Co-operatives around the world can benefit from using a coop-domain name.

Whethe r you have a web site or not or whether your cooperative is large or small, .coo p provides many benefits to co-operatives. These are some of the reasons that or ganizations have bought coop-domains. * Reclaim Your Names Register for all the domain names your co-op needs for a strong online pre sence but which weren't available under other TLDs. Because the coop-domain is a vailable for use by only cooperatives, it gives your co-op a better chance of re gistering all the memorable, meaningful names you wanted. * Improve your ranking at Google and other search engines It is a good idea to register your cooperative's name, but it is still a b etter idea to register generic terms. Many people are searching in the Internet rather for a generic term than for your company's name. Seach engines like Googl e rank your listing higher if a keyword from a search is in your domain name. Yo u can get these names with a coop-domain, when they are not available in .com. L isten to what the Internet "gurus" have to say about what names to buy: "As we'v e frequently reported in our SE Book & Newsletter, placing keywords right in you r domain name can give your site a major boost on search engines. We've also rep orted that some engines are no longer accepting sub-directory pages. This is one of the reasons the smart marketing pros have been buying keyword-phrase domain names. They use them as doorway pages to boost traffic to their sites." says Ste phen Mahaney, author of The Unfair Advantage Book on Winning the Search Engine W ars. Michael Campbell points out, in Nothing But 'Net, "The reason we want keywo rds in the domain name is that search engines often get 'tuned' to find, and giv e better positioning to, domains with keywords in them." Declan Dunn, author of Winning the Affiliate Game, sent out a memo to his affiliates advising "To get o n top of the search engines, one of the critical keys is a good domain name LOAD ED with keywords." Declan goes on to say "This news is spreading among WebMaster s, SearchEngine Meisters, Internet marketers, and big corporations. Don't wait." * Differentiate Your Cooperative New top-level domains reserved for specific types of businesses are fast b ecoming the best way for businesses to stand out on the Internet amid a sea of . coms. Co-ops are using coop-domains to set their cooperative apart -- and above -- other web sites. * Add Value to Your Web Site Specialized domain names also enhance the value of your web names by insta ntly telling users - in just four letters - that your business is a cooperative, owned and governed by its members. Other specialized domain names, like .gov an d .edu, provide legitimacy and credibility to the information on the web site, s ince users know that strict criteria are applied to anyone using these restricte d domain names in their web addresses. Use the coop-domain to give peace of mind to users on your site. * Gain a Competitive Edge Help consumers find the businesses they trust online. Extensive market res earch shows that consumers trust and prefer to do business with cooperatives. Us e the coop-domain to help consumers and members find your cooperative online. Te ll them you're not just another .com and gain a competitive edge over investor-o wned companies! * Enhance Your Internet Exposure Register for memorable product and services-based coop-domains that will p roduce more hits when people search for your cooperative on the web. Under .com, there are no English words still available for registration. Under .coop, the s ky is still the limit. So be creative and register names that reflect your coope rative's image. * Increase Traffic to Your Site Register multiple coop-domains and use them all to point to your web site. Using many names under different domains to point to the same site is a time-te sted way to help consumers get to your site, even if they can't remember your ex

act address. The coop-domain gives cooperatives an exclusive domain name that wi ll help consumers find them on the web. * Serve Your Members Use .coop for your members-only web site and remind your members about the value of cooperation. Members can look here for co-op news, governance services , discussion groups and other important information and member services. Hans-Peter Oswald http://www.domainregistry.de/coop-domain.html