Introduction

You’ve got an exciting business idea, and now it’s time to share it with the world, or perhaps just with your ideal clients. In this guide, I’ll explore the intricacies of selecting the perfect domain name for your business in Australia. Specifically, we’ll focus on how to engage your ideal audience effectively.

Selecting the Best Domain Name for Your New Business: When it comes to choosing the best domain name for your small business, many entrepreneurs often overlook the critical factor of how potential customers search for their products or services. Instead, they tend to opt for domain names they personally prefer without considering their target audience.

Let’s illustrate this with an example:

Meet Dazza, a tradie specialising in crafting durable, eco-friendly air ducts manufactured in house from recycled sea plastics taken from the nostrils of turtles in the Barrier Reef and metal which has been smelted down from landmines which Dazza personally removes twice a year from abandoned active landmine zones in Laos. Dazza is a top bloke. Dazza is pondering the ideal domain name for his burgeoning business. Dazza might also need to ponder some life insurance options but that’s another story. Dazza’s ducts are built to last and are competitively priced, perfect for the average family home or office building.

However, Dazza’s business is not yet a household name, so prospective customers are unlikely to search for “Dazza’s Air Duct Installations.” Dazza requires a domain name that clearly communicates what he offers and where he is located.

Hyperlocal Vs. Statewide or National Business Names

If you’re a local handyman and that’s what you’re going to continue to do forever then you need to stay hyperlocal. It’s all about being connected to your local community. It’s all about being known in the suburb you’re based in and the dozen suburbs surrounding you.

If you choose this sort of national domain and you’re currently only based in Melbourne and you still haven’t dominated your city then there are some tricks you can use. You can simply mention Melbourne all over the website. You can have a picture of a map of Melbourne on your site. This way, if a customer is looking for “Air Duct installations in Darwin” and they come across the website “dazzasducts.com.au”, when they look at the site they are going to quickly realise Dazza doesn’t currently do ducts in Darwin. But. One day, Dazza’s Ducts might expand to Darwin. If Dazza does expand to Darwin he doesn’t need to setup a new website. He can just update the content on www.dazzasducts.com.au to inform everyone that he’s now also in Darwin.

The issue is, of course, if Dazza chooses a business name and domain like www.Dazzasductsmelbourne.com.au, it’s going to be a problem when he expands to another city or state.

You need to consider this ideally before you start. It’s not going to be the end of the world but it’s going to be much easier from a marketing perspective to keep the same domain for new cities as you grow.

Introducing Your Local Business Online: Before diving into the world of domain registration, every small business startup should thoroughly understand how potential customers search for their offerings and the significance of location, especially if the business delivers services.

So, how can you make your business discoverable through your domain name? It all comes down to location.

Utilising the New .au Domain Extension in Australia: The gold standard to establish your Australian identity is by using domain extensions such as .com.au. The .com is an abbreviation for the word “commercial”. It means business. People know it. It doesn’t need to be explained.

Recently, a new domain extension, .au, became available in Australia. Dazza can incorporate .au into his domain name, clearly indicating that he operates in Australia. If the .com.au domain is taken he can now just use dazzasducts.au.

The .au extension is a good choice, for some businesses, due to its brevity and memorability. These new .au domains are perfect for showcasing your Australian connection.

Choosing a Domain to Target Local Customers: Similar to Dazza’s Ducts, some businesses really need to focus on a specific local region. Expecting a company to be relevant to customers outside their local area might be unreasonable. Local customers want to know that the businesses they find are nearby.

Here are a couple of ways to further localise your domain…

Including the City in Your Domain Name: For instance, Dazza could decide to include his region in his domain name, resulting in something like “DazzasDuctsMelbourne.com.au”. While this approach adds local specificity, it can make the domain name quite long and prone to misspellings, which could be unfavourable for branding and marketing purposes.

Using a City-Specific Domain Extension: Businesses in cities like Melbourne or Sydney can employ city-specific domain extensions such as .melbourne or .sydney to align their domain name with their specific location. For Dazza, operating in Melbourne, he could choose “DazzasDucts.melbourne.” Localising the domain simplifies running locally targeted online ads, reaching users in the vicinity more effectively. There’s not going to be any confusion in the mind of the client WHERE Dazza installs his ducts.

Another Approach

There are some other more advanced solutions. If Dazza is currently based in a single city and Dazza is working to expand to other cities Dazza could choose to go with DazzasDucts.com.au and then have the various cities available on the site with geographic specific information. E.g. Dazzasducts.com.au/melbourne, dazzasducts.com.au/brisbane and dazzaducts.com.au/darwin. Each city might have unique details such as unique office phone numbers, office opening hours, local staff bios, etc.

Conclusion

Deciding on a domain for your business is an important decision that will be with you for the entire journey of that business. If you choose the wrong domain name and strategy you’ll pay for it. If you want to ask us for advice please get in touch. Once you’ve laid this foundational strategy, you’ll need to think about building a great website on this domain. And then, how to drive traffic to your digital platforms, employing digital marketing, paid advertisements to keep your ideal clients calling.