Coms vs .uk.coms

When a person is starting up a website there are quite a few things that need to be taken care of. The technicalities are, of course, one of the more important aspects of a website. But perhaps the most important aspect is also the name on the World Wide Web. Among other things, a domain name is going to catch the eye of the search engines as well as the person doing the searching. It is also going to tell people what the website is all about. Now here is where things can get a little tricky. Summing up the name AND getting it noticed.

It is very important to remember that no matter where a person is in the world, someone on the other side of it may be looking at that site. If the site is centric to a specific country or region it is important to keep the content and domain name in tune with that. Now a person may ask, how do you keep a domain name regional? On top of dot coms there are also dot nets, dot au.coms, dot uk.coms, etc. These types of domain signifiers tell a person that what they are looking at is specific to the country that is represented as an abbreviation before the dot com. There are two main reasons why people do this. One, they want people to know that the information on the site is representative of a specific country. Two, and maybe most importantly, there are many more options as to a domain name when it has a signifier before the dot com.

The fact of the matter is, finding that perfect domain name for your site as a dot com is going to be next to impossible. The web has been around for a few decades now and all the best names are already taken. As dot coms, Dot uk.com is a whole different story. What you may have really wanted as a dot com may not be available, but it is as a dot uk.com. Here is where people may have to compromise. You may not be getting the massive exposure that a dot com has to offer, but you are getting a name that sums up your site perfectly. This is important because it is well known that the average internet user does not want to take a lot of time searching for what they want. Having the perfect name for your site helps ensure that your site will be found rather quickly.

While it may be true that a dot uk.com will not be found as quickly as a regular dot com, there are marketing techniques you can use that will help speed up the process. The fact that a domain has a UK in it signifies that what it is all about deals with the UK. Many people, when doing searches, are going to put UK in the search bar so it would be in your benefit to have that location mentioned on the front page of your site. This will help it get recognized by the search engines. Another thing to keep in mind is familiarity. Dot coms are easier to remember because they are more commonplace. Having a common name or word in your URL will help people remember your site name. Couple that with the mention of UK on your front page, and you will be doing your part to get people to remember your web site.

A person may wonder why they just cannot put UK in the domain name itself. Papermacheuk.com for example. They can, and while that name may not already be in use, the fact that UK is attached to the word describing the business or hobby mentioned it may not do too well in the search results. Again, going back to marketing techniques, you want to ingrain in peoples' minds that what you are about is nearly, if not entirely, exclusive to the UK. While this fact is "mentioned" by way of putting it in the domain name, it is better suited as being "mentioned" by virtue of making your domain a dot uk.com. This is going to be easier for people to remember. While dot uk.com URL's are not as common as regular dotcoms, they are more common than people putting UK in their business names. Because of this, it will be easier for people to remember.

So as you can see, there is a little give and take involved with having a dot uk.com in your URL. You are sacrificing a little by way of getting recognized quickly, but in return you are getting long term familiarity. This comes by way of the UK in your URL signifying that what you are is local. This simplifies things to the point where that fact makes it easier for people to remember. A regular dot com could be anywhere in the world. That "geographic vagueness" if you will has a way of making things less recognizable. Simplifying a location by way of putting the location UK in a URL has a way of making things easier to remember in the long term.

The bottom line is that when a person is searching for what you have to offer online, they will most likely be searching for something in the UK. Legal advice is a good example. People who live in the UK are going to have different laws and legal proceedings than people who live in the United States. Therefore they are going to want information that is legally applicable. The fact that what you have to offer is exclusive to that part of the world helps in enabling people to search for it better. So when deciding on whether to use a dot com for short term visibility, or a dot uk.com for long term familiarity you are better suited for the latter of the two options. If the nature of your website does not dictate that, then nature of the World Wide Web does.

Erin Gray is a professional author and webmaster who works for Discount Domains