Most businesses, especially small to medium-sized ones, have it hard when they decide to get online.
They must register a domain name, find someone to design and host their site, maintain it, and start working out ways to keep visitors coming back. Most businesses I speak to, lament the fact that they did not get online earlier, for a number of reasons.
Firstly, the Web, and consequently, Web sites, were different two years ago - they were much less complicated! When the Internet was new, all a company had to do to own an impressive Web site was find a suitable domain name and put up a good-looking site. A company's Web site only needed to contain some company information, contact details, and pretty pictures - much like an online brochure.
Today things are different. In order to impress customers, and keep them coming back, a company's site needs to have much more. Web sites are expected to be e-commerce enabled, so customers can order goods and services. Also, the best and most popular Web sites are now those that are customer service-oriented.
The focus has shifted from just providing information to offering visitors an interactive and engaging experience. The pressure is now on for sites to cater to customers' individual needs - we're talking personalisation and online customer relationship management tools. And this new customer-focus is not easy or inexpensive.
Though some companies with the time and money to set up more than an information-only type site are still stuck in brochure-land, most have used their experience with first generation Web sites to set up more appealing and functional sites.
Another reason companies would have done well to set up their Web sites early is that we're simply running out of popular domain names! Try setting up an online DVD store for example - you're going to be hard-pressed finding a domain name that's catchy or obvious - those names are already in use, or reserved.
Domain names have proven an enormous headache for most Australian companies - large and small. Rules governing the .com.au domain have been especially stringent, hitting smaller companies hardest. Perhaps the toughest rule for small companies has been the restriction on the number of domain names allowed per company.
At present, if your company, Ozzie Outdoor Furniture, wants to own www.ozzieoutdoor.com.au and www.ozzieoutdoorfurniture.com.au, you'd have to register two business names! Even trademarks that your company owns can't have a domain name of their own: if Ozzie Outdoor Furniture made a popular patio umbrella called SunGuard, you'd have to register SunGuard as a business before being able to register www.sunguard.com.au.
Taking the trouble to register a company name for every domain name you might want to register is a headache for any company, big or small, but it's a heck of a lot worse for small companies who can't afford to throw money around.
The good news is that the body governing the .com.au domain has realised the folly of the system, and made some much needed changes. In a decision made at the beginning of May, the Au Domain Administration (auDA) decided to relax some of the regulations imposed on domain registrations.
From the second half of the year, there will be no limit on the number of domain names per entity - so your company can register all the domain names you think are relevant to your business - without the need to register a new company for each domain name. You will still have to pick domain names that are related to your company - but under the new system your company's trademarks are allowed.
Other changes that will be implemented include a lifting of the prohibition on generic domain names. At present, domain names can only be registered if they are relevant to your business. In the second half of the year, this will change - but don't get too excited just yet - the auDA is still uncertain how it will allocate these generic domain names.
According to the auDA's CEO, Chris Disspain, "the changes will make it easier for Australians to license domain names in the .au domain. The new policy rules will also provide a greater degree of consistency and predictability in the allocation of .au domain names."
The changes may not solve all of a businesses Web-related problems, but they will certainly help.
