Resell.biz

The .CO began life in 1999 under the direction of Colombia’s Universidad de los Andes who quickly understood that the shortened extension might have some commercial value.

It soon found it self in the cross-hairs of the Colombian government who rejected their bid to treat the domain like a .COM extension.  The government viewed the domain as a public asset and exerted extreme pressure on the University to relinquish its control or at the very least refrain from commercializing the domain.

The University had intended sub-contracting the domain out to an independent registrar via an international bidding process. To do this it had to get the permission from ICANN, the international body controlling all domain names.

Meetings took place between the University, Government and ICANN, resulting in a mixed outcome. At one point it looked like the Colombian government had decided not to override the University’s control.

However unbeknownst to the University, the Colombian government passed a resolution to put the domain under its partial regulatory control and gave notice to ICANN about the law and it’s new parental guidance. The University was still allowed to administer the domain, but the Government basically had final say over any domain action, including commercialization.

This resulted in more disagreements between the University and the Government, until a defining moment in 2006 when Colombia issued Law 1065, which ordered that full administration control be placed under the Ministry of Communications.

ICANN initially attempted to influence the Colombian government as to how re-delegation of the domain should proceed, including a bottom-up rather than top-down selection process. However, the government held firm in its wish to exclusively administer the domain under the Ministry of Education, despite objections from ICANN throughout much of 2007.

ICANN then issued the statement in 2008 that “that unless there was a proposed operator for .CO the “due diligence [for redelegation process] could not be made”.

Eventually a bidding procurement process took place between .CO Internet SAS and VeriSign Switzerland SA for the right to delegate the domain on behalf of the Government. The Government elected the former due to VeriSign’s apparently lacking “specific experience”.

By 2010, the administration of the .CO domain was transferred from the University to .CO Internet SAS, under the regulatory and policy supervision of the  Ministry of Communications of Colombia.

In July, 2010, the .CO domain was open for worldwide business. By 2012, nearly 1 million .CO domains had been registered and this number is expected to reach 5 million by around 2017.

By contrast the .COM domain now stands at around 84 million, probably more.

Thus, .CO domain registrations looks set to exponentially surge upwards which is why registrars like Go Daddy are spent upwards of $3 million for a 30 second commercial spot on Super Bowl Sunday.

The rise of the .CO domain looks unstoppable and garnering more attention every day, especially as the .COM extension becomes increasingly played out.

The force behind the .CO extension is a Colombia company called Arcelandia S.A, and a U.S. enterprise called Neustar, Inc, who in tandem, develop and operate the .CO Internet registry.

“.CO is the new domain extension that offers a truly global, recognizable and credible domain name for individuals and organizations to build their businesses and brands,” said the .CO registrar.

“The Colombian government, in consultation for the local Internet community, has made .CO domains available globally in a responsible and secure manner.  .CO will never cease to be Colombia’s ccTLD, but it is marketed to a global user base. .CO is a relevant, credible, and global domain name extension.”

The Colombian government receives about 25% in the sales revenue from .CO domain registrations, which must be a lot of cash considering the fact that registrars like Resell.Biz and Go Daddy expect purchases to top 5 million by 2017.

At this time Wikipedia confirms that over 1 million .COs have been registered in over 200 countries.

TechCrunch reports that Google purchased G.CO in order build official URL shortcuts for applications such as Gmail, Google Docs and Google Photos.

“Google ranks .CO domains with the identical geo-targeting options available to the .com web address, so when your idea comes to life the world will know it,” said the .CO Registrar.

The .CO extension may well become Colombia’s hottest export, but the birth of this popular domain began in controversy.

Without domains we would be stuck using IP addresses to find your favorite brand, product or social network.

In fact, if the Stop Online Privacy Bill  (SOPA) ever passed Congress in it’s original form, people would still be able to bypass the legislation and retrieve illegal files by typing in the IP address of the offending site. But, who wants that!

Besides SOPA — which most of us are opposed to — there are some massive shifts taking place in the world of domains that affect cost and marketing. This includes the radical new gTLD program from ICANN, which will allow brands to market themselves in ways never seen before.

The introduction of .brand and .category represent some of the biggest changes to the Internet naming system — EVER!

Imagine a domain world of .coke and .Facebook.   It sounds great but it will be expensive perhaps costing as much as $185,000 to secure your brand. Of course, many wonder if the price will deter cyber squatters who always seem to find ways to muddy the waters.

In the interim, domain auction sites like Sedo.com are still squeezing value out of the traditional .com extension. For instance, a recent blog reported that some domains like Zimbabwe.com were selling for over $25,000 as part of their Great Domains Auction.

According to Domain Name Wire, “the owner is taking a 60% haircut from when it sold for $130,000 back in 2007 (also on Sedo).”

So, yes, it is possible for somebody to own a country (virtually) if you have some serious spare cash lying around!

If you are a small business, you are probably using domains in a much more practical manner, and probably also trying to maximize your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) capability.

SEOMOZ suggests that when purchasing a domain avoid using separators like hyphens which diminish credibility and may act as a spam indicator.

Also avoid domains that exceed 15 characters in length, which result in mistyped characters or are more difficult to remember.

It also suggests using keywords carefully in your domain name selection:

“The domain name itself is a key ranking factor that the engines consider when calculating ranking order,” said SEOMOZ.

“Having relevant keywords in a domain name is beneficial because the domain name is the text that other Internet users will use as anchor text when linking. Since keywords in anchor text are an important ranking factor, having these keywords in a domain name has a significantly positive impact on ranking.”

Interestingly, SEOMOZ shatters the myth that registration length matters in SEO.

Their conversation with Matt Cutts, Google, firmly establishes that length plays no role in Google’s famous algorithm.

Just bare in mind that all these so-called SEO experts don’t know exactly how Google programmed its algorithm, or how it will adapt over time.  So one day this fact may no longer be true. Welcome to domain name SEO!

“SOPA targets only foreign Web sites that are primarily dedicated to illegal and infringing activity. Domestic Web sites, like blogs, are not covered by this legislation” ~ Lamar Smith, Chairman of House Judiciary Committee, letter to New York Times.

The problem is not everyone believes him. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is picking up increasing counter-attacks from website designers, website administrators and business owners who rely on the Internet to display and share information.

According to Mr. Lamar there are more than 120 groups and associations, including the United States Chamber of Commerce, that now support the new pending bill.

“We need to examine the real motives of the ‘big Internet guys,’ like Google, that oppose SOPA,” said Mr. Lamar.

“Google made huge profits by directing consumers to illegal foreign Web sites, so its opposition is self-serving. In fact, Google recently paid half a billion dollars to settle a criminal investigation because of its promotion of foreign pharmacies that sold counterfeit and illegal drugs to American patients, possibly endangering their health. “

The goal of SOPA is to protect against the illegal theft of American intellectual property and the counterfeiting of goods, including the pharmacy drugs mentioned above.

To Libertarians, the act smacks of more, unnecessary regulation that will not only stifle the exponential power and value of the Internet but will ultimately hurt small business which have been identified as a critical driver in helping the United States emerge from the worst recession in decades.

The legislation is seen to have bipartisan support in the U.S. government, even as Democrats and Republicans engage in ‘class-warfare’ as the upcoming Presidential elections draw nearer. This means there is a strong possibility SOPA will become law.

Read the rest of this entry »

Employee incentive programs have long been the topic of much debate in terms of their effectiveness. Determining what drives your business and what you are hoping to achieve will weigh heavily on the type of incentive or recognition program you might be considering.

As businesses struggle to find ways to keep employees happy, the emphasis on retaining talent has become more important than ever before especially if you are within the technology industry. One such company, SIB Development and Consulting offers a hefty $50,000 bonus to any full-time employee who stays with the company for five years. This is a bold move by founder and CEO Dan Schnieder throwing down the gauntlet and setting a new bar in driving employee retention. While this approach is admirable let’s face it, in these tough economic times huge cash bonuses are more of a rarity than commonplace.

Here at Resell.biz we do a blended approach of empowerment, advancement opportunity, pay increases, and recognition to motivate our employees. We provide regular training to our employees so they are well equipped to deal with complex issues and then empower them to make the best decision. Each month we do an employee of the month award that all Resell.biz employees are eligible for. Past employees have been recognized with American Express gift cards, extra PTO, or other various prizes. In addition, we hold annual company award ceremonies where we recognize top achievers throughout the company in specific areas. Recipients of these awards not only receive the accolades and support of their peers but are also eligible for various prizes. A new award we added this year is the “employee choice award” chosen by none other than employees. We are always on the lookout for new ways to recognize our employees and reward talent.

Many of our clients with Resell.biz are entrepreneurs, new start-ups, or mid-sized businesses that employ a single person or perhaps dozens. In the spirit of sharing best business practices we want to hear your input! What is your business approach to incentivize and recognize your employees?

Hello All,

It has been quite some time since I sat down to post to the blog.  With the impending landrush and general availability of the .XXX coming up, I thought it would be a good time post.

I have spent some time with our development team and providers and am pleased to announce that we will soon have our .XXX solution available.  It looks like the TLD will be deployed just prior to the launch of the landrush phase.  It took me a bit of effort to understand all of the different phases being offered by ICM, the registry responsible for the TLD.  Check out the video below for a good explanation.

Pricing and more details are soon to come.

Cheers,

Dan

It has been a busy couple of weeks. We’ve got just a couple of weeks before Hosting Con and we are working to make it one of the most entertaining industry events ever. We’ve partnered with cPanel and SoftLayer and will be sponsoring a party on the night of August 9th. Its going to be an insane party with outstanding entertainment.

I’ve also been busy working on our putt to win booth activity. We are working on a amusement park style miniature golf competition. Putters will be given the chance to win several outstanding prizes. I have been focusing on making our putting green a uniquely challenging game. It has been a hot and dusty project but who new working with fiberglass and foam could be so fun. Here is an image of the green in its infancy.

It doesn’t look it in this picture but this green is going to be challenging. For those of you closet golfers funding your habits by running a hosting business, you are going to want to stop by our booth and check out the competition. Sinking a putt will be worth your time!

If you’re going to be in the San Diego area, register for the conference and come see us at the party! Hit up the support team for a coupon code for free party registration.

It has been an interesting couple of weeks. We just pushed our first large revision of functionality within the hosting platform. Here are a couple of items we have drastically improved:

Overall, the Control panel is coming along nicely. The aesthetic changes that have happened recently have been outstanding. We’d like to hear what you would like to see though, drop us an e-mail or leave a comment to this post.

We’ve also been hard at work preparing for Hosting Con! We have been fabricating a custom putting green, who knew it was so much fun to work with foam and fiberglass . It is going to be quite challenging, but a hole-in-one will earn our visitors the chance to win one of several apple products we’ll be giving away at the conference. Are you an Apple fan boy? Would you enjoy a new iPod or Mac? You should stop by our booth and put your putting skills to the test. We’ve also worked out a great relationship with our friends at cPanel. We are sponsoring a large portion of the cPanel party. Check it out!

Its been a while since I made up a post. The launch of the new Classic Reseller product has been quite a success and has brought us some appreciated interest. It has also produced some valuable feedback. Some of you commenters have even chimed in. One of the most common questions has been “why two control panels?” The answer is relatively simple; time, focus and our road-map and there is no way for the existing control panel to support our intended product lines. I can see the point though, managing two disparate control panels can be cumbersome.

So here is the skinny, we’ve heard the feedback and we tend to agree. We are working towards a single sign on interface that is modern, powerful and smooth. The domain management control panel is relatively powerful and completely capable of the tasks it was developed for. It has years of development and use behind it and is quite stable not to mention we aren’t in the business of fixing something that isn’t broken . The amount of data is tremendous and the complex/interrelated nature of functionality therein is quite high. It made sense to work to launch our other product lines and once complete, revisit the Domain Management integration piece. In the mean time, there are going to be two products to manage.

With that said, rest assured that we have developed our new control panel to be very modular. As new products and functionality are introduced, they will plug in seamlessly. This couldn’t be more true than with the plans we have for our Domain Management module that we’ll be introducing later this year.

It has come time to complete some necessary maintenance within our datacenter. The Maintenance is scheduled for Saturday, May 28th at 14:30 GMT and will impact domain management clients. It will have absolutely no impact to reseller hosting.

The maintenance window is scheduled to last 1.5 hours and thus will end at 16:00 GMT. Not all Domain Management services will be impact but the table below will help you identify which services will be unavailable.