The valid characters for .AR domain are the ones that belong to the following group:
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 –
Continue reading ‘Syntax Rules for Domain Names Under .COM.AR’
77% of British consumers prefer to use a .uk rather than a .com when searching for information on the Internet, according to Nominet’s annual domain name industry report. They would most likely click on .uk rather than a .com, reinforcing that local domains are relevant and trusted environment.
The report also showed that the global domain name industry has seen an 8% growth with 187.6 million domain names registered worldwide. Generic top level domains (gTLDs), such as .org and .com, have grown on average by 6% whilst the country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) including .uk and .de (the German registry) fared slightly better and together generated a 10% average growth in registrations.
ccTLDs that have achieved significant growth in 2009 include: The Russian Federation, with an increase of 40.5%, Poland with 29.1%, Brazil with 25%. The .uk domain registry scored with a 10.7%. The only ccTLD to decrease in size is .cn, the Chinese registry. It has dropped by 0.5% in the past twelve months allowing .de, with its steady growth, to regain its position as the largest ccTLD by volume.
This growth is enabling country code domains to close the gap between well established Top Level Domains (TLDs) and proving that the connected consumers are becoming more familiar and trusting of localised domain names. Furthermore, they are increasingly expecting businesses to be represented by a site with a domain name that is appropriate for the region in which they are operating.
Phil Kingsland, Director of Marketing and Communications at Nominet, comments: “The report demonstrates that both consumers and businesses are willing to invest in ‘local’ domains because they are seen as reliable, relevant and trusted and will give them a direct route to their target audience… the findings show that businesses must now pay attention to Internet brand awareness and marketing strategies that are in line with consumer expectations. It is a global marketplace, but what we are seeing is that consumers trust and rely on a more local touch point with a brand.”
Here is a full copy of the Nominet Domain Name Industry Report 2009.
.TEL Domain Registry Operator for the communications focused .tel top level domain (TLD), announced owners that they can now to backup and restore their .tel domains using new functionality built in to the web control panel.
This additional functionality is in direct response to feedback from the .tel community. A backup copy of one or all .tel domains owned by a business or individual can now be saved as an XML file. The backup includes a copy of all the data, including contact information, profiles, groups and ‘friends’ of the .tel domain that have access to private information. This file can then be used at any time to restore the domain data. This process can be performed for individual .tel’s or for all .tel domains at once when managed under one single .tel account.
“This functionality is especially useful when migrating domains from one registrar or .tel service provider to another, but it is also a useful safeguard for those .tel owners running large scale directories under their own domains,” explained Henri Asseily, CTO and Chief Strategist at .TEL Domain Registry. “Bulk management of .tel domains right through to the ability to mirror your IVR solution in your .tel domain using existing XML files can all be achieved through the web based control panel.”
The Telecommunication Regulation Authority of United Arab Emirates has begun a campaign to increase the regsitration of the corresponding ccTLD for that country: “.AE”.
TRA recognized great potential in .AE domains after a 30 percent increase in new domain registrations. TRA General Director, H.E. Mohamed Naser Al Ghanim ,said : “We encourage all companies and entities in UAE to move to .AE as it truly represents their UAE identity on the Internet”
Registrations if .IE domain names are growing strongly, with a growth of 15% (9,398 registrations) in the last quarter to 131,862 registered domain names. However the growth is in an economic climate in Ireland that is not conducive to business growth.
“It is encouraging to see continued growth in .ie domain names, demonstrating that Irish businesses are seeing growth opportunities online despite the more challenging economic environment they face,” said .IE Authoritys chief executive David Curtin.
New registrations increased by 7% to 28,522 for the first nine months of the year with the majority of the growth in registrations coming from sole traders or limited companies (83%). The rest were registered by clubs, societies and charities.
.IE domain name registrations have continued to grow for the last six years, partly due to ongoing reductions in the cost of registration. Since 2003 the cost of registering a .IE domain name has decreased by around 64%. However the rules for registering .IE domain names are quite restrictive to most other ccTLDs in western countries.
There are now more than 4.86 million domain names registered in the Latin American region, an increase of 1.86% since August and a 17.4% increase year on year.
The largest growth in registrations in September was in the country code Top Level Domain for Brazil (.BR) with total registrations growing by 39,496. This was followed by Argentina (.AR 31,872), Mexico (.MX 9,806) and Chile (.CL 3,923).
However on a percentage basis, the ccTLD that showed the greatest growth was Anguilla (.AI) where there was an astonishing increasing in registrations of 1,348%, although this was too the very modest total of 391 registrations. This is reflected by a change in a change in the ccTLDs terms and conditions with registration of .AI domain names now open to all and not just residents of Anguilla as before.
Following was Guadeloupe (.GD 4.53%), Mexico (2.79%) and then Guatemala (.GT) and Uruguay (.UG), both with a monthly increase of 2.68%.
Overall, the top five ccTLDs in total registrations remained the same as before. These were .AR with 2,001,844 registrations, .BR (1,848,161), .MX (361,597), .CL (259,914) and .VE (152,799). These were the only five ccTLDs with registrations above 100,000 in Latin America.
The .CZ Registry registered domain number 600,000 on Wednesday September 30 at 22:47. Since registration of the first half million domains, less than 10 months have passed.
Domains have started to accrue at this rate since the introduction of the new system for domain management, FRED, in October 2007, which has speeded up and simplified the registration process significantly and allowed .CZ domains to become cheaper.
The .CZ domain has held the position of most requested domain for a long time with Czech registrars, which essentially confirms the global trend for the preference of national domains. On average, this year we have recorded around 10,000 new .CZ names every month, said Ond Filip, Executive Director of the .CZ Registry.
