Are Spanish Domain Names a Good Investment in 2022?

Yes, Here are 3 reasons why Spanish domain names investing is finally heating up – hay caliente!

• Increased internet use across the globe
• Continued Strong Domain Name Demand
• A Growing and Global Latino Hispano Purchasing Power

It will be some time before investors can capitalize on Spanish domain name sales, but now may be a good strategic time to buy a few names.

Increased Internet Use Across the Globe

According to Datareportal.com, close to 60 percent of the world’s total population uses the internet.  I would have expected a much higher percentage.   With the ever increasing use of mobile phones, the number of internet users will increase significantly.

Continued Strong Domain Name Demand

As internet usage around the world increases, demand for domain names will continue to grow.  To top it off, the coronavirus pandemic has significantly strengthened ecommerce overall. 

Businesses all over the globe were forced to figure out how to conduct businesses online or cease to exist.  This condition is very bullish for domain names and it is extremely unlikely to reverse. 

Related: Charts: How the coronavirus is changing ecommerce

With a limited supply of domain names, domain name prices must go up. 

Purchasing brandable, and easy to remember, domain names now requires thousands, if not millions of dollars.  Although it may seem crazy to spend this much money on a domain name, the fact is the perfect domain name can bring huge profits to its owner. 

A Growing and Global Latino Hispano Purchasing Power

Dot com domain extensions remain desirable and are becoming more and more difficult to find.  That is, unless you are looking for Spanish language domain names. That’s because up to this point Spanish domain names have not had as much demand.

But, is there demand for Spanish domain names? 

First, lets consider that there are 20 Spanish speaking countries in the world. Today, the Spanish speaking population in the world is approximately 530,000,000. The perfect domain name for a given business can be invaluable. Let’s take a look at the domain name Casasbaratas.com (cheap houses) for example. This domain name represents a business that extend throughout all Spanish speaking countries.

Second, the Spanish speaking population is just gaining momentum, when it comes to actual puchasing power. In an article titled 2021 will be the year of the Hispanic consumer, David Vega (author) states:

“If you are a marketer looking to grow your brand, repeat after me – $1.5 trillion – 212% growth – $1.5 trillion – 212% growth (Hispanic online Marketing). These figures alone should lead you to take a hard look at the Hispanic market to drive growth today. Right now, Hispanics account for one out of every six Americans and their aggregate buying power is larger than the GDP of Australia.”

David Vega

Types of Spanish Domain Names

When investing in Spanish domain names it is important to consider the various types. Below are a few types and possibilities..

• Interlingual Domain Names
• English Words Adopted by Spanish Speakers
• Popular Domain Names Translations to Spanish
• Spanish Domain Names Recognizable to the World
• Standard Spanish Words
• Other Variations

Keep in mind that when it comes to Spanish domain name investing, most of the traditional domain name rules apply.  Namely, it is best to invest in dot-com extensions, brandable names, and short and simple names.  Related: 22 Essential Tips for Choosing the Best Possible Domain Name for a Website (2021)

Interlingual domain names

These are domain names that can function between two or more languages.  (See also Latin cognates.)  Obviously, the challenge with these is that most of these Spanish domain names are competing with English domain names.  But, think about the potential benefits of reaching both English speaking and Spanish speaking customers with a single word.

One possibility is to combine an interlingual word with a Spanish word to create a Spanish domain name that may also resonate with English speakers.  Just for fun I combined the words oasis and latino to create the name oasislatino.com and to my surprise I was directed to a bar and restaurant in Japan.  It looks like a fun place though. 

English Words Adopted by Spanish Speakers

Similarly, another type of Spanish domain name worth discussing here pertains to English words adopted by Spanish speakers.  Some of these words derive from technology.  For example, the words television and radio have the same meaning and spelling in both English and Spanish. 

The challenge here is just what we discussed above. The key is finding a powerful combination of words that is brandable and easy to remember. Radioya.com (radio now) comes to mind, which I see is for sale for $5,995.

Popular Domain Names Translations to Spanish

Domain name investors are familiar with popular domains that have sold for millions of dollars such as:

• cars.com, which sold for $872M,
• voice.com, which sold for $30M, and
• hotels.com, which sold for $11M. 

These words translated to Spanish would be autos.com, voz.com, and hoteles.com.  These Spanish words would certainly be valuable to some large corporations. In fact, if you type hoteles.com in your browser you will be redirected to hotels.com.  Yet, I suspect these Spanish domain names sell for a fraction of their English counterparts. 

Do you see now the huge market potential with some of the Spanish domain names? 

Spanish Domain Names Recognizable to the World

Another type of Spanish domain name that is worth considering relates to Spanish domain names with Spanish words that are recognizable to most people around the world.  For some reason, most of these words relate to food.  Think of words like burrito, salsa, tortilla, etc. 

These type of domain names can be used to attract Spanish speaking customers, in addition to customers that don’t speak Spanish, but are familiar with a few Spanish words. 

You would think a domain name like cerveza.com (beer) would be worth millions of dollars given that the name beer.com sold for $7M in 2004.  Yet, if you visit the website cerveza.com you’ll notice this website doesn’t look like a site worth millions of dollars. 

One potential challenge with trying to use a Spanish domain name to cater to say English speakers, is the potential difficulties with spelling a word in a different language.  The average American knows what cerveza means, but may not be able to spell it. 

Combining a recognizable Spanish word with some other English word or abbreviation can be beneficial. Years ago, I purchased the domain name SiestaPod.com for $12. The word siesta is recognizable across the world.  The word pod is nice and short and can mean many different things.  The two words combined are catchy and easy to spell.  One day I hope to update this article to announce that I’ve sold this domain name to Elon Musk, whom most likely would use it to brand a futuristic sleeping capsule. 

UPDATE: I recently came across an article titled “take a nap around Paris in IKEA’s traveling siesta pods” Hey IKEA, I have a nice domain name for you guys!

Standard Spanish Words

This category includes Spanish domain names derived from standard Spanish words.  One-word Spanish domain name examples include names such as plomero.com (plumber), zapatos.com (shoes), arte,com (art) etc. The domain name Ingles.com sold for $50,000 in 2014 and resold for $40,000 in 2020. Probably a bargain price considering all the Spanish speakers wanting to learn English. https://domaininvesting.com/sold-for-50k-in-2014-ingles-com-re-sold-for-400000/

Two-word Spanish domain name variations are less likely to have strong demand.  Nevertheless, I recently purchased the domain name vivirfeliz.com (happy living or to live happy) for $710.  As I researched this Spanish domain name I learned that it previously sold for $488.  During my research I looked at somewhat similar names.  Some of which include:

• familiafeliz.com (happy family), which sold for $2,088 in 2009,
• masfeliz.com (happier), which sold for $3,000
• vistaalegre.com (happy sight), which sold for $2,532, and
• vivirlatino.com (approximately something like Latin life), which sold for $610 in 2015. 

Other Variations

Finally, the last type of Spanish domain names we’ll discuss here includes every variation of Spanish and English words.  This could also include Spanglish words such as linkear (to make a link), clickear (to make a click), etc.

An interesting thought is better explained with the domain name ojolook.com.  This is a domain name I purchased a few years ago for $12.  Spanish speakers use the word ojo (eye) to draw attention to something.  This is similar to how English speakers use the word look, with two eyes drawn within the word.  Picture a post-it-note in a book with the word ojo to alert someone about a particular page in the book. 

Understanding Spain Domain Names (ES)

One important clarification pertains to the use of the domain extension .es.  This domain extension is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Spain.  It is not intended to be used to denote language, but rather location. This domain name extension would make very little sense for a US based business who is targeting customers outside of Spain. 

Recent Spanish Domain Names Sales

As I did research for this article I came across a few Spanish domain name sell information. Below is some of what I’ve found on Spanish language domain name sales. These numbers are all over the place, but one thing is clear, Spanish domain names are cheap compared to their counterparts.

Domain Names With Huge Upside!

If Spanish translations of popular English domain names is a good strategy, then let’s look at some of the most expensive domain names to find huge opportunities.

Conclusion

Spanish domain names are much more affordable than their English counterparts.  This could very well present an opportunity for investors as chances are Spanish domain names are simply lagging but will eventually see their prices rise. 

Knowing Spanish isn’t essential.  However, if you are dealing with expensive Spanish domain names, you’d want a Spanish speaker to provide a double check before your purchase.  Certainly speaking the language and knowing the proper spelling of the words would be an advantage. 

Please keep in mind I am not a professional domainer.  I do own some domain names, but I don’t consider myself much of a domain name investor.  As such, please do your own research and please feel free to comment. 

For other investing related content please check out the The Bridge to Financial Freedom.

Happy Spanish domaining!

JC Keen

P.S. The translation of domain name is nombre de dominio.