the problem I find is that

[julian]

the better the .co.uk is, joe bloggs justs ends confusing it with a .com and seems to remember it as a .com 6mths down the line..

 

[woopwoop]

Maybe. By 'better' do you mean generic or catchy/brandable?

You're probably right to a degree but .co.uk has some huge benefits as well. Hard for me to describe but the .co.uk carries a lot of power and trust locally.

I also think it's the case that someone 'stuck' with a great .com always is on the look out for the .co.uk to be available (if they trade in the UK or have UK visitors) simply because they are missing the special something that a .co.uk carries locally.

 

[JMOT]

Wasn't there some nominet paper last year that stated 74% of British people preferred to click a .co.uk when searching? Therefore .co.uk has entrenched itself in the British online mindset?!

Maybe ur right tho..... Imho Generic .com still gets more uk ip type in than the generic .co.uk

 

[Bailey]

Depends on the market your trying to attract. Sure the .com is probably going to receive between 10 to 100 fold hits for pure type-ins but, If your market is UK based then it will only convert at a pro-rata rate.

If your going to promote/advertise under the name then yes you are going to lose out. The UK market is fairly unique in that it adopted the .com and .uk almost in equal measure. In some ways its ashame we share the same language with the Yanks otherwise the .co.uk would have retained it's overriding local preference.

Still its swings and roundabouts as far as pure domain investing goes - not so for developers

 

[julian]

'preferring' is one thing, what they actually remember to use in the future and tell their friends is another - the later to me is more important.

Wasn't there some nominet paper last year that stated 74% of British people preferred to click a .co.uk when searching? Therefore .co.uk has entrenched itself in the British online mindset?!

Maybe ur right tho..... Imho Generic .com still gets more uk ip type in than the generic .co.uk

 

[rob]

Based on....?

the better the .co.uk is, joe bloggs justs ends confusing it with a .com and seems to remember it as a .com 6mths down the line..

 

[willbon]

I agree. Although you guys on here banter about .co.uk's being better for seo - which is true, at the end of the day when people see an established brand they often assume you can find it with a . Com

I have always thought that for brand purposes you essentially need the .com as well as the locality .co.uk

Also it cheapens your brand if someone else has the .com and your customers find it by mistake.

However if you're just after search engine traffic it seems that results are always variable but there's no denying the geo abilities of the .co.uk.

I think that the 'brand' domain will strengthen over the coming years as people start to subscribe to this.