Urgent - Your .com.au Website Domain Is Changing In March
March 24 is the date your .com.au presence may change forever.
Do you need to be startled and fear the internet is crashing? No. But you should take notice of the following points.
Here is some reading on it – https://www.auda.org.au/au-domain-names/au-domain-names/au-direct
Firstly, say what?
From March 24th 2022, Australians will be able to purchase or apply for .au direct names (eg. yourdomain.au). These names will be for general use, meaning any person or organisation can register them as long as they meet the eligibility criteria of having an Australian presence. There are no rules about the domain needing to match business names, products or services.
Registrants who have pre-existing names in the .au namespace (eg, .com.au, .net.au, .org.au) will be able to apply to obtain the matching .au direct name. The .au direct name will be allocated according to the .au direct priority allocation process. If the name doesn’t already exist in the .au namespace, then the .au direct name can be purchased from the 24th of March 2022. Registrants of pre-existing domain names have until the 20th of September 2022 to submit their applications.
Ok back to my points.
1 – You have 6 months to complete the purchase
If you have gone to the trouble of registering your own .com.au don’t leave the .au change to chance. Put something in your diary to jump online and purchase the new domain. Once again it is not the internet apocalypse if you don’t bother. But let’s talk about your potential downside. Here are your risks if you don’t:
- A competitor takes your ‘name’ and wins your work
- Hacker takes your name and traffic
- Brand damage and exposure
2 – Why wait
If you read this and have a .com.au then just make some time to get the .au process done. It is one of those things that will be easily forgotten. Don’t say she’ll be right. Crack on with it now.
3 – Review your Digital Presence at the same time
Tasks are easier if you have a specific purpose. Since your domain is digital, why not look at all your digital assets and review your competitors at the same time.
Let us review your total website traffic, your Google My Business Page – and benchmark these against your peers. We shoot this to you all tied up into one report with action points to get you more leads/jobs and clients.