that these names won’t sell, but to some degree, you have to question what’s really involved in the decision-making process at Sedo.