Oct 23 (Reuters) - Internet services company VeriSign ( VRSN )

reported an over 7% rise in third-quarter revenue on

Thursday, driven by steady demand for domain registrations as

businesses build their online presence.

Businesses are increasingly looking to boost their online

presence with easy-to-remember domain names, as users turn to

the internet as their first point of contact for their services,

benefiting domain registry service providers such as VeriSign ( VRSN ).

VeriSign ( VRSN ) acts as the authoritative registry - meaning it is

the sole registry - for .com and .net domains, and operates two

of the 13 global internet root servers.

The company reported revenue of $419.1 million for the third

quarter, ended September 30, a 7.3% increase from the $390.6

million reported in the same period last year.

Reston, Virginia-based VeriSign ( VRSN ) posted a net profit of $213

million, or $2.27 per share, for the quarter, up from $201

million, or $2.07 per share, reported a year ago.

VeriSign ( VRSN ) processed 10.6 million new domain name

registrations for .com and .net in the quarter, compared to 9.3

million in the previous year.