Setting .ME upPresented by:

Vuksan Rajkovicat

2nd International Conference for ccTLD Registries and Registrars, Bled, Slovenia

About .ME

• ccTLD for the country of Montenegro

• Operated by doMEn, d.o.o – a partnership of Me-Net, Afilias, and GoDaddy

– Me-Net is a local company– Afilias provides world class registry services and broad access to register

domains through registrars– GoDaddy is world’s largest registrar

• Open second level registrations for the general public– Great personalized address for personal names such as Kathleen.me,

Johnsmith.me– Great TLD for call-to-action e.g. ShopFor.me, ChatWith.me– Great for social networking e.g. Youdate.ME, Missouri.ME

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What is .ME?

• .ME is about You!• A new domain just for you. • A brand-new domain where you can express your

individuality• A unique way to personalize your brand.• A whole new domain where you can simply be .ME –

and really, truly you.

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Setting .ME up

• May 1st -Free transition from cg.yu to co.me

• Co.Me, Net.Me, Org.Me, Priv.Me, Its.Me, -Third-level domains – available for the

registrants from Montenegro, only

Setting .ME up• May 6th - May 20th General Sunrise

– May 20th - June 6th Quiet Period• Validation of Sunrise Domains• Auction of multiple applications received

• June 6th - June 26th General Landrush– June 26th - July 17th Quiet Period

• Auction of multiple applications received• 2,700 Domains --> >2.2 Mill. USD Revenue

• July 17th 2008 .ME goes LIVE– No restrictions

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Premium names

• Due to popularity, the list of Premium Names has been held back by the Registry

• These names are not available for open registration.

• The Registry releases these premium domain names through auctions:– Moniker– Sedo– Name Jet

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Premium names auctionsDomain Price Date

TRAFFIC New York Date.Me $70,000.00 Sep.08

NameJet Teach.Me $20,100.00 Jun.09

TRAFFIC New York Ask.Me $20,000.00 Sep.08

TRAFFIC New York Buy.Me $17,500.00 Sep.08

TRAFFIC New York Loan.Me $15,000.00 Sep.08

TRAFFIC New York Marry.Me $12,000.00 Sep.08

Sedo Rock.Me $12,000.00 Mar.09

NameJet Invite.Me $12,000.00 Jun.09

Sedo Pay.Me $11,501.00 Mar.09

Sedo Test.Me $11,100.00 Mar.09

NameJet Publish.Me $11,100.00 Jun.09

Domain Fest LA Alert.Me $11,000.00 Jan.09

NameJet Trust.Me $10,799.00 Jun.09

Sedo Bet.Me $10,099.00 Mar.09

Sedo Join.Me $10,099.00 Mar.09

Sedo Pick.Me $10,099.00 Mar.09

TRAFFIC New York Show.Me $10,000.00 Sep.08

Domain Fest LA Contact.Me $10,000.00 Jan.09

Sedo Book.Me $9,900.00 Mar.09Sedo Print.Me $9,100.00 Mar.09

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Premium Names Development Programe

• We work with creative people, successful companies, communities, regarding their business proposals for the development of .ME premium domain names.

.ME Success

• Until date - 115 accredited registrars• 115 registrars from 28 different countries worldwide • 10 more registrars in the pipeline• Nearly all top 30 ICANN accredited registrars are

also .ME accredited and operational• In just over 2 weeks after “go live” we had already

registered more than 100,000 Domains

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.ME Growth Track

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Registrar market share

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Registrant market share

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Individuals vs. organizations

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59% of almost 270,000 domains are organizations and 41% individuals

.ME in numbers

• Almost 79% of domains are active web sites• More then 611 .ME domains in top 1 million Alexa• 6 web sites are in top 10.000 Alexa domains• More then 13.3 million .ME pages indexed by Google

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Popular .ME web sites

1. Business-marketing messages– MyEducation.ME - contest.myeducation.me– USAT.ME – USA Today shortening service– Amuze.ME– Despicable.ME – new Universal Studios movie– WP.ME – shortening service for WordPress

2. Personal– BlogDoctor.ME– SoWeb.ME

3. Social networks– YouDate.ME– Missouri.ME15