Be Excellent To Each Other

Hi guys and gals.

I have a website for which I own the .com url, but not the .co.uk, yet. I would like to own the .co.uk but wanted the knowledgeable opinion of a few of you as to which is better (.com or .co.uk) and why, or the pros and cons of each.

Also, I wondered if I did purchase the .co.uk if I could just point it towards my .com site, somehow, and if I could do this without actually having to purchase a hosting package for the .co.uk domain.

Sorry for sounding so clueless, but it's one of the many things I know little to nothing about.

You don't need a hosting package at all. Just buy the .co.uk and point it at your website. Probably cost about a fiver for a couple of years.

You can certainly point one at another very easily.

'Very easily' is the kind of encouragement I was after. Does anyone have a recommendation as to where best to purchase domains from cheaply, or does it have to be from the same place that I have my current hosting from (which is Flump's sister company, but I've had a bit of trouble with them, recently...)

I use domainmonster.com usually. Literally, pay, point the url in the right direction, done.

123-reg.co.uk is good for price and the control panel (but not their support). I have both the .com and .co.uk for consolemad and they just point to the same place.

The support was awesome when I worked for them.

I sell domains, but they're £12 each. I suspect you could do better but redirection is no problem at all. Plus I'm nice

In terms of which is better, it doesn't really matter. The problem you might face though is that if you only get .com some twat will register the .co.uk and put a spammy ad page there hoping to catch you visitors who type the URL incorrectly. People like that need to DIE.

.co.uk is good because you can hide your registration details in the whois record. Less domain-related spam

12 quid?!?

/splutter

Be calm Grim...

In my opinion, you should have the .co.uk as you are living in the UK.

(Yes, I know).

Why do UK domain names not just end in .uk? Why is there a .co there as well?

I'm not sure, but I suspect ukraine would be pissed off if we did that

You can read about it on wiki, but, in short:

Back in the pioneering days of the internet, all the domain names for the uk were sorted out by a beardy bloke in some university somewhere in the UK. He thought assigned things straight under .uk, like the government and shit. Then he noticed businessesses wanted in, and through it would be neater and tidier if they lived under .co.uk.

I agree with him.

Ah, I'll "co" and check that out Pod, cheers.

The guy who wanted beer.com had to convince the domain admins fellows that we owned "Boston Electrical Engineering & Repairs" before they would give it to him. The internet was only for serious and academic purposes, see.

Things are better when they're only for serious and academic purposes

Because we have more than just .co, there's .org.uk for example.

I use http://www.1and1.co.uk for domains.

Cheers everyone.

it seems quite simple so I'm definitely going to get the .co.uk (but somewhere a little bit cheaper, CG, though I thank you for your offer)

Um, you can do that with .com, too, you know.

I'm aware, but isn't it an extra that is dependant on the registar, rather than as-standard as is the case with .co.uk?

Having multiple domain names (or even resolving both www-prefixed and unprefixed names) potentially splits Google's ranking for your site over however many domain names you own. Might affect your Google page rank.