Top level domain / Country redirection

I'm working on redirecting customers to different purchase pages based the
countries they live in. I know of three different ways:
1) Top level domain (I've heard that this info is available for about 80%)
2) IP range (I've heard it is about 75% accurate)
3) Browser language (% accurate?)

I would like to start using only the top level domain, and maybe later a
combination of all three. I will redirect those visitors with no TLD or no
country-specific TLD to a general page.

Are there any of the TLDs that doesn't go by country code: .net, .com,
..edu., .gov, .info, .org, .mil, .pro, .coop, .biz, .info... that are
(almost) exclusive for the specific countries.. ?

Anyone know of any statistics on what percentage of people with "en-gb" as
their first choice of language in browser settings that comes from Great
Britain, etc. ?

NW wrote:

> 1) Top level domain (I've heard that this info is available for about 80%)
> 2) IP range (I've heard it is about 75% accurate)
> 3) Browser language (% accurate?)

I would say that method two would be the most reliable. So many people use
..com, which would make method one useless.

> Are there any of the TLDs that doesn't go by country code: .net, .com,
> .edu., .gov, .info, .org, .mil, .pro, .coop, .biz, .info... that are
> (almost) exclusive for the specific countries.. ?

..mil, .gov and .edu are all USA.

> Anyone know of any statistics on what percentage of people with "en-gb" as
> their first choice of language in browser settings that comes from Great
> Britain, etc. ?

Dunno. More to the point: what about the language "en". Where are they
from?

--
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
Contact Me ~ http://tobyinkster.co.uk/contact

In alt.www.webmaster NW said:

> I'm working on redirecting customers to different purchase pages based the
> countries they live in.

whatever you implement you'll get it wrong[1]. you don't know what the
visitor wants so don't bother. let the visitor tell you what /they/
want.


[1] like google redirecting on IP rather than the accept-language
header, i cant shpxvat read swahili.

--


v o i c e s

> you don't know what the visitor wants so don't bother.

I do. None of them want to pay value added tax, but some of them have to!

In alt.www.webmaster NW said:

>> you don't know what the visitor wants so don't bother.

> I do. None of them want to pay value added tax, but some of them have to!

you have no way of knowing which visitors. you're just going to screw
people around. "if you live here you have to pay vat and we'll add this
much $$$ to your order" is all you can do.

--
brucie{display:nude;voice-family:'many little';speech-rate:x-fast;}

In article <417d37c1$0$22710$ba624c82@nntp04.dk.telia.net>, NW <_> wrote:
> I'm working on redirecting customers to different purchase pages based the
> countries they live in. I know of three different ways:
> 1) Top level domain (I've heard that this info is available for about 80%)
> 2) IP range (I've heard it is about 75% accurate)

I'd expect IP range to be a lot more accurate than TLD. Consider how many
..com, .net, and .org domains there are all over the place. And all those
domains (.nu, .to, etc.) that will sell to anyone anywhere.

With IP range you're really only going to get thrown off by outdated lookup
tables, proxies, and multinational private networks that have funky egress
points.

> 3) Browser language (% accurate?)

Browser language has got to be the least useful of the bunch. Computers all
over the place, from Jamaica to Sri Lanka, are set to UK English.

> I would like to start using only the top level domain, and maybe later a
> combination of all three. I will redirect those visitors with no TLD or no
> country-specific TLD to a general page.
>
> Are there any of the TLDs that doesn't go by country code: .net, .com,
> .edu., .gov, .info, .org, .mil, .pro, .coop, .biz, .info... that are
> (almost) exclusive for the specific countries.. ?

Of these, only .gov and .mil are exclusively USA. .edu is mostly USA but not
entirely. And of course many .mil hosts are located outside of the USA.

> Anyone know of any statistics on what percentage of people with "en-gb" as
> their first choice of language in browser settings that comes from Great
> Britain, etc. ?

As a totally random guess I'd say 20%. But that's probably the worst case.

Anyway, the most important thing is that you allow people the opportunity to
easily override your guess for the many times when your heuristic will fail.
Nothing is more frustrating than sitting in country X and being told I can't
continue my transaction because I'm in country Y.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos from 32 countries on 5 continents: http://travel.u.nu