What’s a .vu web address and do I need one?
Too often in businesses, the thinking behind registering a new website goes something like this:
Employee 1: This sounds like a good name.
Manager: Great, register it before someone else does.
What’s missing from this conversation is a nuanced look at how website top-level domain names, like .vu, can help your brand.
A top-level domain (TLD) is the extension at the end of a website. Some of the most common are .com, .org, and .gov. There are also country code TLDs (ccTLD), like .uk for websites in the United Kingdom, .ca for Canadian sites, and, of course, .vu for Vanuatu.
There are several benefits of using a ccTLD rather than a plain .com.
Higher availability of names. For most organisations, this is a very big deal. Because .com is one of the oldest TLDs, it’s also one of the most crowded. There are so many web addresses out there that are registered with .com that it can be difficult to find an address that’s still available. For many companies or entrepreneurs, the result is having to use a long, hard-to-remember web address just because it’s all that’s available. Short, punchy web addresses were snapped up years ago and generic names that corner an entire market—think hotels.com—are either unavailable or prohibitively expensive. Because ccTLDs are newer and a lot less crowded, often those same addresses are available and have the added benefit of having the location baked into the address. As a relatively new ccTLD, there are plenty of quality names still available on .vu.
Show up in search results. Search engines like Google often defer to websites that use a ccTLD when someone is searching for something in a specific country. For example, if you search for “cakes UK,” you’ll see that the top results are all businesses with .uk in their web address. Google understands that you’re looking for cakes in that area, and so will prioritise websites that have clearly specified they are in the UK—and the easiest way to do that is with a ccTLD. The same goes for anything Vanuatu-related.
Attract locals and build confidence. Local domain names help attract local customers. When a person or business sees that a website is located where they are (or want to be), it creates a level of trust off the bat that’s hard to replicate with a .com. That makes it easier to connect with customers or audiences, because they are coming to you already primed based on a shared understanding of location and culture.
Should I get a .vu?
Vanuatu is one of the latest countries to secure its own ccTLD. Whether you’re a business looking to operate in Vanuatu, a company with investment already there, or an organisation based in the country, a .vu web address is one of the most valuable pieces of real estate you can have to connect with the people you care about.
Ready to secure your own .vu web address? Head here to search for your perfect URL.
Kristin Johnson
