Business warned of .au pitfalls
Business warned of .au pitfalls
Australian businesses have been warned to be mindful of the availability of .au domain names before launching new companies, products or brands in the country.
Chris Disspain, CEO of .au Domain Administration (auDA), a non-profit organisation that is charged with operating the .au domain, commented: "All marketers should check the availability of a new brand's .au domain name if they are to ensure the brand is successfully launched."
Disspain added that this was especially important at present, as more than ever before, Australians rely on the Internet to source information about new products and services being launched in Australia.
"As most Australians are now conditioned to look for local brand names with a .au domain name, it would be a fundamental marketing error not to ensure any brand's .au domain name availability, prior to public launch."
Creating a brand where .au domain name is already registered could have dramatic financial repercussions on an organisation, said Disspain.
"If you create a brand that someone already registered as a .au domain name, quite simply, you'll need to spend more money to ensure consumers remember a non-intuitive domain name or go back to the drawing board and create a new brand. Either way, it's a big cost that can easily be avoided."
Most marketers now realise the power of the Internet to disseminate information about products and services. As a result, more and more brand names are determined by the availability of .au domain names.
"It was always inevitable that the Internet would one day shape the commercial environment in a much more pervasive manner than was anticipated even 10 years ago. Nowadays, the availability of a .au domain name may determine a brand more than the actual product or service."
auDA advises all marketers that the availability of .au domain names can be easily determined by accessing the WHOIS database at www.mywebname.com.au.
"Through the WHOIS database, any business in Australia, either large or small, can check domain name availability quickly and free of charge," concluded Disspain.
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