A website is the home of your online business. Building a website is now relatively easy — there are several providers to choose from, and some services that do most of the leg-work for you. But choosing a name isn’t quite as easy — the best names aren’t always available, or are too expensive. But investing in a proper website name can be worth it — top-level domains (TLD’s) live up to their name and enjoy a lofty level of prominence in the hierarchical domain name system of the internet, being domains that are in the DNS root zone.
There is a number of compelling reasons why .io domains are such a hot item and when a web domain manages to acquire such an enviable level of kudos it is worth paying attention to the reasons why this is the case.
How the .io domain has evolved
Originally, the .io domain was representative of British Indian Ocean Territory but things have moved on from that original point and it is a TLD that has subsequently become synonymous with gaming, technology, and cool start-ups.
Why did this transformation happen?
A fundamental reason for the rise in popularity of .io domains is primarily attributed to the fact that IO is an abbreviation that is heavily used to represent input/output in computer science terms.
A greater level of choice
Another good reason why .io extensions are enjoying a surge in popularity is the fact that there is currently a high level of availability than more traditional domain endings.
This means that if you have a preferred domain there is currently a reasonable chance that you might be able to get what you want without paying too much of a premium.
Confirm your business identity
It can often be good for business if you can use a domain name that is representative of the industry you are in.
In view of the fact that .io domains are seen as synonymous with tech companies and start-ups, it makes sense to use this TLD as a way of identifying your business as being part of this vibrant community.
More convenient for web visitors
It might seem trivial at first, but the easier you make it for visitors to type in your web address the more inclined they are to access your site and remember your address.
A two-character domain is advantageous as it is shorter than plenty of other extensions and as so many people browsing the internet are notoriously impatient, these small details can make a big difference.
It will be treated as a generic domain
Finally, it is always highly relevant to consider how Google will treat your domain and the good news is that it views a .io as a gTLD.
What this means is that Google accepts that your .io domain is being used by a much wider audience than the geographical restrictions attached to its original audience within the British Indian Ocean Territory.
The bottom line is that Google will treat a .io as a generic domain which means that you won’t be subjected to the restrictive practice of geo-targeting.
As you can see, .io are enjoying a noticeable surge in popularity and in addition to the benefits already outlined it is well worth highlighting another perceived advantage that you might not have considered.
As the ending starts with a vowel it gives you the opportunity to make a catchy name that uses the domain as a way to create a web address that is easy to remember.