It has been announced that websites might soon get the chance to have more relevant website URLs, with the introduction of unique domain suffixes such as .marketing and .shop.
Initially, there is a huge, competitive and potentially expensive rush to immediately pre-order these new domain suffixes.
However, as with all things in life, there is small print, terms and other things to consider before you join that potentially never-ending queue for your preferred new domain.
Some examples of the new domain suffixes are:
|
.accountant |
.london |
.trade |
.deals |
|
.blog |
|
.wales |
.wedding |
|
.cloud |
.online |
.web |
.world |
|
.hotel |
.review |
.store |
.forsale |
|
.limited |
.technology |
.photography |
.holiday |
We bet that selection (of 700 available on 1and1.co.uk) has really enticed you to consider choosing one suitable for you business - yes? Well, now let's have a look at where such a choice could take you and what impact it could have...
4 Tips to Ensure You Make a Clear, Correct Decision in Choosing a New Domain
It goes without saying that there is little research, evidence or statistical data to suggest what impact - positive or otherwise - these suffixes will have when they land on the web, in a matter of weeks. What there is a lot of, however, is opinion and speculation. These four are our favourites of the suggestions and remind us that just because the crowd are flocking, it doesn't always mean it's a good thing to follow...:
1. Your customers trust your current website - will they trust a new identity?
Bear in mind you spent a very long time encouraging, pushing, enticing, persuading visitors to your website. Remember that some of those visitors became regulars, they have bookmarked your link or remembered it by heart, your URL now rolls off the tongue.
Imagine if publishers decided A Christmas Carol (by Charles Dickens) was going to be renamed - it would confuse you, lose you, make you question why they're changing its identity.
Of course, you can buy the domain and slowly roll it out, teasing customers across ads, social media posts and a PR campaign. But you must consider the pros and cons, do research on a cross-section of your website visitors and loyal clients.
2. Is it really worth the cost of "winning" your chosen domain?
Typically speaking - although not in all cases - your chosen .com or .co.uk domain can be bought for as little as under £10 a year, which should be small change as a business.
The new domains are expected to cost more, getting particularly expensive, the more popular the domain. Forbes has done some insightful research into the cost of some of these new domains:
"Bespoke.bike, which is already taken, costs $29 per year at United Domains. Even rogerkay.bike, which is eminently available, costs $29. By contrast, rogerkay.com (taken) is only $9.90 on the same site, and rogerkay.net (available) goes for only $14.90. But rogerkay.cab, which uses one of the new domains, will set you back $39 per year" (source).
So, you should expect the same rates for UK companies!
That isn't even the start of it, however. You have to "pre-order" your domain (1and1.co.uk is initially free) - "priority pre-ordering" can run up high bills into the tens of thousands, for highly-sought domain names - then there is a bidding stage to go through.
Once you've pre-ordered the URL, you aren't guaranteed ownership, you must bid against others to "win" the domain. Inevitably, it's unlikely you're going to get your chosen name, unless it's a more obscure company name or you've got plenty of spare £££ in the bank!
3. There is a risk customers won't be able to find you through all of the choice
Interestingly, not only will you have to fight through the crowds of people in the bidding for domains, then fight to get your customers to recognise your name change, you'll also have to ensure they get to the right domain.
Some of the domain providers are offering plural and singular domains such as .hotel and .hotels. This is going to cause real confusion for customers already struggling with .com and .co.uk changes, let alone these minuscule (but vital) differences.
Remember, if your URL is .graphic and someone else has .graphics, your customer lands on their page and potentially chooses their business instead, "because it's already there".
4. Keywords and SEO can be hindered or helped by your choice
It's worth noting that keywords can be significantly impacted by your URL, for example we are thriveability.co.uk but refer to ourselves as thrive, this means our keyword ranking is harder to achieve. With the opening up of new domains it should give companies - who actually 'win' these suffixes - a better chance of ranking higher in Google. Of course, it doesn't always work that way and you should be wary of what a domain change might do for your keyword marketing campaign.
We recommend a cautious approach to any significant changes you make to your URL, which ultimately could effect your keyword marketing campaign and reduce customer awareness.
