Domain Names UK!

Gap to launch UK ecommerce website. As part of a drive to boost its online presence in the country, the firm’s new website will complement the US site, which posted sales of $224 million (£135.6 million) in the second quarter of 2009.

New Media Age reported that the website will be part of a number of digital campaigns that are set to start this week.

It revealed that the website “reflects the pop-up style of the concept stores by using a montage format that allows visitors who can’t visit the stores to learn more about Gap’s heritage and products”.

The online portal will feature photography of Gap stores in 3D as well as a Google Maps application to direct visitors to their nearest high street outlet.

This comes after a study by Nielson Online found that ecommerce customers want choice and value as well as convenience when purchasing goods and services on the internet.

A study conducted by comScore and Google UK found that around 54% of online travel shoppers began their buying process using generic word, destination or search terms. Commenting on the results, Google UK’s Robin Frewer said that the figures show that branded sites are less popular - meaning that consumers are more likely to come upon a generically named domain by using simple search tactics. “The fact that users are using more generic search queries gives ample opportunity for brands to attract new customers - and brands that are not present during these searches are missing out on sales,” he said. Last month a spokesman for NetEarthOne suggested that a strong generic domain name was an invaluable commodity for businesses and would also assist in building corporate identity.

Cruise.co.uk has snapped up the rival domain name Cruises.co.uk from German travel company Nees Reisen for more than $1m, in order to save money on advertising and boost its presence on the search engine Google.

Sponsored advertising on Google costs a company an average of 50p a click. Last year, 2.4m users searched the word ‘cruises’ on Google.

Seamus Conlon, managing director of Cruise.co.uk said: “The cruise market is one of the fastest and most consistently growing sectors in the travel industry.

“Cruises is consistently ranked first on Google, with ‘cruise’ just behind. We wanted the top positions so that when internet users are searching for cruise deals, reviews or news we are the first port of call.”

The number of Britons taking cruises climbed by 11pc to 1.35m last year, according to the Passenger Shipping Association.

David Dingle, chief executive of US cruise giant Carnival, predicted last month that the number would rise to 2m by 2012.

Cruise.co.uk currently has around 18,000 active contributors, who can book holidays, add and search reviews, search cruise news and upload their holiday photos. The group said today that it aims to more than double the level of user generated content.

It hopes that paying £560,000 for the extra ’s’ will save it money in the long term, directing people who search for both cruise and cruises towards their site and saving on ‘pay per click’ advertising.

The move shatters the previous record for a.co.uk domain name, which was set in October last year when venture capital firm ASAP Ventures acquired recycle.co.uk for £150,000.

In the US, the sale of Porn.com in March last year to MXN, an internet media and investment firm, was the largest all-cash domain transaction in history.

It is the second largest domain sale overall after Sex.com, which reportedly sold for $12m in cash and stock during a private sale in January 2005.

Wallstreet.com went under the hammer in Florida with an opening bid range of $1m-$5m last October.

The company Cruise.co.uk was bought out by founder and chairman Andrew Gardner and Mr Conlon from P&O owner Carnival last year.

We are frequently asked by people who are planning to launch a website in the UK and Canada whether they should use their national domain name extensions which are ‘.co.uk’ and ‘.cn’.

My advice is the same for anyone in any country. If possible you ahould always try to get the .com domain name, particularly if your site will have a global audience.

• .com
• .net
• .org
• .info
• .biz
• plus your own national domain name

Domain name registration is still quite cheap so this represents a good investment. Your domain name could become your online business’ most valuable asset.

However if you want to reach an audience outside of your own country at launch or at anytime in the future you should choose a domain which is not tied to a specific country.