French Domain Name Industry Report published by AFNIC

AFNIC recently published the French Domain Industry report showing the .fr domain namespace is growing at a very healthy rate. Here are a few of the figures:

• Report shows that the .fr TLD retains a high absolute level of growth, of around 17% over one year or in actual domain registrations, .fr is adding 300,000 domains every year, accounting for 33% of all domains registered in France.
•  "France" and "Paris" are the leading character strings forming .fr domain names, followed by terms related to the world of insurance and, logically, to 2011 and 2012. As far as the corporate sector is concerned, 94 of the top 100 companies in France and nearly 80% of the 1,000 largest companies registered their .fr domain name in 2011.
• In 2011, 39.5% of the holders of .fr domain names were individuals, and 60.5% were corporate entities. The renewal rate of the .fr extension is around 80% which is very impressive!!!
• 16% of the registrars of .fr domain names are now located abroad against 14.5% last year.
   

This is definitely a ccTLD registry on the move.More on the AFNIC Domain Name Industry Report here
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AFNIC Celebrating 25 Years of .FR ccTLD at the Eiffel Tower

The .fr TLD will be turning 25, and on 11 October, and the French Registry AFNIC will be holding a special gala evening on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower to mark the event. What way to celebrate the anniversary of a country code top level domaine name!

Launched on 2 September 1986, the .fr TLD is turning 25. To celebrate the anniversary in style, AFNIC is organizing a gala evening on 11 October on the 1^st floor of the Eiffel Tower, to which the entire French Internet community is invited. More than 300 guests are expected.

• During the evening, the "The French Reconnection" prize, which highlights the best websites in the .fr namespace, will be awarded to the five winners (one prize for each of the four categories and a special jury prize awarded by FrenchWeb). 

• A copy of the magazine "The .fr turns 25" will be given to each guest. The magazine outlines the key moments in the history of the .fr TLD, with testimonials from companies and institutions that have opted for the .fr TLD and all those who have taken an active part in the saga behind the .fr namespace.

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AFNIC Magazine: Interview with .FR's 2 millionth domain name registrant

I shamelessly lifted this from AFNIC's 25th anniversary magazine. Angélique Azzati was the two millionth registrant of a .Fr domain name. Read about her encounter with luck. Quite an interesting story!!

Angélique Azzati

"THE .FR WAS AN OBVIOUS CHOICE."
Angélique Azzati, owner of the 2 millionth .fr Angélique Azzati is a 30-year-old nail stylist who comes to your home. She decided to start up a website for her young business and to serve as a showcase and a point of contact for her future customers. She therefore decided to register the domain name manucuresaint-maur.fr with her registrar 1&1 Internet AG on 14 April 2011. At the time, Angélique was far from imagining
that she was actually registering the 2,000,000th domain name in .fr! Enjoy this interview with a self-employed businesswoman in tune with her times.

ANGÉLIQUE, WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO REGISTER THE DOMAIN NAME FOR YOUR COMPANY’S WEBSITE UNDER THE .FR EXTENSION?
The .fr extension was an obvious choice for me! It represents France, so that means easy to access and
local presence for my customers. My business is very local since I provide manicures at home in the town of Saint Maur (94) and the surrounding region. This is also what dictated the choice of terms in the actual domain name. To maximize the chances of my website being optimised for search engines, I needed a name that described my activity and my town. So it was only natural to choose .fr to underline my activity.

Angélique's l'élégante website

YOU ARE THE HAPPY OWNER OF THE 2,000,000TH .FR DOMAIN NAME IN .FR SINCE THE EXTENSION'S INCEPTION IN 1986. WHAT IMPACT HAS IT HAD ON YOUR BUSINESS?

A few days after registering, AFNIC contacted me and published a press release to celebrate the milestone of 2,000,000 .fr domain names. The press release about my domain name was taken up by several websites like lefigaro.fr! That created such a buzz that there were even articles about the advertising boost I benefited from!

DID THIS BUZZ BRING YOU VISITS?
There were a lot of visits, yes! You’ll laugh but the buzz was so big that I even received enquiries from customers in other regions!

WAS YOUR WEBSITE READY AT THE TIME OF THE BUZZ?
Yes, fortunately! I started to work on the layout of my website with a designer 5 months before registering
manucure-saint-maur.fr. I am rather a perfectionist and I wanted to take my time. I had a very clear idea
of the image I wanted to give my business and the colours that should be used. I don’t like to copy others; my strategy was to really stand out from the home manicure websites that already existed. I am self-employed and I don’t have a salon so this website is the principal showcase for my activity. It had to create a desire among the most demanding of my future customers and it had to really reflect my philosophy. I am always on the look-out for new trends! For example, I only use gel to paint my customers’ nails  varnish is old-fashioned!

WHAT OTHER MEANS DO YOU USE TO ATTRACT NEW CUSTOMERS TO YOUR .FR WEBSITE?
I started by printing calling cards and flyers as well as putting ads on websites like leboncoin.fr. I also created a Facebook page (Beauty Ange'l Paradise) to maintain close ties with my most loyal customers and let them be the first to hear my news. It’s simple; all these aids redirect people to my domain name manucure-saint-maur.fr ! I also managed to get some word-of-mouth going via my friends! That’s important when you start out. I can tell you that having a domain name that’s easy to remember really simplifies things! Beauty Ange’l Paradise http://www.manucure-saint-maur.fr

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AFNIC Celebrating 25 Years of .FR ccTLD with an awesome Magazine!!

The .fr TLD turns 25 and tells the tale in a magazine!

The .fr is turning 25. To mark the occasion, AFNIC, the manager of the .fr extension, has published a special magazine "The .fr TLD turns 25".

Launched on 2 September 1986, the .fr TLD is celebrating its 25^th anniversary. Among the many events planned to celebrate the milestone, AFNIC would like to introduce the private fans and professional followers who have played an active role the success of the national extension and have made AFNIC a key player in the French Internet ecosystem.

The magazine covers:

• highlights in the history of the .fr TLD since its inception;

•  what goes on behind the scenes of the .fr TLD, with testimonials from the women and men who "work in the wings";

•  testimonials from project owners, business leaders and heads of institutions that have chosen the .fr extension, and from all those who have actively taken part in the saga of the .fr TLD.

 Download AFNIC 25 Years of .FR Magazine

Read AFNIC Magazine Online

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AFNIC Opens .FR and other AFNIC operated TLDs to Europe

.FR is now open to  EU, along with the other TLDs operated by the French Network Information Centre( AFNIC) amongst them .wf (Wallis and Futuna), .tf (French Southern and Antarctic territories), .re (Reunion Island), .pm (St. Pierre and Miquelon), and .yt (Mayotte).

.FR has been the sick man of Europe even outperformed by Poland's rapidly growing .PL . The leading ccTLDs in Europe are .de(Germany), .uk .nl(Netherlands) .it(Italy) and .pl(Poland) . the French it seems are not very welcoming of .FR but with this now open to the EU, maybe the active domaining community in Europe will gobble up a few hundred thousand .FRs. Let's see if .FR will hit 3 million domains in the next few years. ReadAFNIC announcement below:

The opening of the .fr TLD to the European Union follows on from the appointment of AFNIC – on 2 March 2010 – as the Registry for the .fr extension, as specified by the French decree of 6 February 2007. The contractual framework that accompanied the appointment was a novel one, including, within two years from the date of designation, the opening of the .fr to entities domiciled in the European Union.

In parallel, the new legal framework for domain names in France established by the Act of 22March 2011 meant that domain names involved a number of new issues. All the French Internet extensions (.fr, .re, .wf, .pm, .tf. yt...) were affected by the new procedures resulting from the law, including the opening to Europe before on 31/12/2011. An opening that will help promote the differents territories that are Wallis and Futuna, French Southern and Antarctic territories, Reunion Island, St. Pierre and Miquelon and Mayotte.