The 20th of September is the cut-off to register your businesses .au domain name. This will prevent others from buying an important part of your brand’s assets. Specifically, this is a .au domain name that does not have .com before it.
According to Australia’s domain administration and regulatory body, .auDA the .au domain name is the country code top level domain for Australia. Launched earlier this year, the .au domain name has been established to bring Australia into line with other countries. The UK adopted the .uk domain name in 2014 and New Zealand has adopted .nz
.auDA has deemed the introduction of the .au domain is necessary due to the increased usage of mobile technology with a smaller domain name easier for users.
The other important fact is that your domain is part of your brand’s assets. It’s important to keep control of all brand assets. If you own a domain name, you have first rights to purchase the .au domain name. For example, BridgePoint Group has www.bridgepointgroup.com.au and www.bridgepointgroup.au as part of its brand assets.
The deadline for purchase of your relevant .au domain name is the 20th of September, 2022. The process is very easy and only takes a few minutes. Contact your current domain name provider (Godaddy, Crazy Domains etc) to secure your .au domain name.
Once the 20th September deadline passes, anyone can purchase the .au domain name. That is a risk as it opens up the opportunity for others to purchase your .au domain. If you don’t buy your .au domain and someone else does, it is a very time consuming and costly exercise to reclaim it. So it is a good idea to avoid that and purchase your .au domain before the 20th September.
If you need further advice, check out the website for .auDA which has a lot of information about the .au domain namespaces.
If you need any help, please contact a BridgePoint Group team member on 1300 656 141 or email info@bridgepointgroup.com.au