Are you in the process of building a website for your Irish business? Have you thought about the domain name to use? When planning your website in Ireland, you’ve to choose between .com vs .ie domains.
Building a great website for your business is key. Ireland boasts high internet penetration and is also a leader in online shopping.
A recent internet user survey shows that over 83% of the population in Ireland is online. According to a 2018 Central Statistics Office (CSO) Report, 89% of households have access to the internet at home.
In the same survey, an estimated 82% of individuals say they used the internet three months before the study. Of interest is that 88% of respondents used the internet to find information on goods and services.
If you’re a business owner in the country, your business needs a website fast to target this market. Picking the right domain for your site will make all the difference.
Top Level Domain (TLD) is the extension to your domain name. .com is the most popular TLD across the world, but you can choose from hundreds of other options.
Picking the right TLD for your website is not easy. However, working with a reliable website hosting service can help.
The complete domain name will help build your brand online. It also adds credibility to your business by improving your online presence.
The two most practical TLD options for your Ireland website are .ie and .com.
The question that comes to mind is, should I use .com or .ie? A closer look at the benefits and drawbacks of each will help you make an informed choice.
If you’ve a business in Ireland, a website is crucial for targeting online customers.
A recent industry report says revenue in the eCommerce market amounts to US$6775m in 2019. The same report indicates user penetration is 78.8% in 2019. Online shoppers will hit 82.8% by 2023.
These numbers highlight the opportunities available online in the country. It all starts with building a website and choosing the best domain name.
When picking a domain name, take time to ask; “is .com better than .ie?” To answer this question, consider the following factors.
Choosing the .ie country TLD offers crucial benefits for your website, including:
With .ie websites, it’s easier to target traffic locally. Whatever your location in the country, you’ve a better chance of appearing in local search engine result pages (SERPs).
Using the right content marketing is one strategy to leverage your .ie domain name.
Picking .ie is also a smart move for your SEO strategy. Your site will appear on local search for your target keywords. Your site will rank higher on SERPs for such keywords. This, in turn, improves traffic and boosts sales conversion.
If you own a car dealership in Dublin, for instance, using .ie on your domain name instills confidence in your customers. They know this is a local business and it’s easier to transact with your business.
While .com is more popular, it is generic and customers looking for local services might overlook it. Customers are more comfortable using a site that offers services in a familiar language, with local currency, and within their region.
When deciding on a .com website vs.ie website, look at the options available for your domain name. For the .com website, you don’t have the freedom to play around with the domain name.
For the .ie URL extension, you can get creative with the URL extension. For instance, you can pick dublinfood.ie domain or any other interesting domain name using this hack.
You’ve an unlimited variety of possible combinations you can create using .ie country TLD.
If you’re starting a new business in the country, you’ve to consider the cost of the website. This includes the domain name and hosting.
You shouldn’t go for a .com TLD that might force you to take money off the core business. For your local business, it is better to go for .ie URL extension as it is more affordable.
Should I use .ie or .com for my Irish website? The level of ROI will give you a good answer to this. A country TLD helps you target more relevant customers. This leads to more traffic to your site and better sales conversion.
For this reason, the .ie website is a better option. High ROI is a major objective of your new business.
Ireland’s TLD (.ie) is among the safest in Europe. This protects you and your online visitors against fraudulent online activities.
The .ie URL extension is not the best for targeting the international market with your Irish website.
If you choose .com for your website, you will join millions of other website owners across the world. It’s the most obvious choice for a new website URL. Some benefits of using the .com TLD include:
Most people have already heard about the .com TLD. It’s the most popular suffix for websites, thus giving your brand credibility.
When using a .com URL, people will feel an easier connection because this is what they have become accustomed to online.
Whatever the size of your business, a .com TLD will give it a sense of authority. It’s one of the most common and established TLDs across the world.
This authority rubs off your website to give it some authority in your niche. You can earn a competitive edge over the competition by using the .com TLD.
If you want to target an international market, it’s better to use a .com URL extension. Your international clients will view the .com badge on your URL as a mark of your international reach.
Many of the top websites on SERPs have this extension. The reason for this high ranking boils down to cognitive fluency favors.
Internet users favor a top level domain (TLD) that’s easy and familiar, which gives .com an upper hand. Websites with the .com badge thus receive more clicks and more traffic.
Internet users have an infamously short attention span. If you want them to remember your URL, you’ve to go for a simple domain name.
The .com TLD is easy to remember, and users can easily share it in conversations.
While .com is a popular option for website owners in Ireland, it has some drawbacks you must consider. These include:
The costs of the .com TLD is very high. If you are building a new online business, such costs will hinder your venture.
You might also have to compromise on the quality of web design and other essential expenses.
Due to the high demand for .com domains, you might not have luck with your first, second,or even third choice. Many local businesses in Ireland create unwieldy domain names to clinch the .com URL extension.
This means target customers might never know about such local websites. You might also have to pick a longer domain name that your target customers won’t remember easily.
Compromising on the domain name ruins your online brand. It’s a simple move that might break your expensive website venture.
While a .com domain extension has a global feel, it doesn’t give you the best value for money for your Irish business. You will spend a lot of money buying the TLD while you could get a cheaper .ie domain name.
Your goal when building a website is to reach your target market. If your market is local, it makes more economic sense to use the .ie domain.
There’s a higher risk of fraudulent and misleading sites when you use a .com URL. Hackers capitalize on similar-sounding domain names for phishing and other fraudulent activities.
Your local business in Ireland might end suffering losses due to such activities. With most hackers targeting the .com TLD, it is safer to use the .ie domain in the country.
Is.ie better than .com? It all comes down to your business objectives and vision. When choosing .com vs .ie, your business needs must come first.
Our team at Host.ie suggests registering both .com and .ie domains if your business targets local and international markets. You can then redirect the .com domain to the .ie domain.
This also averts the risk of someone else occupying both domains. Purchasing such domains from a third party would be costly.
For a business targeting the Ireland market alone, there are more benefits to choosing the .ie domain. It instills confidence in your customers and guarantees better ranking on local search. Ultimately, your Ireland business performs better in conversion and other parameters.
For all your website domain registration and hosting needs, talk to us today. .com vs .ie is something we discuss with our clients on daily basis.
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