The .UK domain moves are happening

[Jiblob]

I keep seeing more and more .UK names on the TV from big brands and even more from smaller SMEs on my travels around the UK on vans, cars and billboards.

Just a couple I've seen on TV in the last few days:

It's on the radars of big companies and someone's making the decision to use .uk instead of .co.uk

 

[websaway]

GBnews.uk is another

 

[webber]

I keep seeing more and more .UK names on the TV from big brands

Whether you like or hate the .uk, those are two huge brands embracing it.
Well, sort of. Both use a different extension for their main website so the .uk is there to keep things shorter and less confusing in their advertising, I suppose.
Both own the .uk AND .co.uk and are redirecting them both to their main extension (.com and .org.uk respectively) so there is no potential of lost traffic as was suggested above.

 

[Jiblob]

I grit my teeth knowing how many customers they've lost from doing this.

This is what happens when you put an intern in charge of marketing materials.

Don't blame Emirates or UNICEF for your dental issues.

 

[Jiblob]

GBnews.uk is another

I noticed that gbnews have finally snagged the .co.uk and the .com too... perhaps they will ditch the .uk

On a serious note though I was very surprised to see these two ads with the .uk on there, I wasn't looking out for them exactly but they just caught my eye and it surprised me to be honest.

 

[dee]

I grit my teeth knowing how many customers they've lost from doing this.

This is what happens when you put an intern in charge of marketing materials.

genuine question..... why do you think this is causing them to lose customers ?

 

[dee]

No clue why it happens but still to this day, people in the UK are conditioned to think of domains as mainly XYZ.com or XYZ.co.uk - So they'll go on their phones and use either of those extensions a lot of the time. (Saying that, it's most probably because they are the most used/dominant extensions in general in the UK so it's likely a habit thing.)

With Blackpool.co.uk, I get hundreds of contacts/emails a week for people trying to contact blackpool.gov.uk and blackpool.ac.uk - They got told the correct extension to use originally but when it comes to searching or emailing, their brains revert to have heard .co.uk

fair enough.... i guess would be more of an issue if they didn't have both

 

[Jiblob]

No clue why it happens but still to this day, people in the UK are conditioned to think of domains as mainly XYZ.com or XYZ.co.uk - So they'll go on their phones and use either of those extensions a lot of the time. (Saying that, it's most probably because they are the most used/dominant extensions in general in the UK so it's likely a habit thing.)

With Blackpool.co.uk, I get hundreds of contacts/emails a week for people trying to contact blackpool.gov.uk and blackpool.ac.uk - They got told the correct extension to use originally but when it comes to searching or emailing, their brains revert to have heard .co.uk

Turn off the mx servers and they'll get a nice bounce message to point them in the right direction

Luckily these companies don't have the same problem because they own both extensions.

 

[JMI]

I grit my teeth knowing how many customers they've lost from doing this.

This is what happens when you put an intern in charge of marketing materials.

That's such a stuck in the past cliché domainer response

 

[Jiblob]

It gives domainers a bad name when they are literally causing the problem that they are complaining about. There's no need to have a catch all mailbox on a domain if you know for a fact that it's going to lead to mail going where it shouldn't do. Set up the accounts that you actually use and then let the failure to send prevent people's private details leaking out where it shouldn't do, especially if you know there's a conflict between you and something as important as a council domain or a college.

 

[Jiblob]

Another that is plastered all over the tv at the moment

 

[Jiblob]

There are a lot of builders/plumbers around where I live using @btinternet.com emails on the side of their vans.

You better go buy up all those emails to resell.

eh. I'm not the one catching other people's emails to read...

 

[Ben Thomas]

No clue why it happens but still to this day, people in the UK are conditioned to think of domains as mainly XYZ.com or XYZ.co.uk - So they'll go on their phones and use either of those extensions a lot of the time. (Saying that, it's most probably because they are the most used/dominant extensions in general in the UK so it's likely a habit thing.)

With Blackpool.co.uk, I get hundreds of contacts/emails a week for people trying to contact blackpool.gov.uk and blackpool.ac.uk - They got told the correct extension to use originally but when it comes to searching or emailing, their brains revert to have heard .co.uk

Interestingly, I get customers for Brightwork.co.uk (recruitment agency in Glasgow) all the time. It's absolutely the most irritating thing. Especially as I tried to contact them to sell brightwork.uk to them prior to me developing it into my brand. I've also reached out on several occasions and had no reply.

Two years later they then trademarked BRIGHTWORK (wordmark) embarrassing, really.

Anyway, good example of .uk getting traffic a .co.uk is supposed to get (personal details redacted):

 

[Jiblob]

Interestingly, I get customers for Brightwork.co.uk (recruitment agency in Glasgow) all the time. It's absolutely the most irritating thing. Especially as I tried to contact them to sell brightwork.uk to them prior to me developing it into my brand. I've also reached out on several occasions and had no reply.

Two years later they then trademarked BRIGHTWORK (wordmark) embarrassing, really.

Anyway, good example of .uk getting traffic a .co.uk is supposed to get (personal details redacted):

View attachment 3718

They're not going to get the job anyway are they if they don't know the email address and they say "highly tained"/"Your faithful" amongst other things in that email

You're the one that has made an incorrect assumption and jumped to conclusions.

That you have a catch all?

 

[Ben Thomas]

They're not going to get the job anyway are they if they don't know the email address and they say "highly tained"/"Your faithful" amongst other things in that email

That you have a catch all?

Totally agree. I've had some I've almost replied giving advice to.