Montenegro is a relatively small European state formerly part of the now defunct Yugoslavia. In 2006, Montenegro declared independence from the loose state union between Serbia and Montenegro that lasted from 2003. Each country in the world has a TLD (top-level domain; commonly known as a domain extension) intended for use by websites associated with that certain region. Four months ago, ICANN the group overseeing the creation of new domain extensions gave Montenegro its own TLD, .ME. Previously, Montenegrin websites used a subdomain under the the country code TLD for Yugoslavia, .CG.YU.

Once the news got out, Internet users immediately realized the potential use of .ME outside of Montenegro. Every English speaker knows the word “me” and probably uses it daily. Plus, social networking and self-publishing on the Internet is wildly popular nowadays with the advent of Web 2.0, both uses perfect candidates for a .ME domain. Not to mention the endless possibility for cute domain “hacks” made popular by sites like del.icio.us (delicious) and blo.gs (blogs). Who wouldn’t love to have a name for their site like about.me, buy.me, help.me, or download.me? The extension is so memorable providing many branding opportunities.

Top quality names are already taken in any extension that’s been around for a while, particularly .com. You have to be very creative to get a marketable name in .com nowadays. This is different when a new TLD launches. A wide range of names suddenly become available for the nominal cost of registration fee and those who act quickly are rewarded with good names.

In the past, a handful of countries have offered up their domain extension to the world in the hopes of generating additional income. One of the best examples is .TV of Tuvalu a tiny island out in the Pacific Ocean. Anybody in the world can get a .TV domain and so it caught on, because everybody knows what a TV is! Studios are buying up .TV domain names related to their channels and programs. Online video sites are sprouting up on .TV domains.

The Montenegro government is planning to allow anyone worldwide to register a .ME domain as well and has signed a contract with Godaddy, Afilias, and Me-Net (a local company) to market and run the extension.