I have no preference except that I would get the .co.uk and the .uk as that saves some faffing about making sure that the search engines are geotargetting your site properly.
My experience of running both print and on-line listings is: 1. Content won't come to you, you have to be proactive both about acquiring it and keeping it up to date (too many listing/directory sites include entries for ventures that folded years ago!) 2. Focus! ITs no good having travelling hairdressers in Norwich and Swansea and nothing in between. Start as a local site and build to county level. Be the best locally not one of the crowd nationally - remember a visitor wants their local hairdresser not one 50 miles away. Stop when the geographical extent is as much as you can manage comfortably. 3. SEO - local sites get local links far more easily than national sites get links. Don't just beg for links, use a press release format to local media and organisations. Don't forget local council websites. 4. You are going to want to manage your data separately from the site. Use a database, either on or off line depending on your skills and preferences. You will want to do reports such as checking the age of entries so that you can confirm that they are still current.
EDIT Do check what is out there already to avoid trying to re-invent the wheel.
DaveWave
12:50 pm on Dec 9, 2014 (gmt 0)
Thanks for the advice, pretty much what I was thinking on all fronts.
Anyway, makes sense to use .co.uk.
Hadn't thought about .uk, I assumed that most of the public would just continue to be more familiar with co.uk for the foreseeable future hence I was just going to register it later.
I can't see why I'd want to make .uk a priority over .co.uk at this time.
RedBar
1:45 am on Dec 10, 2014 (gmt 0)
I can't see why I'd want to make .uk a priority over .co.uk at this time.
Because that's the way businesses will go. For example I am leaving all my .co.uk sites as they are and constructing all new html5 responsive sites on .uk. Over the next few years all my users will steadily migrate to the .uk simply because they will be better.
For the sake of £10 have both names and 301 to the other, whichever way round you want it to be but remember, any NEW and previously unregistered name can be bought by anyone else therefore you could leave yourself open to typo .co.uk v .uk
<aoff-topic> Insofar as a your business idea is concerned I comprehend it BUT, as a person living in one of the far-flung regions of the UK, no one here would use the Net to find such a service since we already know who provides those services. </off-topic>
I can't see this ever going outside the uk.
You're joking? This happens all over the world or are you simply referring to your site/uk?
lucy24
2:15 am on Dec 10, 2014 (gmt 0)
The site is a directory for services offered to users at home such as mobile hairdressers.
<continuing topic drift> I must say, mobile hairdressing is not the first thing that comes to mind when looking at your list of possible names (in English). In fact I'm surprised all four names were available.
The name "ComeToMe" is doubly unfortunate, because it's well-nigh meaningless if not capitalized as intended. ("Cometome? Is that some sort of Italian dessert, or possibly a Japanese fish?") </topic drift>
DaveWave
8:54 am on Dec 10, 2014 (gmt 0)
RedBar, glad you said that, I thought since I had .co.uk registered I had the rights to .uk until it went on gerneral release.
Reading Nominet's site I believe that's true if you had a co.uk before 24th June 2014 so I have now got the .uks.
I'm not convinced that the general public are aware of .uk yet, so will prob redirect to co.uk for now
Lucy, the site is for anyone that offers a mobile service hence generic names.
I was thinking cometome was easy for someone to remember, hmmm, maybe come2mine is looking favourite!
Leosghost
9:16 am on Dec 10, 2014 (gmt 0)
Personally I'd have gone more with an "at my home" or "at my house" direction, or "2myhome", "2myhouse".. just alternative ideas, ( any really good ones that spring to mind, I'll never resist being able to register ;)