Switching to .coop
Studies in the USA, Europe and elsewhere consistently show that consumers trust cooperatives more than other businesses
Trust is a key issue online, especially where transactions are concerned – this is where having a .coop domain offers you a very real advantage.
Establishing one is a simple process that takes a few minutes – and for a limited time there’s no charge for the first year. Point your browser at http://pacific.domains.coop and type the domain you’d like in the box.
.coop is a sponsored top level domain, which means it’s restricted to those who meet certain criteria. You’ll need two referees; New Zealand Cooperatives Association members should use the names of our Executive Director and Chairperson.
Like other business decisions, switching to .coop should be done systematically to gain maximum benefit. Change is something we may shy away from, so here are some ideas how you can develop a new .coop identity to obtain the maximum benefit for your members with the minimum inconvenience.
Switching is a simple process that appears more difficult than it really is. Here we’re looking at the technical issues arising from having a .coop domain, particularly when your co-op already uses another domain such as .co.nz, .com.au, .org or .com.
Registering
Once you’ve registered your .coop domain, first of all inform your technical support people or web design team that you have a new domain name, letting them know what you want them to do with it. There are three areas that you will need to consider:
- pointing the .coop url to your web site
- printed material
Website
It’s a simple matter to have your .coop domain point to your existing site so that when you tell people your domain is now, for example, www.co-opbusiness.coop, it will redirect to www.co-opbusiness.co.nz.
South Island farm supply co-op CRT (Combined Rural Traders) have done this in such a way that when you visit www.crt.coop, you’re at their main site, and whatever page you then visit, what you see is “www.crt.coop”, even though underlying it all is a well-organised .co.nz site. Very clever!
If however you try to visit the New Zealand Cooperatives Association’s old web address at www.nzco-ops.org.nz, you will be redirected to http://nz.coop and the old url disappears. Similarly when you visit www.farmlands.coop, you are redirected to www.farmlands.co.nz, and their .coop domain disappears.
Another possibility is to have the .coop domain point to the member area of your site. So while www.co-opbusiness.co.nz takes you to your home page, www.co-opbusiness.coop takes you to your members’ home page. This tells your members you appreciate they are the owners of the cooperative.
Some businesses will want their .coop domain as their primary domain, while for others such as Alan Robb who uses www.alanrobb.coop, this is their only domain. There has been no other.
Having first decided that you want to use .coop for your co-op’s email addresses, whatever protocol you use for your email naming, use the same for your .coop email addresses. So for example if you’re currently using
firstname.surname@co-opbusiness.co.nz
the dotcoop address should be:
firstname.surname@co-opbusiness.coop
Email needs to be dealt with in two places: on the server, where the email is hosted, and on each person’s computer.
On the server side, the easiest way to handle .coop email addresses is to have your mail redirected, or aliased, to your current .co.nz mailboxes. To do this, simply create email forwards using your .coop Account Manager at pacific.domains.coop. Your technical support team will use a list of everyone’s current email address to do this.
If you’re intending to switch to .coop and eventually leave the .co.nz behind, a more thorough and long term way of doing this is to set up a new POP3 or IMAP mail server using the .coop domain and have all mail that is sent to your old addresses redirect to the new domain. It’s far better to have email hosting on the domain you'll be showing people, retaining the other address as a secondary that forwards to your main email.
Every user’s computer should have the From: address changed to their new .coop address. This is done in the settings of the email client they are using, which for most will be either Outlook, Thunderbird or Apple Mail. This needs to be done only once, whether you’re keeping an existing mail server or setting up a new one.
Setting up your .coop email can also be handled by .coop the support team. You just need to purchase the services you require at www.pacific.domains.coop.
Promotional material
If your co-op is thinking of rebranding, or perhaps relaunching your website, this would be the perfect time to get a .coop domain.
To get the most from your .coop domain, roll out a programme over time using the .coop web address on all your promotional material. This is best done gradually as the new domain is used in parallel with the old material.
When you have new business cards produced, for instance, they should have the person’s .coop email address, and your .coop website. So when you’re ready for some new letterheads, everything can match at that stage.
Getting support
Making the changes online using the Account Manager at www.pacific.domains.coop is an easy process. If you need support, it is available by email from support.pacific@domains.coop where a member of the .coop support team will be happy to configure the settings on your behalf.
To discuss these options and decide which way your cooperative can embrace the .coop internet space, phone the New Zealand Cooperatives Association office on 04 384 4595 (from outside New Zealand call +644 384 4595) or send an email.
You can help co-ops get a .coop domain
Placing the image above with a link on your website will help – and encourage – other cooperatives to register a .coop domain. To do so, use the following code:
<a href="http://pacific.domains.coop">
<img src="http://nz.coop/images/dotcoop.gif"
height="53" width="117" border="0"
alt="pacific.domains.coop"/>
<br/> Register your <br/>dot coop domain </a>
