Targetting Irish and UK markets - what TLD?

daymobrew

I've been asked for a recommendation on choosing a TLD for a new online shop.

Initially the company will be targetting customers in Ireland and Northern Ireland. In about 6 months the plan is to move into the UK market.

Should the company get a .ie domain and get a .com later? The .com would redirect to the .ie.
Or should they get a .com later and have a separate site (but essentially identical content)? That would be a maintenance headache.

What would you recommend they do? Other suggestions welcome.

EDIT: I have two concerns - would UK customers be turned off by a .ie domain and would the redirection affect SEO.

mneylon

For brand protection purposes I'd get the .com / co.uk / ie and .eu

I suspect that using the .com or .eu would work better in the UK market than the .ie

oeb

Why not set up an alias? Most control panels will allow you to do this, so domain.ie/catalog.php brings you to the exact same page as domain.com/catalog.php.

.com is more universal, but I see no reason why one could not be marketed in Ireland and the other outside if you were that way inclined.

When you register a site with google, it asks you for your location. That way over-rides any tld related guesses when it comes to 'Sites only from x' as far as I know.

jmcc

As Blacknight suggested, get the com/ie/eu/co.uk. The .co.uk is the default for the UK market and a .com not hosted on a UK IP would find the going tough. I don't think that the .eu would too well in the UK as it would be too associated with the fiasco created by the muppets in Brussels. Even the .com would be better than .eu for the UK.

Regards...jmcc

daymobrew

oeb wrote: »

When you register a site with google, it asks you for your location. That way over-rides any tld related guesses when it comes to 'Sites only from x' as far as I know.

I thought it based it on IP address, not tld or registration. That would be much more reliable.

daymobrew

blacknight wrote: »

For brand protection purposes I'd get the .com / co.uk / ie and .eu

What would you suggest for the site contents - different hosting accounts (with identical content) or simple redirection?

mneylon

oeb wrote: »

When you register a site with google, it asks you for your location. That way over-rides any tld related guesses when it comes to 'Sites only from x' as far as I know.

The location targetting only works with gTLDs. If you are using a .ie or co.uk you cannot change the option

tricky D

For an international markets almost always go for .com. If your business hugely depends on being branded with Irish identity, then you might go for .ie. After that brand everything as .com and register the .ie, .eu, .co.uk for protection and point them to .com. No need for versions per country which would dilute your brand and web presences anyway. You need to get your single undiluted brand right at the start and stick with it.

AARRRGH

I wouldn't bother with .eu - very few people use them or recognise them.

If I were you, I'd get the .com, the .ie and the .co.uk, and have both the .ie and .co.uk domains point to the .com.

Look at how printing.com do it.