.US – The United States Country Code
Around the internet and on the blogs I’m seeing comments about country code top level domains. It seems logical that as the internet becomes increasingly crowded, a system of logic and organization become even more important, more commonplace.
That was the prospective intent of having domain extensions like .US, .info, .biz, etc. There is an intentional meaning contained in the domain extension that works in conjunction with whatever keyword sits on the left side of the dot. Domains like Charlotte.US, Health.info, and RealEstate.biz make good sense.
On the other hand, I have been receiving inquiries if I would like to buy, for example, “AustinCondos.cn”, presumably because I own AustinCondos.US. dotCN is the country code for China. This is an example of poor synergy between a keyword and its extension. I am doubtful that there is a city named Austin in the country of China. However, AustinCondos.US is a fitting domain for real estate in the Austin, Texas area (make that United States, not China).
Many domainers know that the .US namespace was originally created for local government, public schools and libraries. Thousands of these institutions launched their websites using the original .US extension and related subdomains.
For example, the City of Charlotte is located at: http://www.ci.charlotte.nc.us/. Charlotte public schools are located at: http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/. And Charlotte Public Libraries at: http://www.plcmc.lib.nc.us/. These lengthy, odd domain names are holdovers from the early days of the internet.
In 2002, the U.S. Government opened the .US namespace for general registration. I acquired Charlotte.US in 2002 and have cycled through several website variations and monetization strategies over the years. Charlotte is also a large county in the state of Florida as well as a popular female name. I lived in Charlotte, NC in the 1980′s and can attest to what a well-rounded, exciting city it was … and is.
Country codes are very important and will become increasingly moreso as countries come to preserve and distinguish their unique identities across the globe. In America, .com was the first major unrestricted tld launched and became synonymous with America’s internet. This was a good thing, and .com showed itself to be widely embraced.
That being said, our official country code, .US (for United States), will continue to garner increased support & use, both nationally and internationally. The two letter designation for a country is already globally accepted … such as .CA for Canada, .JP for Japan, and .CN for China.
As a geodomain investor, I love pure city names and geo-targeted domain names. I have always felt they offered the best investment and development opportunities. I still do.
