» September 3, 2006 in
There is a backyard game that is getting rather popular in the US we'll call bunkyball (not the real name).
The .com of bunkyball is a cybersquatter and all the other TLD's were taken, except bunkyball.co.uk. So I now own my first UK domain name, with the exact phrase I wanted for a domain.
Two interesting points. I registered through godaddy and I'm a US citizen:
1. I couldn't register the UK domain with a private registration. I'm curious what the WHOIS info will show?
2. The UK domain registration had to be a minimum of 2 years, I wasn't given an option to register for 1 year.
I plan on developing it as a regular bunkyball information site. I'm curious how a co.uk will fair in the US search engines? Especially since the .com of the exact phrase is just a sedo like page.
And if bunkyball catches on in the UK I should be sitting on a decent domain name.
Anybody know of any concerns I should have with purchasing a foreign (to me) CO.UK domain name?
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I've never bought one so I'm no help but thats cool.
It turns out the whois just shows your info as the US would if you registered publicly.
Sidenote, I live by the University of Kentucky so getting UK in my photos for the site is very easy ;-)
Hehe... now that's thinking!
On a more serious note, I've wondered how that would go - not being from the UK and purchasing a UK domain name (or .us in my case... from what I understand only people from the US can purchase .us domain names... or has that changed?).
Anyhoo - look forward to hearing how this domain turns out for you :)
Mark,
You will probably have a harder time ranking on the US data centre's with a co.uk against a .com (shouldn't be a problem if the .com is just parked) and you might have problems ranking on the UK data centre's if the site is hosted in the US :(
If bunkyball does take off over here you might want to consider moving your hosting to a UK provider.
You might want to consider the .au and .ca (if available) as these countries also tend to follow US trends.
Peter
The .com is parked so I'm hoping I have a shot with the co.uk with the exact phrase. Should be interesting.
Thanks for the au and ca tips, I'll look into it.
UK domains are only registered every two years so you can't just go for 1 year. Their cost is around the same as a .com (but for 2 years, not one) so they work out cheaper for us.
Using a UK domain (regardless of host) will get you into the .com and the UK search indexes, so that's an added bonus. And I've not seen problems with a .com vs .uk in the rankings, the better site wins regardless of suffix.
The only downside I've found is that non UK visitors are more less likely to visit the site if they can see the UK suffix.
Thanks for the info sarahG, I'll keep things updated on the site. I'm curious myself how it will pan out, especially with the .com being parked and myself owning the exact phrase in the .co.uk version
The .com of bunkyball is a cybersquatter and all the other TLD's were taken, except bunkyball.co.uk. So I now own my first UK domain name, with the exact phrase I wanted for a domain.
Two interesting points. I registered through godaddy and I'm a US citizen:
1. I couldn't register the UK domain with a private registration. I'm curious what the WHOIS info will show?
2. The UK domain registration had to be a minimum of 2 years, I wasn't given an option to register for 1 year.
I plan on developing it as a regular bunkyball information site. I'm curious how a co.uk will fair in the US search engines? Especially since the .com of the exact phrase is just a sedo like page.
And if bunkyball catches on in the UK I should be sitting on a decent domain name.
Anybody know of any concerns I should have with purchasing a foreign (to me) CO.UK domain name?
If you like this post then please consider subscribing to my full RSS feed. You can also Subscribe to 45n5 by Email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox.
Dave says on September 4, 2006
I've never bought one so I'm no help but thats cool.
45n5 says on September 4, 2006
It turns out the whois just shows your info as the US would if you registered publicly.
Sidenote, I live by the University of Kentucky so getting UK in my photos for the site is very easy ;-)
Empress says on September 4, 2006
Hehe... now that's thinking!
On a more serious note, I've wondered how that would go - not being from the UK and purchasing a UK domain name (or .us in my case... from what I understand only people from the US can purchase .us domain names... or has that changed?).
Anyhoo - look forward to hearing how this domain turns out for you :)
Peter says on September 5, 2006
Mark,
You will probably have a harder time ranking on the US data centre's with a co.uk against a .com (shouldn't be a problem if the .com is just parked) and you might have problems ranking on the UK data centre's if the site is hosted in the US :(
If bunkyball does take off over here you might want to consider moving your hosting to a UK provider.
You might want to consider the .au and .ca (if available) as these countries also tend to follow US trends.
Peter
45n5 says on September 5, 2006
The .com is parked so I'm hoping I have a shot with the co.uk with the exact phrase. Should be interesting.
Thanks for the au and ca tips, I'll look into it.
SarahG says on September 6, 2006
UK domains are only registered every two years so you can't just go for 1 year. Their cost is around the same as a .com (but for 2 years, not one) so they work out cheaper for us.
Using a UK domain (regardless of host) will get you into the .com and the UK search indexes, so that's an added bonus. And I've not seen problems with a .com vs .uk in the rankings, the better site wins regardless of suffix.
The only downside I've found is that non UK visitors are more less likely to visit the site if they can see the UK suffix.
45n5 says on September 6, 2006
Thanks for the info sarahG, I'll keep things updated on the site. I'm curious myself how it will pan out, especially with the .com being parked and myself owning the exact phrase in the .co.uk version
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