I am sure many of you are watching this sad and scary news that’s unfolding in front of us in Japan. I know of a few domain investors and friends who are either in Japan or have friends in Japan, and I wish them all the best during this terrible time.
One news website I have been reading quite a bit for Japanese news updates is Kyodo News. This news outlet has a comprehensive English translated section, and it’s frequently updated with new information. As one might expect from a Japan-based news site, Kyodo News can be found on a country code domain name, KyodoNews.jp.
On one visit, I accidentally went to KyodoNews.com instead of .jp, and I was surprised to see that Chrome took me to the standard error page it displays when there isn’t a website. I assumed they own the .com and it was just some sort of error. I checked to see if it was a redirect issue, and sure enough, www.kyodonews.com resolved, but the site didn’t resolve without the www.
I know Kyodo News has a lot on its plate right now. However, with a world audience likely numbering in the millions, it would be very smart if a web administrator turned on www forwarding on KyodoNews.com. Chrome makes it easy for people to navigate to the correct site, but other browsers and ISPs may serve up sponsored links to other sites. It takes just a minute, but it can mean a larger audience.
It still amazes me that site owners do not try the different variations of how to get to a site and make sure it works.
KyodoNews.com
http://www.KyodoNews.com
are two different domains really. One has a sub-domain, the other doesn’t.. yet people visit and link both ways so it is vital for a site owner to be sure your site loads both ways.