I have an ecommerce site www.thesolidwoodfurniturecompany.com it is hosted in the usa. Should I have hosted it in the UK and should my host also have been from the UK as my main market is not the USA but the UK. If so can I just buy a host package in the UK and a co.uk name and copy the site?
Buy the .co.uk and just redirect it to the .com with a permanent redirect - 301 i think it is
The only difference with having it on US servers is google, which gives uk sites with uk servers a little bit more weight, but thats not a major problem.
.com’s usually seem more professional and dont make a difference to most uk users - if the prices are in £s, it good enough for the uk so .com/co.uk doesnt really matter
It’s not necessary to have a co.uk domain nor a host in the UK but people in the UK might be more receptive to ordering from a company that is instantly recognizable as a UK company. I would buy the co.uk for your domain and use it as a mirror.
It is not necessary but google ranks .co.uk domains better in google.co.uk / web sites hosted in UK. May be you can contact a seo expert at website like to help you out.