Bridge – Just 3,800 domain names have been registered in Vietnamese since they were first issued 18 months ago.

Most site owners said they registered their domains in Vietnamese to not miss advertising opportunities on search engines like Google or Yahoo.

Cao Kim Trong, Director of the Kim Tín Jewelry Company, was one of the first in line to register kimtín.vn as a site, after state agencies allowed for Vietnamese domain names. He said he registered the site to protect the brand, which he had built over 20 years.

“The number of visitors coming to my site through the Vietnamese domain name (kimtín) is equivalent to 50% of the visitors who click to the domain name without accents (kimtin),” said Trong.

And when they are given away for free, what’s not to like?

“I knew that Vietnamese domain names (with accents) aren’t as popular but I can get a free Vietnamese domain name when I register a traditional one (without accents) so why not?” said Phung Thanh Chuong, the owner of chơithểthao.vn, a sports wear retailer.

But the 3,800 odd accented registrations still pale in comparison to the nearly 30,000 non-accented domains that were registered last year.

“The growth of Vietnamese domain names is low, but it reflects the viewpoint of users. They are not as convenient to use,” said Tran Ngoc Quang, Chief of the Domain Name Service Department of FPT’s Online Data Company.

Tran Minh Tan, VNNIC’s Deputy Director said the while growth is modest, it is unfair to make comparisons between traditional and Vietnamese domain names.

“The number is not important. What is important is that we have one more channel for the user,” Tan said.

(Source: VNE)