With over 90 million .com domains registered it is near impossible to find a short, recognizable international domain name. With last week’s launch of the .co namespace, for the first time in many years there is a truly useful alternative name creating a landrush of activity.

.CO domain names

Prior to launch over 11,000 brands had paid a substantial premium to secure their name and in the first week since launch over 300,000 domain names have been registered (making it 3/4 the size of the entire .nz registry).  Brands include Twitter, Yahoo, Nike, CNN and Ford.

Domain Registrar OpenHost which is an authorized .NZ registrar and reseller of .CO domain names sees this as a huge opportunity for its customers, as many of them never had the opportunity to secure their first choice .com domain due to rampant cyber-squatting or just being too late into the market.

“We have tried a wide range of new domain names in the past 5 years, most of which come and go without so much as a flicker of interest, .CO has been different with daily enquiries from customers it is clear there is a strong desire to secure the next best thing to a .com domain”.

OpenHost recommends customers get in early to avoid disappointment. “We have already seen substantial squatter activity, you just need to look at nzherald.co or xero.co.  We recommend business owners get in early and secure their brand rather than missing out or having to pay a premium later.”