What is domain name registration or a URL (Universal Resource Locator)?

This is the name of the location of your website, it acts like the street address of your business on the Internet.  For example our domain name is a7designs and our address is www.a7designs.com.au.

Why is it important?
A domain name is important because it forms your business identity on the internet, it works like your company name or brand.  People should recognize it as part of your company.  In Australia, domain name registration requires the number from your Certificate of Business Registration, Australian Business Number or Australian Company Number to purchase a .com.au address.

Your domain name must be related to your business name, or a product which you offer. A domain name cannot contain another business' trademark.You can search the IP Australia site to check if your proposed business name or domain name infringes on another businesses trademark. To visit the IP Australia web site, click here.

We at A7Designs believe that your .com, .com.au or .mobi address should be something that your customers will recognize on the Internet, and  it should be consistent with the business that you are displaying on the web.

Dot Com (.com) or Dot Com Dot Au (.com.au)?
What do you need?  Dot com/net names are cheaper than .com.au names, you can purchase a .com name from us for $60.00 Australian Dollars for two years.  Before you do, you may want to consider what is available (many .com addresses are taken).  Some Australian Search Engines will not list a .com address, and some international search engines will not list a .com.au address.

You can purchase a .com.au name from us for $66.00 (for 2 years).

Use the field at the top of the page to find out if the business name is available for you.  Perhaps you want to purchase both a .com and a .com.au address (protecting your business name from some one else).  Remember if you purchase a .com.au name, and another company purchases the .com address, they may be a competitor or a sex site.

If your purchase both, we can ensure both addresses lead the customer to your website.  This service is called URL linking and pricing starts at $35.

Email and your domain
When you have your website up and hosted, you will have an email address (usually you can decide how many addresses) with your company/business name in it.  This is a very important form of promotion.  Every time you send an email, your address comes up with your name@ yourbusinessname.com.au, people will recognize and see your business name.  It is important that you use this email address and advertise your business name and not that of your Internet Service Provider (ISP).  You will still need an ISP to access the Internet.

Domain name extensions
So you know about .com and .com.au, but what about .org, .net., .edu, .gov etc.? New extensions are coming out all the time, .org applies to non-profit entities, .net is a .com alternative, .gov is for government related sites and .edu is for educational institutions.  The country identifier usually follows these extensions, in Australia addresses are .com.au or .net.au.  The United States has no country identifier extension.

Mobile phone web sites have the extention .MOBI. If you are interested in having a mobile phone web site now or in the furture, we recommend that you purchase this name.  Our mobile phone website address is www.a7designs.mobi.

We recommend that you stick to the extension which best describes your business.  If it is an international business, a .com address may be most suitable, if you have a local business, you may want to stick with a .com.au address.  We do not recommend using the newer extensions such as .tv, as at this time they do not have the same name recognition as the .com/.com.au addresses.

>> Contact us about registering your domain name.