We’d all love to have a website address that rolls off the tongue. Well, that dream came a little bit closer with this year’s release of ‘.au’ domain names.
Don’t say ‘.com.au’ after a business name. Just say ‘DOT A U’.
Perhaps you’re worried about your competitors getting in before you. Don’t be too concerned. If you already own the ‘.com.au’ or ‘.net.au’ version of your address, the good news is you’ll likely have first dibs on the ‘.au’ equivalent.
However, the exclusive access to the .au version of your domain finishes this week Wednesday, 21 September, at 9.59 am.
Yet to secure your .au domain? Make sure you talk with your hosting provider ahead of this week’s cut-off.
Below is a handy graphic explaining the priority allocation process and what happens when two people stake a claim to the same ‘.au’ address.
What to do once you’ve secured your .au domain
Once you own your .au domain, don’t rush into promoting it as your default website address. Instead, set up a redirect to your existing domain… just like what we’ve done with pistolcreative.au. The reason for doing this is that you probably have loads of areas of your business that promote your existing website address.
From brochures to business cards to email signatures, you’ll need to get all these updated before announcing your .au presence. The last thing you want to do is risk confusing your customers with multiple web addresses.
Of course, that still doesn’t answer the question of whether you should move across to promoting your business under the .au domain handle.
We’re all wondering whether .au will become the default domain address for Australian companies and organisations. Only time will tell, but we’d suggest keeping an eye on the major retailers, particularly in the lead-up to Christmas. If these businesses start promoting their brands using the .au domain, we’ll know the shift is on.
If you do wish to start promoting your new .au domain, talk with us today about the best approach for rolling out the address across your digital and printed brand collateral.
