The .UK revolution

[boxerdog]

Looking at the whois it appears the police and NHS have not recently switched to the .UK, they've been registered since the 90s

 

[lazarus]

After 5 years...that is one pitiful list.

This is just someones list, not the whole list

 

[Jiblob]

It's a list of a few. Really I don't think that it needs to a be a list of all .UK sites, but I'll work on adding some more that stand out.

 

[Jiblob]

Looking at the whois it appears the police and NHS have not recently switched to the .UK, they've been registered since the 90s

Correct. They have been on .UK since the days of BL.uk etc

 

[starbird]

There are more like consultancy.uk, you'll need to go through the serps to find the results/

 

[dougs]

https://www.google.com/search?sourc......1..gws-wiz.....0..0i131j0j0i10.zzm_8Vs9X8w

 

[snoopy]

We could really use more big hitters like pokerstars to add to the list if it's going to work. Nhs.uk and Parliament.uk are interesting ones. NHS has been on .UK forever and any government ones are non-commercial so they're not going to be as much of a draw to persuade others to switch. Worthy of the list I reckon nontheless.

It is a bad sign when it needs a list to try and convince people.

 

[Jiblob]

It is a bad sign when it needs a list to try and convince people.

I could have put rainbows and unicorns on there but I'm not sure it would be as relevant.

 

[twostepsbehind]

I don't think it's as black and white as many people may think

Firstly, one of the reasons for having a great domain is to add to the brand value/authority in the marketplace - diving.uk will add more brand value than diving123.co.uk

Diving.uk is like having a shop on diving shop on Oxford Street and Diving123.co.uk is like having a shop in the Walsall town centre...

Secondly, it's also about people's perceptions...

Example: for content/informational/authority sites:

Diabetes.uk looks far more authoritative than Diabetes.co.uk

Example: for something more commercial and not content focused:

lambethfurnitureshop.co.uk still has an edge on lambethfurnitureshop.uk - for now

This is how I'm perceiving things at the moment - this space will continue to evolve and most likely in the direction of .uk dominance...

 

[JMI]

People need to be very careful, at the moment we're in a bull market driven by hype, off the back of a few over ambitious DL bids.

 

[dee]

People need to be very careful, at the moment we're in a bull market driven by hype, off the back of a few over ambitious DL bids.

True, but its also an opportunity for those who have deep pockets to get hold of names that may not come up for sale again for a very long time, if at all.

 

[Ryan Ewen]

Non-domainers always ask "don't you mean .co.uk".

I told a guy I know about a first name domain that is currently on auction ([name].uk), and let me tell you he could easily afford it but he told me "why would I want that rubbish? If it was .co.uk sure".

Many domainers are in a .uk bubble right now and out of touch with the real world.

Lol - Shock - the random guy in the job centre said it was rubbish!

 

[Adam H]

Firstly, one of the reasons for having a great domain is to add to the brand value/authority in the marketplace - diving.uk will add more brand value than diving123.co.uk

Diving.uk is like having a shop on diving shop on Oxford Street and Diving123.co.uk is like having a shop in the Walsall town centre...

Secondly, it's also about people's perceptions...

Example: for content/informational/authority sites:

Diabetes.uk looks far more authoritative than Diabetes.co.uk
.

I'm still very much on the fence, I have in recent months started to sway towards the .uk as the primary choice for new brands providing i can redirect the .co.uk. And I'm pleased to have seen the money being spent on .uks since the release ( just wish i had took the plunge and got involved ).

That said, I still think people have got caught in the hype. There are different forms of brand authority and brand awareness .

Generic exact match phrases, totally agree they add value in various different aspects, commercialproperty.uk being a great name in a competative space which could be harnessed for an online campaign for a existing brand, or if your brand is primarly focusing on online and social traffic generation and doesnt rely on repeat custom or people not mistaking your web address for thing else.

On the other hand, there are names being purchased which are more brandable.....which already have an estbalished brand on the .co.uk.......................to me this is madness and if anything is killing brand authority, brand awareness and chances of success from the outset and can only realistically be viable if you've got a healthy marketing budget and/or strategy which can saturate or swerve the existing dominate brand.

I am very much a "want to own both uk tld" type person so maybe its just the way I think. I think a good example of that is evergreen.uk , amazingly brandable generic phrase..love the name. But 1. It's generic and oversaturated, 2. It has an established brand on the other uk tld. 3. You'd be branding yourself as a longer tail varient "we are evergreen" , "evergreen content" etc etc

You'd have to either have a big marketing budget, or simply not care that your potential customers may easily go somewhere else or not be able to find you which then just means you've got the domain for bragging rights that you've got a dictionary word TLD.

I'm not saying im right, Just my personal opinion.

 

[dee]

I am very much a "want to own both uk tld" type person so maybe its just the way I think. I think a good example of that is evergreen.uk , amazingly brandable generic phrase..love the name. But 1. It's generic and oversaturated, 2. It has an established brand on the other uk tld. You'd have to either have a Big marketing budget, or simply not care that your potential customers may easily go somewhere else or not be able to find you which then just means you've got the domain for bragging rights that you've got a dictionary word TLD.

If your niche was different to the evergreen co.uk site, surely people will realise its not what they were after and either keep looking or go do something else. If the uk name space gets to a point where the uk is part of the general landscape, will it be any different than having say a .net or a com.

 

[Murray]

People need to be very careful, at the moment we're in a bull market driven by hype, off the back of a few over ambitious DL bids.

The majority of us are selling and priced out from buying anyway

I do think there might be more end users at these auctions than you would think, but we shall see

 

[Adam H]

If your niche was different to the evergreen co.uk site, surely people will realisit'sts not what they were after and either keep looking or go do something else. If the uk name space gets to a point where the uk is part of the general landscape, will it be any different than having say a .net or a com.

If that we're the case and people would look beyond the top 10 when searhing for things, but as you know the percentage of searches which actually get to the second page of results is minimal in comparison. People are lazy, if you can't put it in front of their eyes then you're losing a huge amount of potential customers before you've started, making it easy for people is half the battle.

Looking ahead as voice search and other platforms take less notice of domains names in general there maybe space for localised competition in my opinion, but at the moment the UK still is in a little bubble where UK citizens prefer to deal with UK businesses and see a co.uk as a form of authority, the same arguments could be had in regards to .com but i don't think its quite as apparent when two .uk tlds are competing with each other.

 

[dee]

If that we're the case and people would look beyond the top 10 when searhing for things, but as you know the percentage of searches which actually get to the second page of results is minimal in comparison. People are lazy, if you can't put it in front of their eyes then you're losing a huge amount of potential customers before you've started, making it easy for people is half the battle.

Yeah, to be fair though that's down to content and seo though, not extension and fair game.

Hadnt thought about the voice search and new platforms though. I still think of everything as browser/phone based lol. Good point

 

[Murray]

On the other hand, there are names being purchased which a more brandable.....which already have an estbalished brand on the .co.uk...

I think it's workable if your expectations are to sell for xxx to someone special who might have used a hyphen or uk.com instead, or often people just buy them defensively to have

But yeah If you're paying xxx at auction to try and sell for x,xxx in future it seems a long shot, unless you think the co.uk is going to have to come to you.

 

[JumpMaster]

Someone special who might have used a hyphen or uk.com instead

Exactly why I bought cooper.uk. I've had cooper.uk.com for many years but wanted to secure the .uk since nominet announced it.

£560 well spent in my opinion.

 

[StoneRoses]

Exactly why I bought cooper.uk. I've had cooper.uk.com for many years but wanted to secure the .uk since nominet announced it.

£560 well spent in my opinion.

I'd agree, nice buy, I tried to get my surname in .uk , the owner wants £10k for it though so that's not happening.