Best TLD for an online shop

[RandyMarsh]

I am starting an offshoot of my business which will be an online shop selling items that aren't normally delivered by post (as they are fairly fragile). I will only be selling within the UK.
So my domain will be (adjective)(noun)bypost.tld and the trading name will be (ADJECTIVE) (NOUN) BY POST.
I just wonder what the best TLD would be and how many other TLDs I should register. They are all available but it gets expensive when you register lots.
So, if my business was selling purple dogs by post, which domain would be best?
purpledogsbypost.com
purpledogsbypost.co.uk
purpledogsbypost.uk
etc.
Or, are those domain names too long? The (adjective)(noun).tld domains are generally taken, mostly squatted and offered for sale although the .online and .delivery versions are available.
I suppose my question is: does the UK public still view .com and .co.uk domains as being definitive and reliable, or are they accepting of .uk and other new TLDs?

Thank you for any advice.

 

[fisicx]

None of the above.

Choose something generic and non-specific.

That way if the business diversifies you won’t have to change the domain name.

Be Amazon.co.uk not books.co.uk

And stick with .co.uk

 

[Shopclicks]

If you only ever plan to sell in the UK then go for the .co.uk

Advice from a Google Partner account manager: Keep the domain name at a maximum 17 characters + the TLD.

And as @fisicx suggests, go generic. Use your meta to tell people what each page is about.

 

[antropy]

So my domain will be (adjective)(noun)bypost.tld

You want your domain name to include the keywords people are actually searching for.

When you Google something you're looking to buy, do you type "(adjective) (noun) by post"? Because I certainly don't.

Say I'm looking for a new robot mower, I might type "buy robot mower uk".

As for the TLD it depends on what you're selling and to whom, but if you're selling to the UK then .co.uk probably isn't a bad idea.

Paul.

 

[fisicx]

@antropy - keywords in domain name stopped being important years ago. Your own site is an example.

 

[RandyMarsh]

Thank you very much for your responses.
The 'by post' bit is part of the USP. If you seach for 'adjective noun' you will find general information about the item, and find the product available locally but probably not a shop offering nationwide delivery. That's why I think the URL and trading name should highlight that the product is being delivered.
I'm not worried about the name restricting diversification because it is just an offshoot of an existing business and the main trading name is general enough to cover any other activity I might do.

 

[antropy]

@antropy - keywords in domain name stopped being important years ago. Your own site is an example.

This site (which comes up first so they must know about SEO) suggests that they still play an important role: https://www.website.com/website-builder-and-web-design/keyword-domains--use-them-or-lose-them

Just because Antropy.co.uk contains no relevant keywords, doesn't mean that technique doesn't still have a place. Not that we're SEO experts because we're not.

Paul.

 

[antropy]

The 'by post' bit is part of the USP.

How exactly? To me 'by post' sounds a bit old fashioned.

Paul.

 

[RandyMarsh]

Because as I say, it is a product that is not normally delivered due to its fragile nature.
'by post' may not be the best term. Possibly 'online' or 'delivery' or something.

 

[RandyMarsh]

I don't want to try and build a brand around a random word like amazon/yahoo etc. because branding is very much not my strength. I want a domain and name that people see and realise 'Ah, that's the answer to my needs'

 

[antropy]

Because as I say, it is a product that is not normally delivered due to its fragile nature.
'by post' may not be the best term. Possibly 'online' or 'delivery' or something.

I personally think that would be better ... but it depends on your target market and what they would call it. FYI I'm a 41 year old programmer, IT geek, and company director.

Paul.

 

[antropy]

because branding is very much not my strength

If you want to be successful in business you'd better make it a strength

Paul.

 

[RandyMarsh]

I personally think that would be better ... but it depends on your target market and what they would call it. FYI I'm a 41 year old programmer, IT geek, and company director.

Paul.

I'm a 51 year old programmer-turned-retail-business-owner

 

[Shopclicks]

I want a domain and name that people see and realise 'Ah, that's the answer to my needs

That's what your meta title and meta description are for.

 

[fisicx]

I don't want to try and build a brand around a random word like amazon/yahoo etc. because branding is very much not my strength. I want a domain and name that people see and realise 'Ah, that's the answer to my needs'

That’s not how people do things. They see your marketing and click on the link. The domain name is totally irrelevant.

 

[fisicx]

This site (which comes up first so they must know about SEO) suggests that they still play an important role

They are wrong.

 

[antropy]

The domain name is totally irrelevant.

I really would have to strongly disagree with this from my own buying process.

Paul.

 

[antropy]

They are wrong.

Yet they're at position 1 for a very competitive search term? ?

Paul.

 

[RandyMarsh]

That's what your meta title and meta description are for.

So your saying the TITLE tag and description are more important, because that's what Google search results show most prominently? That makes sense, thank you.

 

[Shopclicks]

I really would have to strongly disagree with this from my own buying process.

Did you ever see Amazon, eBay or Holland & Barrett on page two of a product search?

 

[Shopclicks]

So your saying the TITLE tag and description are more important, because that's what Google search results show most prominently? That makes sense, thank you.

Yes. That tells people what's on the page not the website.

 

[fisicx]

Yet they're at position 1 for a very competitive search term? ?

Paul.

Not really competitive. In any case their domain has lots of authority so that will boost their ranking.

We could discuss this for hours as there are many nuances to URLs and ranking.

 

[RandyMarsh]

If you want to be successful in business you'd better make it a strength

Paul.

Yeah, I try. It would probably be easier for me to become an Olympic figure skater.
This has got me thinking that I could reuse my existing brand and host this site as a subdomain of my existing website.

 

[fisicx]

This has got me thinking that I could reuse my existing brand and host this site as a subdomain of my existing website.

An excellent idea.

 

[Russ Michaels]

the key is to make sure your domain is easy to remember and won't be confused with a similar domain.

do not ever use the .co TLD, as everyone thinks this is a type and will instead go to .com or .co.uk
if you use obscure TLD's that nobody knows, this will also result in customers going to the wrong site.

I use a few sites that have domain.io for example, and I still always go to the .com by mistake

although saying that, the average consumer doesn't go to the domain directly, instead they just type the name in the search bar (especially on mobile devices) and google it, and then click on the first result. So you need to make sure you are the first result.

 

[RandyMarsh]

the key is to make sure your domain is easy to remember and won't be confused with a similar domain.

do not ever use the .co TLD, as everyone thinks this is a type and will instead go to .com or .co.uk
if you use obscure TLD's that nobody knows, this will also result in customers going to the wrong site.

I use a few sites that have domain.io for example, and I still always go to the .com by mistake

although saying that, the average consumer doesn't go to the domain directly, instead they just type the name in the search bar (especially on mobile devices) and google it, and then click on the first result. So you need to make sure you are the first result.

Thanks for your reply. I agree about .co domains. I'm hoping that .uk TLDs get more popular but people seem very slow to change.
The analytics for my main site suggest that a fair proportion of visitors type the domain directly. I guess that they have visited before and they are typing the url in the search bar and it autcompletes to the full domain name. For those visitors, a memorable domain name where the url starts with a relevant term would be helpful.

 

[Waddy]

I think it depends on your target audience, if you're going for national online sales then the URL is less important and you're better spending time on branding and SEO.

I would still say TLD is important for customer confidence when selling physical products. I would stick with .com and .co.uk

If you were a local physical business trying to attract customers then URL is more important you'd want to go for something like [location][area of business].co.uk ie wiganwidgets.co.uk

 

[Shopclicks]

If you were a local physical business trying to attract customers then URL is more important you'd want to go for something like [location][area of business].co.uk ie wiganwidgets.co.uk

Trying to think of a use case where that's a good idea.

[brandname][location].co.uk can work for example a pub or a restaurant. But only because there may be other pubs called The Red Lion and it helps for people to click on the right Red Lion website.

In most other cases [brandname].co.uk with location used in the meta is the best solution, even locally.

But [wigan][shoeshop].co.uk does nothing for your brand and if you wanted to expand and have a second location, you're going to need a second domain & website.

 

[fisicx]

If you were a local physical business trying to attract customers then URL is more important you'd want to go for something like [location][area of business].co.uk ie wiganwidgets.co.uk

A local business is often better off with a Google Business Profile. Properly used they can get a huge number of leads. More than a local website.