A domain name people trust - have you got right one?
August 2008
Trust is an increasingly important issue on the internet and one
of the trust factors for users is the domain name of the website
they are visiting. Just as your street address tells people
something about you, so does your domain name.
Internet users choose local domain names over .com addresses.
A survey of British Internet users showed they are six times more
likely to choose a .uk rather than .com address when looking for
information via an Internet search engine. 62% believe a .uk address
suggests a company is local or more relevant than a .com, and 32%
believe that it is important for international companies to have
local domain names in order to attract local customers. 72% said
they would visit a .uk web address above any other and only 5% of
respondents would try the .com.
How does this translate for New Zealand websites?
Well if you are doing business in NZ than you will be more
successful within the NZ market with a .nz domain name. New Zealand
internet users experience a higher degree of trust when they are on
a local - .co.nz, website, which means having a .co.nz domain name
is essential for doing business in New Zealand.
What about
For companies exporting you need to consider 3 factors.
- Having a .nz domain name avoids the anti-US feeling in some
markets
- Having a .com domain name is essential for the US market
- You could take out domain names in all your major markets .uk
etc You can get a domain name for each of your local markets
because your web designer can point ALL your domain names at the
same website.
The implication for New Zealand businesses trading in overseas
markets is obvious. Having a local domain name is important in
building a higher level of trust in your products and services. We
have seen this in the Australian market, where .com.au domains
perform better than .co.nz domains.
If your market is the UK and your company is based in NZ you
would typically have two domain names mycompany.co.uk and
mycompany.co.nz
Please, please, please put some thought into your market and what
domain name/s might be the most suitable in creating that trust with
people. Once trust is established they are more likely to contact
you and then you have an opportunity for a sale.
You can have as many domain names as
your wallet and your imagination allow and they can all be pointed
at the same website.
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