Podcast: A Busy Dot-IE Domain Day at Blacknight [Audio]

It’s been a busy day here at Blacknight, thanks to the relaxation of the rules for registering .IE domain names, which came into effect today, and the irresistible value of Blacknight’s €4.99 .IE offer.

I dropped into the Carlow office of Michele Neylon, Blacknight’s CEO, to get his thoughts on the day’s events.

Click on the player below to play the podcast, or download it here: 13:16; 8MB; MP3.

“We’re calling it liberalisation – or maybe we could talk about it being freedom – we’re being unshackled from all the crazy rules and policies. So from today, if you want to register a .IE domain name, all you need to do is show your connection with Ireland … It’s much  much simpler and it should be way faster”

Business has been brisk, he says, and he’s not surprised. The old restrictions on registering .IE domain names were an obstacle for Irish SMEs.

“For a small business, they don’t care about domain names, they really don’t. They want to get themselves online; they want a digital presence, and if they’ve the choice between registering their-business-name.com or their-business-name.ie a lot of them were going to go for the .COM because it was quick, it was easy, it was simple”.

The new .IE regime offers a lot of opportunity, not least because of the availability of names in a registry which is under-subscribed by international standards.

“When you’ve got a namespace with less than a quarter of a million names registered, there’s a way more opportunities. That means that there’s still things like dictionary words that are available, or simple short memorable names are still available”

The recent announcement that Blacknight has priced new .IE domain names and transfers at just €4.99 ex VAT, for the first year, is also driving demand. It’s part of his strategy to educate the public about the value of a domain name for building trust and reputation. The domain name is just the first step, he says.

“A domain name by itself is of absolutely zero value. What are you going to do with it? Frame it? Hang it on the wall? Look at it? It’s only when you put that domain name with other services that it starts to become useful. It becomes of some value. Until you add something to the domain, it’s meaningless”

It’s been a busy first day of .IE liberalisation, and it’s too early to say how the demand will be sustained. What’s certain is that all is changed. We’ll watch developments with interest.

Also: Check out our 7 tips to make the most of the .IE domain opportunity!

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