.uk Domain Names

[Marc J]

You may or not know that for some time now Nominet (the people in charge of .co.uk, .org.uk, .me.uk etc.) released the much shorted .uk domain TLD for registrations.

Existing domain name registrants may have the .uk version of their domain reserved for them - if you have the .co.uk version and it was registered before 28th October, 2013. If so, the .uk version of the same domain will be reserved for you until 10th June, 2019.

It's tipped to become the "norm" for UK web addresses, as it's 3 letters shorter for starters. There's been a big take-up on it and I'm advising all my clients to register the .uk version of any domains they already have, and especially to register the .uk version if registering any new .co.uk's (as the .uk version won't be reserved for new registrations).

Finally, since 10th June Nominet have been running a "1 year birthday" promotion where you get the first year of any .uk domain for £1 (+ VAT). See http://registrars.nominet.org.uk/marketing-tools-and-events/uk-1-year-birthday. That promotion ends on 31st July, and not all registrars are passing on the savings (but some are ;)).

[Imagine]

Got mine when they first came out :)

Not used as the main domain name at the moment (still prefer .co.uk) but using them in email links so that when my little pop-up pops up saying who's on the site, I can see if they've come from a quote or elsewhere :)

[Nakatomi]

I know I keep getting annoying emails from my domain sellers claiming every TLD about to be released is going to be the next big thing.

[Marc J]

I know I keep getting annoying emails from my domain sellers claiming every TLD about to be released is going to be the next big thing.

Yes, they are annoying! And IMHO most are a waste of time. I'm generally advising my clients to register .uk, though. Out of all the others - country level and the new generics - .co (actually Colombia, but Google classes it as non-geographic) seems to be the most popular and this is another that I've advised my clients they should grab.

Most of the new generic ones are aimed at squeezing more money out of people, though. Who needs .ninja? There are some that some of my clients have taken - .photo, .photography, .report & .beer spring to mind - but most are overpriced and not needed unless there really are no other options.

Of course, you lot should all be rushing to registering .dj, which is actually the country level domain for Djibouti but, like .co, Google classes it as non-geographic. But at about £30 per year it's a bit steep!