Billions of people rely on the Internet to search for information every day. According to live statistics, 8.5 billion searches are conducted on Google daily. And most of the searches conducted are on mobile phones. All these show that if you want your small business to be identified by customers, you should have a website to give you a strong online presence.
With a website, you can establish your business’ legitimacy and credibility. Launching a website will help you let know your customers about your business and the products you offer. Nonetheless, your business website should be located by your customers to access it. For that, you need to register a domain name, which will help Internet users to identify it from other websites and access it.
A domain name helps a website to become distinctive. With a unique name or address, your website looks professional. However, it is not easy to register a domain, for acquiring a suitable domain and extension is not easy. There are about 2 billion websites on the Internet, which use unique addresses to distinguish themselves online.
To register a domain successfully, here is a step-by-step guide that explains how to find an appropriate name, check its availability, and buy it. Registering your website or online store with a perfect name will differentiate your products or service, promote your brand, and give you a competitive edge online.
1. Choose your desired name
You can choose any name if it is available. There are not many restrictions in using a name, except for the special characters and numbers, which make it difficult for web users to remember and type them. However, you need to keep in mind that a domain should help your website to get traffic. And it happens, if target customers can locate your website online. Hence, when choosing the right domain name requires you to:
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Have an appropriate domain extension
A website with a domain extension that matches the image you want to have will help attract either local or global customers or both. Based on your business objectives, you can choose an extension from generic top-level domains (TLDs), which include popular ones like ‘.com’, ‘.net’, ‘.store’, ‘.org’, and ‘.tech’. If you want to expand your business to target global customers, you can consider buying the ‘.com’ extension.
In case you prefer to concentrate on local markets, say Australia if your business is in Sydney, Melbourne, or Brisbane, you can look for country-code TLDs like ‘.au, .com.au, .net.au, .asn.au, .melbourne, and .sydney’. Nevertheless, you should fulfil some domain eligibility requirements to buy the ‘.au’ domain. They include:
- A business registered in Australia as a sole trader, company, or partnership firm or
- A business operating in an Australian state or territory under a registered name
- A foreign company allowed to run a business in Australia
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Be a short and simple name to remember and spell easily
Find a name that is simple, as well as short to help your customers easy-to-remember it. For example, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has a simple domain address ‘abc.net.au’, which is easy to memorise. The other example is ‘csl.com.au’, which belongs to the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories. Domain names like these can increase traffic and your website’s search engine rankings.
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Be related to your industry or business
You can find a name that is related to your business or industry to help your potential customers know about your products and brand. With it, you can establish credibility and trust.
2. Check whether your chosen domain is available or not
If you can successfully find a perfect name, the next step is to check its availability. You can know it by typing the name on the domain search tool available on a domain registrar’s website.
3. Find a reliable domain registrar
Once you have confirmed the availability of your preferred domain name, go ahead and choose a reliable registrar for the domain name registration. Most domain registrars offer you domain names and extensions at competitive prices. If you can buy a hosting plan, the domain registration comes along with it as a package. You can save money by having a service provider offering everything from web hosting, domain registration, and web designing to SEO, advanced security, and email marketing.
4. Register your domain name
Finally, you can have your domain registered.
To conclude, you can consider the steps explained to successfully register a domain name and expand your business in the near future.
