ccTLD domain hacks. Is their value in them? A few thoughts on .es
POSTED BY Rick Latona IN Web Sites

For those that don't know, a domain hack is when you use the extension to complete a word or phrase like watch.es or jesuschri.st.

We've all heard the success of companies like Blo.gs and Del.icio.us. Those sites have helped raise consumer awareness in the United States that sites don't necessarilly need to end in .com. Does that directly translate to the domain investor?

It's my opinion that it doesn't. At least it doesn't for now. Perhaps sometime in the distant future that will change but it is too far out to speculate.

I'm looking for someone to prove me wrong though. Please tell me if you have had success in selling domain hacks for a substantial return.

For those of you that are looking to register domain hacks or come up with clever web 2.0 names that use directories as well as extensions, check out Domainr. It's a great little site that automatically generates options. A quick search for "latona" came up with lato.na, la.to/na, l.at/ona, lt.na, lat.na, and l.tn/a. While names like those wouldn't have resale value, it's a good resource for a web developer on a budget looking for a catchy brand.

Speaking of names like watch.es. I'm going to diverge for the rest of this post

.es, Like its football team, is more than a hack. Most of us know that.

While it has been more than a week since Spain's world cup victory, we can still use it as inspiration for examining their ccTLD which is .es. Between you and I, I was rooting for The Netherlands. I'd never let that get in the way of a perfectly good blog post, however.

Many forward thinking domainers have been fond of the .es extension for some time. It's one of those rare country codes that represents far more than just a country. There are 21 countries that speak Spanish as their national language. More than 400 million people speak Spanish worldwide and it is the second most natively spoken language in the world, after Mandarin Chinese (source: wikipedia).

With so many countries speaking Spanish, it's hard to imagine maintaining and Internet presence on each of their ccTLD extensions. That's why the debate on Spanish language keywords usually focuses on .com versus .es.

Lastly, I'd like to take a moment to plug my friend Alfredo Torres. He's our resident expert on ccTLDs.com and will answer nearly any question posted there. He's a tremendous help on the board.

  • mnp

    Well, Del.icio.us is in deed creative name but just for sure yahoo also bought delicious.com.

  • http://domaininvest.com Johannes Eriksson

    .ES also get typo traffic from .SE! :)

  • http://zihra.com Soud

    WOW, domai.nr is a great tool. I've been trying to figure out domain hacks manually which was very frustrating specially with examples like del.icio.us. I did found some really great hacks in my manual search journey but I knew why they weren't registered when I was about to register...THE PRICE!!! The next tool I should be looking for is one that alerts when domain extension price drops to 10 bucks.

  • http://zihra.com Soud

    I think a really really valuable hack would be something like XXXX.YY where XXXX is a generic name AND XXXXYY is also a generic name, to find such a name you need to do a lot of prayers and ask forgivness for all the sins you made.

  • http://zihra.com Soud

    EVEN FURTHER MORE; u might be nominated for a nobel prize if the XXXXYYY matches the language of the .YY's country. This article made me more excited to start searching for those hacks :D

  • http://www.nametrader.com Steve Jones

    An offer I recently received on Doma.in tells me they can definitely have value. :) I haven't even publicly offered it for sale but have had a lot of interested buyers seeking it. Not ALL hacks have value but certainly some of the more prime/unique ones can.

  • Ozie

    I have no interest in hacks. But I love the pick of the Wacky Packs "Hacks" sticker. Brings back fond childhood memories.

  • Alfredo Torres

    Regarding the .es domains hack. There have been some sales but they haven't been really significant. I could say that in fact they have been rather casual.

    It's true that the ccTLD extensions in Spanish countries is difficult to maintain (Registry price/1 year .cr $80, .com.pr $100, .bo $140...). But actually just five countries are working well. Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Spain. The rest of them is a very long-term investment.

    By the way Rick thanks for your words about me. I be please to answer questions on ccTLDs.com.

  • Alfredo Torres

    Regarding the .es domains hack. There have been some sales but they haven't really been significant. I could say that in fact they have been rather casual.

    It is true that the ccTLD extensions in Spanish countries is difficult to maintain. But actually just five countries are working well: Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Spain. The rest of them is a very long-term investment.

    By the way Rick thanks for your words about me. I be please to answer questions on ccTLDs.com.

  • http://www.bernav.com Shayen

    you can see some of good domain hacks also at: http://www.bernav.com/?cat=7

    some of them are:
    Anguil.la
    Ho.pe
    Peninsu.la
    Visual.ly

  • Bill

    I think .es is a good ccTLD as well, but I think you're making a mistake in thinking it represents the Spanish language rather than Spain. I don't see why anyone from one of the 21 Spanish speaking countries would want an .es unless they are doing business in Spain. Granted, many will be. But, say, a chain of restaurants or supermarkets entirely based in Argentina will not need an .es.

    Let's take .ie, as in your later blog post, as well as co.uk and .com.au. These are all English speaking countries. How many US companies are securing the .co.uk or .ie for their name?

    While having a large Spanish speaking market is certainly good for language-dependent products, such as DVDs, books, entertainment and software, it means very little to a shampoo maker.

    So I agree the language has some importance, but not enough to make the comparison to China valid. The vast majority of Chinese speakers are in China, and share a common culture and society. I am sure there's an upside to .es because of their financial mess now, but I would be wary of giving it too much credit based simply on language.

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