Aloha

[JamieMac]

Howdy everyone,

I'm trying to quickly get up to speed on IDNs, so go easy on me..I'm fairly new to domaining but a big believer in the IDN space. I used to work in the web globalisation arena, but I've been in search marketing (mostly ppc) since 2004. I've got a few basic questions:

1. Do languages/countries that have an alphabet that isn't compatible with ASCII would have a greater upside in the IDN realm than would say French or German? I would think that you'd see greater traffic for simplified Chinese, Korean, Russian/Cyrilic or Japanese than you would for the same term as an IDN in French or German. Is this the case?

2. In general are IDNs more of a buy and hold play right now, or are they getting enough traffic to monetize on them now? Or is it a fractured market, wherein only a few monster terms are working in each language?

3. Where can I find info on the secondary market for IDN's? Especially Russian and Swedish?

Thanks in advance!

[jacksonm]

Originally Posted by JamieMac

1. Do languages/countries that have an alphabet that isn't compatible with ASCII would have a greater upside in the IDN realm than would say French or German? I would think that you'd see greater traffic for simplified Chinese, Korean, Russian/Cyrilic or Japanese than you would for the same term as an IDN in French or German. Is this the case?

2. In general are IDNs more of a buy and hold play right now, or are they getting enough traffic to monetize on them now? Or is it a fractured market, wherein only a few monster terms are working in each language?

3. Where can I find info on the secondary market for IDN's? Especially Russian and Swedish?

Hi, welcome.

1. I don't believe that there is any difference in the traffic a latin or non-latin IDN will receive, all other things being equal. The reason is that German people don't type "koln" when they are searching for "köln", and search engines will match "köln.com" or "köln.de" to a search for "köln" better than they will to "koln.com" or "koln.de". However, users of latin based scripts can certainly type in koln.com or koeln.com easier than a Chinese person could type in "beijing.com".

2. IDNs monetize just as well as ascii IMO. Adsense is available for most major languages. This is late in the game, though. You will be hard pressed to find any generic IDNs available that have high OVT scores and would thus receive enough traffic to generate revenue. Anything of value needs to be bought secondary now. All major languages have been strip-mined.

3. This forum is the best place on the net for IDN info and secondary market, bar none. Most of the major IDN domainers are here, a lot of the knowledge is here, etc. We also discuss quite a lot of non-domain related stuff, but don't let that throw you off.

4. The surest way to get flamed, kicked, banned, ridiculed, etc is to come here and try to trade in domains which are trademarks. Just a friendly forewarning.

.

[bwhhisc]

Welcome to the IDNForums. Probably the best way to pick up domains is to create a thread and
advertise what you are looking for and ask for lists and prices by PM.

Many are successful using the who.is to contact domain holders by email and solicit purchases.
There are still very good IDN out there at reg fee but you have to dig.

[Drewbert]

Hi Jamie,

Good to see you here.

I still have your PM open in a tab. Maybe now everyone else will answer the questions for you.

[Rubber Duck]

Originally Posted by JamieMac

Howdy everyone,

I'm trying to quickly get up to speed on IDNs, so go easy on me..I'm fairly new to domaining but a big believer in the IDN space. I used to work in the web globalisation arena, but I've been in search marketing (mostly ppc) since 2004. I've got a few basic questions:

1. Do languages/countries that have an alphabet that isn't compatible with ASCII would have a greater upside in the IDN realm than would say French or German? I would think that you'd see greater traffic for simplified Chinese, Korean, Russian/Cyrilic or Japanese than you would for the same term as an IDN in French or German. Is this the case?

2. In general are IDNs more of a buy and hold play right now, or are they getting enough traffic to monetize on them now? Or is it a fractured market, wherein only a few monster terms are working in each language?

3. Where can I find info on the secondary market for IDN's? Especially Russian and Swedish?

Thanks in advance!

1. More or less on target but browser support is greater in Europe at the moment so the picture is distorted. Latin is doing comparatively well at the moment, but a haymaker from the Asia corner will send it flying out of the ring any time soon.


2. Focus on existing traffic at the moment and you are a loser. Nobody is going to sell to you on multiples of existing traffic, simply because traffic is anticipated to explode.

3. Several guys have Swedish here. We have a lot of good Russian, but aren't currently being attracted into the market for those domains.

[burnsinternet]

RD or anyone else here, can you give JamieMac a generic idea or ballpark price of an IDN that covers its own renewal fees?

In other words, at what price would you sell an IDN that covers its own reg fee? Assuming that you would sell it, of course. I would not. I am stingy.

[Fka200]

Originally Posted by burnsinternet

RD or anyone else here, can you give JamieMac a generic idea or ballpark price of an IDN that covers its own renewal fees?

In other words, at what price would you sell an IDN that covers its own reg fee? Assuming that you would sell it, of course. I would not. I am stingy.

I would like to know the same as well... just checked some parking stats and I was surprised by some of the domains I own.

[Rubber Duck]

Originally Posted by burnsinternet

RD or anyone else here, can you give JamieMac a generic idea or ballpark price of an IDN that covers its own renewal fees?

In other words, at what price would you sell an IDN that covers its own reg fee? Assuming that you would sell it, of course. I would not. I am stingy.

If it is currently covering renewal, you are starting at $2-5K, at least you were yesterday!

The point is most sellers are only going to do a handful at that price before they jam a nought on the end.

[burnsinternet]

Even with ascii, I could never drop or sell something that pays for itself (reg fee if it is parked, developed is more). It doesn't make sense. Of course, the right price is rarely offered.

[JamieMac]

Originally Posted by Rubber Duck

We have a lot of good Russian, but aren't currently being attracted into the market for those domains.

Can you share why you aren't liking that market right now?

Thanks to everyone for chiming in, it's like drinking through a fire hose, but in a good way.

[Rubber Duck]

Originally Posted by JamieMac

Can you share why you aren't liking that market right now?

Thanks to everyone for chiming in, it's like drinking through a fire hose, but in a good way.

Serious buyers have been largely absent of late.

Those that think we are going to give away our IDN are dreaming.

Those that fail to appreciate that IDN prices are about to ramp up steeply are sleep walking.

Selling when you know domains are going to be worth 10 times as much next year is hard enough. When you know they are going to be xxx-xxxx more next year then it is shear folly.

[burnsinternet]

Some language/market domains have and will appreciate faster than others.

Look at the language population size, current and forecast internet penetration, and language population average income as a start. Some large, wealthy language populations with high internet penetration will probably appreciate very fast (e.g. Japanese) vs wealthy language populations with low internet penetration or poorer populations.

All will do well eventually. It is just a matter of time. I have found the best traffic and revenue domains to be Russian & Swedish. Some would say French or Japanese - it depends on what you have.

In the mean time, everyone is looking for a bargain and few are willing to sell at bargain prices. The standoff....