Choosing the domain for your business is equally important as choosing the name of your company — both require a lot of consideration and thought. Your domain name is your online identity. You want to choose a domain for a business that does not only fit your online activity but also that is easy to find and promote.

In addition to getting the perfect domain name for your business, you have to choose the best-fit domain extension for your business too. This can be a daunting experience especially if you are not sure what a domain name extension is. Luckily, there are plenty of domain checkers that help with name extensions, suggest alternatives, and make the process easier to understand and comprehend. The only challenging part is settling on the domain extension that represents your online business in the best light.

What is a Domain Extension?

These are the last parts of a domain name. For instance, “Manchester.com”, the domain name extension here is .com. Commonly, domain name extensions are referred to as top-level domains (TLDs). Together, your domain name and domain name extension give you a domain name that your potential customers can type in their browsers to access your online business.

There are four types of domain name extensions including generic domain name extensions, sponsored domain name extensions, generic-restricted domain name extensions, and country-code domain name extensions, to try yourself to see follow this link www.hostinger.co.uk/domain-checker.

Why is The Domain Name Important?

How thoroughly you figure out before you choose the best domain name for your business is important. The domain name you choose is the key element of your business. It can make or break you. So you must take time to choose a perfect domain name and domain name extension for your business. A domain name is important because:

  • It’s a massive part of the first impression you create – Your domain name or URL is the first thing that your customers will encounter. With a good name, you can send a positive and lasting first impression but a bad name can put off your potential customers.
  • Plays a role in SEO – While exact match domains (EMDs) do not topmost key factors as they used to be, domain name keywords can boost your SEO ranking.
  • Helps to Define Your Brand – Brand names provide an excellent opportunity to boost your business. Likewise, a perfect domain name improves your brand recognition.

The highlighted elements are a few of the many reasons why a good domain name and extensions are very important for your online business. When it comes to choosing the right domain name extensions for your business, two are head and shoulder over all the others in UK’s public psyche — .com and .co.uk. So, which is the best choice for your business? That’s precisely what am going to share.

.com vs .co.uk Extensions

Instead of beating around the bush, if you are creating a locally based e-commerce website or small business, a .co.uk should be your best pick as you are targeting only the locals. But if you are crafting an online business that requires global traffic, then go for a .com domain extension as you will attract traffic all over the world.

Well, that simply stated! But there are always exceptions to the rule. A minute! What if your business revolves around a travel blog, news, or a drop-shipping store? Let’s dig a little deeper.

How About Creating Different Types of Websites?

To offer you the best insight when choosing the best domain extension for your business, consider these two different scenarios. Hopefully, they will land you into the right choice.

Scenario 1: Travel Blog about European and UK Travels

Let’s take that you are a keen traveler who wants to document your travel experiences on a travel blog. To make the scenario trickier, you are a Briton and your travels are mostly based in the UK and Europe. So, what would be the ideal domain name extension for this blog?

Based on the fact that you hail from the UK and your travels are mainly in the UK, you will definitely settle for .co.uk. Well, this is not the case.

You will be writing blogs on European destinations, but who do you think will be reading them? Most often, it will be tourists from Asia, North America, or Australia.

In other words, people from all walks of life and around the globe will be interested in getting more insights on European travels. Your fellows in Britain already have little if not more knowledge about European tourist centers. So, in this scenario, a .com domain extension will make a lot of sense as it can generate more global visitors and income.

Scenario 2: A UK eCommerce Store Retailing Cat Toys

As an example, let’s say that you are a cat fanatic and you make your homemade cat toys. Ok, this is a great product but you are wondering what domain to use.

Before you can even think of a good domain name, a good step to start with is to figure out the scope of your business. Do you want to keep your business local or you want to branch out to the global market in the future?

Let’s take it that you want to keep it local or to UK customers. In this case, you should take the .co.uk extension. Remember, in this case, if you want to sell your products overseas, it may be harder for you.

If you want to expand your market on entry and sell to the international buyers, then consider going with a .com extension. Choosing a .com domain name will be more than perfect for you as you will be able to target both the UK and international consumers.

Domain Name Extensions .com & .co.uk Costs

So, you have hopefully landed on the domain extension that’s right for your business. So what is the finest place to get the domain name, and how much is their cost? Most web hosting companies provide packages with free domains. However, if you go for a plan that you have to pay for a domain name, it is usually relatively cheap, with a slight difference in particular extensions.

Bottom Line

Hopefully, you can now make an informed decision on choosing the best domain name extension for your business. Simply put, if you plan to do international sales, then go for a .com, if you predict most of your clients or readers will be from the UK – go for .co.uk.

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