The economy has been better in the US, and during the harder times every businesses has to look to spread out to a wider market. Inexpensively. This is especially true for small businesses and online businesses. It is time to take advantage of the world as a marketplace. It is time to get creative and think beyond the “dot com”. Here is why you should consider having more than one domain for your business.

Country Specific TLD

Most people are aware of the common top-level domain (TLD). This is the last part of an internet domain name. The letters which follow the final dot in the domain name. The most common is the .com. Every country has at least one active TLD, alphabetically from .ac for the Ascension Island to .zw for Zimbabwe. The exception makes the rule and since Somalia does not have a recognized central government their .so is not active.

If you sell different products or services to different countries, or if you have a strong business presence in a country, use a country specific TLD.

Anyone can register a .com domain name and county specific domains are the perfect solution for each country. You should know that there are some countries that use a second-level domain. A second-level domain is something that appears before the .com but is not the domain name. These second-level domains usually are presented as .com.xx or .co.xx, where xx is the country specific TLD. Canada (.co.ca) Mexico (.com.mx), India (.co.in), the United Kingdom (.co.uk), and Australia (.com.au).

Branding

When you get a domain name with your company name you clearly identify yourself. The same hold true when you get a country specific domain name related to your products or services. This sends a strong message to your clients that you value the business from their country.

There is an expression to act locally and think globally. With over 300 country specific and second-level domains you have a huge opportunity to think globally for your company. If you have a large German customer base, or if you want to expand into the German market then get the .de domain name of your company. You can also buy the domain name in the local language for the keywords that describe your product. If you don’t buy these domain names, someone else will.

These keyword domains will help build your branding. There are potential clients that type in the keyword followed by .com or .de and assume they will find the product they want. If you own your keywords you will avoid client confusion, lost traffic and lost sales. As a test, type your primary product or service followed by .com or .com.mx and see who will get your clients.

Although the dot com will remain the most common extension, you should look at other possibilities, by getting as many extensions as logical. This includes country code specific extensions and the next generations TLD’s .jobs .museum .travel .pro (.cpa.pro - .law.pro - .med.pro) if they are appropriate.

Buy your own name at the same time. How many people with a name like John Smith and Tim Brown would like to have their own .com but now find it taken by someone else.

Is It Worth The Cost

Domain names are not expensive and they appreciate in value as they start getting traffic. If your clients use a major search engine from their country your domain is in that country you will automatically get ranked higher in the search results. An equal site with a .com has a lower value in country specific search results. If you are using the right keywords this will really be worth the cost.