How then, can individuals establish if they are eligible to use a particular name? Well, this has been established by the .au Domain Administration (auDA), the “policy authority and industry self-regulatory body for the .au domain space”. To avoid the potential prospects of having your purchase revoked, you should pay particular attention to auDA’s guidelines, which we’ll now detail below.

  .com.au and .net.au

As the demand for Australian domain names continues to grow, the eligibility for popular TLDs such as .com.au and .net.au are the most accessible – both providing coverage for commercial activity. For either TLD, registrants are required to be any of the following:

– an Australian registered company; or

– trading under a registered business name in any Australian State or Territory; or

– an Australian partnership or sole trader; or

– a foreign company licensed to trade in Australia; or

– an owner of an Australian Registered Trade Mark; or

– an applicant for an Australian Registered Trade Mark; or

– an association incorporated in any Australian State or Territory; or

– an Australian commercial statutory body.

Furthermore, the domain should correlate with the owner’s name or trademark, or alternatively, be connected “closely and substantially” to them. There is however, an exception for the purpose of “domain monetisation”, which allows domainers to purchase sites where the page’s content reflects its name, providing it doesn’t take advantage of a name for an existing business, brand or person.

  Other Domains

When it comes to other Australian TLDs, usage is generally restricted to certain groups and for particular purposes. Immediately recognisable, .gov.au domains are limited to government bodies. Meanwhile, the .org.au and .asn.au domains are reserved for non-commercial purposes, and are open to: political parties, associations, unions, clubs, charities, non-profit organizations and so forth – provided again, that they align, or are closely connected, with the registrant.

Similarly, .id.au domains prohibit commercial activity, but are instead eligible among Australian citizens or residents (individuals only). In this instance, the domain must be aligned with the owner’s personal name, or closely connected to them. This ‘connection’ includes reference to any personal interest or hobby of theirs, provided it does not incorporate the existing name of a business, brand or individual. For further details on these TLDs, refer to the .au Domain Authority’s full guidelines.

That’s it for this occasion, stay tuned for our next article, where we’ll cover the restrictions on second level domain names (2LDs).

Best wishes,
The Netfleet Team

http://www.netfleet.com.au

It should come as no surprise that few people, if any, visit www.google.net.au or www.facebook.net.au. After all, .net.au domains are often perceived as playing second fiddle to .com.au in Australia. Not only are web users less receptive towards them, people are typically less likely to remember or click on them. Whereas a good .com.au domain exudes authority and credibility to prospective customers, a .net.au domain suggests the website is unlikely to be the leader in their field, and may be a late entrant.

More importantly, if you use a .net.au domain to run your website, you are likely to leak traffic and potential customers. The extent depends on your industry and how you use your website, however, such a choice will have a significant impact on any offline marketing that you do – whether it be word-of-mouth, print, or radio. Tell 100 Australians to go to www.yoursite.net.au and 15-20 of them will go to www.yoursite.com.au. That’s 15-20% of potential customers not finding you but even worse, they may be going to a competitor instead!

Then there’s email – how many emails are you likely to miss because people make the mistake of typing .com.au out of habit? It’s unlikely you’d ever know the number but you can bet it happens – a lot!

Running a site exclusively with a .net.au domain can cost you opportunities year in, year out. Of course, having strong keywords in the title, or optimising your SEO, can mitigate these losses. However, even then, it’s like owning a great shopfront but you’ve leased a property out the back of Bourke! Therefore, should you have a personal preference for .net.au, run with that by all means – but at the very least, make sure you also acquire the .com.au equivalent and point it at your existing website.

The same can also be said for .com domains, particularly if you are operating a site that is targeting audiences outside of Australia. By capturing the major TLD variants, this will help you establish a unique and unified brand. Users searching for your website via Google, or looking for your presence on social media, are less likely to be confused, and more likely to remember you.

In terms of less common TLDs, these are typically restricted to niche users, including: .org.au for non-commercial businesses, associations, unions, and sporting clubs; .gov.au for government bodies; and .edu.au for educational providers. Meanwhile, localised domains, such as .melbourne or .sydney, have had little traction in gaining popularity thus far, and have their own difficulties because most users are unfamiliar with them.

Given the ease of redirecting multiple names or TLDs to the one site, there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t seek to protect your brand. And in today’s day and age, where premium names are becoming increasingly scarce, you have every reason to do so.

That’s it for this occasion, stay tuned for the next of our educational articles, where we’ll cover the importance of domain pointing.

Best wishes,
The Netfleet Team

http://www.netfleet.com.au