After a post like last weeks’, where I spoke on .ie and their restrictions, you may be thinking that it is too hard to get involved in ccTLD investing. Trust me, I know it’s easier to just stick with .com but I have seen huge rewards from going global. It’s a little harder to get started but worth the effort. This is mainly because the barrier to entry is lower, financially speaking.
Here’s a hint if you are looking for an extension that you can understand (they speak English) and won’t break the bank on renewal fees. Look at the .co.uk market.
Most registrars will sell you .co.uk names in the 6-10 dollars range but it’s also easy enough to become a member of Nominet and pay much less.
If you are an American, be mindful of words that have different meanings like torches and bonnet or the many words that are spelled differently like jewelry (jewellery) and center (centre).
.co.uk is also one of the oldest and most popular extensions worldwide. It is the forth most popular extension in the world, with over 8 million registered. And it is second among ccTLDs, only behind .de (wikipedia).
.co.uk is a favorite of my good friend Edwin Hayward, from memorabledomains.co.uk. He is a great guy and a great domainer. He is our resident expert in our .co.uk forum.
© 2010
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I agree that having the .co.uk of a .com is a smart move for English terms.
I recently bought (on a backorder) a .co.uk to protect a “brand” that I’m developing. I have quietly acquired most of the major gTLDs that I can, given that my term cannot be TM’ed for my purposes (it’s a descriptive generic).
Very smart post.
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This article just gave some relief; I just found a $16,000 estibot vauled .co.uk dictionary word, this was my first .co.uk registration which I sent to auction right away on bargaindomains.com. It’s been there on bargaindomains for a couple of days now and didn’t receive any bids
but again I’ll use this article to be optimistic 
Looking at the Q1 activity of 2010 for Sedo.com; number of sales of .co.uk is in 3rd position behind .de (1st place) and .eu (2nd place) BUT the report says that the .co.uk number of sales has increased by 46% (although average selling price has dropped). The end of the report will draw a smile on your face, there is a dedicated table for Sedo’s Top 10 Public .co.uk and it’s only for .co.uk which does mean there’s something about .co.uk
I have listed candidature.co.uk as premium domain via Sedo but no bids !!
and now they don’t accept to list it for a second time.
I think the co.uk domains is a great investment for those who want to develop them.