On Third Anniversary, .ME Has Over Half a Million Registrations

In celebration of its third anniversary, the .ME Registry sent out a press release to share some insight about the number of .ME domain names registered, its rate of growth, and usage around the world.

At the present time, there are over 530,000 .ME domain names registered, and the owners of these domain names reside in more than 200 countries. Over 50% of the .ME registrations are owned by people in the US, which I also find to be interesting. From July 2010 to July 2011, the Registry saw a 27% growth rate, which is three times the average, according to Verisign.

I didn’t realize how strong the growth rate for .ME was, but these numbers are impressive. I don’t believe I currently own .ME domain names, but I am going to see how they’re doing on the aftermarket to  gauge  whether it would be a worthwhile investment. Happy anniversary to the Registry..

If you own .ME domain names (and want to share some of your insight), how have you been doing with them in terms of ROI?

Press Release::

Podgorica, Montenegro – July 20, 2011 – It’s been three years since the .ME Registry first launched open registrations of the Montenegrin country code Top Level Domain on July 17, 2008. “In that time, the dot-ME domain has transitioned from one country’s Web identity to the most effective personal domain name extension in the world,” says Predrag Lesic, Executive Director of the .ME Registry. “Dot-ME has truly ‘gone global,’ having registered more than 530,000 domains in 200 countries.”

Given the popular use of the word “me” in America, it may not be much of surprise to learn more than half (52.92%) of .ME registrations are based the United States; another 7.68% were originated by users in the United Kingdom. 3.82% were registered in Germany, 3.81% in Canada, and 3.63% in Japan.

But, it is the percentage of .ME growth quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year that proves the domain is a consistent top choice among persons and companies looking to be sure their web address stands out from the crowd. During the Registry’s last fiscal year (July 2010-June 2011), the registration of .ME domains grew by 27%; which, according to VeriSign’s May 2011 Domain Name Industry Brief (pdf), is more than three times the average industry increase during the report’s measured 12-month period (7.9%).

“While every Internet entrepreneur knows it takes time to build quality content behind any domain name, after only three years, there are many innovative online destinations and services with dot-ME extensions,” adds Lesic.

One of those truly innovative online destinations is Internet celebrity and Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons’ popular video blog, BobParsons.Me. “My blog discusses topics I find interesting, so dot-Me makes sense,” says Parsons. “The great thing about dot-Me is it gives individuals, many of which are business people, a place to register domain names for websites that communicate their personal ideas and interests.”

Some of the most catchy and popular .ME domains include Formspring.Me, a site which allows anyone on the Web to ask you questions and provides a platform to answer them; About.Me, an easy-to-build customized personal webpage considered so innovative the start-up site was acquired by AOL from the founding venture capitalists just a week after its launch; and Blog.Me, the South Korean blogging platform with more than 27 million users.

.ME has also become extraordinarily popular recently for its value in the world of mobile apps and as a URL shortener for some of the world’s biggest companies, such as WordPress (WP.Me), Facebook (FB.Me), Yahoo (ME.Me), VKontakte (VK.Me) and Time Magazine (TI.Me).

“Some might argue that dot-ME has put the young country of Montenegro in a worldwide spotlight,” notes Lesic. “We certainly are proud of dot-ME’s international presence and of the Registry’s accomplishments in successfully marketing the domain for its value, simplicity and brand presence online.”

For additional examples and articles about the many clever uses of .ME, visit http://www.domain.me/blog and to learn more about the .ME Registry, visit www.Domain.Me.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

8 COMMENTS

  1. I bought a few .me names when the registry launched, including NewYorkCity.me, TampaBay.me, CostaRica.me.

    All are currently parked. Type-in traffic and parking revenue are minimal. Not great ROI thus far, but I have received quite a few inquiries for NewYorkCity.me, and the occassional inquiry on a few of the others.

  2. Woohoo! Pop the champagne!!

    But do any large corporations use it? I am not aware of many. Have there been any pricey sales of .ME domains? I have not heard of many.

    The only .ME domain that might interest me is BLOW.ME and I would use that domain as a review site for the extension.

    If .ME lost registrations over the coming years.. it would not surprise me.

  3. Sales of Brands-and-Jingles are in top DN Journal lists.

    Within three years, sales of 1% of assets recovered 30% of the capital expenditures.

  4. I bought one 3 letter .ME domain, for a URL shortener.
    I would have used a .CO I have with the same 3 letters, but I figured that I’d be better off using the extension I don’t like as much for the shortener…

  5. Hi Elliot

    I’ve got a few .me domains none of which have been developed. Here are two of them:
    ComputerGame (.me)
    InternetDating (.me)

    They are obviously strong keywords, but I don’t think the .me extension is the best fit with these terms. Nonetheless, I think they might have development potential.

    What do you think Elliot, would you say they have development potential? What do you think the rough value of these domains would be?

    Cheers

    Luke

  6. Working on ideas for AskFor.me at the moment. Any ideas or suggestions for this brandable name (Why “Google me” when you can “Ask for me”?) would be welcome. With a free web page, the site can bring easy and fast web visibility for individuals. That’s my idea anyway, but backup and technological expertise is needed.

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