How to buy a .com.au domain for your business

A domain name is the address people type to find your website, like yourbusiness.com.au. The same name carries your email (you@yourbusiness.com.au), so it is worth getting right once. You do not buy it forever: you hold a licence to use it for a set number of years, and renew it.

• An Australian business. Most people qualify with an ABN or ACN. A foreign company trading in Australia can use an ARBN, and an Australian trade mark or trade mark application also counts (auDA: com.au domain names).
• A name that connects to your business: your business or personal name, an acronym of it, your trade mark, or a service or product you offer (auDA: com.au domain names).
• No physical address needed. Where your business is located is not taken into account (auDA: com.au domain names).
• You have to stay eligible. If you stop meeting the rules during the licence, it can be cancelled (auDA: renew your .au domain name).

• .com.au is for Australian businesses, with the rules above.
• .au (like yourbusiness.au) is the newest and shortest option. Anyone with a validated Australian connection can register one, including citizens, permanent residents, trade mark holders and organisations registered in Australia (auDA: .au direct domain names).
• .com is open to anyone, anywhere, with no Australian rules.

For an Australian business serving Australian customers, a .com.au is the one we register.

1. 1

   Choose the name

   Keep it short and simple, so people remember it and can spell it after hearing it once.

2. 2

   Check it is free

   Use our domain checker, or auDA's WHOIS lookup (auDA: how to register a .au domain name).

3. 3

   Check you are eligible

   An ABN or ACN for a .com.au, and a name that connects to your business.

4. 4

   Register it with a domain provider

   Pick a provider, choose 1 to 5 years, and enter your details and your ABN or ACN. Register it in your business's own name, not in your web designer's.

• $15 to $30 a year for a .com.au (What's The Damage), or $20 to $50 a year in GoDaddy's figures quoted by Creative Baguette.
• Providers often run a cheaper first-year price, so check what the renewal costs, not just year one.
• Some providers only renew for one or two years at a time (auDA: com.au domain names).

The domain is one of several running costs. What a website costs in Australia lists the rest.

• Someone else holding it. If your web designer or a staff member is listed as the licence holder, moving it later needs their help. Make sure the holder is your business.
• Letting it expire. auDA lets you renew up to 90 days before the expiry date. After expiry there is a 30-day grace period, but your website and email stop working during it, and after that the name is released for anyone to register (auDA: renew your .au domain name).
• Forgetting the email side. Your email runs on the same name, so an expired domain takes your email down too. How business email works.
• A name that is hard to say or spell. If you have to spell it out on every phone call, people will mistype it.