paulry

Does anyone have experience of starting an internet business in Australia?

I have my business model, so I'm taking my first (and maybe confused) tentative steps towards making it a reality. On registering a domain name, I'm looking at registering the whole breadth of my chosen domain name varieties across the English-speaking world: .com.au, .co.uk, .com, .net, .co.za, .co.nz and .ca (are there any others that I've missed? ). The localised domains will all redirect to .com. My pilot locations are going to be Australia and The UK. Does anyone have knowledge of how best and most cheaply to go about registering a .com.au domain? I already have a US web host that I would ideally like to park it on. I know from previous .co.uk experience that using just any host to register a domain and then transferring it later on can be very costly (release and transfer fees, etc). Australian domains seem to be that much more difficult to register and don't appear to be available for parking on foreign hosts. Is this correct and can anyone suggest any good/most economical solutions?

Thanks

elice_in_oz

You forgot .ie for Ireland Not that they are in a position to buy much there at the moment...
Sorry, can't help with the rest.

paulry

Thanks

Actually the nature of my business plan means that tough times are the perfect conditions for it to start up. Not tellin' ya any more than that though

GarryP

In general, if you are just going to redirect to a .com then only bother with that one since Google will only see/index that one. If you are going to put together country specific content then OK, but I'd tend to limit it to core markets, with the ".com/country" form being equally good from many perspectives.

Aus domains have the major issue that you need an ABN to get one, which means you need to be trading, which means you can't get one till its too late. There are cheats, but frankly they aren't really worthwhile unless you are targeting the country specifically (eg real localisation).

Suggest getting the .com, creating country specific content within that scope, then once you are trading get the .com.au and shift the Aus content to a new site with geoloc approaches to shift Aus eyeballs to the new site. The one advantage of their approach is its unlikely to be cybersquatted - however be aware that they have strange rules about domain and business names having to be the same.

Oh, and be sure to claim "Aussie made for Aussie Conditions" whilst increasing prices by 100%.

Rambi

I think Harrip (on here) runs a hosting service. Maybe send him a PM?

SillyOldBag

I know one of the major benefits of internet businesses is not needing lots of offices etc... etc..... But have you thought about having a Cairns office? Gawd I don't even know what your business is, it could be something terribly unsavoury and here am I volunteering myself .... lordy me!

Swerv-o

Remember that owning the domain name doesn't necessarily give you the right to trade under that name. You may want to consider checking the Trademarks database (see www.ipaustralia.gov.au) and you may also want to consider registering the trademark yourself so that you can prevent others from using it in the future.

Generally, you can trade on a mark providing there is no suggestion that your goods and services are in any way related to the goods and services of another, where the goods and services are split into different categories.

So you couldn't sell MP3 players under the mark of Apple, but you could sell baby's clothes.

It can be a long and painful process, but is something that a startup should really consider from the very beginning. If you want to see what the chances of getting your mark registered (in Australia anyway), then try out then TMHeadstart service offered by IP Australia.

Are you in Sydney by any chance? there's a meet up group every Friday evening at The Grace Hotel called Silicon Beach. It attracts start ups and people with new and good ideas. May be worth calling in if you're local.


S

Smudger82

I register all my domains through CrazyDomains, which are pretty terrible if you host through them or are looking for any kind of customer service. But I only use them to register .com.au domain names and use their DNS to point each domain at my reseller server in the UK. It works really well, only problem I have had is server downtime, which happens occasionally when it is the middle of the night in the UK, but of course it is in the working day in Aus time.

If you don't have an ABN, simply register one online, it's really easy. If for some reason you don't want to, you can still register a domain name but must have registered the trademark.

Bix

Worth running any names through a translator too.

My old company paid one of those design / publicity agents a fortune to come up with a new company name.

After launching the new name they discovered it meant "little penis" in one language.

rasen78

Good luck with your new enterprise and I am sure Adelaide would be in need of whatever it is you are going to be doing. Now, who do you know who will be living out there soon.....

paulry

Sorry about the delay in replying, there's been too many things going on all at once this side Thanks for all of your responses, several great pointers, thank you.

The more that I learn about launching an internet start-up the more I realise how much needs to be known to successfully achieve it. I've ordered a couple of books to help and in the meantime am registering all the domain names that I think I'll need as well as any obvious varieties of the name: all the .coms, .nets, .co.uk, .co.za, etc. The name is quite a catchy/punchy one - in fact it's amazing really that it's not already been grabbed. Today I'll be working on the brand - the logo. Once the logo is ready I intend to register it as a trademark for all of the countries in which I plan to operate. Once that's done I'll get on with working out the project plan, timelines, etc. The UK seems like a logical and strategic place to launch - but that'll be months away, I reckon. Loads to do but a great feeling to be employed again

Swerv-o: I think I'll need to be in Sydney in about a month so. Will def try and look in on the Friday Silicon Beach meet-up if I get the chance

SillyOldBag and Rasen78: Thanks for volunteering. But are you absolutely sure you don't mind modelling transparent lingerie?

In other news: Last night my insurers finally gave in and agreed to honour the insurance and pay for the replacement of my fire-gutted UK kitchen. But not before they'd put me though hell first

irishbloo

Good luck with your new adventure.We are self employed and love it.

LittleKittyCat

I have an internet business and used Netregistry to register my domain names (.com.au and .com). I have been trading for just over a week so very, very early days, but I have been pleased with what I have achieved so far. I used the forums on www.flyingsolo.com.au for much of the advice/information that I used to get going. There are some very knowledgeable people on there. The advice I got on whether to use the .com or the .com.au in Australia was to use the .com.au, because Australians tend to prefer 'local' and are more likely to look. I am saving my .com and am thinking about getting a .co.uk and roping my sister-in-law in to help out with the UK part if all goes well.

Trying to get my head round Adwords at the moment, which is proving interesting!

Rambi

When my wife was working in China she knew a Canadian bloke called Marlon who used to manage some factories. Apparently down south, the whole factory burst into laugher when in Cantonese he told them his name was "Horse's penis"

paulry

Very well done! It's an exciting challenge for sure and I believe the rewards can be very great. I'm also thinking of roping in relatives later on to help. Thanks for the links.

Good luck!