UPDATED 01/04/2019:  If you want to “Start a Website”,  a blog or an online eCommerce shop you will need a domain name.  With a website name, you will also need a webhosting account to host your website files and website. The first most important thing you would need to consider is “Do I get an Australian .com.au domain” or do I get a  .com domain.  Website name prices are not getting any cheaper in 2019 and so it pays  to get a cheap webname provider.

The price factor between .com and .com.au domain names can make a difference, and decide who you go with if you are on a tight budget.  The  Australian .au extensions are generally much pricier. Today there are heaps of  Domain name registration companies that not only provide Aussie domain extensions, but a whole lot of new exciting extension’s to choose from.

Table of Contents

• Register a domain name
• Australian .au name or .com name
• Tips to choose a website name

Best Domain Name Providers Online

1. Godaddy
2. Crazydomains
3. Namecheap
4. Netregistry
5. Hostgator
6. Domaincentral
7. Bluehost
8. Domain
9. 1 & 1
10. Cloudflare

Search Widgets for Domain names

• Domain Name finder

Let me explain it to you!

In simple terms, a domain or website name is like an online address to your blog or website.

Just like people need an address to get to your house, on the internet they need a domain name  eg.  johndoesblog.com , www.facebook.com  to find your blog or website .

So you can give a person your online address  which is  www.johndoesblog.com – they  then type that in their browser and reach your website/blog ( which is your online address).

You do not have to be a company or organisation to register a  top-level domain extension or a  .com.au domain name. Any individual can register a domain for themselves from less than $1 or $2 for a dot-com domain name (when they are special deals). When they are no discounts or promo offers available, the prices for this can be between the range of $10 and $14 for a year.

The dotcom.au Australia names are just a little bit pricier and can be priced anywhere between $22 to $49  a domain a year depending on who you buy it from – yes Australian domains are a bit pricier and you need an ABN (Australian Business Number) to get one.

In order to register .com.au domain names, as part of the registration process you’ll need to supply either:

• an Australian Business Number (ABN)
• an Australian Company Number (ACN)
• a Registered Business Number (BN)
• Trademark number

Your domain name is your website address or URL on the internet.

Domain names are the unique identity for your online Business. They help establish, promote and protect your brand. And they’re where you direct new and potential customers, so making sure your name belongs to you is essential.

Registering a .com.au domain improves local search results and marks your business as Australian. If you are just after starting a hobby website or a personal blog you can surely start off with a cheaper .com extension domain and it would not make much difference to your online presence.

Why is .au or .com.au  domain name important?

• .au represents the Top Level Domain for Australia and is the preferred Domain Name for all Australians.  Japan (.jp) and Germany (.de) are other examples of TLD (Top Level Domains).

• Any website that ends in .au is a website built specifically with Australian Internet users in mind, but open to a global audience.

• .com.au are generally for commercial purposes and can include commercial entities – currently registered and trading in Australia, as well as commercial products and services.

One other way of getting a cheaper domain and still making the website name relevant to Australia is to either get the term/word Australia or Australian in the domain name you are planning to buy and get that as a .com  rather than .au

For example:  If you are thinking of starting a gadget blog – you could name it www.gadgetaustralia.com!  This way while you could be just paying $0.99 cents for a dot.com domain name and still letting people know that your domain is Australian focused. 

In this example even though you are not buying a .com.au extension, the name gadgetaustralia.com clearly shows that its an Australian related domain name and so you can get away with buying a .com at a cheaper price.

The price difference could be cheaper @$9.99 year (99 cents promo price)  instead of  $22 or more for a .com.au extension for a year. However saying that there are some providers that provide both  webhosting + free domain name offers, you can check out our 2019 listing of webhosts over here.

Most of the prices given below is  for 1 year term unless where specified for a longer term.

Most aussie domain names ending with .au extensions registration  has a minimum registration requirement of two years. This means  if the price is $22 for a year – you will be paying approximately $44 upfront to purchase or register a website name with au extension.

Below I have provided short reviews detailing  price and information on some Australian and US based domain name registration and web-hosting companies that primarily provide names for blogs and websites.

Can you buy a domain name forever?

Short Answer – No!

But luckily most domain name providers do  have a button in their settings/admin panel that say renew my domain automatically and your domain will renew automatically when 1 or 2 years are over. 

You can also set it to manually renew in your settings so that it doesn’t automatically get renewed on expiration and you don’t want get  charged for another year if you want to dump the domain name.

Most providers will send you and email saying your website name is going to expire and ask you if you want to renew or saying that it is auto renewing prior to expiring.

Domains ending with  .com  or .com.au are not the only options available and people can easily buy .info or .org  or .net .au which are generally more cheaper  than a .com or .com.au domain

 

Privacy is another extra  that one might need to consider  while buying domain,  most domain providers  charge a extra charge for privacy ..so they block out your personal email contact and address from the website if you take the privacy option provide by the registrar.

How to Register Your Own Domain Name

If you have a website or blog , you should seriously consider registering your own domain name. So what is a domain name ? A “domain name” is a name like e.g. “www.digitalgrog.com.au/” or “gadgetaustralia.com” which you give to your website , which you can then  use to refer or point to your website or blog.

Registering a www domain in 5 minutes

Generally, there are no restrictions on who can register .com domain name, the period of registration can vary from 1 to 10 years

Buying your own domain name can be a great way to set up your own website/blog and/or personalized email address.

To register a domain name its as simple as doing search on the domain name provider for your name

Go daddy Domain Checker

Example: Say you are going to start a bbq recipe blog, go to the website godaddy.com and in the search button put in bbqrecipe and search (go) and they will tell you if its available or not available  to register ( and also provide you other name options and prices) .

If  the name you want is not available, you will need to try different variations to the name until you get related name and then buy the domain via PayPal or your credit card or other payment options available and this whole process is done in 5 minutes.

Bluehost Domain checker tool :

(Free Domain deal with hosting below )

You can also get our DG blog special offer  for bluehost Hosting  where you get a Domain free ( with an hosting account for $3.49 a month)- Get this deal here.

Why is it so difficult to register a Australian domain name ?

While eligibility rules for .AU names can be somewhat of a pain and  a bit more cumbersome than registering top level domains, they do serve a very important purpose – preserving the Australian namespace’s integrity and ensuring it continues to enjoy a solid reputation as one that can be trusted.

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