Today, you will hardly find someone who doesn’t have an idea of what a .IO domain name extension entails. Originally serving as the ccTLD for the British Indian Ocean Territory, this domain name was initially popular among web innovators although it still remains to be a popular choice of domain for tech companies and startups.

So, are you thinking of acquiring your own .IO domain name but still has some reservations over it? Well, we outline some of the key benefits you stand to gain while using this domain name extension to build your web presence.

Reasons You Need a .IO Domain Name For Your Business

• .COM domain name just $.99 at GoDaddy or 1&1

They are more available than most other traditional domain extensions

One of the top reasons startups elect to go for the .IO domains is due to their easier availability as compared to other traditional domains such as the .com. While the .IO is still among the most commonly used domains today, it still lacks the prominence enjoyed by other gTLDs. This, therefore, means that chances of getting your first choice domain name available are much higher when using .io domains.

Offers an excellent opportunity to apply domain hacks

One of the best ways of making your website more memorable is through the use of second and third level domains otherwise known as domain hacking. For example, if your business is named “Your Domain Business”, you could opt to create a second level domain using a URL shortener to something like ydb which mimics the brand name using its abbreviations. With a .IO domain, applying this technique is pretty much easy.

.IO domains are easily recognizable

As mentioned earlier, .IO domain names are widely accepted especially by the web savvy communities such as tech and startup businesses. As such, using this domain for your business makes it appear more appealing to this market since most associate the .IO to Input/Output. As such, if you are considering these to be your targeted markets, then using this domain can be an excellent decision.

You will hardly fall prey to unwanted go-targeting by Google when using .IO domain

Are you concerned about the type of search results you get upon using ccTLDs for your domain name? Well, this should be among the least of your worries if you decide to use .IO extensions. This is because Google categorizes .io domains as belonging to a group of Generic Country Code Top Level Domains (abbreviated as gccTLDs). With this provision, Google treats business and individuals with .io domains as those located outside the British Indian Ocean Territory and will thus not specifically target that particular geographic region when fronting your business in search results.

A two character domain extension translates to a shorter URL

With an .IO domain extension featuring only two characters, you will hardly find other shorter domain names extensions out there. As such, using this extension only makes your overall domain URL appear shorter. This way, visitors to your website will have it much easier to type your business’s URL into their browsers which is good for your user experience. Combined with the higher availability of domain names, it is far easier to come up with a shorter domain name that is both unique and quite memorable.