Should I use .com or .co.uk? (I own both)

[HandmadeLondon]

I will be designing, producing and retailing handmade in London leather goods online.

At first I will target London buyers but will also extend ad campaigns to other cities such as Paris, New York etc and whole countries.

My competitor use .com as a "press site" and .co.uk as their sales website.

I understand a lot of people (to my suprise) favour a .co.uk extension for trust.

Should I be using .com as a press site and redirect to our sales site at .co.uk or the other way around?

Obviously their is a premium for buyers that the goods are handmade in London, England and the .co.uk would represent this. However I do want to sell internationally. It is just the handmade in London is a big part of the brand for obvious reasons.

 

[cjd]

Use .co.uk with a re-direct from .com to it.

That's what we do, try it www.voipfone.com

 

[DPOM]

If I was you i'd go for the .com and have everything here with the .co.uk pointing to the .com just to ensure you are covered. (its important to have both domains of course as you dont want a competitor buying one ).

No point having a separate "press site" just put your effort into creating one great website.

 

[DPOM]

hahah CJD - same advice, other way around I mention this as they are planning to sell elsewhere but there's a valid argument for both ways.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

If I was you i'd go for the .com and have everything here with the .co.uk pointing to the .com

+1

And if you're issuing press releases, better to have them on the one site.

 

[totallyinbound]

If you are targeting UK customers solely, using the .co.uk is best from an SEO perspective. Whilst you can set your geo-settings in google webmaster tools, I still find a .co.uk tends to marginally outperform the .com.

If you medium term (next couple of years) want to sell internationally, then use the .com, as a .co.uk will have negative consequences in two ways:

1) A .co.uk won't rank as well internationally.
2) People may see .co.uk and not visit because they think the site isn't relevant.

Don't setup two sites, just have one 301 to the other. Nothing is more confusing than going to sitename.co.uk and seeing something totally different to sitename.com (imagine a customer forgetting the extension and typing one/the other in).

 

[directmarketingadvice]

I understand a lot of people (to my suprise) favour a .co.uk extension for trust.

I don't know about "trust", but I've run tests and UK people are more likely to click on webname.co.uk than webname.com in the google search results.

Steve

 

[alex richardson]

Use the .com as the main domain and 301 the .co.uk to it. Then use the .co.uk as the "vanity" domain name for your print and online marketing in the uk, and the .com for your marketing elsewhere.

 

[JonathanSEO]

Use .com if you're planning on selling internationally. Redirect .co.uk to it.

 

[MASSEY]

I would make the .co.uk site into a proper website targeting the Uk alone, as the UK will be your biggest market most probably? and build a proper website on the .com targeting usa and any other countries you want.

 

[JonathanSEO]

I would make the .co.uk site into a proper website targeting the Uk alone, as the UK will be your biggest market most probably? and build a proper website on the .com targeting usa and any other countries you want.

Yeah to be honest this is maybe a better idea than using .com which I suggested above.

Obviously we have no idea how far this business on or whether it has ever traded but I'd guess it's new? Maybe start with .co.uk and see how it goes.

If you're gonna target France etc then you need top level domains ideally anyway which is a pipe dream at the minute.

 

[marcfreund363]

Dot com is the most popular because its worldwide web and .co.uk also popular in the uk. But I recommended you to choose dot com. Why we should pick the secondary opinion if we have the right to choose first one.

 

[ronnie7272]

At first I will target London buyers but will also extend ad campaigns to other cities such as Paris, New York etc and whole countries.

.co.uk for both SEO and branding purposes.

 

[JonathanSEO]

Yeah I changed my mind about this, .co.uk is better because your company has London in the name. Looks more branded that way, made in the UK,...

 

[eldevs]

Well, obviously, the usage will depend on the target audience and the place where you want to market well. But to get the world wide attention, .com could be very helpful to market it outside of UK. However, an seo campaign or service is required to index both sites by Google. Aside from the content, promoting it to the right target audience or customers is the number one issue.

 

[Latebloomer]

Just make up your mind and redirect one to the other. First thing you have to do is make your site go on top of rankings in the first place.