So, what actually is a domain name? And why do you really need one?

A domain name is the location of your website on the Internet. Your domain name will be what you become known by online so it's very important to register the right one!

It also shows that your serious and run a professional business. You must display your domain for all your email accounts and your web site on all your stationary. Without this professional image, people will wonder how professional you are. The worst thing for your business is show your email address as the one with your ISP something like johnsmith@ozemail.com.au or sarahjones@bigpond.com

This does 2 things. It promotes the ISP’s business, instead of your own. And it shows your lack of sophistication as a business.

With a domain only costing $16.50 you’ve got no excuse not to set one up and tell everyone about it.

Apart from getting the right words in your domain, what about the extension? Do you go for a global .com or a local country domain, such as a .com.au? or perhaps even something more exotic, such as a .biz or .info?


Each website on the Internet is labeled with something called an IP address which is the actual address of the website online. A typical IP address looks like this: 159.134.27.64. Remembering a string of numbers like that is difficult so a domain name translates all those numbers into something like http://www.alive.com.au  This is far easier to remember.

#1 Dot what?
Each domain has what's called an extension. The most well known of these extensions is .com.

.com ($16.50 per year)

This was first known as a US only type of domain – for USA businesses. But it has now become known as the international domain, and everyone is familiar with it. It has lost it’s connotation with the USA. If you want to have a universal name, then you can’t beat a .com. However with so many new domains being registered (over 2,000 domains per hour are registered – that’s over 1.5 million a month) you might not get exactly the one you want.

However, a .com is not the only type of domain extension available. There is also:

.com.au ($77 for 2 years)

For Australia this has the same importance as a .com. It is very well known, and shows straight away that you run an Australian business. If you that is the image you want to portray – that you’re Australian – then you should aim for a .com.au (and at the same time get the .com)


.net ($16.50 per year)
.net.au ($77 for 2 years)

If you can't find your preferred .com (or .com.au) domain name you could always choose the same domain with a .net extension. It might not have the same ring as a .com but is still as just useful as a .com.
A .net domain used to indicate a technology company, relating to a network.

.org ($16.50 per year)
These domain extensions were originally designed for non-profits, organisations, and educational or more formal websites. Anybody can register a .org however so you have more options for domain selection.

.org.au ($26.40 for 2 years)
These domain are ONLY AVAILABLE for non-profits, organisations in Australia.

.biz ($16.50 per year)
A more recent introduction to the domain name game is the .biz domain. This is another great domain for a business owner. It is becoming more common.

.info ($4.95 for the first year)
Another more recent introduction to the domain name game is the .info domains. Many of the valuable .info domains were bought up overnight but there's still a huge range of good .info domains available. With a little creativity you could really make a .info work for you e.g. www.growinggreengrass.info


Bear in mind that most web surfers tend to remember .com or their local country domain (eg. .com.au) more easily than anything else.

There are even more types of domains available – ones for each country, and other variations.

Have a look and see which domains are available for you right now – www.alivedomains.com

What is the best combination of domains?

The best combination for an Australian business is to get the .com.au and the .com

This means you’ve covered yourself for the local market and the international market, no one take one off you. It also means that in case people forget the right extension they always can find your web site. This is because you can register a group of domains, and point them all to the same web site.

Our multiple domain name web hosting plans are designed just for this purpose. You can host literally separate web sites all under the same plan.

Most hosting companies charge you a monthly fee per domain name that you host with them. However, with Alive Online – ALL of our hosting plans allow you to host multiple domains under one account!

Anywhere from 2, 5, 7 or 10+ domains under a single plan.

This means that your running costs are drastically reduced, and so is your administration of your domains. Because you have only one login entry point for all your domains, you can look after them at a click of a button through our web hosting control panel, seeing all of them at once. This allows you to:

  • Check each domains site stats easily, they are grouped together (see how many visitors are coming are to each domain)
  • Create new email accounts for each domain easily, they are grouped together
  • Add new domains to the control panel at a click of the button

Have a look at the different hosting plans available.