They are not always "bad" LLL letters

[dezinerite]

I read a comment from one of the members in here who said something about the Chinese and their affinity for "bad-letter" domain names. That really isn't fair, you can't always bring yourself to see things from an English-speaking person's perspective all the time.

The Chinese tend to use letters like QXZ and all the "bad" letters because they are not using English abbreviations, they are using Chinese abbreviations for their syllables. People don't always cater for English-speaking audiences you know. According to forbes.com in early 2006:
"Chinese Internet users spend nearly two billion hours online each week, while the U.S. audience logs on for 129 million hours per week..."

Now with China's economic boom & the surge of Chinese (and non-Chinese) wanting to start online businesses, perhaps those "bad letter" LLL domains aren't such a bad idea after all?

 

[Marck]

So what letters are most frequently found in Chinese business names and abbreviations? What are Chinese "good letters"?

 

[dezinerite]

Well, many don't care to go for Chinese character domain names (it's more expensive, it won't load on some browsers and non-Chinese site visitors won't be able to visit the site) so they opt for "pinyin" which is the 'phonetic transcription (English letters)' - and many of their syllables begin with what we consider 'bad letters'. Lots of X, Q, Z, H...

Before I learnt the language I did wonder why they seemed to be drawn towards these odd letters. One of the most popular odd-letter sites is qq.com which has a PR of 7. Yeah, people in China seems to like Q...and the word 'pop'!

 

[bobdigital]

There are no bad letters when it comes to LLL.coms or LL.coms :imho:

 

[zestydomains*com]

Great thread,

Bob, I think you're absolutely right. When it comes to LL.com's and LLL.com's, some letters are perhaps better than others, but all have their strong values and uses across many languages. Many have said that Q, X, Y, Z are poor letters, but the reality is that they are just lesser quality in some of Western World domaining. Many great LL and LLL domains around the world contain these letters and many of these such combos are in happy end-user hands around the world.

Some might say that the value of each LL and LLL domain is in the eye of the beholder, but one man's lesser letter combo can certainly be another's prime internet property.

zesty

 

[Spade]

Did I Hit the Chinese Jackpot? QBZ.com? lol... Maybe I'll hold out for a Chinese buyer.

 

[yesonline]

As what I told before, Z, X are very popular in Chinese, such as ZhongGou means China in pinyin, ZhongWen means Chinese lanuage, so you should Z is a very good letter in Chinese.

 

[italiandragon]

I read a comment from one of the members in here who said something about the Chinese and their affinity for "bad-letter" domain names. That really isn't fair, you can't always bring yourself to see things from an English-speaking person's perspective all the time.

The Chinese tend to use letters like QXZ and all the "bad" letters because they are not using English abbreviations, they are using Chinese abbreviations for their syllables. People don't always cater for English-speaking audiences you know. According to forbes.com in early 2006:
"Chinese Internet users spend nearly two billion hours online each week, while the U.S. audience logs on for 129 million hours per week..."

Now with China's economic boom & the surge of Chinese (and non-Chinese) wanting to start online businesses, perhaps those "bad letter" LLL domains aren't such a bad idea after all?

I assume you are referring to my POLL.
Unfortunately the presence of Chinese users in this forum is much lower than other Countries and the native English speakers are the biggest audience of NP.
Also, the main buyers of domain names are native English speakers, so we have to focus on that.
And I`m not a native English speaker so , despite my native language use ASCII chars , I still have some troubles but I need to go with the major market.
It is useful to know the Chinese point of view , but I don`t speak or read Chinese , do you?

 

[sashas]

the chinese website with the highest traffic is QQ.com
the english website with the highest traffic? Google.com

Compare the two names. Google.com has all good letters, three vowels, two repeating Gs and one L.
QQ.com has just...two Q
other popular Chinese websites all usually have Z, X or Y in them.

But should that be a surprise? Look at the Chinese cities and people. Lanzhou, Hanzhou...the Chinese love Zs and Q

Good thread and I think you have a valid point here.
Too bad the Chinese PPC pays so little (I get just .02 cents per click!)

 

[BinderGang]

I seriously think anyone who calls any LLL.com letter "crap" is insane. You find me any other piece of "crap" - that's worth a few grand!

 

[Dotmainer]

ah Z is best letter there can be

and all that are "thinking in box" should look at great companies

Zune (by Microsoft)
Vuze (by Azureus)
Zoki (by me )

 

[ilcesco]

too bad i've never seen a 6 figure chinese buyer (not even 3 or 4 figure for that matter) for a western-style acronym, and chinese traffic pays only about 1/10 of normal US/European clicks.

just saying.. time will tell.

 

[Finer - Tommy]

Great thread. I agree 150% about this topic. I think that there are definatly better names then others but all LLL domains are worth a pretty penny.

 

[cache]

fewer chinese buyers now, you really need wait many years until that market
take off. The internet usage market is growing fast, but the domain market
is still not there.

 

[dezinerite]

I assume you are referring to my POLL.
Unfortunately the presence of Chinese users in this forum is much lower than other Countries and the native English speakers are the biggest audience of NP.
Also, the main buyers of domain names are native English speakers, so we have to focus on that.
And I`m not a native English speaker so , despite my native language use ASCII chars , I still have some troubles but I need to go with the major market.
It is useful to know the Chinese point of view , but I don`t speak or read Chinese , do you?

I was not trying to create antagonism by starting this thread. I just wanted to promote awareness. There are tons of domain name experts in here, but there are also absolute no0bs. If a lucky newbie somehow got himself a cheap LLL.com and finds out that it contains what you consider "bad letters", he might chuck it away or sell it for a lot less than it's worth. So rather than misleading the no0bs and the people who might feel they've got a bad LLL.com, I think it was rather nice of me to present the silver lining on this dark cloud?

Well yeah, I can pretty much read & speak Chinese. At this point in our lives anyone wanting to make money should know English & Mandarin.