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advice Don't forget the "U" - American vs British Spellings

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"So if you’re a Canadian company that’s looking to target the U.S. market at some point, and you’re using a domain with alternate spellings, it is worth considering getting the other version of the name to avoid confusing or alienating potential customers."
Via https://blog.domainagents.com/2019/09/02/dont-forget-the-u-domain-spellings-to-watch-out-for/

Personally, I go after the U.S. spelling, and target U.S. buyers, simply because this Canadian domain investor loves the exchange rate especially when I can buy in Canadian currency and flip in American..
 
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How many non-English speaking domainers are Not aware of those differences ? Plenty I would say. That list is certainly a good introduction but really only scratches the surface. The 'S' to 'Z' variation is the most common one I come across when posting here on namepros. So much so that I now keep my browser spell check on American English.

When it comes to domains I tend to avoid any of the conflicting word spells
 
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as long as you cover it in the metatag of your own site I don't think it matters. Most everyone knows its the same word anyway.

International business means think like the customer, rite?

Let me say this a different way:

if I had color.com or colour.com I wouldn't give a d-mn that one has a u. lol.
 
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Off the top of my head, I'm guessing the different spelling usage is probably about 50/50 when it comes to global English domain usage. But probably nearer 70/30 in traditional original English 'favour/favor' for usage in translation and documentation etc

Obviously you have the American commercial strength when it comes to the web but equally your much more likely to find a Non-English speaking country translate wording to original English spelling in documentation etc.

Wish I had taken the differences onboard when I started out in 1999. I'm fairly sure (for single words) the American spellings were registered well before the English versions were all snapped-up. It certainly seemed that way at the time
 
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S or Z is another. eg. subsidise (british) or subsidize (american).

I was taught "proper" English being from a commonweatlh country. But I have written so much copy for US audiences, that I consider myself bilingual :xf.laugh:
 
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I find very dissimilarities between both British English look more professional than American but American English looks easy and fluently.
 
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Car rental vs car hire

Not only just spelling, but different verbiage as well. Helps if you get yourself exposed to reading different newspapers from around the world.
 
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Remember: You can always buy the cockney rhyming slang domain name version if nothing else is available. 😎

If you want the name face.com and it’s not available, then just buy ’boatrace’ or ’boat.com’.

Face products at boat.com. :xf.grin:

Pidgin english ... well I guess they can work too.
 
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Indeed, the word/term differences are far more prevalent than the spelling. Based in any other country, other than The States, The Google 'geographical' tool can be an eye-opener.

Results Global 500,000
" UK 115

So that's the .co.uk domain in the Trash then. And even works the other way

Results Global 500,000
Results UK 398,000

Second thoughts about that dropped dot com auction then
 
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Oops... i had a dictionary word approved on a brandable site, but had to have it removed, because I misspelled it. I didn’t actually own it.... I owned the British spelling, with an “s”, not a “z”.
 
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Thanks for sharing. Yes, color vs colour, center vs centre, are some common examples.
 
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Another issue is that rhymes don't always work the same way. Smallboreworld.com boasts a perfect 3-rhyme in British English, but isn't so great elsewhere.
 
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