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Why having .com.au as your online identity matters

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https://www.kochiesbusinessbuilders.com.au/onlineidentity/
Tara Commerford is the GoDaddy Country Manager, Australia and New Zealand

"Why having .com.au as your online identity matters
ByTara Commerford
May 24, 2017

When it comes to choosing a domain name, using .com.au should be the obvious choice for Australian businesses – including those with international aspirations. The .au domain extensions .com.au, .org.au and .net.au, act as your unique local identities in the digital world – and with a thirty-year history, it’s more relevant than ever to both local and overseas customers today.

Why an Aussie online identity matters
Unlike other country level domain-name extensions, .au domains are only available to Australian organisations, with rigorous checks required to ensure that potential owners are in fact based here and registered with an Australia Business Number. That automatically establishes credibility among local customers: two in every three Australians are more likely to trust a website that ends in .au because they know they’re engaging with a local business. GoDaddy’s latest research supports this, with only 19% of respondents thinking they need to go overseas for a business idea to succeed.

Opting for .com.au and other .au domains can boost appeal to more than just locals. These domains also hold a strong influence amongst overseas consumers, particularly in markets like China and Japan where Australian products are held in especially high regard. Having a .com.au domain tells these consumers more than just your business’ place of operation: it also alludes to the quality of products and customer service that they can expect to receive.

Two in every three Aussies are more likely to trust a website that is .au

Using .au to your business’ advantage
Small businesses should build on the inherent strengths of their local domain names to more effectively target the customers they want to reach. As 67% of Australians noticed, tech has made it easier to become an entrepreneur.

.com.au domains offer strong SEO benefits: a .com.au site will typically rank higher in Australian search results than those with other domain extensions. Businesses should take advantage of this when optimising their on-site SEO: those with brick and mortar stores, like F&B or retail outlets, should first target potential customers searching their local city or suburb. Those people are then more likely to find your business easily online and far more likely to respond to a .com.au site than one which doesn’t announce itself as an Australian business at the start.

Recent regulatory changes have also opened up a range of new domain-name extensions to Australian businesses, including city-specific ones like .sydney and .melbourne. If you conduct business on an extremely local level – particularly in areas like tourism or hospitality – consider buying one of those domains, then redirecting traffic from it to your business’ main .com.au site.

For the past thirty years, .au has helped Australian enterprises build stand-out digital presences. Yet despite – or because of – business becoming increasingly global, its relevance as a symbol of Australian-owned quality has endured amongst local and international consumers alike. For Australian businesses, the advantages of a .AU domain name are plenty – and only a few clicks away."

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Then she gets it totally wrong promoting the failing NTLDS!
https://www.kochiesbusinessbuilders.com.au/custom-domain-names-smbs-powerful-marketing-tool/
 
I saw Tara promote that on LinkedIn. so I left her the following comment (which she hasn't responded to yet).

"Tara, your opening sentence and title is spot on! Of the approximate 3,100,000 .au domains in Australia, com.au is king with around 88% of all registrations.

However, the second paragraph of your article is unfortunately under attack as we speak. As my article on Domainer shows, overseas scammers are "borrowing" authentic business details of Australian businesses in order to register Australian domains. Some of them then put up fake ecommerce sites: http://www.domainer.com.au/cyber-criminals-in-the-au-space/

auDA is aware of this problem, and is trying hard to deal with these ongoing attacks on .au's stellar reputation. Let's wish them well in their endeavours."​
 
Article is just a sales pitch. "it’s more relevant than ever to both local and overseas customers today."

How is it more relevant than ever? I'd argue the relevance is on the wane with another extension proposed.

Recent regulatory changes have also opened up a range of new domain-name extensions to Australian businesses, including city-specific ones like .sydney and .melbourne. If you conduct business on an extremely local level – particularly in areas like tourism or hospitality – consider buying one of those domains, then redirecting traffic from it to your business’ main .com.au site.

Yep, that is confirmation, the article has no credibility at all.
 

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