Domain name questions and answers

Website assistance for existing clients of Nambucca Graphics
and parties who are considering our Firm for their web project

"Should my domain name contain my company name?"
Not necessarily. Always remember that small is beautiful when it comes to domain names. For example the business "Floral Tributes & Bouquets" might be tempted to register a website address like floraltributesandbouquets.com.au However an address like this is going to cause its owner heaps of grief. Here's why.

Most users of the internet are poor typists. If they make a single error typing that difficult address they'll end up with an error page and figure the site no longer exists. Next consider the difficulties of inserting that website address into your business cards, letterheads, Yellow Pages listing and media advertisements. Finally think about the problems of giving someone your website address by word of mouth on the phone or in a face to face situation. Most people are terrible spellers. Imagine spelling it out for them and then checking it off again letter by letter over the phone! How many times per week did you say??

Ok, here's what we recommend. You need a name which is both short and relevant. Your web address is not supposed to be a sales story any more than is the case of your business phone number. Keep in mind, "short is beautiful".

So for the business mentioned in the first paragraph we would suggest a domain name such as
www.floral.com or www.bouquets.com or perhaps www.flowers.com if any of these happened to be available (unlikely in this case). We offer this merely an example of the general principles which should guide your choice of domain name.

"What does it cost to register a domain name?"
A registered domain name costs $60 to $70 Australian dollars per year plus GST. Some domain names are renewable each year whilst others have a two year renewal cycle. However the costs are very similar in annual terms.

"Is it best to go for dot com name or something else?"
Well our view is that names with extensions of .com or .net or .biz or .info have the advantage of being shorter than many other alternatives. That is a good and helpful thing. Small addresses are definitely good addresses. Many of our clients prefer .com.au addresses to emphasise Australian origins. Regardless of which you choose, Nambucca Graphics are Authorised Channel Partners for the registration of these domain names on your behalf.

"Can I have a website address without paying for a domain name?"
Yes you can. We have many clients who are given free use of addresses we can provide. In many cases this is a perfectly satisfactory solution. Let's use the same Florist business mentioned earlier on this page as an example. We could have given them a free website address from our own resources. The address could have been ozpal.com/floral if that address had have been satisfactory to our client. It's a little less perfect but still very short and quite satisfactory.

"I just got a domain name renewal invoice which looks pretty official."
If it's not from Nambucca Graphics simply send the renewal invoice to us by either fax, e-mail or regular post. Unfortunately there are some pretty active scam artists preying on website owners in the domain renewal area. It's part of our service to take care of domain renewal matters on your behalf and this also protects you from being burnt by con artists.

"What's the procedure if I want to cancel a domain name?"
For various technical reasons we won't go into here, we automatically renew our clients' domain name registrations 6 - 8 weeks before their anniversary. For that reason it is important for you to notify us a minimum of 10 weeks before the anniversary to avoid the applicable renewal fee.