The Australian domain name aftermarket is slowly growing following the relaxation of rules allowing for the transfer of com.au and net.au domains. This week there is the timely auction underway of mothersday.com.au, as well as yes.com.au, and more than 50 other premium com.au and net.au domain names.Of the premium domain names, mothersday.com.au has met its reserve of A$7,500 so it will be sold this week while the reserve for yes.com.au is $20,000.”We are extremely pleased that MothersDay.com.au has met the $7,500 reserve bid,” said George Pongas, Business Development Manager at Drop.com.au. “It shows that the secondary domain market is certainly maturing in Australia.””Once you own mothersday.com.au, you basically own the direct navigation traffic it generates too. With approximately 18,100 Australian local searches for ‘Mother’s Day’ in March 2010 and a Cost Per Click (CPC) rate on Google circa $1.20, you can quickly see the business case for acquiring this domain name.Pongas says “It will be an exciting to watch the auction close time this Thursday, because most bids at auctions are placed in the closing minutes. With a little luck, OPTUS will join the auction too. With all the money that Optus has spent over the years marketing YES OPTUS, you would expect that their brand managers will want this domain.””After acquisition, the ongoing costs are just $49.95 every two years for the registration licence renewal. As a long-term investment it makes perfect sense for an e-tailer to add this domain to their portfolio. Once sold, it is unlikely to be listed for sale again for a very long time, if ever.”Fabulous.com Domain Broker, Andrew Wright, suggests that generic keyword focused domains are ideal for search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) marketing purposes.”Generic keyword related domains appear higher in organic search listings and generally receive a higher quality rank when running paid search campaigns,” Wright explained.Wright goes on to cite the famous case of Tennis Australia acquiring ‘tennis.com.au’ for what was reported as a hefty fee of just less than a six-figure sum. Also referring to Fosters owned ‘beer.com.au’, ING’s ‘mortgage.com.au’, and National Foods Milk Limited’s domain ‘milk.com.au’, as good examples of corporate brands that understand the value of using generic domain names for online marketing.The auction is now open at www.drop.com.au/fabulous, and ends Thursday May 6th, 14:30 (AEST). Anyone can watch or participate in the auction with prices dynamically changing on the auction site in real time to make for an entertaining spectacle.Importantly though, any successful bidder must satisfy auDA eligibility policy to hold a com.au or net.au domain licence. During the sign up process the Drop team will clear you for registration compliance and assist you to participate. Interested bidders, international companies included, should contact Drop at support@drop.com.au, or visit www.drop.com.au/fabulous/join to get started.
Premium .AU Domain Names Up For Auction This Week
The Australian domain name aftermarket is slowly growing following the relaxation of rules allowing for the transfer of com.au and net.au domains. This week there is the timely auction underway of mothersday.com.au, as well as yes.com.au, and more than 50 other premium com.au and net.au domain names.