Many people in the domain investment community have come to know Juan Calle primarily as the CEO of the .CO Registry. He regularly attends various domain conferences and events, and he is the ambassador for the new .CO domain extension, which as already seen over 380,000 registrations in under 2 weeks of being live.

Prior to his involvement with the .CO Registry, Juan was the founder of Straat Investments where he currently serves as the company Chairman (Jose Rasco is STRAAT’s Executive Director and Juan Palacio is the CEO for FederatedTravel.com).  The company is invested in real estate, technology, and private equity. According to the Straat Investments website,

STRAAT Investments, along with its affiliates, is a private investment firm with interests around the globe. Through its team of investment and operations professionals, STRAAT creates and invests in companies and entrepreneurial opportunities by leveraging its experience in multiple industries to build long term value. We primarily focus our investments in telecommunications, internet, and real estate.

One of the most impressive investments (to me), is the company’s portfolio of generic hotel domain names. As you may recall, I wrote about Swift Rank’s major investments into the city Hotel/Hotels.com space, spending somewhere around 7 figures in the not so distant past. Straat Investment’s portfolio of these domain names is equally (or maybe even more) impressive.

Included in its Federated Travel portfolio are domain names and websites that include (among many others):

• ParisHotels.com
• MiamiHotels.com
• LondonHotels.com
• ChicagoHotels.com
• DallasHotels.com
• CancunHotels.com
• TokyoHotels.com

In speaking with Juan about a domain name I own, his company doesn’t have much interest in selling off its assets. In fact, it would take “a big purchase ($10m +)” for the company to consider selling these high performing websites.

As one would expect, there are many people who are buying .CO domain names with the hopes of capitalizing on typo traffic. These people are looking through Alexa, Compete, Quantcast, and other various traffic estimation tools in the hopes of purchasing .CO domain names that will get traffic intended for the .COM.

One thing people need to be cognizant of (aside from trademark issues which I am not going to discuss) is that many high traffic websites get significant search engine traffic, and there isn’t going to be leakage from that. If someone visits a website via search engine or other referral, there will be no leakage to the .CO unless the referrer makes the typo.

Yesterday evening, I was asked if I had an interest in Burbank.CO. A reader of my blog offered his position in the auction because I didn’t back order it, and I wasn’t interested. I’ve been very fortunate with SEO and referral traffic for that site, and at the present time, only about 14% of the traffic is from type-in.  Assuming 20,000 visitors per month total, that means under 3,000 are typing it in to their browser.  If .3% of this traffic typos it, that’s about 9 visitors a month that I am losing.  It just doesn’t make that much sense to pay more than $500, which is where this name ended I believe.

There are a number of .CO websites that are live, where the .COM website is also live. Sex.com/Sex.co, Porn.com/Porn.co, Porno.com/Porno.co, Hotels.com/Hotels.co, and Weather.com/Weather.co are five such comparisons you can do, as I would imagine these sites rely on significant type-in traffic, which is where the leakage would take place. Since I don’t know how long each .CO has been live, I can’t say whether it’s 100% accurate, but here are the Compete numbers and % of traffic:

• Sex.com – 135,793 | Sex.co – 393 – .CO % of .COM traffic: .23%
• Porn.com – 1,807,569 | Porn.co – 1,015 – .CO % of .COM traffic: .056%
• Porno.com – 233,909 | Porno.co – 656 – .CO % of .COM traffic: .28%
• Hotels.com – 4,822,172 | Hotels.co – 1,698 – .CO % of .COM traffic: .035%
• Weather.com – 31,992,990 | Weather.co – 29,893 – .CO % of .COM traffic: .093%

As you can see, there isn’t much leakage to the .CO, so investing a lot of money with the intent only to capitalize on typo traffic isn’t smart. Of course .CO domain owners can (and many will) develop their .CO domain names like I am doing, however, relying on revenue from typo traffic here might not be a smart play.

This week was extraordinarily busy for the mid-summer. I feel like a lot of things were accomplished and there were quite a few big news stories. Here are a few updates and some advice for domain development and sales.

• I received several emails from people letting me know they bought a .CO domain name (or many), and now they want advice on what to do with them. I hate writing multiple email replies with the same content, so I will just post it here: “It’s really a wait and see game to see how the aftermarket develops.” It’s like that commercial with an art auction where the winning bidder says, “I’d now like to sell this piece of art I just won.”  There will be an aftermarket, but I don’t have much of an idea about what pricing will be like nor do I know for sure whether they will become valuable or when they will be desired by end users.

• Similarly, I saw that Francois has expanded his domain investment reach and launched Flipping.co, a website dedicated to .CO domain sales. If you feel the need to cash out now and/or test the waters, that could be a good place to list your names for sale. Knowing Francois’ MO, he will market the hell out of that site in the very near future.

• Speaking of MO (modus operandi), Mike Sullivan and Brian Null from MO.com interviewed me last week. People frequently ask me about my background, and I hope this interview will answer any questions you may have. Additionally, there are some great entrepreneur interviews on MO.com as well. Brian Null is the owner of MO.com and former owner of GolfCourses.com, and Mike Sullivan is the blogger behind SullysBlog.com.

• I was watching a baseball game the other night when I saw an advertisement for a pet food company appear behind the batter on the green screen, and it made me think of something I don’t always consider. When using affiliate banner advertisements on websites, it’ smart to coordinate them with national advertising campaigns. I have been using 1800Flowers campaigns coordinated with their ads on tv – especially during the holidays. They may not pay as much as other affiliates for example, but consumers will presumably be more apt to buy with a brand they know and trust.

I’ve been excited about this for the past few days, and I needed to make sure a few things were in place before announcing it. After reviewing my Founder’s Program application for a web development project, the .CO Registry has awarded my company the geographic domain name Bahamas.CO. I love the Bahamas and I plan to visit sometime this winter, and I will be back there again in March for Domain Roundtable.

Under the agreement with the Registry, I will need to launch a website on this domain name within the next few weeks, and I’ve already set the wheels in motion. I started a logo design contest on 99Designs today, and I will be working with my developer to build a beta website, hoping to launch the second week in August after he returns from a trip to NYC.

Press Release is below:

Silver Internet Ventures, LLC Commits To Building A Web Presence On The New .CO Domain

Joins Growing Ranks of People and Businesses Getting a Fresh Start on the Internet with a truly global, recognizable and credible domain name

JULY 22, 2010 – Silver Internet Ventures, LLC a web development company with experience developing geographic domain names, today announced that it has secured the domain Bahamas.CO and will be expanding its geographic web presence online. Silver Internet Ventures’ new Bahamas.CO website will be launched in mid-August.

Until now, Silver Internet Ventures has focused solely on US city .com domain names, owning and operating Lowell.com and Burbank.com. Bahamas.CO will be the company’s first major international geographic website, and the company will build a travel portal for people looking to learn about the islands of the Bahamas and the fun things to do in the Bahamas.

“I am very happy we were able to work with the .CO Registry to acquire Bahamas.CO,” said Elliot Silver of Silver Internet Ventures. “This is a huge opportunity to build a great website as others build their brands on .CO. I love the Bahamas, visited last year, and I can’t wait to get started on the Bahamas.CO website. These are exciting times, and with the recognition of .CO around the world, I am confident this is going to be a wise investment.”

Silver Internet Ventures, LLC joins the growing ranks of organizations and individuals who have already committed to the new .CO domain, including major global brands and Fortune 500 companies such as BMW, Cartier, Facebook, Google, Hilton, Overstock, Panasonic, and innovative media companies and startups like Twitter, Politico, Angel List, Challenge.co, and more.

With the .com domain running out of viable names, corporations, brands, web developers, agencies, entrepreneurs and others are turning to the new .CO domain as a way to enhance their existing Web presence or to get a fresh start with a global, recognizable and credible domain that better meets their business or branding needs.

“Whether you run a start-up, a small business, or a multi-billion-dollar corporation, you need a meaningful, memorable digital brand that tells people who you are and what you’re all about,” said Juan Diego Calle, chief executive officer of .CO Internet.  “Thanks to forward-thinking companies like Silver Internet Ventures, the .CO movement is gaining tremendous momentum, and we’re very excited to help create new online branding opportunities that the world has not seen since the Internet was first born.”

About Silver Internet Ventures, LLC

Silver Internet Ventures, LLC is a privately held online media company founded in 2008 by Elliot Silver. Websites owned by Silver Internet Ventures are located on category defining domain names that offer a platform for local companies to promote their brands online to a highly targeted audience. The company owns and operates Lowell.com, Burbank.com, TropicalBirds.com, and Dreidel.com.

About .CO Internet S.A.S.

.CO Internet S.A.S. is the Registry Operator for the .CO top-level domain.  .CO Internet was formed by a strategic venture between Arcelandia S.A, and Neustar, Inc. (NYSE: NSR). The .CO domain offers individuals and businesses a truly global, recognizable and credible option in branding their online presence. Thanks to leading-edge technology, enhanced security and unprecedented rights protections for brand owners, the .CO domain is poised to become the world’s next premier web address. For additional information, please visit www.COinternet.co.

Media Contacts:
Eric Sokolsky, Sparkpr for .CO Internet S.A.S., +1.908.288.7201, eric@sparkpr.com
Donna Burke, Sparkpr for .CO Internet S.A.A, 1.415.321.1862, donna@sparkpr.com
Lori Anne Wardi, Director of Marketing for .CO Internet S.A.S, +1.917.838.6743, lori@COinternet.co
Elliot Silver, Silver Internet Ventures, LLC, pr@silverinternetventures.com

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Photo credits:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11149039@N04/2376885496/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/theactionitems/3956453149
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sm3287/218475309/

I’ve covered the .CO launch pretty extensively, but I continue to field emails and some phone calls asking for advice, so I want to share a little bit of additional insight from a personal standpoint to answer any lingering questions.

As you’re aware, I was awarded a .CO domain name, which I hope to reveal this week. It didn’t cost me anything, but I have to build a website on it and market it, which will be expensive. It’s a geographic area I like to visit, so while the goal is to make money, I may also be able to write off some research. That will be up to the accountant to ultimately determine once the time comes.

In addition to this, I bought 5 domain names .CO domain names via NameJet. I wasn’t planning to back order many, but at the last moment I backordered 39 of them and they secured 5 I think.  None of them are significant nor were intended to play on trademarks. For example, I got Elliot.CO and Torah.CO.

You can look around and see that .CO has paid for advertising on my blog (small banner from the registry going back up tomorrow and a banner from Register.com below my posts), so keep in mind that I can’t be completely unbiased despite the fact that I feel like I am offering my unbiased opinion. I do make money from blogging, but I am first and foremost a domain investor/speculator and hope that this is conveyed below.

That said, I do think this is going to be a widely used extension because .CO makes sense to me and will resonate with others who could not afford a 6 figure .COM. Names that would cost 6 or 7 figures in .COM should be considerably less in .CO, unless speculators keep them off the development market, which could ultimately hamper its usage. However, with so many names bought by domain investors, I am sure there will be plenty who can’t afford to hold out too long.

In my opinion, the widespread usage by big brands is what will make it a valuable investment. Whether this happens is unknown for now though. Despite the fact that many brands did secure .CO domain names, it remains to be seen whether they will be used and promoted or simply used for defensive purposes. I don’t know. You don’t know. We don’t know.

Yes, I think the Founder’s Program was very smart because it guarantees that there will be many sites that use .CO and actively promote it. This is good for investors. The primary reason .CO domain names could become valuable is because regular people and companies want them as an alternative to .COM.  Will this happen? I don’t know. You don’t know. We don’t know. I think it might and others think it might not, but at the end of the day, it’s not us who will determine whether they will have significant aftermarket value.

This is pure speculation. Invest cautiously and invest smartly. Some people who invest heavily may be rewarded very handsomely if .CO becomes more popular than .NET and other extensions. If this doesn’t happen, some people may lose a lot of money.

As I’ve told the people who have emailed me, “I am holding off on a bigger investment until I see what companies do with their .co names and how the aftermarket shapes up.”  I am going to build my Founders Program .CO domain name soon and will do my best to earn my investment back.  It’s pure speculation at this point, but my business model was built on speculation.