How to get international re-directs to a .com?

January 18, 2008 10:14 AM

How to get .ru , .cn, .mx, .ve, .br, and possibly other country URLs as a re-direct to my company's .com?

The company I work for has a growing international presence, and I'd like to extend our web presence by having "local" URLs with redirects to our company website. Eg. from "myurl.ru", "myurl.mx", "myurl.br", etc. to "myurl.com".

We work mostly through independent reps and distributors, and do not have offices or PO boxes in these countries.

I'm asking this question mostly from an administrative/business, not a technical, point of view...

Is the domain name registration process different when applying for country TLDs?

Is it different for each of the above countries?

Are there countries in the above list for which I flat-out can't do this?

Does the re-direct need to be physically hosted in the TLD country, or can the world's DNSs take care of the re-direct?

Any recommendations on registration agencies and hosting companies to use/not use?

Thanks!

posted by ZenMasterThis to computers & internet (10 comments total)

The domain name registration process varies from country to country, and can be downright byzantine at times. You can accomplish the re-direct(s) with CNAMEs in the various zone files. My company ended up using a third-party to handle the local documentation/local presence issues in the various countries where we have an online presence.
posted by jquinby at 10:23 AM on January 18

Ah, forget to mention that you might need to do a bit tweaking at your main website. This thread discusses how to accomplish it with a VirtualHost directive. You'd need one entry for each external website.
posted by jquinby at 10:28 AM on January 18

Hi jquinby--

Thanks. What kind of third-party do I look for to handle this? Anyone you would/wouldn't recommend?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 10:30 AM on January 18

It looks like Brazil requires you be a resident to register a domain. On the other hand, it looks like the registrars just avoid this by using a local party to register all the domains. So not much of a problem. Pricey though: $150 or so per year.

To the larger question, each country runs its own TLD and so has its own rules. Some are fairly strict and it's very hard to get a domain as a company if the company is not registered in the country. For instance, Ireland. So you have to do the research on each one. Any domain that's listed at a big registrar like godaddy (like .cn) is easy though.
posted by smackfu at 10:31 AM on January 18

ZenMasterThis - you've got mefi mail.
posted by jquinby at 10:41 AM on January 18

Thanks, jquinby!
posted by ZenMasterThis at 10:43 AM on January 18

Any domain that's listed at a big registrar like godaddy (like .cn) is easy though.

Be careful with that. Even if it's offered by larger registrars, most ccTLDs still require a local presence. Even better, the large registrar will take your (nonrefundable) application fee, and if your request is denied, you're outta luck.

I've found Wikipedia to be a brilliant source of information for particular ccTLDs. Click in the TLD itself to see the rules/details regarding its ownership.
posted by phredgreen at 12:41 PM on January 18

Thanks, phredgreen!
posted by ZenMasterThis at 12:56 PM on January 18

You can register a .mx domain through the only official registrar, nic.mx. Their site is only in Spanish but you don't have to be a resident.
posted by clearlydemon at 3:12 PM on January 18

Thanks, clearlydemon.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 5:26 PM on January 18