This blog post is a continuation of the previous blog post. It contains the reasons 11 to 21 of the 21 reasons to go .co.za or .com for B2B company… if you’re an industrial B2B company in South Africa. Click here if you missed the first post.
A .co.za domain name:
11. A .co.za website will probably have over time come to understand which products : “work here” and which don’t. A .com website selling me something probably doesn’t know if their “product works here” [in this climate/altitude/user education level]
12. Google Algorithm and localization: its very easy. .co.za tells Google you’re targeting SA. [if you’re .com you can do this manually]
13. In South Africa we’re used to .co.za, same as we’re used to the telephone extension 011 for JHB, 012 for PTA and 021 for CT.
14. Domain and hosting are not tied together. You can host anywhere in the world and still have a .co.za domain
15. Registry.net.za says that there over 1 million .co.za registered domain names in SA – co.za is not a new thing
16. Phone number Practicality – mobile search is massive. A co.za website will probably have a South African phone number I can call straight from my “cell phone”. I would have to be pretty desperate to call internationally from my cell.
17. Shop hours assumption for time zone – a co.za website will probably be open if its usual business hours in SA. For a .com website, how do I know what time zone they are in unless I go to some effort to research it.
18. SA desire for Face to face – this is arguably subjective but it’s been my experience that SA likes face to face meetings. It helps us overcome the wide cultural and language differences our country has. .co.za will probably be easier for me to do business with, in the way I like to do business. The Google search is just the start of the business relationship.
19. SACU Southern African Customs Union- a co.za website means that this company operates in the SACU which has benefits for import/export and tariff protections
20. Language and its nuances. We speak English slightly differently here. We use words from many Southern African languages. And we use some languages which are frankly quite specific to our half of Africa. .co.za websites will feel more comfortable for us. Load-shedding, Car guards are region specific examples.
21. Metric vs Imperial. A .co.za website will give me information that’s easier for me to digest because it will probably use the metric system. Don’t tell me my generator consumes gasoline in x gallons per minute.
So you decide if that .com is worth it for your business, can you afford to take the risk?
If you’re deciding on a new domain name then you’re probably also wanting your website to produce leads for your business. Have a look at our latest ebook on “What you need to know about marketing stratagey and inbound marketing” (ie making your website deliver results.)
