The New au Domain. What you Need to Know to Protect your Business
It was announced a few years ago that a new, additional domain name registration is being introduced. This new proposed domain name registration is .au – ie without the usual .com in front of it.
Using the example of Dynamic Websites, our current domain name is dynamicwebsites.com.au. Under the current proposal, the domain name of dynamicwebsites.au would be available for registration.
The introduction of this proposal has been delayed many times. It is now anticipated that you will be able to register a domain name under the new .au sometime in the first half of 2020.
Who can register a domain name using .au?
It is envisaged that it will be easier for people to register the .au domain compared to the .com.au domain as the business registration criteria will not apply.
Currently, the main entities that can register a .com.au are:
- An Australian registered company
- Trading under a registered business name
- An Australian partnership or sole trader
In addition, an ABN is also required.
What you need to do
To make sure your domain name is not snatched by someone else you will need to make sure you apply for the new domain as soon as registrations open. The policy is ‘first come, first serve’ so you will need to be quick.
As a safeguard, there will be a policy that people cannot buy a new .au domain name for resale. This means someone cannot make a business of buying up lots of domain names and reselling them at a much higher price.
However, this alone does not stop your .au domain name being bought by someone else. For example, if you have a competitor with a similar name to your business they may decide to purchase it and use it for their own business. This will result in confusion about your business, which will affect your branding as well as your SEO position.
How Dynamic Websites will help
When the introduction of the new .au domain name registration is known, we will contact the clients that we manage domain names for. We will advise them on the best course of action to make sure their current .com.au name is registered under the new .au name.
Dynamic Websites specialise in small business web design. We are based in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn and provide services throughout Australia. We understand what it takes to get a small business online at an affordable price and with the minimum of fuss. Along with designing websites for small business, tradies and NDIS service providers we provide online marketing services. Our online marketing for small business extends to Google Ads, Google My Business, Microsoft Advertising, search engine optimisation (SEO), content writing and, blog writing.
