Web Domains

I was just wondering  what perceptions were of websites when looking for services etc in spain. ie if you saw an aircon company in google would you care what the domain ended in?

Does the domain end really matter? influence anyone

The  com choice has gone to an american company so im considering the next best thing;

 Co   does this sound / look english only or is it being used in spain?

 Es   does this sound / look spanish only and would english speaking only expats be put off ?

Eu   this really hasnt proved popular in the UK.

They all have pros and cons and different costs but would be interested to hear any pointers or opinions

 I would always give precedence (rightly or wrongly) to a company with its own domain name and not one hosted on a free host (i.e. Tripod etc). You get to choose your name and typing it in the browser is a lot easier too. If you are a business in Spain, a .co.uk domain is no use to you really as it is for UK based businesses/ persons, although much cheaper to register at about £6 for 2 years. You would be better off with the .es or .eu. Depending on your hosting package, why not purchase all the varieties you can and park them so that they all display your webpage?

The domain ending isn't so important, you just need to make sure your SEO gets you up the ranks in the search engines. I know Google is the big one, but I am finding a lot more hits over the last year from Bing. 

Mark

The default choice is always the .com and if it's gone then try it with hyphens or with your company extension such as "companynameltd.com" or "companynamesl.com".

I would avoid .co as people can think that it's been spelt wrongly and enter .com instead.

If your main target customers are in the UK then you should definitely go for the .co.uk version. This will also help you rank better in Google.co.uk search results.

If they are in Spain then going for the .es version at least shows you are based in Spain and you are a business here.

To be honest though, the most important consideration is to know which country your target market is in.  If your website is hosted in the US and you have a .com then you won't do so well in Google.co.uk or Google.es.  Choose the right hosting location or the right domain extension for your target country.  That's the most important decision you need to make.

Hope that helps.

Justin

some good points that i hadnt fully considered,

Whats the general feeling about  .Eu domians as i know that in the UK web designers arent that keen? where do they sit with google searches etc? how do people feel when they see a EU domain?  I also didnt think that hyphens where popular in the names hence i had avoided them but that would get me the couk version

My Market will be largely english speakers some based in spain  but im sure a large amount based in the UK with holiday homes in Spain looking searching for a service  in spain but hopefully with a growing percentage of spanish owners too over time.

I could as Mark suggests go for both the EU and the ES but was just worried about what the UK people would think when searching. Is the rule for searching if i host an EU name in the Uk then thats the search engine where it will mainly appear.

It sounds like the ultimate way maybe an es version hosted in spain and a co/com/co.uk or eu version hosted in the UK

appreciatte any advice.

I have a eu domain hosted in the UK. Still need to finish the site when I get time.  Google brings it up OK.  I think its important to have ta good META Description, so people read about location / activities within a few words. When I do searches I read the description regardless of extension.

If your target market is spain then .es is the one to go for. .eu has been slow to catch on but is slowly making an impact.

I would be very cautious about using a hyphenated version of an established .com address. There have been a number of cases brought to a successful conclusion where the original company have sued under Intellectual Property rules.

Frankly, if I find any company in Spain using a .co.uk address they immediately go on my 'suspect' list.

One has only got to look at the number of dodgy (?) property sales companies advertising their wares on this and other forum sites.

When a whois check reveals a UK registration address or worse still  a private reg. my alarm bells start ringing straight away...

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foxbat I actually don´t agree with your general comments regarding registering the .co.uk domain as surely you should register if available all of the available domains for your chosen company name in order to protect your branding

Again if you are using  domain hosting service the address shown may be their company address

On my own domains, for what it costs I own all of the variations as I do not want competition using the domain branding that I have worked so I think that your generaisation is a bit unfair

You can alswys re-direct a .es domain to a UK hosted site very easily

The only thing that makes me suspect on sites is when there is no phone numbers, contact address or when you can only contcat them voa a web form 

First of all, you need to buy every TLD possible which has your brand name and redirect them to your chosen main domain.

Second (although he's my husband, lol!), I disagree with Foxbat about the problems of using a hyphenated version.
Yes, the dot com owner could sue, but only if they have a Trademark on that domain and can prove they have an establisherd business which relies on the trademark.

In fact, if this is going to be a long-term business and is the website for your company, you really need to think about getting the name trademarked yourself - ASAP.

That way, if in future anyone buys a domain which is similar to yours, you can sue them

But even more important (IMHO) is the already-established dot com.
Can you easily overtake it in Google with whatever domain name you choose to use?
Does it have good content, good meta tags, lots of backlinks, etc...?
How old is this domain?
All that will matter when it comes to establishing your web presence.

Tongue in cheek response to Summer70...

You can see now why I refer to my other half as SWMBO...that whip can really sting!

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