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Posts Tagged ‘au domain’

How To Get Your Business Online

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

While making money on the Internet is certainly not as easy as it used to be, there are still plenty of opportunities out there. With a realistic approach and plenty of patience, many people are perfectly capable of making an income online. While there are freelancing opportunities to accommodate a wide variety of skills such as writing, web design and much more, starting your own business from scratch is somewhat more challenging. One of the greatest attractions to starting an online business is that the costs are minimal. Keeping your goals realistic is also essential. It’s wise to completely ignore the outlandish promises made by companies and individuals selling get-rich-quick schemes and instead start out with a plausible plan with goals that you can actually reach if you work hard enough. Consider the following steps for building a money-making website.

1. Be Inspired

Consider your skills and your level of knowledge in certain areas. You’ll want to think of a niche which you know plenty about as well as something which interests you. Since you’re going to need to provide quality content and something of value to your visitors, you need to be knowledgeable in your field. Of secondary importance is coming up with an idea that is ideal for making money.

How To Get Your Business Online
2. Register a Domain Name and Hosting Package

The only costs involved in starting an online business are registering a domain name (web address) and getting a web hosting package. The costs only run into a few dollars per month and the costs will only ever increase if you have an enormous number of visitors and you need to start paying for more bandwidth.

Choose your domain name carefully. It’s good practice for search engine optimization (SEO) to include a relevant keyword or phrase in your web address. You should also keep it short and memorable. It’s also a good idea to register multiple domain names which all direct to your main website. Ideally, you should register your domain name for a longer time, such as five years. The search engines favour long-term registrations.

You’ll also want to decide whether to use a local domain name ending in the country code for your location or a .com address. As a general rule, you should only use a localised domain name such as “.com.au” if the content of your site is primarily relevant to an audience in that country. For the most part, all other sites are better off using a .com address. There are plenty of other options, however.

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Seven Good Reasons to Buy a Domain Name For Your Small Business Blog

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

If you are starting a blog for your small business it’s tempting to skip buying a domain name and jump right into a free blog hosting service. You’re trying to grow your business so you want to keep costs down where you can. Free is good, right?

Wrong. If you are at all serious about your company, be nice to your business blog and buy it a domain name.  Here are seven good reasons why you should register a domain name for your small business blog.
Seven Good Reasons to Buy a Domain Name For Your Small Business Blog
1. If the aim of your blog is to market a business then it must look business-like. A self-hosted domain is the first step to a professional looking blog. Internet-savvy readers simply won’t take seriously a blog like yourbusinessblog.freeblogsite.com. It looks amateurish. Readers will take far more seriously the self-hosted yourbusinessblog.com. It looks like a real site. Whether you’re selling a product, a service, or your own expertise, a proper domain name will inspire customer confidence.

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How to use Domain Names to Protect your Online Brand

Thursday, April 28th, 2011

It is important to begin developing strategies to protect your business’ brand as soon as you launch its web presence. A key element of your online brand is a good domain name.

You can find strategies for selecting a good domain name in a number of places. However, some basic principles to keep in mind are to try and keep the domain name simple, keep it close to your business name or how people refer to your business, and make it easy to pronounce and spell by avoiding hyphens, numerical characters and unusual spelling if you can.

Once you have selected a domain name that is available, you should register your domain with a reputable domain name registrar (a service that Digital Pacific provides). It is then time to start protecting your brand. It’s best to start doing this before you launch your presence, as the process will become more difficult and costly as your brand grows in popularity.

How to use Domain Names to Protect your Online Brand

Prevent Domain Prospecting

Domain name prospectors buy domains that might be used by businesses that aren’t yet online. They are gambling that once a business decides it wants the domain name, it will be prepared to buy the domain off the prospector for an inflated price. This is also referred to as cyber squatting, and is a practice that has extended to buying similar sounding domain names and obvious misspellings of common words. Prospectors will often set up small portal web pages at a domain and use broadly relevant links to take advantage of affiliate marketing and advertising. These portals generate revenue through page views, high click through rates and affiliate purchases.

Domain prospecting is an issue for you and your business because typos happen all the time. Less savvy internet users may not even realise that they have typed in the wrong address and will think that a domain prospector’s useless page is your business. This is not a good outcome for you as you are unable to control the experience that these potential clients have while they are searching for your products and services.

Strike First

A quick and effective way to stop someone from squatting on variations of your domain name is to register the most likely variations yourself. You should consider registering variations across the major top level domains of .com, .org and .net, as well as the country level domains of your main markets for maximum protection. For example, in Australia this means registering .com.au, .org.au and .net.au domains where possible. AuDA, the body responsible for the governance of Australian domain names, places specific restrictions around registering many of the .au domains. This will reduce the likelihood of opportunistic squatting around your .au domain names, but will not protect you completely.

Guard Against Bad Publicity

Another domain name phenomenon worth watching is disgruntled customers (and sometimes competitors) using variations of your domain name to publish negative impressions of your brand. A common technique is to add the word “sucks”or something similar to the end of a domain name and use the site to publish negative reviews and opinions of a service. A well-known example is the large number of sites that have been created to discuss the service of PayPal (try typing “paypal sucks” into Google for a taste). While it won’t be economical to register every potential offensive domain, it could be to your benefit to own and control the more obvious options if you operate business that focuses on customer service.

Be Ever Vigilant

Protecting your brand through domain name ownership is not a “cheap and easy” task. Less reputable organisations will continue to look for new ways to gain an advantage off the back of your brand, and different techniques will continue to be developed. However, protecting your domain name has clear and immediate benefits for all businesses serious about owning their brand and reputation online.

How to use Domain Names to Protect your Online Brand

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AuDA’s NEW Domain Name Drop List

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

AuDAs NEW Domain Name Drop ListAuDA, the Australian domain authority, has recently released the Domain Drop List on their official website. The Domain Drop List will mention all domains in the .au domain that are about to be purged from the registrant system, and then put back on the market as available to be registered by anyone who so desires. The list contains both domains that have simply expired and domains that have either been deleted by the previous owner, or by auDA themselves. This, along with other policy changes, first appears daunting to current .au domain owners, but upon further review provides several benefits to those using the list to their advantage.

A Word of Caution

Being in the business of domain names, we at Digital Pacific cannot stress enough how important it is to stay on top of your domain renewals. Registering a domain name does not entitle you to that domain name forever; when a registration period ends, and the domain name has gone without renewal, the domain name is then put on the drop list. Once officially purged, the domain name is put back on the open market.

Just imagine losing a business domain name, a crucial part of your Internet business identity and online marketing endeavours, just because you forgot to make the renewal date.

Now, with the Domain Drop List, auDA also mentions the exact time that these names will be purged from the system and put back on the market. Anyone who is desperately after a certain domain name will now know exactly when they are able to attempt a registration, meaning it might be a bit more important for you to know your renewal dates.

What can you do?

Don’t worry! Simply staying on top of your renewal date is key. If you can do that, then there should be no problems with your account, and no cause to lose your domain name. Also, with the recent policy changes from auDA, you can create a common renewal date if you have more than one domain name. This keeps you from having to manage multiple domain renewal dates.

Besides the expired domain names, the drop list also mentions the domain names that have been voluntarily canceled by the domain owner. These domain names are those that the previous owner has decided he/she no longer wants. However, these previous owners are still able to forfeit their cancellation at any point up to the purge date if they should change their mind.

In some cases, auDA is the one that has decided to cancel the domain names, in which case they would also have to be the ones to overturn this decision before the purge date.

The Benefits of auDA’s New Policies

It’s not all “watch your back” with the new policy rules in place by auDA. They actually open up some doors to those willing to use them and the Domain Drop List to their advantage.

Entrepreneurs, for example, might find it useful to choose a domain name that has been previously owned, and here’s why:

  • Some of the domains on the drop list may still be receiving visitors from the past owner’s efforts to build up the website. This could mean instant traffic for your newly acquired domain name.
  • Some of the domains on the drop list may already have links coming in to the site. Looking at this from an SEO perspective, choosing a dropped domain can possibly give domain owners a great head start.

For entrepreneurial individuals that are either looking to diversify a business or start a new venture, the domain drop list is an excellent first place to look. You may be pleasantly surprised by what is about to be dropped and enjoy additional benefits by choosing to snatch one up.

Other Policy Features to Note

  • Before the new policy changes, auDA used to run purges at random times unknown to the public. Now, the purges will take place daily at either 1:00pm AEST or 2:00pm AEDT, further adding to the exact knowledge that the public has for when to acquire a recycled domain.
  • Renewals for domain names may occur up to 90 days before the expiry date. The expiry date is automatically set for 2 years after the original expiry date.
  • After a domain name reaches its its expiry date, there is a 30 day period during which time the domain may be renewed by the current registrant. If the 30 days passes, the domain is put on the drop list.

If you happen to find a domain name you are interested in on auDA’s drop list, you can visit our homepage after the expiry period to start the domain registration process.

For further reading, check out Domain Name Basics and Frequently Asked Questions.

How do you feel about auDA’s new Domain Drop List and policy changes? Do you like the idea of seeing the exact purge dates for expired domains on the auDA website?

AuDAs NEW Domain Name Drop List AuDAs NEW Domain Name Drop List AuDAs NEW Domain Name Drop List AuDAs NEW Domain Name Drop List AuDAs NEW Domain Name Drop List AuDAs NEW Domain Name Drop List AuDAs NEW Domain Name Drop List AuDAs NEW Domain Name Drop List AuDAs NEW Domain Name Drop List

Domain Renewal Scam – Warning

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

Knowing how important the domain name is to individuals and businesses online, some sneaky scam artists are tricking people into renewing the domain name early, and transferring domain registrars in the process. There is one company in particular that we have received various letters on ourselves that we would like to point out to unsuspecting domain owners. We have also decided to label it as a scam even though it is technically a legit, yet shady, business practice.

Domain Renewal Scam   Warning

Since domain owner information and domain expiration dates are listed in the public WHOIS directory, this company is taking advantage of this knowledge and sending out domain renewal notice advertisements (that look like bills) in advance. The whole point of the advertisement / bill is to make it appear as though you must pay in order to maintain domain ownership. However, even though the advertisement / bill makes the company seem to be the current registrar at face value, the fine print actually states that this is a form to TRANSFER domain registration from your actual registrar to this new company.

For this one particular company that plagues Australian domain owners, the problems are as follows:

  1. Most domain names are only registered on a yearly basis, so by the time the domain finally rolls around for renewal, the owner may have forgotten the exact name of the company initially used. The individuals too busy to tend to the fine details could possibly respond to the advertisment / bill with payment without understanding the true meaning.
  2. The wording on the front of the document, which looks like a bill, does actually state it would call for a domain transfer, but those that don’t read the document thoroughly could easily overlook this fact because of the way the document is designed.
  3. The fine print on the back is extremely lengthy and small. Most people will not take the time to read this information and simply overlook it as technical drivel. Come on, you know you do it, too.
  4. The payment sent to this company is non-refundable should issues arise and the domain transfer is denied. The company then states that it will try to register the domain name from the date of expiry and onward, but even if the company is unable to register it, the fee is still non-refundable.
  5. The fee for the domain renewal can be quite high. So, when a person might be spending $19.90 for a one year .com domain name renewal with Digital Pacific, the company in question is charging more than twice that amount.
  6. The company is technically American based, but they have acquired an Australian billing address that they paste all over the letter. This adds to the confusion of the Australian domain name holder.

The best way to avoid domain renewal scams, such as this, is to just be aware. Know when your domain is set to expire, and best of all, know the name of your current domain name provider.
The best thing to do if you get one of these letters is to put it straight in to the paper recycle bin. Don’t even give it any thought.

Have you ever received a sneaky letter like this pertaining to your domain name? If so, we’d love to hear about it so we can keep our customers informed.

Added 31/03/10
As an addition to this post we have just been made aware of another domain renewal scam that may be doing the rounds. Please be aware of the following email.
Domain Renewal Scam   Warning

Added 17/09/10
Yet another domain name scam. Please be aware of the following email.

Domain Renewal Scam   Warning

Domain Renewal Scam   Warning Domain Renewal Scam   Warning Domain Renewal Scam   Warning Domain Renewal Scam   Warning Domain Renewal Scam   Warning Domain Renewal Scam   Warning Domain Renewal Scam   Warning Domain Renewal Scam   Warning Domain Renewal Scam   Warning

Choosing the Right Domain Name

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

Andrew Koloadin.

Most people starting business online are so concerned with the products or services they want to promote that they neglect the importance of choosing the right domain name for their web site. Choosing the right domain name should be your first priority in the quest for online success. Many entrepreneurs are oblivious of the role a domain name plays in their online businesses and register domains which have little or no relevance to their business. The following tips will help you proceed along the right track.

Keep it Short
Although you can register a name with up to 63 characters, you have to keep in mind that people need to be able to remember it, and easily type it into their browser. Good domain names are short, all of the worlds three and four letter .com domains have been registered and the five letter domains are not far behind. Since the .au domain registration process is more stringent there are still plenty of short domains available. There is no definite number of characters that you should aim for but for guidance try to go below 12 letters and never exceed 20. Avoid using hyphens in your domain name, many users are used to typing things like petsupplies.com.au but not pet-supplies.com.au. Although they make your domain name easier to read they create confusion and people will tend to leave them out when typing them and end up at your competitor’s site.

Use Keywords in Domain Name
Your keywords have an important role to play here a domain name with keywords embedded will do wonders, not only in achieving higher positioning on the search engines, but also in becoming more effective at informing a potential customer what the Web site sells. You should try to embed least one of the most relevant keywords or a keyword phrase into your domain name, whilst this is not the only method that will elevate your site in a search engine it certainly does help. While buying a domain name for branding purposes reigns search power, if you have an opportunity to snatch a keyword rich domain name, do not hesitate to register it and use it to push the agenda of your primary domain. Also if you plan on getting visitors from another country make sure you use spelling that is recognised in that country, for example the word “color” is U.S where as the word “colour” is Australian. Also register all variations of a word such as “auslighting.com.au” and “ozlighting.com.au” to avoid competitors getting a hold of it for their advantage and to capture all mistakes that can be made by users.

Dot What?
Most countries have their own domain extension so if you’re marketing your products and services primarily to users in a single country then consider using that country’s top-level domain other wise known as domain extension.
Generally if you have an Australian business you would register a .com.au domain name since people in Australia tend to have a sense of trust from a domain with the .au extension which may result in more sales. Another advantage of having an .au domain extension is that Australian search engines will give preference to these domains over the traditional .com extension. If you don’t plan on doing most of your business in Australia then having a .com domain will do as it’s the original and most common extension. In many cases it’s also a good idea to register a few domain names and have them pointed to the same web site. It’s very important to find a balance between building your brand and making it user and search engine friendly.

Avoid Trademarked Names
Domain names mostly represent a company’s intellectual property in the form of trademarks, either registered or common law, or words and phrases associated with the company. Domain names can incorporate trademarks in a number of ways. The most common is a company name followed by a domain extension such as sony.com. A person who is not the trademark owner and registers the trademark as a domain name engages in trademark infringement. Even a domain name as innocent as sonytvsales.com would be in violation. There would be nothing worse than to spend marketing dollars on promoting your website than to lose it to another company that has protection over a particular name. There has been a long running domain trademark dispute for the domain www.nissan.com that has been going on for 15 years where Nissan Motors Is Suing Nissan Computer For Trademark Infringement and Trademark Dilution, Nissan Motors has been unsuccessful since Nissan Computer was established prior to Nissan Motors, trademark disputes like this can end up costing a lot of money. So when choosing domain make sure you understand legal issues surrounding the name, it may be a good idea to speak with intellectual property lawyer if in doubt.

Already Registered?
The chances are that when you start your search for the perfect domain name it may have already been registered by another party and in many cases it may never be used and was only registered someone liked the sound of it at the time. Don’t give up, there are a number of things you can do. There are tools available all over the internet called “whois lookups” which allow you to search across multiple domain registrar databases to give you registration information on domain names, including owners email addresses and expiry dates. Once you have those details you can either send an email to the owner asking them to kindly pass it on or wait for the domain to expire so you can register it.
If you still don’t have any luck why not try a slogan, brand name, acronym or even a phone number. Creative names can be very effective and memorable. Some domain registrars also have a domain suggestion tool where you simply type in the key word or words that you want to be in your domain and it comes back to you with a variety of combinations of available domains using that combination of words. A simple search in Google for “domain suggestion tool” will give you a few free tools that you can use.

Register your domain name now. . .

Choosing the Right Domain Name Choosing the Right Domain Name Choosing the Right Domain Name Choosing the Right Domain Name Choosing the Right Domain Name Choosing the Right Domain Name Choosing the Right Domain Name Choosing the Right Domain Name Choosing the Right Domain Name