Registering Premium, Regular And International (idn) .tv Domains-the Beginner's Guide
Premium and Regular .TV domain names
Premium
Premium domain names are (generally) superior domain names which carry an inflated annual fee). The .TV Corporation set the relevant registration fees and premium names can only be registered at www.tv.
Prices for premium names are generally negotiable with the .TV COrporation though, so don't reg any premium name without contacting the .TV Corporation through the links made available on the site to obtain a better price.
Registration fees are also reduced (for premium/regular and IDN registrations) by registering and paying for more than 1 year up front - to a maximum of ten years. If you're cashed up and have a good name which you won't be dropping soon you might want to do this.
Regular.TV
Regular .TV names are domain names which aren't considered premium names by the .TV COrporation (often wrongly so) and can be registered for an annual registration fee of anywhere between $25-$50 per annum depending on the registrar you use to register the name.
www.tv are generally speaking, pretty expensive for regular registrations and I tend to use www.godaddy.com with an appropriate discount code - i.e "usa6" or "slash" - there are probably others. This will reduce the annual fee for a single domain registration to about $30 US. Occassionaly you can get a cheaper deal elsewhere. DD24.NET were offering .tv at $21 US recently and this deal might still be available.
IDN.TV
IDN means "internationalised domain names".
IDN's are domain names registered in the native language of a country - e.g japanese/chinese/korea/thai/russian/arabic characters or or in French, German etc etc etc.
I have a number of asian IDN's registered in .TV as you can see in my signature.
You cannot register IDN's directly through www.tv.
Both dd24.net and idotz.net allow you to register IDN.tv domains. There are probably other registrars but I am not aware of them. I prefer dd24.net (note you pay in Euro $'s).
Registering IDN's (unless you speak and write the native language) is not an exact science.
My strategy is to first choose an appropriate word (in English) and then translate that word to the appropriate native language using the translation service at www.babelfish.altavista.com.
Once I get the translation I do overture and google searches to see if the particular word (in the native language) that I intend to register is commonly searched for in the relevant country and also to see if I can identify a more popular term by looking higher up the overture etc results list and using google to translate websites in the native language to see how the word is used by the native writers.
If there does seem to be a better word in the native language you should repeat the process and translate that word back through babelfish to see what the word means (roughly) and whether it makes sense to register that domain name instead (or as well).
Chinese IDN registrations are problematic IMO because Overture results don't seem to really show up for Chinese and there is the choice of registering in both simplified and traditional chinese. IMO this could be further "simplified" by having one style of writing for each language but each country to their own.
If you get the choice go with simplified because simplified chinese is more commonly used than traditional chinese by mainland chinese (as a general rule but there are exceptions).
Also note that some cultures use different words for the same thing in English. For example the word "shop" in English might not give you the preferred translation for the equivalent term you are looking for in the native language. For example, The translation for "retail shop" or "market" might be the preferred term - check the keyword results to work it out or ask a friend) - its a bit of guesswork!
Personally I prefer Japanese words which are easier to identify to avoid this issue.
For non-chinese IDN's you may be able to use the wordtracker keyword search too - www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/?keywords, which is better than overture (IMO)
Finally check whether your word has been registered in all more popular TLD's (.com, .net and the relvant country TLD etc) by using the registration at dd24.net or idotz.net.
If it is a good domain name it should already be registered in .com, .net and the relevant country code and often even .tv.
However you may just have struck gold and found an unregistered generic in .com so it may be the best news you get all year.
Personally, I use www.dd24.net to register IDN's.
There is also lots of helpful info at www.idnforums.com on registering IDN's.
A little plug for IDN's
The uptake of .tv within the asian countries has been notable.
For example, take an equivalent english generic that fits the extension and note the number of foreign networks that have bought and developed a dot tv extension for that generic - "newspaper" in chinese is a good example - note the number of chinese networks that have bought and developed [network]news.tv
The uptake of .tv by the Korean market is also disproportionate to population.
All this despite the fact the IE6 is not compatible with IDN's and registration of IDN's is a pain in the %^$*.
My philosophy is that .tv (in English) is not a sure thing until it is a sure thing. But risk is relative to return! Thus, IMHO you are speculating even if you buy premium english language .tv domain names.
However, whether you register in English or in IDN is largely insignificant - it's just that when you buy an IDN you target a different market....native language speakers that aren't American.
After all, if you were Korean I'm sure you would prefer to search for and read Korean websites.
And what is the advantage? Almost all IDN's can be registered at regular prices. For example news.tv in English has a face registration (yes I'm sure you would get it much cheaper of $1million) but in Chinese and Japanese -$21 US!
Want a specific example, check out the offers that manga.tv has received on Sedo.
http://www.sedo.com/search/details.php4?domain=manga.tv&tracked=&partnerid=&language=us
First surprising thing - the number of offers for a .tv extension. The second surprising thing - "manga" is the English representation of the Japanese word for comic (loosely translated) - you can see the characters for the word in Japanese (native language) in my signature below.
Personally, I was prepared to take the "risk" on the Japanese IDN, because the registration met my basic tests:
For me this is simply a question of:
(1) would a japanese native rather look up manga or spell the term in their native language?
(2) Does the native term get searched. Check digitalpoint and check out the stats for yourself.
(3) Does the regged word "fit" the TLD?
IMO - All boxes ticked, but you are welcome to disagree!
So in summary if you are happy to take the risk you should buy high ranking keywords only (in that language), do your homework and buy names that fit the TLD.
IMO, your IDN investment will be no worse than the vast majority of recent .tv purchases - particulary those that are undeveloped. Which contrary to common postings are getting progressively less desirable, subject to the odd diamond in the rough.
This is a good thing. When there are no more good .tv registrations the value of your stock will go up. Supply and demand - it's a beautiful thing.
Good Luck
DOT TV FAN
P.S This is pretty rough so suggested amendments are welcome. please just post below. Once the amendments are made we can ask the staff to delete the thread requesting the amendment out to keep the thread tidy. Cheers all
p.s Could staff pls change thread title to what it says when you open it. Sorry!
Premium and Regular .TV domain names
Premium
Premium domain names are (generally) superior domain names which carry an inflated annual fee). The .TV Corporation set the relevant registration fees and premium names can only be registered at www.tv.
Prices for premium names are generally negotiable with the .TV COrporation though, so don't reg any premium name without contacting the .TV Corporation through the links made available on the site to obtain a better price.
Registration fees are also reduced (for premium/regular and IDN registrations) by registering and paying for more than 1 year up front - to a maximum of ten years. If you're cashed up and have a good name which you won't be dropping soon you might want to do this.
Regular.TV
Regular .TV names are domain names which aren't considered premium names by the .TV COrporation (often wrongly so) and can be registered for an annual registration fee of anywhere between $25-$50 per annum depending on the registrar you use to register the name.
www.tv are generally speaking, pretty expensive for regular registrations and I tend to use www.godaddy.com with an appropriate discount code - i.e "usa6" or "slash" - there are probably others. This will reduce the annual fee for a single domain registration to about $30 US. Occassionaly you can get a cheaper deal elsewhere. DD24.NET were offering .tv at $21 US recently and this deal might still be available.
IDN.TV
IDN means "internationalised domain names".
IDN's are domain names registered in the native language of a country - e.g japanese/chinese/korea/thai/russian/arabic characters or or in French, German etc etc etc.
I have a number of asian IDN's registered in .TV as you can see in my signature.
You cannot register IDN's directly through www.tv.
Both dd24.net and idotz.net allow you to register IDN.tv domains. There are probably other registrars but I am not aware of them. I prefer dd24.net (note you pay in Euro $'s).
Registering IDN's (unless you speak and write the native language) is not an exact science.
My strategy is to first choose an appropriate word (in English) and then translate that word to the appropriate native language using the translation service at www.babelfish.altavista.com.
Once I get the translation I do overture and google searches to see if the particular word (in the native language) that I intend to register is commonly searched for in the relevant country and also to see if I can identify a more popular term by looking higher up the overture etc results list and using google to translate websites in the native language to see how the word is used by the native writers.
If there does seem to be a better word in the native language you should repeat the process and translate that word back through babelfish to see what the word means (roughly) and whether it makes sense to register that domain name instead (or as well).
Chinese IDN registrations are problematic IMO because Overture results don't seem to really show up for Chinese and there is the choice of registering in both simplified and traditional chinese. IMO this could be further "simplified" by having one style of writing for each language but each country to their own.
If you get the choice go with simplified because simplified chinese is more commonly used than traditional chinese by mainland chinese (as a general rule but there are exceptions).
Also note that some cultures use different words for the same thing in English. For example the word "shop" in English might not give you the preferred translation for the equivalent term you are looking for in the native language. For example, The translation for "retail shop" or "market" might be the preferred term - check the keyword results to work it out or ask a friend) - its a bit of guesswork!
Personally I prefer Japanese words which are easier to identify to avoid this issue.
For non-chinese IDN's you may be able to use the wordtracker keyword search too - www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/?keywords, which is better than overture (IMO)
Finally check whether your word has been registered in all more popular TLD's (.com, .net and the relvant country TLD etc) by using the registration at dd24.net or idotz.net.
If it is a good domain name it should already be registered in .com, .net and the relevant country code and often even .tv.
However you may just have struck gold and found an unregistered generic in .com so it may be the best news you get all year.
Personally, I use www.dd24.net to register IDN's.
There is also lots of helpful info at www.idnforums.com on registering IDN's.
A little plug for IDN's
The uptake of .tv within the asian countries has been notable.
For example, take an equivalent english generic that fits the extension and note the number of foreign networks that have bought and developed a dot tv extension for that generic - "newspaper" in chinese is a good example - note the number of chinese networks that have bought and developed [network]news.tv
The uptake of .tv by the Korean market is also disproportionate to population.
All this despite the fact the IE6 is not compatible with IDN's and registration of IDN's is a pain in the %^$*.
My philosophy is that .tv (in English) is not a sure thing until it is a sure thing. But risk is relative to return! Thus, IMHO you are speculating even if you buy premium english language .tv domain names.
However, whether you register in English or in IDN is largely insignificant - it's just that when you buy an IDN you target a different market....native language speakers that aren't American.
After all, if you were Korean I'm sure you would prefer to search for and read Korean websites.
And what is the advantage? Almost all IDN's can be registered at regular prices. For example news.tv in English has a face registration (yes I'm sure you would get it much cheaper of $1million) but in Chinese and Japanese -$21 US!
Want a specific example, check out the offers that manga.tv has received on Sedo.
http://www.sedo.com/search/details.php4?domain=manga.tv&tracked=&partnerid=&language=us
First surprising thing - the number of offers for a .tv extension. The second surprising thing - "manga" is the English representation of the Japanese word for comic (loosely translated) - you can see the characters for the word in Japanese (native language) in my signature below.
Personally, I was prepared to take the "risk" on the Japanese IDN, because the registration met my basic tests:
For me this is simply a question of:
(1) would a japanese native rather look up manga or spell the term in their native language?
(2) Does the native term get searched. Check digitalpoint and check out the stats for yourself.
(3) Does the regged word "fit" the TLD?
IMO - All boxes ticked, but you are welcome to disagree!
So in summary if you are happy to take the risk you should buy high ranking keywords only (in that language), do your homework and buy names that fit the TLD.
IMO, your IDN investment will be no worse than the vast majority of recent .tv purchases - particulary those that are undeveloped. Which contrary to common postings are getting progressively less desirable, subject to the odd diamond in the rough.
This is a good thing. When there are no more good .tv registrations the value of your stock will go up. Supply and demand - it's a beautiful thing.
Good Luck
DOT TV FAN
P.S This is pretty rough so suggested amendments are welcome. please just post below. Once the amendments are made we can ask the staff to delete the thread requesting the amendment out to keep the thread tidy. Cheers all
p.s Could staff pls change thread title to what it says when you open it. Sorry!
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