Is .uk the future?

[dee]

Why we moved to .uk

https://www.heartinternet.uk/blog/why-we-moved-to-uk/

Interesting read.Cheers for that. This seems particularly valid as time moves forward:

It may only be three characters different, but it quickly adds up if you’re a mobile user visiting multiple times a day. Fewer characters mean less chance of typos, and if you have ‘uk’ in your domain name already, it gives you a chance to make it even shorter.

 

[lazarus]

We know .uk will overtake .co.uk sometime in the future, the only question is when...

 

[Edwin]

Thats the bit I dont get though. Surely the brand is whatever you make it. If you make it the uk version then it becomes that. For instance... bit.ly

Bit.ly? That's like using Usain Bolt as an example to prove people run fast!

Instead of picking a known winner and working backwards to use it to try and make a general case, surely it's better to talk about the tens of millions of domains with unintuitive extensions languishing in obscurity?

By contrast, .co.uk serves over 3 million active sites well, including many of the most popular and most high profile in the UK.

The time for .uk may come. It may not. But it certainly hasn't come yet - and that makes the .co.uk the more sensible commercial choice for an established site.

 

[dee]

Its also possible that its all irrelevant as by the time its an issue the next big thing will be here in terms of comms. There may be something better than our current system on the way. Tech turnover is pretty quick and only getting quicker.

 

[Edwin]

As a related aside, don't we have a pretty much identical thread every couple of months? Certainly feels like it. And so far there doesn't appear to be a whole lot of movement in .uk (my transition study on Alexa top sites confirms this, as do the lethargic registration numbers)

 

[dee]

Bit.ly? That's like using Usain Bolt as an example to prove people run fast!

Ha ha...true, but still valid. It was in reply to people tending towards reliable brands. They turned a .ly it into one. And agreed theres 3 million active .co.uk sites, of which half of them get less than 5 visitors a month. My point is its not about the extension but the site. And surely a uk is shorter and easier to type.

 

[amfletchers]

As a related aside, don't we have a pretty much identical thread every couple of months?

The .uk hasn't been around long so a couple of months makes a big difference. In two months our thoughts on the subject would be completely different if google/bbc/amazon/ebay ect moved to the .uk.

If anyone has an idea if the .uk will stick it's Acorn members. I don't want to move to the .co.uk if in two years .uk is used by all the popular sites but I equally don't want to be on an virtually unknown extension in 2 years. I'm just using this thread to make a slightly more educated guess on which way to go

 

[Carlos]

Has there ever been a case where a second level has been historically used then the top level has been made available and taken over?

In Mexico .mx domains were available for owners of their matching .com.mx on May 2009 and then publicly available on September 2009. Before that, .mx extension was only used by some educational institutions, almost everyone else was using .com.mx

These are April 2009 stats:
265,934 .com.mx registered domains | 179 .mx registered domains

These are February 2017 stats:
500,918 .com.mx registered domains | 290,558.mx registered domains

To give some perspective, since their release .mx domains have been twice as expensive as .com.mx, so having that growth is remarkable.
In 2009 I was skeptical but today I see most ad campaigns advertising new business in .mx although the big guys are still using .com.mx (google, amazon, big newspapers).

Mexico is far behind UK in terms of internet usage (and almost everything else ) so this comparison may not be the best but it can give you some reference.

For anyone interested you can see .mx historical stats here:
http://www.nic.mx/es/NicMx.Indicadores/Dominios?type=1

 

[ian]

We know .uk will overtake .co.uk sometime in the future, the only question is when...

We don't know that at all, .uk hasn't made traction so far. Ultimately if the big sites adopt the .uk, like bbc.uk and google.uk, then the rest will follow. I hope .uk works out, the extension is much better, just 15 years too late. Would I start a new project on the .uk? Hmmm.

 

[Edwin]

I'm not saying "don't have the discussion". But don't you think that if there'd been any major movement in .uk the news would have been all over Acorn faster than lightning? The absence of such news therefore tells us that the situation hasn't meaningfully evolved since the last time the question was asked...

 

[Edwin]

BTW it's worth keeping an eye on .nz numbers as their transition period ends on 30 March.
https://dnc.org.nz/node/1424

There have been many more communications to .co.nz owners than Nominet have sent to existing registrants (all the way through the introduction of .nz, not just the last few weeks) and the emails have been simple, clear cut and to the point.

As you will see from the above link, .nz has achieved less that 25% of .co.nz penetration with 2 months to go. That's despite the more urgent timeframe and the more frequent, much much better communications.

Oh, and the DNC (Nominet equivalent) have sent the emails per domain not per registrant. So if you own 50 .co.nz entitled to the .nz you will have received 50 sets of email every time they sent out an update. Very hard to ignore, unlike a single unclear email sent to a random contact off one of possibly many tags belonging to a particular entity.

 

[martin-s]

In Mexico .mx domains were available for owners of their matching .com.mx on May 2009 and then publicly available on September 2009. Before that, .mx extension was only used by some educational institutions, almost everyone else was using .com.mx

What's the betting that a good number of the .mx domains were for DNS?

Why did .ly work? Because it's pronounceable and fitted the budgets of a lot of tech businesses who couldn't afford .com.

Why did Heart Internet switch? Because they saw an opportunity to make some money persuading their customer base to do the same.

It will take a period of time where big brands use .uk for public consciousness to catch up. The young might be tech savvy, but you try giving an email address to 100 forty plus year olds and see how many mistakes they make.

 

[Edwin]

Google shows just 14,800,000 results for "site:.ly". That's nearly 20x less than for "site:.mobi" - and we know what a flop the latter extension has turned out to be. The fact that a few hundred or a few thousand companies are using a particular extension means nothing - throw enough darts blindfolded and a few will hit the target...

 

[ian]

Why did Heart Internet switch? Because they saw an opportunity to make some money persuading their customer base to do the same.

Agreed, though they will, and have, tried to defend their position!

 

[RobM]

Agreed. nominet, heart, gospammy, 123 all love .uk.

 

[amfletchers]

10 votes for .co.uk with just 5 for .uk

This is a clear consensus for me. Things may change over the next year or two but right now it seems wise to stick with the .co.uk

I appreciate all the responses and thoughts on the future!

 

[Admin]

As a related aside, don't we have a pretty much identical thread every couple of months? Certainly feels like it. And so far there doesn't appear to be a whole lot of movement in .uk (my transition study on Alexa top sites confirms this, as do the lethargic registration numbers)

Yes and I think that is a good thing. I think already we see more positive comments in these threads about .uk. With a 301 redirect why worry and why go long.

As a slight aside, I think it will be an interesting time for domainers in 2019, lots of activity, lots of opportunity, lots of money to be made.

 

[JMI]

You all obviously know nothing about .uk - see ebay home page..

 

[dog]

Does that mean AcornDomains will switch to AcornDomains.UK?

Yes and I think that is a good thing. I think already we see more positive comments in these threads about .uk. With a 301 redirect why worry and why go long.

Lol, true @Edwin.

Bit.ly? That's like using Usain Bolt as an example to prove people run fast!

Forums tend to have the same conversations.

As a related aside, don't we have a pretty much identical thread every couple of months?

Interesting, thanks for sharing this.

In Mexico .mx domains were available for owners of their matching .com.mx on May 2009 and then publicly available on September 2009. Before that, .mx extension was only used by some educational institutions, almost everyone else was using .com.mx

These are April 2009 stats:
265,934 .com.mx registered domains | 179 .mx registered domains

These are February 2017 stats:
500,918 .com.mx registered domains | 290,558.mx registered domains

If pricing were the same for .MX I bet we would see different registration numbers.

To give some perspective, since their release .mx domains have been twice as expensive as .com.mx, so having that growth is remarkable.
In 2009 I was skeptical but today I see most ad campaigns advertising new business in .mx although the big guys are still using .com.mx (google, amazon, big newspapers.)


Mexico is far behind UK in terms of internet usage (and almost everything else ) so this comparison may not be the best but it can give you some reference.

For anyone interested you can see .mx historical stats here:
http://www.nic.mx/es/NicMx.Indicadores/Dominios?type=1

Yes, the DNC has a good process. Do you own .NZ domains?

BTW it's worth keeping an eye on .nz numbers as their transition period ends on 30 March.
https://dnc.org.nz/node/1424

There have been many more communications to .co.nz owners than Nominet have sent to existing registrants (all the way through the introduction of .nz, not just the last few weeks) and the emails have been simple, clear cut and to the point.

 

[Edwin]

Yes, the DNC has a good process. Do you own .NZ domains?

Yes, about 400 of them.