Check .lt domain
Is it worth creating a website for your hobby and what domain to use?
According to psychologists, leisure activities and hobbies are one of the best ways to relax after a hard day at work and take your mind off work. Hobbies are a source of emotional health and well-being, which is why more and more Lithuanians are looking for interesting leisure activities and even trying to turn them into business.
Tomas Mackus, Head of the Internet Service Centre DOMREG at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), notes that natural persons are highly active in registering .lt domain names for websites, blogs, e-shops, and email. Very often a domain name is used to represent a person’s hobby online.
“Currently, there are more than 238 thousand registered domains, of which 102 thousand are owned by Lithuanian and foreign individuals who have chosen the .lt domain for various activities or businesses. This makes up 42% of all .lt domain holders and this share remains stable throughout the growth of the Lithuanian internet marked by the increasing number of Lithuanian websites, blogs and e-shops. This should probably be linked to the growing number of self-employed people who are actively registering domains and creating websites”, - notes T. Mackus.
Tomas Mackus, Head of KTU Internet Service Centre
According to the State Data Agency, the number of self-employed individuals has almost doubled in a decade, from 127 thousand in 2014 to 243 thousand in 2023. According to KTU Internet Service Centre DOMREG, the number of the .lt domains registered by natural persons in Lithuania has increased from 58 thousand to 84 thousand over the last decade.
An idea inspired by a hobby
Paulius Kazakevičius from Kaunas, who runs a construction business, has always been enthusiastic about his hobby - fishing. With the help of his nephew, a graduate of KTU School of Young Computer Scientists, he created the website žvejonė.lt, which offers fishing trips.
“I have been an avid fisherman my whole life, I am involved in the activities of various Lithuanian and foreign fishing societies, so I came up with the idea of creating a website where I could advise others to go fishing in the Mediterranean Sea.
Although I currently have a construction business, I love fishing, so my dream is to one day quit the tough construction business and dive into my hobby which could also become a job. Fishing trips are a unique form of entertainment, and there is not enough attention to this topic online, so my hobby and my need for information about fishing at sea led me to start the website for fishing trips žvejonė.lt,” - says fisherman P. Kazakevičius.
A unique Lithuanian domain name
After choosing a unique Lithuanian name of the stream in Klaipėda and a popular fish restaurant Žvejonė, the fisherman registered a domain with distinctive Lithuanian letters for his hobby.
“Since the incorrectly spelled domain zvejone.lt was occupied by the restaurant and we really wanted this Lithuanian name, we chose the available domain žvejonė.lt. Since we want to offer trips not only to Lithuanians, we also registered another domain, zvejone.eu. This is a completely identical website, which we will translate into German, Polish and Russian languages. The Lithuanian letters in the domain name are inconvenient to foreigners, and the domain name is displayed in hieroglyphics on social networks. Therefore, we will use the incorrectly spelled domain name zvejone.eu for foreign markets, and the Lithuanian domain name žvejonė.lt for the Lithuanian market,” - explains P. Kazakevičius.
Paulius Kazakevičius, Businessman
This year, the domain žvejonė.lt was the third-place winner in the competition for the most beautiful Lithuanian domain name. The winner of the most beautiful Lithuanian domain name was bičiųpaštas.lt, while the second place went to žolė.lt. The competition also featured the domains mažųjų-valdos.lt, mokumokesčius.lt, nešu.lt, pagraumenė.lt, prigimtinė.lt, rūpinkis.lt, skrynelė.lt, žirgai.lt and žodelis.lt.
To promote the correct Lithuanian language online, to change the habits of incorrect spelling and to draw attention to the technical possibilities of using the native language in domain names, the Lithuanian Computer Society initiated the competition for the most beautiful Lithuanian domain name in 2014. The idea was supported by Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language (SLKK), and the association of information technology and communication companies INFOBALT.
The top-level domain is a rational choice
Vaidotas Jakuška, Head of the Localisation Section of the Lithuanian Computer Society and Marketing and Communication Specialist at KTU Internet Service Centre, advises choosing a domain deliberately and considering the markets to which the website or e-shop is to be presented.
A survey on the internet usage habits of Lithuanians conducted by “Baltijos tyrimai” at the end of 2023 revealed that as many as 60% of Lithuanians consider Lithuanian content websites or e-shops using the .lt top-level domain to be the most reliable.
“If the website is going to be Lithuanian, the .lt top-level domain should be used because it seems more reliable, familiar and recognisable to Lithuanians, and many Lithuanians automatically type .lt in the address bar of their browsers out of habit.
If the domain name has unique Lithuanian characters, it is better to register both the incorrectly spelled and the correct options, directing visitors to either one. This will help avoid the risk of direct competition when two distinct websites offering the same product are registered with incorrectly spelled and the correct domain names.
When the desired top-level domain name is taken, people often choose another top-level domain where the same name is available instead of choosing a different name. This bad practice leads to the use of Lithuanian names for Lithuanian websites on other domains and misleading visitors. It is probably more common for a Lithuanian to access the website gynyba.lt than gynyba.eu, but for foreigners, zvejone.eu is a good choice when the domain name žvejonė.lt is used for Lithuanians,” - assures V. Jakuška.
Vaidotas Jakuška, Head of the Localisation Section of the Lithuanian Computer Society, Marketing and Communication Specialist at KTU Internet Service Centre
Saulius Larazavičius, Product Manager at website hosting company Hostinger, says that classic generic or even unique new top-level domains are better suited for international projects or foreign markets.
“A domain is like your outfit that gives an impression of you as a service provider. Technology enthusiasts like newer and more interesting domains like .ai or .io. A large share of users trust the classic .com and .org options. In countries with a strong national identity, .de or .fr domains are particularly popular, as consumers need to know that a business operates in their country. To a large extent, the choice of domain depends on the audience,” - emphasises S. Larazavičius.
According to data from the CENTR (Council of European National Top-Level Domain Registries), as of January 2024, Lithuanians have registered a total of about 340 thousand domains, of which more than 200 thousand, or 59%, are .lt second-level domains, 67 thousand, or 20%, are .com, and 30 thousand, or 9%, are .eu second-level domains.
It is not difficult to create a website
According to S. Larazavičius, there is a belief among small businesses that the creation of a website is a very complicated process that requires a lot of investment and time. However, today we have a wide range of available convenient tools that are tailored to various needs, making the process of creating a website simple and fast.
“All it takes is an idea, a computer or a mobile telephone and a few minutes. Our website creation tool Hostinger Website Builder allows even beginner users to create an online shop, a blog or any other online project very quickly and without any knowledge of design or programming.
Another very handy tool for creating simple and small online projects is the WordPress content management system. It has a large ecosystem, quite a simple management for developers and curious users, and provides an opportunity to achieve the desired results quickly, easily and without too much investment. WordPress guarantees the longevity, easy maintenance and expansion of functionality of the created website. I believe that this content management system, which is currently the most popular in the world, will not give up its position until the appearance of an equal competitor,” - assures Product Manager at Hostinger S. Larazavičius.
P. Kazakevičius, who is developing the e-shop žvejonė.lt for his fishing hobby, confirms that it is not difficult to create and administer a website.
“As an old-school person and a builder who has nothing in common with information technology, I was impressed by the simplicity and clarity of the content management system developed by Hostinger Website Builder. Moreover, it ensures easy integration of the e-shop into the website.
I can easily upload text, photographs, products and edit everything myself. Managing and developing the website myself is very important because it provides flexibility. I am also very happy that my nephew Titas Kazakevičius, who graduated from KTU School of Young Computer Scientists, has successfully put the knowledge he has gained into practice by helping me to develop and administer the website. That is how žvejonė.lt was born much sooner than it would if I had done everything myself,” - admits fisherman P. Kazakevičius, who is trying to realise his dream of turning his fishing hobby at sea into a business.
Content development is a challenge
When asked how he became interested in website development and what aspect was the most difficult, Titas, who is still a schoolboy, says that he has always been interested in computers, so he decided to deepen his knowledge at KTU School of Young Computer Scientists.
Titas Kazakevičius, žvejonė.lt Website Developer
“I began by studying programming in Python language at KTU School of Young Computer Scientists. Later, I became interested in website development, as it seemed the most practical area of all.
However, while creating websites I have noticed that it is much more difficult to create content than it is to write the code, install the content management system or customise the design. Writing text, search engine optimisation (SEO) and marketing are a big challenge when developing a website,” - thinks T. Kazakevičius.
According to T. Kazakevičius, artificial intelligence can be used for descriptions of services and goods, although the texts generated by ChatGPT, Copilot or Perplexity should not be copied.
“Artificial intelligence is very helpful in creating content for a website. Even if it is not capable of writing great texts instead of you yet, it is indispensable for generating ideas.
Your first website may not look very good, but with experience, invested time and convenient tools, you will achieve a lot. You can create an attractive website on your own, without a big investment. All you need is determination and perseverance to create it yourself, and all it takes is a domain registration and a hosting plan,” - claims T. Kazakevičius.
The key to success is product development
Even though website creation seems easy with free content management systems, a wide range of design templates and functional tools available, the internet is full of uninformative, systematically un-updated, poorly maintained, neglected and unsafe websites.
Saulius Larazavičius, Product Manager at Website Hosting Company Hostinger
“It is a misconception that the success of a website or e-shop is entirely dependent on technology; however, it is largely determined by the quality of the product and the competitive environment. It is crucial to ensure that the product is needed by customers, easily found and promoted. It is essential to develop the business and improve the product to meet the needs of the market,” - emphasises S. Larazavičius, Product Manager at Hostinger, a web hosting company.
If a product or service is not developed, there is a high probability that the website will be unsuccessful. On the other hand, even the most successful and well-developed business needs a well-operating website.
“The most common reasons for failure and mistakes are poor website design and complex structure. Mismatched colours, too much text, disorderly located buttons, blurry images and inconvenient layouts can put customers off, but these tasks can be delegated to artificial intelligence now.
A website needs visitors to become a profitable business, so inadequate marketing and poor website hosting and security also contribute to a website’s failure. For this reason, it is essential to carefully choose your service provider and assess the quality of the service,” - states S. Larazavičius.
According to him, a high-quality website must load quickly so that visitors do not have to wait long for the page to open. There are plenty of means to achieve this, such as high-performance servers, cloud computing and other technical solutions.
“In terms of the website loading speed, the biggest challenge is the database. It is important to optimise database queries, use indexes and normalisation of the database structure. Caching and optimisation are required for static content, such as images.
The next step is to use a content delivery network (CDN) or other measures to bring the content of the website closer to the user. Taking into account all of the above-mentioned levels, avoiding the use of unnecessary plugins in the content management system, keeping the code clean and adhering to the security principles can ensure the best result,” - advises S. Larazavičius.
Published 2024-11-21
