Why Tech Enthusiasts Love to Use .IO Domains

In today’s digital age web domain carries a certain weight to your personality as a website owner, similar to the watch you wear or your favorite brand of sneakers. It’s rare to come across someone who has not yet heard of the .IO domain name. .IO is the ccTLD for the British Indian Ocean Territory.

However, there are more benefits to consider. In recent years, .IO has become synonymous with technology, gaming, and start-up companies. The main reason for this — in computer science, “IO” is commonly used as an abbreviation for Input/Output. Choosing a .IO domain helps instantly signify to anyone seeing your URL that you’re in tech. It’s a great branding play that costs very little but packs a big punch.

By the end of the post, you will definitely know more about the .IO TLD and its perks. What’s more, there’s a high chance you even get a .IO domain for your project.

What Does .IO Mean?

The .IO TLD has been getting increasingly popular, especially among tech and SaaS startups. In general, this TLD is assigned to the British Indian Ocean Territory, the seven atolls of the Chagos Archipelago, south of India, and notably contains the Diego Garcia atoll, home to a U.S. military base. The .IO domain has become popular in recent years, but not because of its ccTLD roots. The .IO domain extension is the most well-known in the tech space. Are you surprised?

Before we cover all the specifics in regards to how and why the .IO domain extension became so popular among tech startups; it’s crucial to understand how the creation of more than 1,500 new TLDs have reshaped the world of domain names in general and how businesses keep finding new creative ways to no longer rely on .COM when searching for the right domain and TLD for their brand.

IO domains are recognizable and now embraced by the tech and start-up communities – Using a .IO domain can be a good way to identify yourself or your business as part of the tech scene.

One of the first .IO domains to be registered for a purpose other than geographical identity was Levi Strauss in 1998. Levi’s have always pushed the boundaries in terms of their marketing, and it’s a fact that they have been hugely successful. Levi’s are definitely attractive, and so if a .IO domain can make you half as cool as them, then you should snatch yours today!

Finding the Right Domain and TLD for Your Brand

If you want your brand to be successful nowadays, you need to have a matching domain. If you are just starting fresh, you basically have two choices — you either choose a brand name to obtain a domain name easily or find someone who owns the domain you desire and buy it from them. If you go with the first option, you may have to invent a new word, such as Lyft or Uber.

That’s the reason many new companies have “interesting” names. Pretty much all good .COM domains are already taken, even though you may be able to come up with an effective two-word name that has not yet been reserved. Choosing the best domain name for your business is definitely not among the easiest tasks. If you simply must have a specific domain, you may have to break the bank to acquire it.

Of course, there are other options. You can choose .CO, .BIZ, or .SITE. However, these do not hold the same credibility of a brand’s website being housed by a .COM domain.

Using a TLD as Part of Your Brand

You may want to become creative and try to find a brand name where you can use an existing TLD as part of the word. A good example here is Sta.sh — DeviantArt’s personalized publishing platform for all members to upload and “stash” all of their images, writings, animations, and other creative works in progress (WIPs).

Additionally, the .LY TLD has become increasingly popular as a means of creating a unique brand, based on a single word simply by adding “ly” to the end of it. Websites like Bit.ly, List.ly, Embed.ly, and Profit.ly have all created their own memorable brand names from doing nothing more than tacking on the .LY TLD after a single word relevant to their business.

It’s true that Google has confirmed that using a TLD as part of a keyword is completely ignored when it comes to ranking for search terms. However, this strategy has become very popular due to the inherent value of having a memorable domain with the appearance of removing the TLD altogether. Persona.ly, Visual.ly, Prodi.gy, Freebitco.in, and Sta.sh are just a few examples of popular websites that have successfully employed the strategy.

Migrating from .COM to .IO

In some cases, businesses have even dropped or more forwarded their .COM domains for a new, shorter or more relevant domain utilizing a different TLD. For instance, tour-eiffel.com now forwards to a more geographically relevant, keyword friendly domain that no longer requires a hyphen, Toureiffel.paris.

Additionally, an existing brand or domain name can sometimes be shortened with a newer TLD, and many companies have caught on and taken advantage of this as well. For example, the public school Lionsgate Academy was able to completely remove .org from their domain by moving lionsgateacademy.org to lionsgate.academy. Speaking of shortening a domain name, it has always been popular for companies with longer business names to take advantage of a shorter domain by using an acronym, like NHM.org (The Natural History Museum).

Unfortunately, there are very few, if any, 3 to 4 character .com domains available anymore – making it nearly impossible to utilize an acronym for a .com domain. The good news is that the massive increase in TLDs available in recent years has allowed businesses to find new ways to take advantage of shorter, more memorable domains that leverage brand awareness. Take for example, the Oregon-based veterinarian company, Animal Health Associates. They were able to move their website from the long-winded animalhealthassociates.org to the much more memorable aha.vet domain.

Reasons to Use .IO Domain Names

People have been registering .COM domains for more than a quarter-century. About half of the registered domains are .COMs, meaning there’s a good chance you can’t get a concise domain for your startup. Or, you might have to pay a high price to secure ownership from an earlier registrant. Although .IO has been around for years as well, popularity has only surged recently.

Great Price for .IO Domains with FastComet

Let’s kick it off with some great news: FastComet will offer .IO with a discount until May 21, 2021. The prices drop from $54.95 to $42.98. Isn’t that neat?

Keep in mind that even Google Domains offer .IO for $60/year.

So, why wait — snatch your .IO domain right away!

Greater Availability of .IO Domains

About half of all email use is on mobile devices. When someone is typing your email address for the first time on their phone, every character counts. An .IO domain often allows startups to get shorter, simpler domains and email addresses, lessening the chance of someone creating a typo. [email protected] is a lot easier to get right than [email protected]!

.IO Domain Names Have an Ease of Use

Just as a .IO domain signifies a branding play, it also cements a startup among a community of other tech founders. It means that you are proud to be part of the tech startup world. Many founders opt for a .IO simply for this reason. When companies search for their domain name and their .COM or first choice isn’t available, and they are switching to .IO for this reason: .IO FOMO!

.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.

It’s 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, we’ve certainly got a head start. The fintech industry is cool, and it’s 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. (Looking for inspiration? Here’s a complete list of .IO words sure to excite any Scrabble player!)

Creativity is Unleashed with a .IO Domain Name

Several ccTLDs (country code top-level domains or domains originally designated by geography) are treated as territory-specific by Google and other search engines, hampering SEO efforts. However, Google treats .IO as a gTLD (generic top-level domain), meaning .IO websites get the same treatment as other widely used global domains with the benefit of a more creative extension.

The bottom line, a strong .IO is a great bet for your tech startup. Don’t wait to register yours: thousands of founders secure .IO domain names every day, meaning your perfect domain could be gone tomorrow.

Wide Search Engine Recognition with Your .IO Domain Name

Several ccTLDs (country code top-level domains or domains originally designated by geography) 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 won’t 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 that’s why they treat it as a generic domain.

The bottom line, a strong .IO is a great bet for your tech startup. Don’t wait to register yours: thousands of founders secure .IO domain names every day, meaning your perfect domain could be gone tomorrow.

Conclusion

One of the best (and free) Modern Tetris games can be played on the Tetr.io website. Coincidently, just like getting the needed Tetris piece at the right moment, picking .IO for your domain name TLD may be the piece you needed to achieve success. We believe that this post gave you enough information to make the right decision. Feel free to order your .IO domain name right now.

Also, share your thoughts about the .IO TLD in the comment section. We would love to hear some opinions. After all, we are here to help you with your projects in every way possible.