In today’s world of e-commerce, SEO and digital marketing, businesses understand the value of a recognisable and ‘searchable’ online presence, says top-level domain name specialists, Ari Registry Services.
But with over 280 million web addresses registered worldwide and all four letter .com combinations already taken, finding an available domain name that succinctly and accurately describes your business can be tough.
Fortunately for Aussie marketers, there’s a new way to reach your audience online via .melbourne and .sydney domain names like www.festival.melbourne.
.melbourne and .sydney domain names are now available to register for your organisation. Here are five reasons savvy marketers should innovate online with a new domain name.
1. Get the domain name you wanted
Because .melbourne and .sydney are new, there is a much greater chance that you can secure the short and exact-match web address you want.
Melbourne’s iconic Flower Drum restaurant was previously using the clunky and hard to remember www.flower-drum.com web address.
By adopting a .melbourne domain name and moving to www.flowerdrum.melbourne, they were able to claim the exact name they wanted which was far more memorable and to-the-point.
2. Dominate market verticals
With .melbourne and .sydney domain names, major brands and savvy businesses have the opportunity to dominate an entire market niche via the registration of premium generic domain names.
Domain names such as www.cafe.melbourne, www.electrician.sydney or www.bars.melbourne will be snapped up quickly by innovative businesses.
Will Bakers Delight or Brumby’s get www.baker.sydney? Will it be Avis, Hertz, Thrifty or Budget that gets www.carrental.melbourne?
3. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
A recent independent research study into the SEO impact of new domain names has found they can improve your position in search results.
German SEO specialists Searchmetrics compared search results in Berlin between .berlin domain names, their German .com equivalents and local .de domain names. The researchers found .berlin domains outperformed their competitors in 42% of searches, more than any other domain suffix. They achieved an average local ranking advantage of 1.18 positions.
Furthermore, Google’s Chief Information Officer, Ben Fried, presented on new domain names at the Google I/O conference in June 2014. He said:
“We’re really committed to making sure Google search works fantastically well across the whole 1,400 new Top-Level Domains that are going to come out…
“I think we’re all going to see how this plays out as these domains get adopted and used. Google search isn’t about favouring one Top-Level Domain over the other. It’s about allowing people to find things on the Internet. We hope that the new Top-Level Domains makes those things more memorable, makes them more meaningful, gives people better naming choices. But we don’t intend to have that have a negative effect on search ability…”
4. Brand and message recall
The loss of superfluous information in a domain name means web addresses under .melbourne and .sydney will become more memorable and relevant to consumers.
Take advertisements for example. You no longer need to include .com, .net or hyphens in your web address calls to action, which add no value to the campaign.
This can lead to greater message recall and increased engagement with your audience.
5. Improved trust and security
.com has little authority nowadays. Anyone can own a .com and this leads to a number of security and trust issues. Internet users have little insight into where a .com-based business is physically located or who is behind the website.
However, because only verified local businesses can obtain a .sydney or .melbourne domain, Internet users can feel confident they’re dealing with genuine and trusted entities.
New domain names such as .melbourne and .sydney provide an unprecedented opportunity to get the domain name you want, specifically target your local audience and own your market vertical online.
You can secure your .sydney and .melbourne domain names from Crazy Domains, Instra, Melbourne IT and Netregistry.
