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Why
do I need my own domain name?
Why do I need my own domain name? A few years ago,http://www.internetserviceprovider.com/~yourname/ was acceptable in the business world. Today, this a laughable situation. You need http://www.yourowndomainname.com/. You have an increase in prestige and profile. A small business can appear as large as a multi-national on it stationery and advertising. The reverse can happen without one. Your address will be better remembered. If people have found you from a search engine, unless they bookmark your long URL, they may never return. People often use several computers between work and home with different bookmarks.
Do I get www.myname.com, www.myname.au.com or www.myname.com.au? This all depends. 1) If you only ever want to target the Australian market and think it is unlikely you will EVER want any export dollars, then only register myname.com.au. 2) Why limit yourself. Very few businesses these days wish to limit themselves to 18 million people. Surely just targetting Australia defeats the purpose of the World Wide Web! 3) With .com.au (Australian domain names), you can only get specifically the name of a Registered Business or Company with an ACN number. Unless you have this, you cannot get the name you want, even then they are very strict of registering "generic" or "base" names, ie www.industryname.com.au is off limits. Even if your company name was the name of your industry they will not give a word that is out of the dictionary, or a place name. 4) With .au.com (new Australian domain name), .com, .net, (International domain names), you can obtain whatever you want without restriction, provided nobody else has taken it. The first advantage is you can get the name you really want without having the business name. 5) Furthermore, if more than 10 % of your business will be overseas, you must have the .au.com, .com, or .net, because many people in the USA when they find a name like domainname.com.au, or domainname.co.uk they get confused. To the international market: .com and .net are all that exists. There is much patriotism, that says we have to have the .com.au but one has to think like the potential customer. 6) If you believe that you just want a .com.au, then ask yourself "Why register a reallygoodname.com.au, and see somebody register reallygoodname.com?" Good business people cover their steps! If you have managed to get a goodname.com, it will enjoy a potential re-sale market of 5.982 billion + 18 million Australians, as opposed to 17 million Australians who could buy goodname.com.au. The name could represent the field of 500,000 businesses in the world who would want to buy your domain name! The domain name could be worth more than the business.. 7) If you were a travel agency you should try to get your own domain name and also something like www.AustralianTravel.com in the International domain. One day many of the Australian Travel agencies might pay a lot of money for your name. 8)The other issue is that your family business one day might wish to move to another country and the .com.au will be a nuisance when you wish you had .com. 9) If you are still confused - there is no reason why you cannot obtain both. We will allow you to point as many domain names to your main domain as you wish. In fact we recommend multiple domain names. Many companies like Procter and Gamble who registred 100 domain names, have registered many which reflect the markets they are in, in P & G's case: badbreath.com and pimples.com.
What makes a good domain name? Today only 50 million people are online. When 2.95 more billion join them, to own a one word "generic", "base" name which describes a whole industry, location, or recreation could well mean the equivalent of what "gold" used to mean! If you cannot secure the generic of "industryname.com" or "industryname.net", try "australianindustry.com". You could still have: http://www.xyzfirm.com.au (that people will revognise) and have a name like http://www.australianyoruindustryname.com/ pointing back to the same space. Our pricing makes this a definite possibility..
What are some features that make a good domain name? Shorter the better. Easy to remember, and not confused, like Sports.com and Sportz.com. Does it sound good? Some names with net sound better than with com. Treat the domain name like a secondary business name. Is there a big market there? Try and obtain a one word "generic" for an industry. Think of the Internet, not as it is, but what it will become: faster modems, lines, software supporting live broadcasting; safer commerce, 3 billion online, not 50 million online. Who knows how friendly technology will make the Internet - but the real value will be the domain name because it is "scarce" commodity. A good domain name helps your site to be selected first of all by search engines and also with ten entries on a search results page, most people pick the URL which seems most relevant to topic. A business name should sum up what service you do, product you sell. Theme and regional based domains are great! Do not try and impress people with Scientificjargon.com! Who cares? The cyber, virtual, onlines have been done to death. Once one company like AOL has a phrase attached to it, everything else appears a copy. If you think of xyzplacesports.com, check to see if xyzotherplacesports.com is gone, and other similar domains. Also see what they are doing with their sites if they are working. Discover what potential a name like your one has first. Look to see what thatotherplacesports.com does, you could replicate it in you domain. Try to find a higher order domain, ie soccer.com is lower order, to football.com, again lower to sports.com. The latter suggests that all sports could be included, whereas the first suggests merely this sport could be covered. Do a search on AltaVista, or Excite to discover how many entries for a particular phrase - this gives a reasonable indication of its usage online. Ask yourself: "Does it sound right?" "Does it look right?" Learn more about the different types of Internet addresses. And what each different authority charges.
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