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With only a few weeks left for businesses to claim their .au domain names, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson is urging companies to act.
Earlier this year, auDA, which manages Australian domain names, officially launched the new, shorter .au styling for Australian websites (as opposed to .com.au), first opening registration to anyone with existing websites wanting to claim their new names.
But that window is closing on 20 September 2022, and Mr Billson has sounded alarm bells regarding the low uptake of domain registrations and the potential pitfalls for businesses should they fail to register for their alternate sites.
“I urge you to take a few minutes and few dollars to register it or potentially face someone else grabbing it and using it to digitally ambush your business, to demand big dollars later to surrender it to you, or misuse it to masquerade as you or to help them engage in cyber-crime,” Mr Billson said.
He noted that registering for the domain does not require them to use it, but not doing so will leave it open for others to grab.
He said that was likely to include so-called web-name “campers”, impersonators, or even criminals who might try to take advantage of pre-existing brand identities to hurt both the business and the Australian public.
Despite years in the planning — auDA has been working on the rollout since at least 2016 — the deployment of the new styling has been anything but smooth.
Mr Billson indicated that he was disappointed in the promotion of a public campaign meant to inform the public of their right to have first dibs on certain website addresses.
“I’m not surprised so few people know about this as the public awareness campaign has been less than impactful, but I want to make sure small businesses avoid a horrible surprise when they find someone else is using or misusing the shortened version of their key digital asset being their domain name,” he said.
Real estate marketing experts weighed in shortly after the release of the new domains, urging businesses in the industry to register their existing domains promptly, whether they intend to use them or not.
“My recommendation to agents and agencies is to secure the new domain name even if you don’t use it. It’s safer to have it than it falling into the hands of someone else. Plus, if this does become a popular domain, regardless of whether people search your site with the .com.au or the .au, your site will still come up,” commented Nic Fren, founder of Bespoke Media Group.
And for those who might want to go one further and change up their business address, Agency HQ chief executive Mark Morrison believes it could even deliver some business benefits, putting them on the cutting edge in the eyes of clients.
“We are living in an era where everything is shortened and people are looking for speed of use. In my opinion, AU will become the dominant domain within three to five years. It makes sense, just look at social media [handles],” Mr Morrison said.
To read more about why agents should make the switch, click here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juliet Helmke
Based in Sydney, Juliet Helmke has a broad range of reporting and editorial experience across the areas of business, technology, entertainment and the arts. She was formerly Senior Editor at The New York Observer.
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