I answer the question: “Do I need to buy all the different endings for my website” in today’s #asktheukdomain video.
The short answer is no: you don’t need to buy all of the endings (i.e. “domain extensions”) for your website. How many you buy (and how many variations on your name you buy) depends on what your website is for and the size of your budget.
If your domain name is for your business, it is a good idea to buy your domain name with the most common domain extensions, such as .co.uk, .uk, .com, .net, and .org. This is so you secure them before other people have the chance to buy them – it’s about securing your brand. You may wish to do the same with common misspellings or variations too, just in case.
If your domain name is for a personal project, especially one where you don’t know how far it’ll go in the future, you’re probably safe buying only the domain extension you wish to use. If your project gathers momentum, you may wish to then buy the alternatives, once you’re at a point to justify the cost.
If you do buy multiple domain extensions, most people tend to redirect them to whichever domain name is their primary one – so redirecting .com and .net to their .co.uk, for instance. We’d also recommend this approach.
Ultimately, the decision is yours, just bear in mind that if you wish to protect your brand name, it’s a good idea to buy them before others get the chance.
Video Transcript
♪ [music] ♪ Hello, and welcome to the UK Domain. Today’s question comes from a Prince’s Trust student in Belfast who asks, “Do I need to buy all the different endings for my website?” When they say different endings, they’re referring to domain extensions. So for example, .uk, .co.uk, and .org.uk.
The short answer is that, no, you don’t need to buy all domain extensions. How many you buy does depend on what your project is, whether it’s a business or a personal project, and also what the size of your budget is.
Let’s suppose you’re buying a domain name for your business. You’re going to care about brand protection. As a result, you’re probably going to want to buy the domain extensions that are the most common. For example, .uk, .co.uk, .com, and .net. You may also wish to consider .org and .org.uk. In addition to the main extensions, you may also wish to consider variations and misspellings. So, for example, our website says theukdomain.uk. We also own ukdomain.uk and redirect that to our main website.
If you’re buying your domain name for a personal project, you’re probably safe just sticking with one extension. If your personal project progresses, gathers momentum, and you begin to take it more seriously, at that point you may wish to buy other domains and variations, and the other extensions.
If you do buy other domain extensions and variations, you can redirect them to your main website. So, like I say, we redirect ukdomain.uk to theukdomain.uk. Ultimately, it’s your decision and it all depends on how important brand protection is to you. Just remember, if you don’t buy the other variations and the other domain extensions, someone else may buy them before you do.
So, hopefully that answers your question. If you’d like to ask us a question, you can do so using the hashtag, #asktheukdomain, and we’ll turn your question into a video. ♪ [music] ♪
