Q for all you 'symbol' owners...

[brian1234]

Hi

Those of you who own a <special character>
'symbol' IDN where the symbol is NOT actually
on a keyboard, how do you plan on getting users
to access your domain?

Will you...

1) ask users to input the Punycode?
2) ask them to type ALT+whatever?
3) do you have another idea?

Regards,

[Named]

Have a domain that spells it out.

Example: http://eightballsymbol.com/

[brian1234]

Originally Posted by Named

Have a domain that spells it out.

Example: http://eightballsymbol.com/

Ok, great, but surely the symbol name is just theoretical?.. as it can not be identified visually, nor can there be shown to be any kind of credible relationship between the symbol and the text name.

Or could there be some other way of at least displaying the symbol in the browser bar or as a hyperlink?

Regards,

[tekz999]

URL forwarding is also good. But I see no point, typing the all those english alphabets, then redirect to a symbol. Just make the website with english alphabets then.

I would ask user to type ALT+blehz

[brian1234]

Originally Posted by tekz999

I would ask user to type ALT+blehz

Yes, that would (potentially) be the better option but, of course, no credible company would ever feel comfortable in inviting their users to do this.

(and entering punycode is just as bad!).

[Named]

Originally Posted by brian1234

Ok, great, but surely the symbol name is just theoretical?.. as it can not be identified visually, nor can there be shown to be any kind of credible relationship between the symbol and the text name.

Then it is worthless as a generic symbol. But, it may have potential as a brand name logo of some kind, and then you could advertise it.

Many companies use stars and generic shapes of various kinds for their logos, so if you found the one that was the closest match to your logo, that would be an awesome domain to use.

[Named]

Originally Posted by tekz999

URL forwarding is also good. But I see no point, typing the all those english alphabets, then redirect to a symbol. Just make the website with english alphabets then.

A symbol is much better than any English domain. Because it is a symbol. The point is, to access the symbol, you type in a domain in the language you want.

Say you owned the PHONE SYMBOL. If you were building a site around it, you would be smart to buy phonesymbol.com in the languages you want to have the site in, and then advertize it with the actual symbol as the brand, and then have in smaller type the spelled out domain name that people could use to access it.

[burnsinternet]

I do get some traffic to 1¢.com (xn--1-8ba.com) but I am not sure why. I am so old, that I registered it and THEN realized that the cent symbol is only on typewriters, not computer keyboards. I still like the domain and plan to keep it. Avg PPC is 24¢ (that's $0.24 for you computer users).

[Lmg67]

I get traffic to many of my symbol domains, some of them relatively lots of traffic. (over 100)

I see using them this way. say you have:

www.✈travel✈.com (one of mine)

Someone types the word "travel" into google, and this domain comes up in the results because you've done what you need to do to get it optimized enough to do well in a search. (like all web owners aspire to do)

If someone sees this domain, surrounded by all the normal domains, which will they click on? Everyone will be curious to see what this airplane symbol travel domain is, it's unique, interesting, a curiosity, very unusual, cool, etc. So they'll click on it, and then you can redirect them to your travel site. You will get a LOT more traffic on your site using a symbol domain of this kind as a redirect. All the other travel domains look the same when they come up in results.

OR if this will BE your travel site, and you've done a good job with it, the viewer will bookmark the site, and then they don't have to have the airplane symbol on their keyboard. They just go to their bookmarks/favorites.

Those are the two ways I see as using symbols. That's why I actually think symbols work better with a word in them. This way they'll show up in searches when people type in that word. And it's the surrounding, interesting-looking symbol that will guarantee their click.

I'm not sure how to get a plain symbol (like just the airplane) to show up in a Google search. That's why most of mine have a word in them. Though I did buy some plain ones because they are interesting and a novelty. And I've gotten quite a few bids on them.

[brian1234]

Originally Posted by Lmg67

Those are the two ways I see as using symbols. That's why I actually think symbols work better with a word in them. This way they'll show up in searches when people type in that word. And it's the surrounding symbol that will guarantee their click.

Hi

Interesting response... Mixed IDN scripts, which is basically what you are advocating here, is both acceptable and meritworthy.

Whilst it is currently possible to list these names in search engine results, I am not sure that such names would actually rank well (especially so on sought after keywords like 'travel').

Nonetheless, this is clever and creative avenue of domain name speculation.

Regards,

[Lmg67]

2 things: Google doesn't "see" the symbol; it only picks up the word. Try it, you'll see. Google will respond as if the two airplanes aren't there, so it sees your site as "travel.com." So having the symbol doesn't add or detract from it showing up in the results.

Also, mixed scripts are NOT officially acceptable. They were banned from being registered months ago to prevent phishing (it wasn't directed at symbols and words, which can't be misleading like mixed language scripts can be!!). But it means that words + symbols can no longer be registered either. However, if you already own them, you can continue to renew and use them. This obviously greatly increases the value of these domains. Whatever is already out there, that's it. No more regg'ing them. This makes them more rare and interesting. They'll never be overused or saturate the internet. They'll always remain unique.

People just don't understand them b/c they haven't been seen much yet and they don't know how to use them to their benefit. But they will, as more are actually developed and show up in Google results, and they'll see how drawn they are to click on them. And that's when the profits roll in for the owners!