The questions I have regrading domain names:

1. What countries are in the UK? Is UK same as Great Britain or is one part of the other or what?

2. Is it better to get domains with .com suffix or is it better to get .co.uk?

3. Why do you think one is better than the other?

4. Which suffixes are most widely used in the uk?

5. Which suffixes are most marketed in the media (print ads, tv, etc.,)?

6. Anytime you type in a domain in the browser bar looking for a site, do you usually type something.com or something.co.uk?

7. Does it make any difference at all (with respect to suffixes)?

Please respond along with any other helpful information in this regard.

thanks

Hmm, I will try to answer this :)


Originally posted by Gurudev
The questions I have regrading domain names:

1. What countries are in the UK? Is UK same as Great Britain or is one part of the other or what?

England
Scotland
Wales
N.Ireland

2. Is it better to get domains with .com suffix or is it better to get .co.uk?

Get Both

3. Why do you think one is better than the other?

I would say most people would try the com and their local country suffix if they were looking for a company in the country they are in

4. Which suffixes are most widely used in the uk?

.co.uk
.com

and the other GTLD.

There is also .uk.com etc etc but these are not true official suffixes (sort of)

5. Which suffixes are most marketed in the media (print ads, tv, etc.,)?

.com and .co.uk

6. Anytime you type in a domain in the browser bar looking for a site, do you usually type something.com or something.co.uk?

depends, i might try the .co.uk first if the company is uk based else the .com and then the rest, or i just use google

7. Does it make any difference at all (with respect to suffixes)?

Suppose, I would rather deal with a .co.uk than a .fr because i would see it as a uk company

Please respond along with any other helpful information in this regard.

This is just my opinion so i dont represent the UK overall

.com vs .co.uk - I would say get them both if you can but only if you are UK based else just stick with the .com

There will always be those in the US who instantly disregard going to a .co.uk much the same way as i might not visit somewhere such as .fr

thanks

Martin,

Thanks for your great response. Responses from more people are welcome. By the way, I would have preferred to get them both but .com's are available and .co.uk are not. However, these will only be targeted to the UK audience and hence I got some names that start with ukblahblah.com

Couple more questions:

I got some domains which start with UK (example: ukthissite.com, ukthatsite.com) and most of them are not available in .co.uk suffixes. So, if I can't get .co.uk anymore but "ukthissite.com" is available, does it make any sense to establish the website?

thanks

Hello
.co.uk is more popular because most high profile organisations use them and they are cheaper (less than half the price of a .com)

There are also alternatives like .uk.com and .gb.com which are sold by centralnic.com and they are also used (but less popular).

I know that when we set up our Uk brand it relied on getting our name in .co.uk
For marketing purposes a co.uk is essential really

Gordon

What is the pricing for .co.uk ? Where to register?

Hello
Most registrars charge less than £10 for 2 years registration
(approx $15)

Do a search on any of the search engines.

Gordon

ok i ll try but if anyone had any experience with .uk nic's please post here = transfers hidden fee's etc :)

OK
Here are some issues to watch out for:


"Domains for 5p" advertising (most of these end up to be nearer £20 by the time you check out)

Transfer fees - most UK registrars have them so you pay at the end not the beginning.

Registrars going bust. It happens every day over here -
you might be best to buy it from an OpenSRS reseller so you are not dependent on the registrar (it can be very complicated moving the domain if the original registrar no longer exists).


Gordon

.com and .co.uk are always best, but you may not be able to get exactly what you want so you might want to try .uk.com or .gb.com if you want say a particular 3-letter domain.

Keep in mind that .uk.com and .gb.com are NEITHER real TLDs or real Countery Code domains however, and domains in this space are subdomains managed by centralnic.com.

Just so you go in with your eyes open.

-t

OK, thanks but going back to my question:

"As I cannot get .co.uk domains which are already taken, does it make sense to establish sites for example: "uksomedirectory.com" or "uksomeothersite.com"?

I already bought a few domains like that last night.

thanks

the only issue you may have is that people may automatically think a site like ukblah is going to end in a .co.uk , i do it all the time, especially if i am going to a new site that i have been trying to remeber.