THE IRISH WEBSITE domain registry IEDR saw 32,154 new .ie websites in 2013, contributing to a growth of 18% over the last 12 months.

According to the IE Domain Registry’s annual report today, there were a total of 187,269 websites ending in the .ie suffix, a 2.7% rise from 2012.

While the actual number of new registrations was slightly down on the year before, fewer users deleted their domains at the end of the year, accounting for the 18% year-on-year growth.

The world of business accounts for the vast majority of .ie domains, with body corporate (Ltd., PLC companies) constituting 55% of applicants, and sole traders one quarter.

This chart shows the categories of domain registered in Ireland:

[image alt="domain" src="http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2014/07/domain-145x145.png" width="145" height="145" wp-size="size-thumbnail" credit-url="" credit-source="IEDR" credit-via="" credit-via-url="" caption="" title="" wp-id="wp-image-1596235" class="alignnone" /end]

Speaking to TheJournal.ie this morning, IEDR CEO David Curtin said the significant proportion of “discretionary names” suggests a certain level of innovation among Irish businesses.

These domain names are not necessarily the same as the company name itself, and we could speculate that they are designed for one-off events, or as part of a particular marketing strategy.

This may be as a response to the specific nature of mobile apps, or even to link up with an existing app.

Announcing an after-tax operating profit of €300,000 (a 5.8% rise on last year), the annual report emphasized IEDR’s aim of “building awareness among SMEs about the benefits of an online presence, ecommerce, and .ie as the web address of choice for Irish businesses.”

This was echoed by Curtin:

The payback [of registering a .ie domain] is multiple, and it’s fast.Even with a basic two or three page website, for a couple of hundred euros, your business is out there.

Depending on the maturity and expertise of the SME, using online business directories such as Yelp can be a first step, he added.

But once you’re used to it, there’s no substitution for the .ie domain, and even if you’re trading internationally, it can help to promote the Irishness of your business.

Scroll down to read the IEDR Annual Report 2013 in full.

Read: Missing link? Less than one-quarter of Irish SMEs trade online>

New scheme launched to help get more businesses trading online>

https://www.iedr.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/IEDR-Annual-Report-2013-29Jul.pdf