Wide Search Engine Recognition With Your Io Domain Name
Several ccTLDs are treated as territory-specific by Google and other search engines, hampering SEO efforts.
Google treats .IO as a gTLD, and thus despite it actually being a ccTLD, you wont be victim to geo-targeting. Unlike other ccTLDs, Google acknowledges that .IO is used by a much broader audience than just those in the British Indian Ocean Territory, and thats why they treat it as a generic domain.
The bottom line, a strong .IO is a great bet for your tech startup. Dont wait to register yours: thousands of founders secure .IO domain names every day, meaning your perfect domain could be gone tomorrow.
Start Your Io Domain Adventure With Strikingly
Now that you have obtained your very own .io domain for your website, its time to actually build one! With Strikingly, you have thousands of themes and templates to use and own, while not breaking the bank. You may also purchase your own website domain with Strikingly, and its on us for your first year. Strikingly is a robust website builder with tons of features that is completely free to use. Check us out our pricing and plans which include your own domain now!
What Makes Io Domains Very Popular
The .io domain enjoys immense popularity over other extensions for the following reasons.
- Easy availability: While it is nearly impossible to obtain a .com or .net of ones liking, .io domain names are plentiful. The sheer availability of even common names makes .io domains very appealing.
- Memorable and concise: A short and snappy website name is not only memorable, but it also looks good onscreen. After .com, .net, and .org, the .io is an easy and interesting extension. And if the company happens to be computer-related, the relevance of the extension adds to its appeal.
- Has a creative edge: The 2016 US presidential candidate Marco Rubio demonstrated how the .io domain can be used creatively in a website name when he used rub.io as his domain name. This has inspired creative marketers to play with words and come up with shortened names that end with .io for their websites.
- Search engine recognition: Google doesnt see .io as a ccTLD. Instead, it treats .io just like generic top-level domains like .com and .net. This is great for website SEO. You will gain a competitive edge over other websites with territory-specific TLDs that dont enjoy the same privilege.
Nevertheless, the main issue associated with a .io domain is its vulnerability to hacking. There have been major security breaches in the past, which present some concerns regarding its general safety. Let us explore it in greater detail.
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Reason 2 Popularity In The Tech World
A lot of tech startups, SaaS tools, and companies use the .io domain extension. io in computer science language means input/output, a common term when discussing computing processes. The .io domain is now embraced by tech and startup communities, and using it can be a good way to identify your business as part of the tech scene.
Is Io A Good Domain
The .io domain is often highlighted as a tech business dream because of the association of the word I/O with technology. Since this extension rings a bell, it almost instantly creates an identity for the business. Opt for a .io, and you immediately become part of the tech community.
So, if you are unable to secure a .com extension, the .io could be one of the next best options. Although it is not a traditional domain, it is recognizable. It is considered a reliable and stable extension and is not associated with spam websites.
One of the reasons for this is that .io domains are not very cheap. Registration and renewal of .io domains is an expensive affair. The higher charge discourages people from simply buying and parking .io websites for later use. It also turns away spammers and hackers. This makes the .io domain a good option for serious website owners.
Nevertheless, one potential concern with .io domain extensions is its vulnerability to hacking. A few years back, there was an incident where the security of .io nameservers was compromised. Although there was no long-term damage, this occurrence highlighted a major safety concern with .io nameservers. Fortunately, the security breach was reported during the migration of the domain to its current owner, Afilias. So, we can now assume that Afilias has strengthened the security aspects to prevent any such breach in the future.
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What Is Io Domain
Heres something you should know before you buy a .IO domain! While many tech startups and businesses buy this domain, they are not aware that its a country code top level domain which has been assigned to British Indian Ocean Territory. However, it has since gained popularity among the tech community for a totally different purpose.
IO is commonly used in computer language as an abbreviation for input/output. This makes it a relevant TLD for programming related websites that are targeted for people for the computer programming sector. However, if the business is targeted at end users who may not have any knowledge of computer science, they may not understand the significance of .IO. The end customers may not actually be able to search for the website name because the letters IO may not register in their memory since they hold no meaning in their mind.
Here is why registering a .tech domain is better than getting a .io domain:
- 1
A .tech domain explains your passion a lot more than a .io which stands for input output. If your passion is tech, then explain that with a .tech domain!
- 2
A .tech domain is universally accepted and understood as opposed to a .io domain which is understood within the tech industry only.
- 3
A .tech domain is good for SEO if youre in the tech field and looking for a tech focused name, which is a benefit it has over .io.
- 4
Just the fact that .tech sounds way cooler, right?
Consider Enabling Domain Id Protection
In simple terms, domain ID protection masks your personal contact information from anyone performing a whois lookup on your domain name.
Let me say this again, by default, all of this is visible to anyone who puts your domain name through a tool such as the aforementioned who.is.
This is not perfect. First, anyone can see this info, which means your personal details are exposed. Youre basically sacrificing part of your privacy for nothing in exchange.
So, the way to solve this is to set domain ID protection with your domain registrar . This is usually a paid feature, though. The price tag can be around $1 a month. Heres how to do this with Namecheap:
Once under domain ID protection, the whois details of your domain get replaced with your registrars information.
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Why Io Is A Lousy Domain For Your Tech Startup
.io domains are everywhere.
It’s almost like a badge of honour: fresh-faced tech businesses are falling over themselves to secure .io domains, and acquire a part of the startup identity.
However, the decision to ditch their .com isn’t without consequences. By opting into the .io craze, startups are causing themselves a whole ton of stress further down the line.
Today, I’m looking at 3 reasons a .io domain will damage your tech startup.
Io Is Widely Available
Another reason why .io is so popular is because its widely available. Its estimated that, as of 2019, there were around 340 million domains registered. Many of these end with either .com or .org.
Each year, it gets harder for people to get their ideal domain name. For example, imagine you become infatuated with cutepuppies.com. After a quick search you find, unsurprisingly, that its already taken.
Rather than change the name of your site, you can change the domain. In this case, registering as cutepuppies.io. However, if you are trying to copy the site, you might get sued for breaching copyright.
In other cases, you might already own the .com domain and want to purchase the .io domain to make sure that no-one can rip-off your site.
If the .io site is taken, you dont need to give up on your quest for the perfect domain. There are a few tricks that you might want to try
- Contact the current owner and ask to buy the name. If theyre not using it, they might be tempted to sell to you, for the right price.
- Check the resale domain list. This is where any inactive domains are placed.
- Set up an alert. Many domain name services will let you set-up an email alert system, so youll be the first to know if a domain comes up for sale.
- Choose an alternative. Sometimes, these tricks wont work. In this case, go with your second-choice.
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Io Domain For Saas And Startups: Pros And Cons Of Using In 2018
Every company founders dream is to have the perfect website that will attract customers and successfully convert them into leads.
Even if you have already built a profitable business in the SaaS industry, you may not want to stop at this point. Instead, you may wish to design something new and find new opportunities to develop and promote it. For example, a new brand or a new product.
However, before creating a new website, you will need to choose and buy a domain.
The total number of existing top-level domains is 1,528, so you may spend a lot of time deciding which one is the most suitable for your business.
Recently weve noticed that more and more tech startups are choosing a .io extension over a great variety of domains, and even over the conventional .com domain.
Thats why in this article weve decided to consider why the .io domain is becoming so popular and what the pros and cons are of having this type of domain.
Lets start with the basics.
The Controversial History Of Biot
The British Indian Ocean Territory has a dark past, starting with the detachment of the Chagos Islands from Mauritius. During this time, over 2,000 Chagossian people were forced from the islands with minimal compensation.
The former islanders have been campaigning to return home ever since and have even taken their case to the European Court of Human Rights. The Prime Minister of Mauritius has described the expulsion of the Chagossian people as a crime against humanity and has explored bringing these charges against the UK.
In February 2019, the International Court of Justice ruled that the UK should end its administration of the Chagos Islands as soon as possible. Then in May, the UN General Assembly ruled that the BIOT forms part of Mauritius and the UK should withdraw its colonial administration within a period of six months, which was supported by 116 member states.
Britain has refused to comply with this ruling and has continued to maintain administration over the islands. It has even said that the UK could jeopardise its permanent seat on the UN security council unless it resolves the situation.
Diego Garcia has been a launching point for US military actions in the Middle East since the 1960s, and the island regularly hits the headlines due to its strategic geographical location. The initial lease to the US was for 50 years, but in 2016, the UK extended this agreement to 2036.
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Introducing Your Shepherds Crook
Shepherds use their crooks to gather sheep, fend off predators, and keep their balance. DomainCheck is a new tool that can be used as your domain shepherding crook.
Find it here:
DomainCheck was designed to assist operators with monitoring changes related to their domain names. This includes negative changes in categorization, VirusTotal detections, and appearances on malware blacklists. DomainCheck currently works only with Namecheap, but could be adapted for other registrars that offer API access.
DomainCheck pulls a list of domains registered under the provided Namecheap account, collects the DNS records set for each domain, and then reviews each one to ensure it is ready to be used. This involves checking to see if WhoisGuard is enabled, the domain is not expired, the domain is properly categorized, the domain has not been flagged in VirusTotal or tagged with a bad category, and the domain is not blacklisted for spam.
The DomainReview class uses the following sources to check the health of a domain name:
- Cisco Talos
- VirusTotal
- Cymon
Additionally, DomainCheck pulls the latest list of bad domains from malwaredomains.com and checks if any of the Namecheap domain names make an appearance.
DomainCheck supports two modes:
Benefits Of Using A Io Domain Name
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Io Domain Names Have A Community
The easier it is for web visitors to type your URL into a browser or email address, the more memorable and unique it becomes.
Its tough enough to turn a profit nowadays, especially if you are a vendor in the financial services arena, but if we can keep our costs low and brand awareness high, weve certainly got a head start. The fintech industry is cool, and its no longer good enough just to have a great product. Your image, brand, and external communications must be gorgeous too.
Entrepreneurs whose companies have other TLD websites still register .IO domains to use as hacks or creative ways to shorten their URLs. During the 2016 presidential campaign, candidate Marco Rubio used rub.io for this purpose. Lots of creative marketers have created URLs from words ending in .IO.