Should I use a local domain vs a .com domain name?

Hi my name is Daniel Walter Scott and I'm a trainer here at Bring Your Own Laptop.

Now in this video we're going to look at local domains vs the .com, by local I mean the UK, the UK has a .co.uk whereas the .com or US based domain name. Now the question you need to ask yourself is "am I selling to the US or am I selling locally", because local domains like the .co.uk rank better in there particular countries because it's a clear signal to Google that I intend to sell to these people in this country.

But lets say you're like me and you have big plans to expand globally, what you can do is start with your localised country, so buy the .co.uk but also buy a .com that you can move into later on, thats an easy process to do.

Now setting up some local domains can be a bit of a pain, if I wanted to do a .co.uk, that is really easy, I could sit down now, 5 minutes later I'd have my .co.uk. Different for sitting at the com.au, what I had to do for that business is I had to have a registered business in that business in that country before they'd give me the domain name which can be a real big hassle, so I needed a limited liability company then I applied to the register with proof of that business using what's called an ABN number in Australia, then they gave me the domain name, so that can be a limitation for local domains, there are ways around that in those countries, the easiest one is you can register your personal name without a business, I could register 'DanielWalterScott.com.au', without a limited company, all I have to do is prove my identity and I can get that domain name.

Another way of skirting the rules a little bit is that say my Irish website, I wanted to set up the website first get that working, getting content, get that tracking before I set up my business in that country, so what I was able to do was I was able to send the registrar in that country notices from my Australian and New Zealand business that use the same business name and explain my intent to start business in Ireland. With that I was able to get the .ie without having to do a limited business until a little but later. So if you can prove that you're already trading in that country or you're selling to people in Ireland or that you have strong intent to do it then you might be able to get the domain name without a registered business but that's not a guarantee.

Last thing to know is when you're going to buy a local domain name and it is one of those domain names that have gatekeepers and are a little but harder to get a hold of is to use a local registrar from that country because they'll be able to answer all those questions about what the rules are and how they apply to you, so local is better than some of the bigger international domain registers if you've got that real painful domain name to pick from.