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When should you buy both .com and .co.uk versions of a domain name ?The .com version of a domain name is aimed at international rather than specifically US companies or commercial organisations. A .co.uk domain name suggests a UK-based operation although there is no practical restriction on who can buy a .co.uk domain. So how do you decide which to register or whether to register both ? Cost is no big issue as we sell .co.uk domains at just £15 each and the .com version at £35 hardly breaks the bank. So for just £50 you can have both versions. .com tends to suggest more substance and more prestige than a simple .co.uk. There is a strong suspicion that some of the top US and international search engines and internet directories are more sympathetic to including .com domains than others and may also rank them more highly than other types of domain. What is beyond dispute however is that some specifically UK search engines and directories will ONLY consider .co.uk names for inclusion in their lists so a .com will not get you listed. So if you are not planning to sell in the UK at all just the .com will do. If you are only selling in the UK however don't think that just the .co.uk is enough on its own. Although a lot of UK residents will use excite.co.uk for example there are still many who still prefer the international version, excite.com. So there are potential UK customers looking for you on both ! So our advice is simply: 1. If the UK market is of no importance to you buy just .com domains. 2. If you are a UK site and you are not concerned with your position in the international search engines (which to me means you are not a commercial site), then buy just .co.uk versions of your domain names. 3. If you want to sell in the UK and search engine performance matters to you then buy both versions. (By the way if you want to know more about search engine positioning services click here) If I buy both do I need to host and maintain two seperate web sites ?With some hosting companies you would need two web sites, one for .com and one for .co.uk, which would be an additional expense and a time-consuming extra workload. However our sister company, 1stChoice Hosting, provide web hosting plans where the web space can be configured such that two or more domain names can point at a single set of files. Go to their site, choose a suitable plan and use their enquiry form to tell them which domains you want to point at the webspace. They will then quote you a setup charge for that hosting configuration. What about other national domains ?The above principles apply to other national domains too. Most major countries have search engines restricted to the domains of that nationality. The only difference is that whereas there is little restriction in buying .co.uk domains there are restrictions on many others. To buy a .de german domain you must have a registered office in Germany, the french .fr has restrictions too, the italian domain .it is now freely available but relatively expensive. If you want to know more please use our enquiry form and just tell us what you need. We will be glad to advise. |
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