.co.ke or .com? How to choose a domain name for your Kenyan business

Your domain name is your address online: yourbusiness.co.ke or yourbusiness.com. It goes on your website, your email, your business cards and your vehicle branding, so it's worth a few minutes of thought before you register one.

.co.ke or .com?

Choose .co.ke if your customers are mainly in Kenya

The .ke domain endings are Kenya's own, managed by KeNIC (the Kenya Network Information Centre). A .co.ke address tells visitors straight away that you're a Kenyan business, which builds trust with local customers. Because there are fewer .co.ke names than .com names, your preferred name is also more likely to be free.

Choose .com if you sell internationally

If your customers are spread across countries, as with remote clients, tourism or exports, .com is the most widely recognised ending worldwide.

Get both if you can

If both are available, register both and point one to the other. It protects your name from someone else taking it, and it catches visitors who type the "wrong" ending out of habit. Domains are cheap compared to the cost of losing your name.

Other Kenyan endings

KeNIC also offers endings for specific types of organisation, for example .or.ke for organisations and NGOs, .ac.ke for academic institutions and .go.ke for government. Some of these have eligibility rules, so check with your registrar before you register.

How to pick a good name

Keep it short. Shorter names are easier to remember, type and fit on a business card.

Make it easy to say out loud. You'll share your domain on the phone and in conversation. If you have to spell it out every time, it's too complicated.

Avoid hyphens and numbers. "kamau-hardware-2.co.ke" will be mistyped constantly. People forget the hyphen, or write "two" instead of "2."

Use your business name, or something close to it. If the exact name is taken, adding a short word that describes what you do or where you are often works, for example kamauhardware.co.ke or kamaunakuru.co.ke.

Check social media too. Ideally, your domain matches your Instagram, TikTok and Facebook names, so customers can find you everywhere with one name.

Check for trademarks. Don't register a name that's close to another company's brand. It can lead to legal disputes and losing the domain.

Who owns your domain matters more than you'd think

This is where many businesses get caught out. A developer or agency registers the domain "on your behalf," in their own account, and years later the business can't get control of it, can't renew it, or loses it when the relationship ends.

Protect yourself:

• Register the domain in your business's name, with your own email address as the owner contact.
• Keep the login details for the registrar account yourself. You can give your developer access without giving them ownership.
• Turn on auto-renew and keep your payment details up to date. When a domain expires, your website and email stop working, and after a grace period someone else can register it.
• Use an email address you'll always have access to. Renewal reminders and transfer approvals go to this address.

When we build a website, the domain is registered to you, and you keep full control of it.

A professional email address

Once you have a domain, use it for email too. hello@yourbusiness.co.ke looks far more established than yourbusiness@gmail.com, especially when you're sending quotations or invoices. Most professional email services charge a small monthly fee per mailbox.

Ready for a website?

A good domain is the first step. If you're ready for the website to go with it, see what's included in a business website, read what a website costs in Kenya, or get a range for your project with our cost estimator.