Find out Where your Visitors are Really Coming From

 When I first started the Marketing Tips newsletter, I would browse through the list of my subscribers and wonder where on earth some of them were from. I could make intuitive guesses about .UK and .JP but some of the abbreviations were total mysteries to me. Global domains such as .com, .org and .net are not connected with any country and anyone from anywhere in the world can register a global domain web address … as long as you can find a name that hasn’t already been registered!

There are 200+ countries that accept registrations with there own customized extension. To make things interesting… each one of them has their own regulations, hoops to jump through, and paper work that must be filled out. Some countries are highly regulated, requiring tax registration and trade mark compliance and more. Other countries allow unrestricted registration… you don’t have to live there, registration is on a first-come first-serve basis and the only rule is that the name must not be registered already!

And there are countries — actually islands that actively promote web address registration along with other tax haven incentives. You will see island- nation suffixes such as the Cocos – Keeling Islands (.cc) Tonga (.to) and Niue (.nu) more and more often. In a current news release, Tonga was offering 100 year domain registrations for only $2500… or $25 per year!

Satisfying your curiosity is only one reason to know what the country codes are. As we do more and more business internationally, it is useful to know who you are doing business with… including what country they are from.

It is easy to look up a .com address and find out who owns the site… and get their mailing address and phone numbers. But finding out who owns an address if someone is using a country code is an entirely different thing! I may feel comfortable doing business with someone at a .ca address (Canada) or a .uk address (United Kingdom)… but I become way more careful when potentially doing business with a .to (Tonga) address.

Why? Well… because I do not know the legal implications. Am I protected if I don’t get the product I ordered? If I do a joint-venture deal what kind of contract do I need to come up with to protect myself? What happens if there are legal problems?

Now, don’t get me wrong… I’m NOT saying people who register International Web Addresses are dishonest… nor am I saying that anyone who registers a .com address runs an honest company. All I am saying is to be aware of who you are dealing with and who you are doing business with. Finding out real names, real addresses and real phone numbers before you give people your credit card number is a very smart thing to do!

And those of you who are doing business on the Internet should take note… you can alleviate a lot of buyer anxiety by putting up your own real name, street address (not a post office box address) and phone numbers where real humans can be reached. It makes good business sense and you’ll get more business because of it.

Here’s a list in alphabetical order. All you have to do is look up the code and you can see what country it is from. If you’re like me… you’ll need a current map of the world. I’ve only seen some of these places in tourist brochures… and the others.. I don’t even know what part of the globe to start looking at!

According to a CNET news.com newsrelease there are 243 country codes as of September 1999. The following is only a partial list!

AD – ANDORRA
AE – UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
AG – ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
AL – ALBANIA
AM – ARMENIA
AN – NETHERLANDS ANTILLES
AT – AUSTRIA
AU – AUSTRALIA
AW – ARUBA
AZ – AZERBAIJAN
BA – BOSNIA AND HERZEGOWINA
BB – BARBADOS
BE – BELGIUM
BF – BURKINA FASO
BG – BULGARIA
BM – BERMUDA
BN – BRUNEI DARUSSALAM
BO – BOLIVIA
BR – BRAZIL
BS – BAHAMAS
BT – BHUTAN
BW – BOTSWANA
BY – BELARUS
BZ – BELIZE
CA – CANADA
CC – COCOS ISLANDS
CH – SWITZERLAND
CI – COTE D’IVOIRE
CK – COOK ISLANDS
CL – CHILE
CN – CHINA
CO – COLUMBIA
COM – Commercial
CR – COSTA RICA
CU – CUBA
CX – CHRISTMAS ISLAND
CY – CYPRUS
CZ – CZECH REPUBLIC
DE – GERMANY
DJ – DJIBOUTI
DK – DENMARK
DM – DOMINICA
DO – DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
EC – ECUADOR
EDU – Educational
EE – ESTONIA
EG – EGYPT
ES – SPAIN
ET – ETHIOPIA
FI – FINLAND
FJ – FIJI
FM – MICRONESIA
FO – FAROE ISLANDS
FR – FRANCE
GB – UNITED KINGDOM
GE – GEORGIA
GF – FRENCH GUIANA
GI – GIBRALTAR
GL – GREENLAND
GOV – US Government
GP – GUADELOUPE
GR – GREECE
GT – GUATEMALA
GU – GUAM
GY – GUYANA
HK – HONG KONG
HN – HONDURAS
HR – CROATIA
HU – HUNGARY
ID – INDONESIA
IE – IRELAND
IL – ISRAEL
IN – INDIA
INT – International Organizations
IO – BRITISH INDIAN OCEAN TERRITORY
IR – IRAN
IS – ICELAND
IT – ITALY
JM – JAMAICA
JO – JORDAN
JP – JAPAN
KE – KENYA
KG – KYRGYZSTAN
KH – CAMBODIA
KI – KIRIBATI
KM – COMOROS
KR – REPUBLIC OF KOREA
KW – KUWAIT
KY – CAYMAN ISLANDS
KZ – KAZAKHSTAN
LB – LEBANON
LI – LIECHTENSTEIN
LK – SRI LANKA
LS – LESOTHO
LT – LITHUANIA
LU – LUXEMBOURG
LV – LATVIA
MA – MOROCCO
MC – MONACO
MD – MOLDOVA
MG – MADAGASCAR
MIL – US Departmentt of Defense
MK – MACEDONIA
MN – MONGOLIA
MO – MACAU
MQ – MARTINIQUE
MR – MAURITANIA
MT – MALTA
MU – MAURITIUS
MV – MALDIVES
MX – MEXICO
MY – MALAYSIA
MZ – MOZAMBIQUE
NA – NAMIBIA
NC – NEW CALEDONIA
NE – NIGER
NET – Networks
NF – NORFOLK ISLAND
NG – NIGERIA
NI – NICARAGUA
NL – NETHERLANDS
NO – NORWAY
NP – NEPAL
NU – NIUE
NZ – NEW ZEALAND
OM – OMAN
ORG – Organizations
PA – PANAMA
PE – PERU
PF – FRENCH POLYNESIA
PG – PAPUA NEW GUINEA
PH – PHILIPPINES
PK – PAKISTAN
PL – POLAND
PM – ST. PIERRE AND MIQUELON
PR – PUERTO RICO
PT – PORTUGAL
PY – PARAGUAY
QA – QATAR
RO – ROMANIA
RU – RUSSIAN FEDERATION
SA – SAUDI ARABIA
SB – SOLOMON ISLANDS
SE – SWEDEN
SG – SINGAPORE
SI – SLOVENIA
SK – SLOVAK REPUBLIC
SM – SAN MARINO
SN – SENEGAL
ST – SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE
SV – EL SALVADOR
SZ – SWAZILAND
TC – TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS
TG – TOGO
TH – THAILAND
TM – TURKMENISTAN
TO – TONGA
TR – TURKEY
TT – TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
TW – TAIWAN
TZ – TANZANIA
UA – UKRAINE
UG – UGANDA
UK – UNITED KINGDOM
US – UNITED STATES
UY – URUGUAY
UZ – UZBEKISTAN
VA – VATICAN CITY STATE
VE – VENEZUELA
VI – U.S.VIRGIN ISLANDS
VN – VIET NAM
VU – VANUATU
YE – YEMEN
YU – YUGOSLAVIA
ZA – SOUTH AFRICA
ZM – ZAMBIA
ZW – ZIMBABWE

You can get information on .com, .net and .org web sites by initiating a WHOIS search at All Whois. You can also access searches for European IP Addresses, Asia Pacific IP Addresses, US Military, and US Government addresses from the same location. FYI a “WHOIS” search is simply typing in the URL you are inquiring about and having the contact and ownership information returned. It may sound difficult but it is actually very very simple.

There are many other companies other than Network Solutions that take domain name registrations and are just as reliable. Network Solutions is just the biggest and most well known… but remember bigger is not always better. In fact, many of the other smaller companies can be easier to deal with just because the service is that much more personlized.

And … if you are insatiably curious like me and want to know where on earth Uzbekistan or Maldives or Kyrgystan is … check out the easy to use search function at MultiMap.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Internet marketing expert Derek Gehl specializes in teaching real people how to successfully start, build, and grow their own profitable online businesses on small budgets. To get instant access to the step-by-step strategies, tools, and resources he’s used to grow just $25 into over $60 Million in online sales, visit: http://www.marketingtips.com/t.cgi/915921

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Happy Investing,

Kendall E. Matthews, CRMC
Phoenix, Arizona Investment Real Estate

P.s. Get my new e-book “101 Legit Tips To Boost Your Credit Score” Click Here to learn more.

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