Domain Name Registration

Your first step to building a successful online business is to register your domain name.

Your domain name or website address, represents your online identity so you should choose your name carefully before registering. Choosing a domain name that contains your targeted keywords may help you gain an edge in the search engines, but I recommend you aim for a domain name that is short, easy to remember and easy to say out loud.

Consider Google.com. Would it be the same company today if it's domain name was best-search-engine-online.com? Maybe, maybe not, but the point is to consider the "branding" effect of your domain name.

Australian Domain Names

A common dilemma for Australian businesses is "should I register a .com or .com.au domain?" For search engine rankings it really doesn't matter. How you rank in the search engines is largely dependant on your content and the links which point to your site. I have both stevepronger.com and stevepronger.com.au registered, but it is the .com domain which generally ranks better because most the links point to it.

Another consideration is if you search from Google Australia you are presented with the option to search "pages from Australia". Although you will get some .com domains in these results it tends to favour .com.au.

So, although .com.au domains are more expensive, and you do have to qualify for one (you'll need an ABN) I would recommend registering a .com.au domain as your primary domain, as well as a .com domain which you can have redirected to your site.

If you are marketing to a worldwide audience and don't need to be identified as an Australian company, a .com domain will work just fine.

Why You Should Register Your Domain Names NOW!

• Protect your business name on the Internet before somebody else registers your business name - including your business entities, brands and trademarks
• Registering your domain name now places you in a good position to build your online presence in the future
• Owning your own domain name allows you to get your own company email. Email addresses derive from a domain name - if you don't own your own domain name then you can't get email addresses in your business name e.g. john.smith@yourcompany.com.au

Online Domain Name Registration

• Register a .com.au Domain
• Register a .com Domain

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