by Morgan Linton

Created on: March 20, 2010

Country Code Top Level Domains or ccTLDs are the domain extensions assigned to a particular country like .mx for Mexico and .in for India. Domain name extensions or Top-Level domains are divided into two main categories - gTLDs or Generic Top Level Domains, and ccTLDs or Country Code Top Level Domains.

In the United States the default extension is .com which means that when you type a word into the navigation bar in your browser it will go to the word you entered followed by a .com automatically. However in other countries this is not the case. In France it will automatically go to a .fr site, in Germany it will go to a .de site.

Country Code Top Level Domainshave seen increasing liquidity in the domain sales market with six-figure deals becoming more and more commonplace across a broader range of TLDs. The largest ccTLD market in the world at the moment is .de followed by .co.uk. For people interested in Domaining or Domain Investing, ccTLDs offer a unique opportunity to enter a particular market before almost anyone else in the world!

ccTLDs allow investors to either hand-register or buy at a low cost, domain names that may receive direct navigation or type-in traffic from people living in the given region. For example - suppose I were to own a very popular word in the .in extension. If people in India type the particular word you have into their browser they will be brought to your site. As more and more people continue to go online every year this could lead to significantly more traffic for the domain owner over the coming years.

So how does a someone who wants to get started with Domainingstart investing in ccTLDs? To start with you should always keep track of the latest sales and use these to better understand which specific TLDs are selling and where they are being sold. Once you learn this information you can begin to look at expiry or domain dropping services to see if you can't find your diamond in the rough!

At the end of the day, Domain Investors need to be prepared to accept the risk that comes along with investing in ccTLDs. Without risk there is no reward and the upside on many ccTLDs could be more than we can possible dream at this time. So for those who feel like all the good domains are taken, ccTLDs offer the opportunity to get-into a new market on the ground floor and potentially say years from now , "I was there before everyone!"

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