EURid released its third wave of .eu domain registration in April 2006. The new top-level domain was first offered to governments and companies with registered trademarks, in the "Sunrise 1" stage of release. Later, businesses were invited to register non-trademarked Domain Names, in the "Sunrise 2" stage. Finally, in April 2006, the "Landrush

stage was launched – now, .eu domain names are available for anyone to register, as long as they live or trade in the European Union. The domain names are, like with other TLDs, assigned on a first-come-first-served basis.

After the opening of the Landrush stage, .eu registration skyrocketed. Some experts believe that .eu registration may ultimately compete with .com registration figures.

As with any other TLD, if you are registering a .eu domain name, make sure you aim for something memorable and easy to spell and pronounce. Also, make sure that the .eu is prominently displayed on any material which includes your domain name, as people will assume that you are a .com unless you make it extremely clear that you are not.

Author: Natalie Catchpole