.co.uk for non-UK-orientated site

[Gerrit]

I am working on a little site and it has absolutely nothing to do with any country specifically. Of course UK viewers are welcome, but it's not very UK-focussed or so.

Now the name I wanted is taken with .com, .net, .org, .info, .eu and .tv -- but it's available with .co.uk

Would this be handy enough for people from other countries remembering my URL with the .uk, or would I be better to pick the name with -online after it and a .com or .net extention?? the variant preferedname-online.com would be longer than preferedname.co.uk but would the British extention form a problem?

Note: the domain is not for selling, it's for a site I am building myself and that I want to really develop. It's not really business related but not unimportant neither so I do need a somewhat good address so that people will easily remember where to find my site.

 

[Coopey]

What about one of the other ccTLDs that are bit more 'denationalised'?

Like yourdomain.ws or .cc?

Lots of countries do not have .co before the country extension- it might confuse some users.

 

[tm]

Yeah, unless it's aimed at the UK market i'd say go for one like .ws or .cc - if they're available.

 

[fleshas]

co.uk oreated into uk.. They said truth about .ws and .cc

 

[Gerrit]

do you guys really think I'm better off buying the .CC, .NU, .WS, ... variant rather than the .CO.UK?

I mean, for me .UK was always one of the easiest-to-remember extentions because there's so much media and cultural British presence in the whole of Europe, lot of popular sites are UK-born and use the .CO.UK extention.

I am not sure if this is just a West-European thing (I am from Europe myself so cannot judge on the non-european internet users) but wouldn't there be many people having difficulties remembering that the extention is .CC or .WS ?

I also have the option of buying the desired word followed by -online.com or -online.eu , of course a more brandable extention but name-online.com may be tougher to remember than name.co.uk or name.cc or so?

As I said, it's for a website of my own, not to sell the domain. So in this one I'm not looking after high value, but after a domain which can get enough traffic to my website.

 

[irishmat]

go for the cheapest one outta .nu, .cc, .ws cos it doesnt make much difference

(tho i would think .ws is the better bet outta them)

 

[tm]

Don't get .nu. Looks ugly.

Listen, people have no problem adapting to domains like .cc or .ws. Years ago I told some people about a site i found - cdcovers.cc - and they had no problem remembering it or adapting to it. A domain of mine has a .hm extention and it still gets close to a thousand visits per day.

Depending on what sounds best with the domain in question, get .cc or .ws.

Colin

 

[peter phillips]

Go for lesser known tlds like .cc or .ws instead of a cctld. Since your site is not UK oriented nor your target audience are the people of UK so I don't think .co.uk would be a good choice. Anyways thats just my opinion.

 

[euk-damien]

I think you are better off using tlds like .biz, .ws or .cc instead of .co.uk for a non-UK-orientated site.

 

[4u-domains]

Well, I'll put my hand up and stand alone in saying the .co.uk is the best bet if youre developing (seeing as the .com .net have gone.)

I dont know what influence or strength google gives to .co.uk as a TLD but we have witnessed startling instant results in google ranking with it when working with clients sites. With some heavily specific UK orientated sites that do well there is still more traffic coming from the US. Why? No effin idea.

Besides once you build traffic, get links and bookmarks the tld becomes less relevant.

If the content is good, It wouldnt bother me if it was .de, .info or .boogiebum .

Another point. I reckon the .co.uk tld will hold more integrity and professionalism from a casual users point of view than the super-minor TLDs.

:imho:

 

[Gerrit]

I will be a bit more specific: the site is self-promotional. I am an amateur/hobbyist journalist and write for mainly music forums etc, where I make reviews of CD's and concerts. I also do a bit of football articles and travel articles.

Hoping to get discovered and get to do some more professional journalistic activities, I want to group all my written articles on one site. This site will also contain my CV and a bit of personal information, plus a personal blog.

In other words it will be a site that will both be an introduction of myself to the outside world, and a bit of promotion for my articles.

So it is important that people who like my articles can easily remember my site, so that they can give the address to magazines, papers, etc. Equally important is that the site looks somewhat professional, as no decent offer would come if I have a really silly domainname making the site look childish or ridiculous.

I am a bit afraid .co.uk would mean no non-British people visit my site, I am equally doubtful if companies and professional enterprises would not be scared of by an extention such as .nu or .ws

The site will be a bit of a hobby, but with a quiet hope it may lead to a professional job as articles writer. So it is important people can easily reach my site and remember the address. The site will be developped but the domain will not be sold, purpose is to keep this domain for as long as the site exists, and to attract as many visitors to my site as I can.

I either have to pick the name + a different word ("online" for example) with the .COM, or either go for .CO.UK or a different country extention. My prefered domain is registered with all my prefered extentions (.COM, .INFO, .TV, .EU)

 

[tm]

I actually think the best option for you is to get a subdomain off a *popular* blogging service, such as blogger or wordpress. A TLD isn't always the best option.