Website Names for Australian Small Businesses

This article follows on from Choosing a Website Name for your Small Business Website, so if you are completely new to Website Names please read that first to gain an understanding of the general ideas.

Website or Domain names which end in .au are an excellent idea for Australian Registered businesses who are targetting customers within Australia, as your potential customers and readers will readily identify you as Australian. However, there are some issues to be aware of when choosing a website name ending in .au

There are rules for the registration of these domain names and they are overseen by The Australian Domain Name Administrator .auda

For registration of websites which end in .com.au it is very important to be aware that there are eligibility criteria. If you do register one of these domains without having eligibility, it can be taken away and given to it’s rightful owner. This may not happen every time, however be aware of this risk when registering your domain.

An excerpt of eligibility for .com.au from the Policy Page at .auda (http://www.auda.org.au/policies/auda-2008-05/) is quoted below

1. To be eligible for a domain name in the com.au 2LD, registrants must be:

a) an Australian registered company; or
b) trading under a registered business name in any Australian State or Territory; or
c) an Australian partnership or sole trader; or
d) a foreign company licensed to trade in Australia; or
e) an owner of an Australian Registered Trade Mark; or
f) an applicant for an Australian Registered Trade Mark; or
g) an association incorporated in any Australian State or Territory; or
h) an Australian commercial statutory body.

2. Domain names in the com.au 2LD must be:

a) an exact match, abbreviation or acronym of the registrant’s name or trademark; or
b) otherwise closely and substantially connected to the registrant.

This article only discusses websites ending in .com.au, please refer to the .auda Policy Page for the rules on .asn.au, .id.au, .net.au and .org.au

Domain or website names which end in .com, .net, .info etc have no such restrictions, so they may be a better choice for some Australian businesses.

If you would like more information on choosing a Domain or Website Name, please feel free to contact us directly, or leave a comment below.

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