EcommerceTimes.com reports that .us domain sales were 21% higher in Q3 than in the Q2 of this year.
The usage of ".US" domain extensions is sharply rising, with organizations switching to alternative top level domain extensions rather than ".com" to bolster their online brand with American audiences, according to Sedo.com, a leading online marketplace for the sale of domain names, based in Cambridge, Mass.
According to data from the ".US" registry, the number of new ".US" registrations increased by 21 percent in the third quarter of 2005 versus the second quarter of this year. Over the past year, ".US" registry DNS lookups have increased by 250 percent to approximately 10 billion per month.
The article said one of the reasons for the increased usage is purchases of the domains by foreigners. The article quotes an expert who says in other countries the country extensions are much more popular -- in the U.S. it is the .com domains that are the most popular.
"Outside the United States and most notably across Europe, most domain extensions are affiliated with the country in which the company operates. However, in the U.S., the standard is the .com extension," said Matt Bentley, chief executive officer of Sedo.com. "Many organizations, especially those based overseas, are strengthening their identity in American markets with a .US domain. As the extension grows in popularity, the value of owning a .US domain increases dramatically."
These kinds of reports will probably spur even more .us purchases as companies purchase .us domain names to keep others from buying them.
