Acro.net – Technology Rants & Raves by Acroplex®

When it comes down to investing in stocks, one thing you learn fast is never to bid all your money on one stock.

Unlike horse racing and gambling, investing in the stock market is a matter of researching both fundamentals and trends.

The same rules apply to the domain market.

When one invests in new TLDs based on emotion or one’s like or dislike towards the trends of the market, eventually things can turn upside down.

Putting all your eggs in one basket – as the old saying goes – is not the best way to learn, but many domainers have learned that lesson the hard way.

While it’s tempting to register every keyword under the sun in a new TLD, one should invest in single digit percentages in relation to their total portfolio. For example, if you own 100 domains don’t go getting more than 10 newTLD ones or you might end up losing the proverbial skin off your back.

Similarly, when the market doesn’t seem to move the way you hoped, don’t go around blaming anyone other than yourself for that type of investment mistake!

Since the .CO Registry opened up its gates ten days ago, more than 370,000 .CO domains have been registered.

Initial concern over the long-term visibility of .co domains was calmed down by Google’s reassuring statement that .co domains will be given equal treatment among .com, .net, .org and the various other TLDs and ccTLDs.

A lot of domain investors went after generics – keywords that retain their strength regardless of how exotic the TLD might be; the added bonus, in this case, being the relation to .com and potentially typo-traffic. Some domain investors, like Mike Mann, went after super-generics, such as Oil.co, Gas.co and Gold.co

Others foolishly registered blatant trademarks of existing .com domains – an example is Papajohns.co

Personally, I decided to limit my .CO acquisitions to geoDomains.

I went after a small group of domains that had the following characteristics: the .com was either undeveloped and parked, or its developed status was so antiquated as if we were stuck in 1995. In total, I invested in about 50 .co domains with the intention to develop and not park. It’s the first such group registration that I’ve performed with a strategic plan in mind.

Elliot Silver’s experiment with Bahamas.co shows that several other domain investors had similar ideas in mind. I’m just glad I did not compete with those; essentially, the niche market I went after was wide open and I’m happy with my domain acquisitions.

In the coming weeks a development strategy will be put in place; the .co TLD offers plenty of opportunities for search engine ranking and visibility, simply because the .com guys are sitting on their parked domains and virtual laurels for too long.

A developed .co domain with a matching keyword will outrank a parked .com any day.