If you are not familiar with the domain concept, read our articles on Web Design Industry Jargon and Web Terms to learn more about this concept.
If your market is in Vietnam, then having a Vietnam's website domain will help you to rank higher in the search engine result pages when:
1. The website is searched within Vietnam (via google.com.vn for example)
2. When the users search for keywords associated with Vietnam
Also, in some cases the domain is not available in other top-level/extension (such as .com, .net, .info) but can be available with .vn or .com.vn
There are 2 main top-level/extension available for Vietnam's based domain:
1. .vn domain (yoursite.vn)
2. .com.vn domain (yoursite.com.vn)
It's recommended that you buy both, but if your budget does not allow then you should choose the .vn if possible (just because it's shorter and thus easier to type).
Depending on your domain registrar, purchasing/register a Vietnam domain will cost around 35-50 USD/year. It's a bit higher than other types of domain but it's worth it if your target audience is based in Vietnam. Buying the domain for multiple years may help you to get some discount. If you are not so tight on budget, we do recommend buying the domain for several years since you will need it anyway.
There are several places to get your Vietnam domain, a quick search on google can return:
Vietnam's top-level domains are controlled strictly by Vietnam's government and thus are usually offered by Vietnam-based companies. While purchasing the domain, you may be asked to fill in personal information or company's information if purchased as a company.
Depending on the registrar, you will be taken through a list of steps when you want to purchase the domains. The buying process is often longer for .vn or .com.vn domains because of the information requested by the government, but it's not an extremely complicated process. Some registrars may have an on-site service which they can bring the information collection form to your office and help you to fill in (and collect payment). The on-site solution can be ideal if you are currently located in Vietnam.
Below we will use PAVietnam (dot pavietnam), a well-known domain registrar in Vietnam to show you how to purchase the domain. The screenshots are taken at the time this post is published and thus may not reflect the exact steps in the future.
Step 1: Search for available website domain.
Step 2: Select additional services that you want.
Note: Registrar Lock is a safety feature that prevents unauthorized domain transfers. Usually, for other registrars, this feature is enabled for all your purchased domains. With PAVietnam it seems like you have to purchase it as an additional service.
Step 3: Add your desired domain to cart.
Step 4: Register a new account or login if you already have an account.
Step 5: Select your owner type (you can buy as a business or as an individual).
Step 6: Select your preferred payment method
The rest of the steps are straightforward. After finishing all these steps, depending on the payment method you chose you should get a confirmation message and instructions from the domain registrar via your registered email. Congratulations on registering your Vietnam domain for your business with dot pavietnam.
