What Are Country Domain Names?
If you have a US-based business, your Internet domain names probably end with .com. The .com suffix is known as a generic Top Level Domain (gTLD). Other examples of gTLDs are .biz, .org and .net. If your company does business in another country or if you plan to expand overseas in the future, it may also be a good idea to register one or more country-specific domain names.
What Country Code TLDs Are Available?
Country-specific domain names contain a country code top level domain referred to as ccTLD for short. to identify the country in which a business is active. More than 250 countries of the world have been given their own two-letter top level country domain. Some common examples of country-specific domain names are:
• .ar – Argentina
• .au – Australia
• .br – Brazil
• .ca – Canada
• .cn – China
• .de – Germany
• .ie – Ireland
• .il – Israel
• .it – Italy
• .jp – Japan
• .mx – Mexico
• .nl – The Netherlands
• .nz – New Zealand
• .ph – The Philippines
• .pl – Poland
• .ru – The Russian Federation
• .sg – Singapore
• .uk – United Kingdom (UK)
• .us – USA.
Top level country domain names may be preceded by .com or .co. For example, Australian company domain names are usually written in the format: www.companyname.com.au, while UK-based domain names may be written as www.companyname.co.uk. By contrast, Canadian companies only use the .ca suffix so that a domain name reads: www.companyname.ca.
Benefits of Country Domains
Having country-specific domain names and website may increase confidence in your company and encourage local consumers to make a purchase. Online shoppers are often reluctant to order from an overseas website for such reasons as higher shipping costs, customs charges, and a lack of consumer protection.
Once you have registered your country-specific domain names, you can start thinking about building a website that it is specific to your business’ activities in another country. When doing so, there are several points to consider.
What To Consider For the Website on Your Country-Specific Domain
First and foremost, the country-specific website should be written in the official language(s) of the overseas country. Even if the official language of the country is English, differences between American English and British English, for example, should be taken into account. For Canadian audiences, both English and French language versions of your website should be developed.
In addition, if your company does not offer the whole of its portfolio of products or services in an overseas country, you will need to take this into account when developing the country-specific website. On the ‘Contact’ page, the contact details of your office in that country should be displayed. You can also add the contact details of your head office in the USA but this should be displayed less prominently.
Registering country-specific domain names and developing country targeted websites should help your company to increase its sales in each country. Local consumers will feel more comfortable if they can read about your products or services in their own language and if they can direct their questions to a local office. Having country-specific content should increase the likelihood of a purchase and lead to repeat business in future.