How to register a business + url in 5 easy steps.

First time registering a business? Read through our 5 step guide to understand what you need to know and get it done in a flash.

You’ve been mulling over an idea for months and finally decide to take the leap and make it a reality. But where do you start? What has to happen? We have the answers for you below.

#Step 1

Once you’ve decided on a rocking biz name, first things first, you need to make sure someone else hasn’t thought of the same idea.

Our first stop is asic’s name registry to check your name, which you can get to quickly and easily here:

https://connectonline.asic.gov.au/RegistrySearch/

Select “Check Name Availablilty” and hit go!

If its available hooray!

If not, you’ll have to go back to the drawing board and try again.

#Step 2

So you’ve found a new name which no-one else has claimed yet… great! But before hitting the go button to finalise registration, it’s totally worth checking to make sure you can get a url to match.

You can go to many different sites to do this. This one works pretty well:

https://au.godaddy.com/domains/domain-name-search

Check your url is available using their domain search register.

If its not available in exactly the way you want it written, don’t despair, try adding a dash between words or adding a word to your name to extend it. You could add on your product, your location or another descriptive word to get it over the line.

If you can’t find something suitable you might have to go back to the drawing board and start again.

Whats the difference between using a .com vs .com.au url?

Good question! We normally say to look at the location of your product/service and make this decision accordingly. If you are looking at world domination a .com address is probably the way to go. If you are a small boutique florist shop in the heart of Sydney however, you’ll probably see more benefit using a .com.au address to show your audience you are a 100% Australian brand from the onset.

If available you can always purchase both urls, but it always best to make a decision to operate under one or the other, as it can get rather messy with email addresses and the like. If you purchase two it doesn’t mean you have to have two websites either, you just need to choose a main one to operate under and you can just point the other address to the main address.

# Step 3

Buy your domain. The cost of this should be around $15. If you are paying much more than that, shop around for a better deal.

# Step 4

Register your business name online with ASIC which will also include applying for an Australian Business Number (ABN) if you don’t already have one of those.

There are step by step instructions on how to do this here: http://www.asic.gov.au/for-business/registering-a-business-name/steps-to-register-your-business-name/

The whole process should take around 15 mins whereby you will receive all needed documentation. If your application is flagged for manual review it may take an additional amount of time.

N.B.
Registering a business name will not give you exclusive rights to use that name. If you want exclusive use throughout Australia, you should consider registering for a trade mark.

# Step 5

And you’re done – signed sealed delivered. Time to make a cuppa or crack open a beer. Your call.

Need to know what’s next? Read our next blog about the importance of branding here>