UK firms will pay for the right domain names

The announcement that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will significantly increase the number of domain names available to website owners, has prompted concerns about companies failing to see the desired traffic on their sites if they don't register the right name.

In light of this, a survey from domain monetisation provider Sedo has revealed that over a third (36 per cent) of UK respondents would be willing to pay in excess of £5,000 for the right domain name for their business.

Although .com remains the most popular domain extension, with 88 per cent of businesses owning a website in that domain, over half of companies (58 per cent) said they would be interested in creating their own domain name extension to take advantage of ICANN's new plans.

Companies with multiple websites are also likely to want to create a single domain name, according to the research.

"As businesses continue to migrate online, there is increasing emphasis on being easy to find. The cost of pay-per-click advertising continues to increase and good domain names will allow businesses to gain natural listings within search results," explained Hugo Dalrymple-Smith, director of UK operations at Sedo.

"A memorable domain name will help with a company's multi-channel advertising strategy."

The survey also shows that UK businesses are less patriotic than those in France, Germany and Australia, if domain names are anything to go by. The French .fr domain name saw a 24 per cent increase in sales last year, while the German .de
was up 18 per cent and the Australian .com.au was up 12 per cent. In the UK, however, use of .co.uk saw a 26 per cent decline in sales over the period.

"The .com domain extension also has a strong presence in the UK, which could account for some of the decline in the use of the UK domain name in the last 12 months," said Dalrymple-Smith.