Anyname Domain Services

…or maybe it should have been called .uk, the .com buster?

An interesting article in this week’s IT weekly: .uk popularity soars quoted Sedo’s business development director – and new Nominet PAB member – Nora Nanayakkara.

The demand for .uk domains has increased markedly in recent years: “Firms are under increasing pressure to have a better online presence,” she said. “And as the marketing and branding guys have got more savvy, they realised domain names are a key part of this strategy.”

According to SEDO sales figures the average price for a .com fell 18% in the last 3years, while the .uk prices rose on average by 22% over the same 3year period. Along with this have been some ‘high profile’ .uk sales which have even reached mainstream news channels. The top 4 .uk sales have all been in the last year, including the sales of cruises.co.uk, fly.co.uk & recycle.co.uk.

The strength of the .uk appears to fit in well across the whole of UK business, from the UK based business enhancing their products & services with a strong online presence, to international companies using .uk to engender a ‘local’ presence.

The top 5 sales for .uk are still a factor lower than .com. Hardly surprising considering the global nature of .com vs the regional nature of .uk. But the strength of the .uk tld is in how the uk businesses view it over the .com. In its annual Domain Name Industry Report .uk regsitry Nominet found that 62 per cent of UK web users prefer dealing with .co.uk addresses.

“As we become more globalised, users feel .uk provides them with an additional security blanket,” Nora added. “The first thing firms should think about [as they internationalise] is getting a name in every extension they think they will need.”

What is clear, that considering the ever increasing number of .uk domains being registered – 6million at the last count -the demand for the top .uk domain names, the easily recognisable, brandable generic domains, will continue to increase

Top .uk sales
cruises.co.uk, £560,000 – January 2008, by www.cruise.co.uk
recycle.co.uk, £150,000 – October 2007, ASAP ventures
sport.co.uk, £130,000 – SEDO
ink.co.uk, £130,425 – 2007
mobile.co.uk, £120,000 – 2007
taste.co.uk, £110,000 – 1997

Top .com sales
sex.com, $12 million – 2005
porn.com, $9.5 million – 2007
business.com, $7.5 million – 1999
diamond.com, $7.5 million – 2006
beer.com, $7 million – 1999

sources:
.uk popularity soars
cruises.co.uk sets .uk record
sport.co.uk sells to sedo