AFNIC announces IDN registration for .fr domains from May 2012.

An IDN allows you to reach local customers all over the world, in their own language, using their own script. IDNs or Internationalised Domain Names are domain names that can contain characters outside of the ASCII character sets. This means that you can include regional characters that can include accents, cedillas or tildes. Using these new IDNs will extend the traditional number of characters from 37 to 67. .fr domains have been extremely popular since launch and there are now over 2.2 million of them online! Nearly a third of all domains registered in France are .fr domains.

AFNIC, the .fr wants to allow these localised characters into .fr, .re, .tf, .wf, .pm and .yt domains. These are a great opportunity for European domain name holders to reach local customers in these areas. From the 3rd May 2012 the Sunrise period will launch. This continues for a month to allow trademark owners to register web address that are the same or similar to their trademarks in an attempt to stop any potential Intellectual Property disputes. From 3rd July 2012, the registry will open applications to the public. This will be on a “first come, first served” basis. So make sure that any domains you want to register with these new characters are applied for as close as possible to this date.

There are a number of advantages to registering a IDN. Firstly, as mentioned before, it provides a much more personal experience for users from the locales that use these characters in their written language. Ensure the visibility of your site by allowing it to be viewed in native script by native speakers. Protect anyone trying to steal your trademark by registering any similar IDNs, as we have seen with other TLDs. Using these IDNs also gives your SEO in that language a massive boost and you could see potentially huge increases in traffic! These new IDNs are a good chance to get a domain which has been registered using other TLDs.

We’re sure that public interest will be huge for these new IDNs from AFNIC and we are sure to see some very creative new domain registrations with access to these new characters!

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