This is actually taken from the title of an article published on several Chinese sites including 22.cn, and is the result of a study of dozens of excellent companies in China. Even though the author’s name is not clearly indicated, I find the content interesting enough to share with you. The study also included analysis of sources of website visitors.
1.
Direct traffic still provides the largest number of visitors to a website, and it’s importance is increasing. Look at the following table which compares sources of Baidu traffic data in the last three years: direct visit, via search engines, via directories, via social networks, or via other methods.
| Year | Direct | Search | Directory | Social | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 40.01% | 18.78% | 4.73% | 1.74% | 34.74% |
| 2015 | 41.53% | 23.3% | 2.85% | 2.93% | 29.39% |
| 2016 | 42.02% | 26.32% | 1.8% | 0.88% | 28.98% |
2.
Apps in this later stage make domain names even more important. Social networks are implementing more and more rules on what businesses can do on their networks, affecting the survival of many companies. For example, Du Yue Wen Zhai (读悦文摘) with 3 million followers was banned a while ago. Another famous case was Dazi (大字) gaming which was banned but emerged again by offering games from its own website built on the domain name Dazi.vc. Now it has full control of its own destiny.
3.
A good domain name boosts your competitiveness. Sina launched Weibo microblogging service using T.sina.com.cn in 2009. Then it bought Weibo.com.cn for about 5 figures (6-figure yuan) in the same year. In 2010, again it spent big to secure Weibo.cn, and Weibo.com. In 2011, it officially switched to Weibo.com and the rest is history.
4.
A good domain name creates brand value. For example, JD.com is now included in all logos of Jing Dong so that the domain name itself becomes the advertisement. JD.com and Le.com just show a good domain name is better than tens of millions spent in advertising because it is an asset that rises in value over time.
So, we can see that a good domain name attracts visitors, guarantees independence, boosts competitiveness, and creates brand value. What do you think? The article in Chinese can be found at http://www.22.cn/news/2016/0905/6988.html
Le.com vowels must be good after an l. Only in China
Hi Christopher, Le is Pinyin not acronym. In fact, it is a very good Pinyin because it can mean 乐 (“fun” or “happy”), so the name is very appropriate for the Le TV group.
You’re right about the app market in China, it’s for real. I sold a premium domain to a Chinese developer and it’s doing great, for him.
For now, I have the super-premium “popularity.com” domain name, for sale. I’m confident another Chinese investor will make me an offer.