‘Dot.eu’ helps small businesses gain single market visibility

April 2011 marks the fifth birthday of the “.eu” (“dot.eu”) internet domain name and since its launch “.eu” has become the 9th biggest top-level domain (TLD) on the internet, the fifth most popular country code top-level domain worldwide and ranks in fourth place in Europe.

The European Commission, one of the biggest promoters of the domain, believes that having a “.eu” domain is especially beneficial to small and medium-sized companies as it raises their profile on European markets by providing them with a pan-European identity on the internet.

Registrations for a “.eu” domain have grown every year since its introduction and now reach almost 3.5 million, making it the ninth most popular top-level domain in the world. In comparison, there are over 91 million “.com” domains, 14 million German “.de” and 9 million “.uk” British domains.

An “.eu” web presence is instantly recognised by potential customers that may otherwise be suspicious of a company with a country domain name they do not recognise. Examples of SMEs taking up a “.eu” domain include many small local companies in the Italian region of Tuscany, a Lithuanian company installing swimming pools, a British events marketing company and a Dutch children’s clothing shop. There are Maltese websites that use this domain.

“.eu” is not only easy to register, but also easy to manage in case of problems, as it operates in any of the 23 official languages of the EU. It also allows the use of special letters such as “é”, “ö”, “ç”.

The largest take-up for “.eu” is in Germany (31 per cent of total “.eu” domains), The Netherlands (13 per cent), the United Kingdom (10 per cent), France (nine per cent) and Poland (six per cent). More recently, the use of “.eu” has been growing faster in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia, the European Commission said.

Management of the “.eu” registry (the database holding all .eu registrations) is entrusted to EURid, an independent non-profit-making organisation. Registration is open to all EU residents and organisations established in the EU. The accredited Maltese registrar is the Malta internet Foundation hosted by the University of Malta.