.CO Exclusive

Thinking of Starting a Business? Don’t Forget These Five Essentials

02.14.12 By Rebecca Malik

.CO ExclusiveRebecca Malik is the President at 17thandRiggs.com, an online source for contemporary furniture and lighting, where she helps you create a fresh, modern space.  Her site has been featured in well-known publications such as Southern Living and online with sites such as the popular Daily Candy. She is a blogger for WomenGrowBusiness.com, where she shares ecommerce and small business management tips.

As a small business owner since 2008, I’ve encountered an array of frustrations and roadblocks in running and growing my company.  I must admit that my response to many of these hiccups has been more reactive than proactive.  However, these hasty actions can be avoided and you can operate more effectively if you start off on solid footing.  To that end, consider the following five fundamentals when in the planning stage of your business. Read more from Rebecca Malik

Startups

Women 2.0 PITCH Conference & Competition

02.07.12 By Lori Anne Wardi

Women 2.0 PITCH Conference & Competition (February 14, 2012 in Mountain View, CA) is a full day event to learn from the product innovation leaders who built Flickr, Facebook, Zipcar, TaskRabbit, LARK and more. Both men and women working in technology (from early-stage startup to corporate) are invited to hear speakers share best practices, growth strategies and stories of disruptive product development at their ventures. Learn about launching products from concept to cash and customers! Watch the Women 2.0 Startup Competition finalists pitch live to a panel of investors for feedback and prizes. Network with 800+ members of the Women 2.0 community at our biggest event of the year!

To register, visit http://women2.org/conference2012 and save 10% with discount code “CO-COMMUNITY”.

I joined the .CO team way back in 2008, when we were putting together the bid to win the right to launch the .CO domain globally.   Our little startup won the right to administer .CO in 2009, beating out industry giants like Verisign, which runs the .com and .net domain extensions. What a great coup!  I was passionate about our mission from the very start – and continue to be so to this day. Read more from Lori Anne Wardi

.CO Exclusive

I bought a .CO domain now what?

02.02.12 By .CO Team

.CO ExclusiveYour new domain to-do list

Searching for the perfect .CO domain name can be pretty exciting, but the real fun begins after you buy your domain. We want to see your “next big thing” succeed, and while we know you’re resourceful, here’s a few quick tips to help you get started. Read More

.CO Exclusive

Building a brand on Bimmer.co

02.02.12 By Morgan Linton

.CO ExclusiveMorgan Linton is a domain name investor and author of the popular blog www.MorganLinton.com. Over the last four years Morgan has focused on turning meaningful domain names into real online brands. Morgan is also one of the founders of Appraiso, a new software platform that enables website owners to appraise the value of their developed sites. In April Morgan will be moderating the Domaining Europe conference in Valencia, Spain.

When I was sixteen years old I fell in love with BMW. No, I didn’t have a BMW myself but we did have a family friend that owned one and the moment I saw it, I set a goal to own one myself someday. Well that day finally came on my 26th Birthday, ten years later, and as a web geek that just bought a BMW, I wanted to start a blog to share my experiences with the world.

One of the first names that came to mind was “Bimmer” the most popular word used to describe BMWs. I was a member of Bimmer Forums and a subscriber to Bimmer magazine so the brand had a lot of meaning to me. Of course I couldn’t get the .COM and after trying my next top choices, I found that none were available. Read more from Morgan Linton

Startups

Show some love for female startup founders

01.23.12 By Betsy Aoki

.CO ExclusiveBetsy Aoki is Senior Program Manager at Bing

I first met Lori Anne Wardi, a vice president at .CO, during a Geeks on a Plane tour of Asia last fall. While on the shuttle to and from various startup accelerators and meeting spots, we chatted about the wacky dot-com 90s and how things have changed (and stayed the same) in startupland since those days. More consumers know what a domain name is now but people are still faced with the dilemma of how to fund and shape their new companies. And, just like the 90s, there is still a marked shortage of women tech entrepreneurs. Read more from Betsy Aoki

Startups

How to Start Up in the New Year

01.19.12 Posted from Fox Small Business Center

Is your New Year’s resolution to start a business? If so, don’t wave goodbye to the security of a steady paycheck so fast.

In workshops with prospective entrepreneurs, I preach the “slow go” approach to start up a business organization. My preference for first-time entrepreneurs is to wait to quit a salaried job as long as possible to preserve personal savings.

Too often eager entrepreneurs leave salaried positions with only a vague notion of their business goals. They quit to start a business but haven’t really thought through what might work with customers in the marketplace. With each passing month, their savings and confidence drop. This is why so many startup businesses fold early – they start from a point of weakness rather than strength. Read more from Fox Small Business Center

Get Inspired

The entrepreneurial lure — should you bite?

01.12.12 Posted from CBS MoneyWatch

Entrepreneurship is all the rage these days. What with the breakout success of social media, the coming of age of Gen Y, and corporate America not hiring, it’s not surprising that the question of whether to start your own company or join someone else’s startup is a hot topic.

What is surprising are all the popular myths, obvious platitudes, and downright bad advice from people who have no idea what they’re talking about because they’ve never walked the talk in the real world. So let me shed a little light on the subject. Read more from CBS MoneyWatch

Startups

A 10-Step Recipe for Marketing Success

01.10.12 By Owen Frager

Owen Frager is Chief Innovation Officer of the Frager Creative Group, and principal blogger at Frager Factor. One of the nation’s first virtual marketing communications agencies serving Fortune 500 brands, Frager Creative and Owen Frager prove every day that big agency creativity doesn’t have to come with big agency drawbacks — or costs.

There’s a lot more to interactive digital marketing than eye-catching banner ads, discount packages and clever domain names.

Marketing, has finally come into the industry. Marketing gives personality and differentiates for advantage. Marketing creates relationships with customers that go deeper than anything you sell or make. And of course, social marketing, yet to be mastered by most, facilitates those relationships and drives word of mouth. Read more from Owen Frager

.CO Exclusive

5 Steps to Make 2012 Your Best Year for Your Business By Learning from 2011

01.05.12 By Raj Malik

.CO ExclusiveRaj Malik is CEO & Co-Founder of KikScore, an exciting startup that helps small online businesses use their own track record of reliability and trustworthiness to increase sales and close more leads. Raj is a contributor to his company’s blog at blog.kikscore.com, a past speaker at SXSW and is passionate about helping small business and entrepreneurs succeed.

It is early January and 2011 is just behind us in the rearview mirror.  The economy is still making it hard for many businesses to grow and build momentum.  As we start January and the new year we can do two things for our business planning for 2012: You can yet again try to create a brand new strategy for the new year or you can pause, look back and do some serious reflecting.  Reflect on what?  There is a massive amount of data, feedback and information from the operations of your business from 2011.  How about you take that information and create a plan for 2012 based on the good, bad and hard lessons learned from 2011? Read more from Raj Malik

Startups

Startup CEO New Years Resolution: Five Things I’ll Stop Doing Next Year

01.01.12 Posted from Tech Cocktail

1. I’m going to stop waiting till next year.  I’m not waiting till next week, next month, next year.  The next time I look at an item on my to-do list for the 2nd or 3rd time, instead of putting it off again for another indefinite future execution date that I won’t meet, I’m taking it off my list or getting it done now.  If every time I come to this to-do item, I push it back, it’s either not important so I’ll drop it or I’m avoiding it for the wrong reason’s and I’m going to stop avoiding it. Read more from Tech Cocktail

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