When building an Australian website to address an Australian audience, the most common choice, and, in general best performing for search engines, is a .com.au domain. In order to register a .com.au domain, your domain name of choice must be a copy of, or very similar to, your business name.
Choosing a Business and Domain Name
To best utilise your website, and to give it a good starting point when working out your search engine optimisation strategy, consider carefully your choice of both a business and domain name. Your name needs to express what it is you offer, and be unique to you, but also will benefit by having popular internet search terms in your field included.
So, if you were building a website selling, say, ovens, and your name was Mr Smith, you may choose the business name Smiths Ovens Online, and the domain www.smithsovensonline.com.au. This is unique, in the sense that it contains Mr Smiths name, but also clearly indicates what it is people can expect to purchase from this business, and website. Having the terms "ovens" and "online" in the domain name will also of course help with search positioning when potential customers type these terms into the search engine.
It is best to have several possible business and domain names and variations of these ready, as you will need to choose up to three variations for your business name registration, and it will save time to check that BOTH the business name and domain name of your choice are available to be registered.
Registering Your Business and Domain Name
Check for availability of your chosen business name at the National Names Index at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission
You can then apply for your business name at the Department of Fair Trading in your state. A state by state guide to the application process can be found at the registration and licences section of business.gov.au, along with a wealth of information on starting your own small business.
Once you have your business name registered and connected to your ABN, you will be able to register the .com.au domain name of your choosing, if it is available.
Check for availability of domain names via any domain supplier, including via the DIY Website Builder. You can also use the the domain supplier of your choice to purchase available domain names and transfer them over to your DIY Website Builder hosting plan, or simply purchase a .com.au domain directly via the DIY Website Builder system.
With a domain name which matches your business name, you have an easy to remember URL for your returning customers to type in, and a starting point for your search engine optimisation efforts! Read our post on optimisation of page titles to take the next step in your SEO journey!
