I’m heading off to Guatemala this weekend to speak at the LACTLD marketing workshop. (LACTLD is the association of country code operators for the Latin American / Central American region. )
The event runs over two days and is being held in what looks like being a rather swanky hotel in Antigua Guatemala, which is a UNESCO world heritage site.
There are over 200 country code top level domains. Some of them are very big and compete directly with the likes of .com. Others, however, are way smaller and have only a few hundred domain names.
Why is this?
In some cases it can be down to the size of the country’s population coupled with a restrictive registration policy.
In other cases it could be pricing.
While others could be down to the policy itself.
We know from our experiences with country codes that the policy restrictions can cause issues and hamper growth. People and businesses that register and use domain names aren’t overly concerned with the “ins and outs” of policy. They just want a domain name so that they can hang their business’ online presence off it.
So I’ll be talking to Latin American and Central American country code managers about what kind of things they should be doing and what they should be avoiding.
I’ve spoken at LACTLD events in the past, most recently in Buenos Aires. They’re a warm and friendly bunch of people, so if nothing else I know they’ll be nice.
Here’s our release about the event:
Michele Neylon of Blacknight to speak at LACTLD Marketing Workshop
Session to focus on registry/ registrar relations
February 14, 2014 – Carlow, Ireland – Blacknight CEO Michele Neylon has announced that he will speak at the Marketing Workshop for the Latin American and Caribbean TLD Association (LACTLD) on registry/ registrar relations.
The LACTLD Marketing Workshop will be held at the Hotel Porta in LA ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA. The workshop will run from FEBRUARY 18-19, 2014 and will focus on issues related to the marketing of ccTLDs. LACTLD is an association created to represent the region´s interests in domain name issues, promoting Latin American and Caribbean integration, as well as becoming a platform for the cooperation and exchange of information and experiences amongst regional TLDs.
Neylon’s session will take place February 18th, on day one of the workshop. The panel session is titled: Promoting Work and Collaboration Between Registrars and
ccTLDs. The aim of the panel is to empower registries to increase collaboration with their registrar partners. The panel will be moderated by Crystal Peterson of .CO. Neylon will be joined by panelists: Janelle McAlister (Markmonitor) and Vicky Ruiz (All Global Names / Herrero y Asoc.).
Neylon will also give a registrar presentation titled: “Work It: What Registries Can Do to Get the Most Out of Their Registrar Partners.” During the presentation, Neylon will give several tips for smaller ccTLDs looking to market more aggressively through the registrar channel.
“Many registries would be surprised to learn how easy it really is to have a great relationship with their registrars. At the end of the day, we both have the same goal: to promote and sell domains and there are several simple things that ccTLDs can do that will result in more registrations and a mutually beneficial relationship,” Neylon explains. “There are many growth opportunities as well for small Country Code TLDs, and EPP adoption doesn’t hurt.”
Neylon’s most profitable tip is for registries to make things easy for registrars: “When you make it easy for registrars to promote your TLD by providing basic marketing materials and consistent technical protocols you will be surprised by how much we will do in return.”
For more information on LACTLD please visit http://www.lactld.org/en/
For more information on Blacknight, including the list of country code Top Level Domains offered please visit http://www.blacknight.com
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