According to an article on ContractorUK many small UK businesses are neglecting the value of having a co.uk domain name, despite most realising the name could have a significant impact on their business.
In a study conducted by the ISP Fasthosts, 40% of businesses owners said they spent the same amount of time choosing their internet domain name as they would choosing a coffee maker. It’s surprising then that only 25% of business owners voiced ‘concerns’ about the overall effectiveness of their website’s address.
They found that once small firms do settle on a domain, most don’t see the value in seeking a second opinion, and once it’s live – 5% won’t be able to recite its correct name or spelling. Which doesn’t surprise me at all. Small businesses owners should put considerably more time and effort into choosing a name for their businesses and choosing a domain name for it.
They go on to say that:
Typically one-person companies are devoting the same amount of time to their Web presence as they do to buying an internal device, such as PCs and printers.
It’s no wonder then that so many small businesses struggle with their marketing.
Interestingly a recent YouGov survey of over 2,000 internet users found individuals were six times more likely to choose a co.uk rather than a .com address when looking for information via a search engine. I know I do that, but if the average internet user grasps the difference between a .com and a .co.uk is something I’ve often wondered about.
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Tell me about it. We are on the verge of moving over from a free blog for our business to a proper domain. The biggest learning point has been that the domain name has to be able to be written down without being spelled out letter by letter. “So that’s http://www.soon2b50.com - “soon” then the number “2″ then the letter “b” then “50″ - no, the number “fifty” - have you got that.
Hmmmm! I exaggerate slightly for effect but tell me is there a better website address than “B&Q’s” - diy.com. Imagine if they had tried to do “BandQ,com”. It doesn’t bear thinking about
Well it just proves my point. I assumed that no-one had registered http://www.soon2b50.com because it is just too complicated. So I googled it and it came up blank, but it did suggest http://www.soon2b3.com which is a blog for prospective adoptive parents. At least it was not for a business
I’ll admit to making the mistake with bnb thinking it was obvious for bed and breakfasts. It’s not.
Name counts! And is getting harder to find good names as all the good ones are taken.
QI last week did a good thing on website names and how you need to think them through(think it might have been the BBC4 one that will be on BBC2 this week). One example was http://www.expertsexchange.com.
There are quite a few like that Phil, there’s a good list floating around on the Internet somewhere…