Everybody knows what a domain is. This dot that, that dot this. There are many different domain extensions in use and most fall under one of two categories – TLDs and ccTLDs. TLDs are Top Level Domains – the big boys, such as .COM and .NET. ccTLDs, on the other hand, are Country Code Top-Level Domains. These types of domain are generally used for country-specific websites, for example .CO.UK for UK websites.

By default, Google treats all ccTLDs with preference in search results when someone searches Google in the ccTLD’s country of origin. For example, if you searched Google in the UK, websites using .CO.UK domains would be treated preferably in the search results compared to sites using other ccTLDs, such as .US or .COM.AU, and sites using TLDs such as .COM or .NET (unless, of course, they have been Geo Targeted towards the UK). On the flipside, .CO.UK websites would perform less favourably in searches performed in other countries. Of course, I am not suggesting that this factor alone would place a ccTLD ahead of TLDs and other ccTLDs in search results by default - there are many, many factors that determine a website’s search engine rank - but this is very much one of them.

Using Google Webmaster Tools, you can set the country of a TLD with what is known as Geo Targetting; a method of determining the geographical location of a website. This helps to enhance search engine performance in the country in which the website is located. For example, you might run a .NET website in the UK, in which case it would boost your UK search engine results to Geo Target your domain towards the UK. However, it is not generally possible to use this method to change a ccTLD’s geographical location. Google treats such domains as being located in their country of origin by default. For example, a .CO.UK website would be seen by Google as being located in the UK by default and this cannot be changed.

Nontheless, there are exceptions to this rule. For example, the .TV extension was created as the ccTLD for Tuvalu and, while it remains a ccTLD, it has since been made available worldwide and has been heavily marketed as such by domain registrars. Google has reflected this by making it possible to Geo Target a .TV domain in the same way as a TLD.

The .ME extension was created as the ccTLD for Montenegro. Similarly to the .TV extension, it was later made available worldwide and I was one of many who flocked to snap .ME domains up when this happened. However, despite being made available worldwide, Google refused to allow this ccTLD to be Geo Targeted – all .ME websites were treated by Google as being located in Montenegro, meaning they would perform strongly in Montenegran search results but not in other countries.

It is understandable that Google prevent Geo Targeting for certain ccTLDs. Take .US as an example – the registry for .US domains restricts the registration and usage of .US domains to those either residing in, or operating a business in, the USA. In this case, it is quite right that Google do not allow people to Geo Target this ccTLD for any country other than the USA. However, there have been no such restrictions in place for .ME domains since they were released to the world. In spite of this, over a year passed before Google finally allowed .ME domains to be Geo Targeted. During this time, huge numbers of people outside of Montenegro who invested in .ME domains suffered – the search engine performance of their .ME websites was suppressed because, while they will have been performing well in search results in Montenegro, they will not have fared so well in their own countries. A knock on effect of this is that the value of .ME domains as saleable assets has been restrained.

Google do not own the Internet. They do not govern domain registration or usage – they are not a domain registry of any sort. If a ccTLD is made globally available, who are Google to prevent people from using these domains as such? Domain registries make and enforce the rules for domain registration and usage – Google should follow these rules. When a new ccTLD is released, or the rules are changed significantly for the registration or use of any ccTLD, Google should adapt to these rules immediately. I cannot see any logical or justifiable reason for them not to do so. So why did it take Google over a year before they allowed the .ME ccTLD to be Geo Targeted, like its .TV counterpart? Google’s actions – or lack of – may well have cost a lot of people money. But heaven forbid Google should ever have to explain themselves.

On July 17th 2008, the .ME domain extension was unleashed unto the domaining world. There is a great deal of hype and demand when any new domain extension is released and, with the domaining industry continuing to grow, it wasn’t a huge surprise when .ME started to break records set by previously released extensions. GoDaddy, arguably the biggest domain registrar in the world, had been heavily marketing .ME in the build-up to its release. But even they failed to predict the enormity of the demand as their website buckled under the pressure, with buyers - myself included - rushing to snap up .ME domains in record-breaking numbers.

Not only did .ME prove to be record-breaking in terms of public sales, it also generated over $2million from the landrush auction period alone. It achieved the fastest growth of sites on a particular extension being indexed by Google - .ME domains now account for almost ten million of Google’s indexed pages - and Alexa reported that the number of .ME domains in its top 1million websites was soaring past the corresponding numbers for .MOBI and .ASIA domains, both of which extensions had been released some time before .ME. It was the fastest growing new domain extension on record.

So what’s so special about .ME?

Whenever a new extension is released, domain buyers flock to snap up domains regardless of what the extension is – be it .ME, .YOU, .CHEESE or .LIPSTICK – because some domains are of a certain value irrespective of their extension. The type of domains I’m referring to are keyword domains. For example, carinsurance.biz, tailoredsuits.info, or cheapflights.com. The value of these domains is in the volume of searches for the respective keywords via search engines; your potential customers are already searching for your website. It’s a bit like hiring premises for a shop on a busy high street – your potential customers are already on the high street, waiting to buy your products. Since there are a limited number of domain extensions, there are subsequently a limited number of domains that can be registered with any particular keyword. So the supply of a keyword domain is very small, but demand is huge – hence domainers flocking to snap up these types of domain whenever a new extension is released.

But .ME is not just any extension. While it has the same value as other extensions for keyword domains, it also has meaning. “Me” is, of course, a word – not just in English, the most spoken language across the globe, but also in Spanish and Italian. So you can juxtapose a verb with “me” to create catchy phrases – particularly call-to-action phrases – with a .ME domain. The possibilities are almost endless – this method of creating a phrase with a .ME domain can be applied to any industry. Some examples of this are “insure.me”, “date.me” and “entertain.me”. This type of domain is catchy, unique and, most importantly, easier to remember than other types of domain. This is firstly because they stand out, since most other domains are not catchy phrases. But secondly – and here is where I dip into my HCI knowledge – there is a science behind the memorability of these types of domain. This science is called ‘chunking’. Chunking, in a nutshell, is the way in which information is split into chunks that are manageable by the human mind. In other words, it is the way in which things are made easy to remember. Most websites use the more common extensions such as .COM, .NET and .INFO. In most cases, the domain does not comprise a phrase. When a user sees one of these domains, they have two chunks of information to remember – the domain name and the domain extension, e.g. “google” and “dot com”. Let’s look at a brandable .ME domain, however. The example we will use is “insure.me”. When the user sees this domain, they see a phrase - “insure me”. The user will, of course, have to remember both the domain and the extension. But the second word IS the extension and the two words collocate to form one phrase, meaning that the user effectively has just one chunk of information – the phrase “insure me” - to remember. This acts to constrict the amount of information processed by the user’s brain, thus making the domain significantly easier to remember. Some examples of websites already using this technique with other domain extensions are fly.be, buy.at and del.icio.us.

Right, now that I’ve had my HCI fix, it’s time for my entrepreneurial fix - let’s talk about brands. Every business needs a brand – it’s what its customers remember and refer to it by. If a business is web-based, its domain is of huge importance – it goes hand in hand with its brand and is paramount to its marketing. If I ask you to think of the first three successful websites that come into your head, which ones do you think of? My answer would be Google, Ebay and Amazon. Now think of their domain names – how many are keyword domains? In this case, none of them. Keyword domains have their value but, if you have big ambitions for your website, you need a real, strong brand. Google’s domain is not “searchengine.com”, Ebay’s domain is not “onlineauctions.net” and Amazon’s domain is not “bookshop.biz”. They did not choose to pick up a keyword domain and just sit and wait for some search engine traffic. They made names for themselves by creating their own memorable brands and standing out from the crowd. This is what .ME is all about. But why not create a catchy, memorable .COM domain instead? You could argue that most successful websites, like these examples, use .COM domains, so the web address is usually obvious. In which case, if you are able to come up with a catchy and memorable brand name, would a .COM not be better than a .ME? This can sometimes be the case, but not always. What’s more, all the good names are taken! Think SourceForge (.net), Craigslist (.org) or ImageShack (.us) - other domain extensions are coming into play more and more, so it is becoming increasingly important that your domain extension is obvious. Enter .ME – the perfect solution. Not only does it ooze potential for creating catchy, memorable domain names – it is also the most effective extension for allowing your website name to double up as your web address. No other domain extension can truly rival the marketing potential of .ME.

So, to answer the question - “what’s so special about .ME?” - it is a domain extension that gives you more potential than any other to create a unique, memorable domain name that stands out from the crowd. Dot com may always be king, as they say. But, in an industry that is becoming increasingly competitive for getting your website seen and found, no other domain extension manages to encapsulate the needs of the modern day website owner quite like .ME does. Don’t get me wrong – having a good, brandable .ME domain does not guarantee that your website will be successful, no matter how catchy or memorable it is. But it will give you a head start. If you have big ambitions for your website - and you really want to make a name for yourself - then .ME is for you.

I’ve just revamped one of the first websites I ever built. Domparison is a domain name price comparison website - it does exactly what it says on the tin (who remembers Ronseal?!), comparing prices for domain registration, renewal and transfers on various extensions.

One of the problems I originally had with the site was that some of the registrars list prices in USD (dollars), whereas others list prices in GBP (pounds). Originally, I listed the USD prices and GBP prices as they were and simply indicated what currency each price was. When I first made the website database-driven, around a year ago, I started listing all prices in USD. This meant that, in addition to having to periodically update all prices, I also had to frequently obtain the latest exchange rates and calculate the GBP prices in USD in order to update them. This was clearly quite a chore.

What I have done this time is written a PHP script that scrapes the latest exchange rates from Reuters. Using a cron job, this script automatically executes periodically on my server, fetching the latest exchange rates and automatically converting all the GBP prices in the database into USD.

The site has also had a bit of a face lift - I felt the previous design was a little cumbersome in the  look and feel department, so I have ditched the blue-based colour scheme and gone for a light grey one.

Next on my agenda is to create a mailing list so that users can be informed every time a mass price update takes place. I’m currently thinking I may go the whole hog and allow users to create accounts - then I could allow users to rate and review each registrar. If you have any other suggestions, let me know!

Hopefully my fellow domainers will find Domparison useful - and hopefully they will like the improvements I’ve made!