In today’s digital age, owning a domain name is an essential part of any business strategy. It helps to establish an online presence and makes it easy for customers to find and connect with your brand. However, when it comes to choosing a domain name, businesses in Australia should consider owning both the .com.au and .com versions.
The .com.au domain name is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Australia, and it is regulated by the Australian Domain Administration (auDA). It is reserved for Australian businesses and individuals or international companies holding a relevant trademark/s related to the domain, and it indicates to customers that the business is based in Australia or that it does business in Australia.
On the other hand, the .com domain is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) that is not country-specific. It is undisputed as the Global King of domain name extensions and widely used by businesses around the world and does not convey any location-specific information.
I am not just targeting in on the .com (I love .com, again as I said above, it is the Global King of domain extensions) but this also applies to any other domain extension for that matter, even the new .au extension launched last year in Australia is a far distant second to the .com.au.
More often than not, we get businesses contacting us at DBR.com.au (as Domain Brokers), wanting us to help them acquire the .com version of their .com.au domain which as you may expect is much harder to do than most people realise.
But what is a more recent trend, is that we have businesses coming to us who already own the .com version of their domain but NOT the .com.au. This causes a host of issues that we will expand on below where not owning the .com.au can have a negative outcome to the business if they are solely based in Australia.
Here are some reasons why businesses in Australia should own both the .com.au and .com versions of their domain name when availability and budget permit:
- Establishes Local Presence: Owning a .com.au domain name shows that a business is based in Australia and gives customers the confidence that they are dealing with a local company. This can be particularly important for businesses that rely on local customers, such as restaurants, retailers, and service providers.
- Increases Trust: Customers are more likely to trust a business that has a local .com.au domain name. They feel more comfortable doing business with a company that has a local address, phone number, and website. This can lead to increased sales and customer loyalty.
- Protects Your Brand: Owning both the .com.au and .com versions of your domain name can help to protect your brand from competitors and cybersquatters. Cybersquatters are individuals who register domain names with the intent of profiting from them by selling them back to the rightful owners or using them for malicious purposes. By owning both domain names, businesses can prevent this from happening and ensure that their brand is protected.
- Better SEO: Owning both the .com.au and .com versions of your domain name can help to improve your search engine optimisation (SEO) efforts. This is because search engines like Google and Bing give preference to local domain names when displaying search results. Having a local domain name can also help to attract more local traffic to your website.
- Email Security: One reason that is rarely thought about but is a mission critical one in my opinion, is the security of emails. Often owners of the .com domain operating only on that extension in Australia soon discover that they can have emails not getting through to them because the sender is addressing the email to the .com.au version because that is the one that is top of mind in Australia. I see this happen all the time with domains that I own and that of our clients.
- International Expansion: If your business plans to expand internationally, owning both the .com.au and .com versions of your domain name can be beneficial. The .com domain is widely recognised around the world, and owning it can be crucial to establishing your brand’s global presence.
In my opinion as a domain name broker & domain investor of 20+ years, owning the .com.au version of your domain name is essential for businesses operating solely in Australia.
It helps to establish a local presence, increase trust, protect your brand, improve SEO, and facilitate international expansion & help with email security to name just a few. By investing in both domain names, businesses can ensure that they are well-positioned to succeed in today’s digital economy.
A lot of the issues of not being able to own / register all of the relevant domains often comes down to planning & forward thinking and not painting your business into a corner because you failed to do the proper due diligence into whether the appropriate domains were available.
If you need assistance with this naming process, please contact me over at DBR.com.au(.)
Good fortune with your domain name hunting.
A point perhaps targeted more at the few already established corporations and businesses? The problem I find with Australia for both small business and domain investor is its small population. When you whittle through its tiny crowd of 25mil to sum a relative number of potential customers from the old and old school, the very young and the working class, of which a greater number outside social media accounts don’t require an internet presence for business or personal use, and then factor in how the AUD value constantly restricts others from importing any product, the actual number of potential customers that don’t already hold an AU presence is extremely small. It’s a great Island and it is full of beauty and benefits, however, when summing the few people and many obstacles, this tiny restrictive market for most will always be the nemesis of wider AU hope or incentive… A King for some perhaps, but certainly a Lemon for many.