Nominet announced that shorter .UK domains are going to become available on the 10th June 2014.
Nominet says:
“We are proud to announce the upcoming launch of .uk – out on its own for the first time
A shorter, sharper domain name which puts the emphasis firmly on your website name – exactly where it should be.”
One of the most important aspects of the dotUK launch is that .co.uk domain owners will have first refusal when securing their respective .UK domain!
“So if you have a unique .co.uk, .org.uk, .me.uk, .net.uk, .plc.uk or .ltd.uk the shorter and snappier .uk will be reserved especially for you for free up until 10 June 2019 as long as your domain remains registered.”
Check out whether or not your rights are secured with the Rights Lookup Tool.
This will definitely help prevent concerns that all of a sudden, .co.uk domain owners would be second best! Not only will you get a chance to secure your .UK domain name before anyone else, but Nominet will also keep all other second level domain names active!
The cut-off date for registering your .co.uk domain to make sure you have first refusal on your .UK domain is the 28th October 2013 at 23:59hrs.
Anyone will be able to register a .UK domain as long as they’re eligible for .co.uk, .org.uk and .me.uk domains.
The only exceptions highlighted by Nominet are these:
“Where the registrant is overseas an address for service in the UK will be required.
PO Boxes will be unacceptable in the address.”
Here is coming soon…. Start-up.co.uk as .uk
Why make a lateral change in TLD (from .co.uk to .uk) when that won’t avoid the potential consumer/visitor confusion of multiple similar domain names (e.g., “.co.uk”, “.org.uk”, & now “.uk”)? This will be compounded with applicable new gTLDs (i.e., geos like .LONDON, .SCOT & industry-specific gTLDs)?
Why not just convert to a “.com” domain which would provide international recognition, credibility, exclusivity, and global reach? Even if the .com version carries a premium price it would be smart to upgrade now and avoid costs of lateral transition that will likely lead to consumer confusion and unknown losses in business… and possibly future rebuilds to account for the myriad of competing gTLDs. It would be more cost-effective to upgrade to the premium “.com” once-and-for-all and start establishing your global brand presence now.
The alternative of building on a new gTLD or revised ccTLD (such as “”.uk”) is speculative and dependent on unknown public acceptance and time for advertising penetration. Bite-the-bullet on a premuim domain cost and throw down a .com ‘knock-out’ punch.