Check .lt domain
A beekeeper fulfilled a childhood dream by choosing a Lithuanian domain
Karolis Paulas from Biržai admits that his childhood dream of owning a honey shop came true online. The beekeeper is delighted to have created an online shop with domain name bičiųpaštas.lt which was voted the most beautiful Lithuanian domain name in 2024.
According to the data of the Internet Service Centre DOMREG at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), there are a total of 2100 .lt domains registered with the Lithuanian letters ą, č, ę, ė, į, š, ų, ū, ž. The registration of the Internationalised Domain Names (IDN) in Lithuania began in 2004. The first created IDN domains were baldųnamai.lt, židiniai.lt and šildymas.lt.
Interest in beekeeping began in childhood
“While the other children wanted luxury cars, I was dreaming of a bee farm. As a child, I always thought that beekeeping was very difficult. However, a beekeeper from a little town of Nemunėlio Radviliškis, whom I met in childhood, quickly dispelled all my doubts by introducing me to the basics of beekeeping and encouraging me to learn this trade. Soon after, I had two beehives at home, which I still keep as an heirloom,” – tells K. Paulas about his introduction to bees.
Karolis Paulas, beekeeper
The respondent assures that without the support and help of his parents it would have been very difficult, but now he receives a lot of help from his girlfriend Gabija and his sister Rugilė.
“I was a little boy and was not strong enough to spin the honey extractor. It was good that my dad helped me when I was unable to spin honey by myself using an old manual device. Nowadays everything is modernised, much easier, and you can find information about beekeeping and all kinds of modern tools online,” – says the beekeeper.
Lithuanian Post Office becomes the Bee Post Office
The beekeeper has purchased the former building of the Lithuanian Post in Germaniškės, a village in Biržai District near the Latvian border. There, he has set up new premises for extracting honey, packaging the products and storage facilities. The beekeeper’s farm now has 50 bee colonies and 70 beehives.
“Although the farm is not large, and beekeeping is more of a hobby and a leisure activity that I like, I still needed a place to settle down. The old post office building in Germaniškės was perfect for it. I used to say that I was going to the post office to see the bees. That is how the name of the beekeeping farm was born, which has a nice figurative meaning: the bees, like postmen, collect and send nectar and pollen,” – says K. Paulas.
Lithuanian domain is not an obstacle
After expanding the beekeeping farm, he decided to take the next step and realise his childhood dream of owning a honey shop.
“An online shop seemed like a more attractive alternative to me. So, I did not hesitate to register the domain bičiųpaštas.lt. It was important for me to have a correct Lithuanian domain name, because an incorrectly spelled address may be more difficult for people to understand, especially when speaking over the phone,” – assures beekeeper K. Paulas.
Vaidotas Jakuška, Marketing and Communications Specialist at KTU Internet Service Centre DOMREG, says that the use of domains with Lithuanian diacritics is still low due to the habit of incorrect spelling and the inconvenience of displaying IDN domains in social networks, email and other systems.
“While many web browsers already display IDN domains with diacritics in the address bar, some email systems and social networks do not make this conversion. For example, the domain bičiųpaštas.lt will appear as xn–biipatas-lbb75fuf.lt in social network links. This inconvenience discourages the wider use of IDN domains, so it is delightful that there are domain holders who use a domain with the distinctive Lithuanian letters directly to publish their website or e-shop,” – says V. Jakuška.
Vaidotas Jakuška, Marketing and Communication Specialist at KTU Internet Service Centre
According to the marketing and communications specialist, due to the complicated communication on social networks and other limitations, most registered IDN domains are being redirected to the incorrectly spelled equivalents. This allows the user to access the website both by spelling the address correctly and by typing it incorrectly.
“While the majority of internet users spell the domain names incorrectly, there are a significant number of users who type the address of a website in their web browser with diacritics of the Lithuanian language. For this reason, I would recommend registering both correctly and incorrectly spelled domain names and create redirecting to either one. This will be more convenient for the user and safer for the business,” – advises V. Jakuška, Marketing and Communications Specialist at KTU Internet Service Centre DOMREG.
The beekeeper’s dream came true online
After registering a domain name and signing up for web hosting services, the beekeeper set out to make his dream a reality. He admits that it was not as difficult as he had expected, and that it is possible to set up an e-shop without programming knowledge.
“The first thing I had to do was to choose a content management system so that I could easily upload and edit content myself without any programming knowledge. The well-known WordPress content management system with Elementor’s Website Builder seemed to be the best choice for me because it is convenient and offers a wide range of options,” – says K. Paulas.
Karolis Paulas, beekeeper
According to the beekeeper, the next steps were to choose a theme and create content.
“It was not easy to decide on the design of the e-shop. I am glad I managed to create an e-shop that is close to my heart and warm. The process of taking and selecting the photographs and writing the text required significant efforts. So far, the content of the e-shop is still not as organised as I would like it to be. Creating content is probably the most difficult and never-ending process, especially when I am doing it in my free time,” – admits K. Paulas.
What is needed for success online?
Antanas Mišeikis, Country Manager Lithuania of the company “Interneto Vizija” providing website hosting services, admits that content creation is challenging even with the wide range of available artificial intelligence tools. According to him, when creating a website or e-shop, focus should be on the users and their experience.
“Many web developers focus too much on design and forget about functionality, so a website can be beautiful, but slow and inconvenient. It is essential to use intuitive, user-friendly and responsive design that makes navigating easy on various devices.
Another problem is lack of attention to content and search engine optimisation (SEO), which can make a website difficult to find on search engines, thus reducing the number of potential visitors. High-quality, regularly updated content adds value to the audience, keeps visitors engaged and encourages them to return,” – emphasises A. Mišeikis.
In addition to high-quality content and user-friendly navigation, a successful website or e-shop needs reliable performance and fast load times.
“Website speed problems can discourage visitors and have negative impact on search engine rankings. The website’s loading speed mainly depends on its program code. I would advise you to optimise your program code, use the latest version of the software, and avoid using unnecessary plug-ins and non-optimised graphics.
You should also keep in mind that high-quality hosting services play a particularly important role. For a fast and reliable functioning of your website, you should choose a plan for hosting your website on a server suitable for your power needs”, – advises A. Mišeikis.
Consistent marketing is also required for online success. Integrations with social networks, email campaigns and investment in advertising will help you attract even more visitors.
Published 2025-03-06
