Small businesses sometimes struggle to position themselves online and to develop the right platform to promote their goods and services. Many questions arise whether you are just starting out or trying to expand into potential new markets. Building a solid web presence is important and so is choosing the right name and URL. At EURid we have been managing the .eu top-level Internet domain for five years since the European Commission appointed us as the operator of the .eu registry. One of the main reasons behind the creation of the .eu domain name was to give businesses the opportunity to establish their European identity on the internet.

Small firms which have chosen a .eu address feel that it is less anonymous than a country-specific or generic domain and that it shows that they are open for business across Europe. Stuart Hill, director of guest accommodation and co-owner of The Claremont, a British five-star guesthouse, told us that when they rebranded the guesthouse and set up the new website a lot of competitors thought that moving to a .eu domain was "foolhardy", but in fact it has proved to be a roaring success. It enables The Claremont to reach out to potential visitors from all over Europe and beyond and he feels it gives his business an image of excellence.

Establishing a European identity means understanding each other and we believe that being able to use your own language on the internet makes it easier and perhaps also more attractive to users. Therefore, it is now possible for .eu domain names to be registered using the characters of the 23 official languages of the European Union, a functionality that small businesses all over Europe have recognised as key to their operations.

Businesses which have registered a .eu domain name have also done it because it made marketing and financial sense. "As the certification authority, we verify electronic shops and internet sellers within the European Union," says project manager for Assaymark Lubor Kopecký, from the company's headquarters in the Czech Republic. "The .eu domain gave us the possibility to present ourselves under one trusted brand in all countries."

Over three million.eu names have been registered so far. The leading countries in terms of number of registrations are Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, but in the last quarter of 2009, we have seen Lithuania, Malta, Bulgaria, Estonia and Greece grow their number of registrations by 15%. It is obvious that .eu works for businesses wanting to show their customers that they are European, some have even declared that they almost look at it as a 'best in Europe' label.

It is easy and cost-effective to register a .eu domain name. Any company or organisation based in the European Union and any person living in the EU is eligible to register a .eu domain name. Small businesses who are already operating under a different extension are more and more keen to register their .eu domain name to safeguard their company name and to allow them to expand to new markets. Intertrans, a Belgium-based logistic and forwarder provider, used to have .nl, .lu and .be domains, but as they were expanding they decided to go for a more harminised structure with a .eu.

Entrepreneurs are often told there are three keys to success: location, location, location. That's because location can make - or break - a business. The same is true for companies doing business online. Your domain name is your internet location. Once you have chosen your company name and decided to go for a .eu extension, check if it is still available through any of the 900 accredited registrars, who usually provide a whole range of additional services to SMEs.

We have gathered a lot information to help businesses with the why and how of a .eu registration. All those tips are available on the EURid website and on the accredited registrars websites in all EU countries.

For more information visit www.eurid.eu [1]