Choose and register the perfect domain name to ensure your business success
Choosing a domain name and getting online is important for new businesses. The website will work for you 24/7, bringing in customers, showcasing your products or services, and proudly presenting your brand to the world.
In 2022, InternetNZ surveyed Kiwi consumers and businesses about their digital footprints and perceptions of domain names. The research found that:
- 80% of New Zealand consumers see websites as the most important place to interact with businesses online
- 50% of consumers say buying from a website is the main benefit of interacting with a business online.
Your website is your most valuable digital asset, so it’s essential to get it right. Worry not — JumpStarter has got you!
You’ll first need a domain name, so let’s choose and register the best one for your business.
In this guide
What is a domain name?
You could say a domain name is like your business address, but online. For a physical store or an office, you’d give people a street address so they can find you. Online, you need a web address, or a domain name, so customers can find your website and contact you. Most often, domain names are used for setting up websites and email addresses.

For example, jumpstarter.co.nz and jumpstarter.nz are our domain names. TradeMe’s domain name is trademe.co.nz. One NZ lives online at one.nz, and the Warriors can be found at warriors.kiwi.
Why do I need a domain name? Can't I just use social media?
Using social media for business is free and relatively simple. It works for many small businesses that offer consulting, services, and products. There’s a catch, though. On social media, you don’t have direct access to your existing and potential customers' contact information, and you have little control over how much of your content they see unless you pay for advertising.

It's like renting vs owning a house. If you rent, the landlord takes care of maintenance and repairs and pays rates and insurance. On the negative side, the landlord also decides whether you stay or go, what you can and can’t do in the house, and whether you can have a garden or a pet. If you own the house, you can do whatever you like. But it comes with all the responsibility to maintain, repair, and pay the mortgage.
So, if you run your business solely on social media, you are ‘renting’ access to your customers from a big international platform. The platform constantly changes its rules and decides who sees your page. Occasionally, it may even block a business page without you knowing what happened and how to get it back.
Social media can’t be the only channel for connecting with your customers; ideally, it should complement your website. And for the website, you need a domain name. Easy as!

Action point
Check how your competitors or businesses you like manage their online presence both on their websites and social media. List three to five ideas that you’d like to borrow and implement for your business as well.
I see your point. How do I choose? There are so many domain name extensions!
Domain name extension, also called a top-level domain (TLD), is a part of a domain name that comes after the final dot on a domain name. For example, the domain name extension for nzherald.co.nz is .nz, and the amazon.com.au extension is .au. facebook.com comes with a .com extension.
Choosing the right domain name extension is important — it’ll impact people's thoughts about your business and whether they trust it. Let’s have a look at the available options:
- ccTLD, or country code top-level domains are reserved for countries, states, and territories. They are easy to identify: they all contain only two characters. For example, Aotearoa New Zealand's ccTLD is .nz. Our neighbours across the ditch have .au.
Did you know that .co is Colombia’s ccTLD, and .ai belongs to Anguilla? - gTLDs, or generic top-level domains, usually reflect the nature of a business or organisation. The most known gTLD is .com (commercial) — it’s been around since 1998, alongside .org (organisation), .net (network) and some others. The list of gTLDs has been growing over the years and now includes options like .accountant, .cafe, .builders, and hundreds more.
Which domain name extension is the best for you?
Answer the following questions to figure it out.
- Where do your customers live: in Aotearoa New Zealand, or worldwide?
- Do you plan to run your business mainly in Aotearoa or overseas?
- Where is a TLD run from: Aotearoa or overseas? Two New Zealand operated TLDs are .nz and .kiwi.
- Which domain name extensions do your successful competitors or similar businesses use?
Are you a proud Kiwi business working in Aotearoa? Then .nz and .co.nz are your best bet. According to 2022 consumer and business research done by InternetNZ, the majority of Kiwi businesses have .nz domain names, and 76% of consumers look for domains that end with .nz when searching online. 67% of NZ consumers believe .nz is more trustworthy than other domain name extensions.
If you’re aiming for an international flavour, .com or another gTLD is a good alternative.

Action point
Decide which domain name extension will work best for your business.
How do I choose the right domain name for my business?
It is recommended to use your business name as your domain name. Having a domain that is different to your brand name can be very confusing and may raise mental alarm bells.
- Before checking the domain, use IPONZ to check to see if someone else has registered a similar name for their business or trademark, to help avoid getting into a dispute over your domain name later.
- Use our domain availability tool for a detailed search for the most popular types of .nz domains: .co.nz, .org.nz, and .nz.
- For .com or other gTLD domain extensions, you can use the ICANN Lookup search tool.
- If you haven’t finalised your business name yet, Google your shortlisted names, adding some details about them, to see what shows up in search results.
For example, Hone wants to open a plant nursery called Nice As Plants. So we’d recommend that he searches for ‘Nice As Plants NZ’ and ‘Nice As plants nursery NZ (or his business location)’ to see what’s in the search results. Maria is planning to start a lawnmowing business in Dunedin and wants to call it Trim Perfect. We suggest she googles ‘trim perfect lawnmowing Dunedin’ — you get the idea. - Check if a domain name has been used in the past. Search for it in the Wayback Machine. It’ll show you if the domain name existed before and whether it had a website attached to it. If it did, check what kind of content was on the website before. If there was something dodgy published on the website in the past, chances are the domain name was penalised or blacklisted by search engines. If that’s the case, it’s better to avoid registering this domain name.
Will it work?
Is your preferred business name available, with nothing preventing you from getting it? Fantastic news! Let’s make sure it’ll make a great domain name.
- Is it short and clear?
6-14 characters is your sweet spot — easy to remember, spell, and type on a mobile device. The longer it gets, the harder it is for people to write it correctly, the longer your email address is, and the more difficult it is to fit it on your business cards and ads. - Stick with words if you can.
Hyphens, abbreviations, double letters, and numbers make it harder for people to correctly remember and spell your domain name. - Does it reflect your brand or type of business?
If Tim opens Tim’s Bakery in Nelson, timsbakery.co.nz is a great domain for him — it reflects both the brand and the type of business, and his choice of domain name extension (.nz) signals that it’s likely to be a New Zealand business. - Is it easy to spell over the phone?
Test it with your whānau and friends. Did they get it right? Which one is easier to get right: flyinghorse.nz or flyin-horse.nz, firstbarber.kiwi or 1st-barber.kiwi? - Is it unique or are there similar domain names that are used for similar businesses?
For example, suppose timsbakery.co.nz is already registered by someone else. In that case, you probably don’t want to register timbakery.co.nz, even if you open a bakery in a different town and won’t compete with Tim’s Bakery in doughnut sales.

Action point
Create a list of three to five potential domain names for your business, and check whether they are available for registration.
I am ready to buy a domain. Where do I go?
Use our .nz domain availability checker to find a domain provider. Most of them also offer other domain name extensions.
Here are some considerations for choosing a domain name provider:
- If it’s important to you to be in the same time zone as the technical support team, consider selecting a provider that offers support in your time zone. Otherwise, you can use a domain name provider located anywhere in the world.
- Do you need only a domain name or do you need other services, such as website hosting, e-commerce, or a website builder tool? If you are DIY-ing your website, managing all these services with one provider could be easier. So check what services your potential provider offers and see if it makes sense that they are your one-stop shop.
- Last but not least, is customer support easy to get? What do other users say about the services? Was the domain/hosting purchase and set-up easy to navigate or confusing? Check reviews to make sure you are in good hands.

Action point
Based on your needs, create a list of three potential domain name providers, check their websites and independent reviews, and choose your preferred provider.
How do I buy/register a domain name?
You are ready to register a domain name for your business. Here are seven tips to get it right. Follow these recommendations and register your domains like a pro!
Tip 1: When registering a domain you will be required to provide contact details. Be sure to use your name, or your company’s name for the registration details.
Never use fake names such as Admin Admin or Mickey Mouse (believe us, people have tried!), or your domain might be taken down for not showing real contact details.
Tip 2: If you ask a web developer to set it up for you, ensure they register your domain in your name and not in their own. Also, check that you have the login details to manage your domain.
You wouldn’t have your builder’s name on your house title, would you? The same goes for domains — ensure your most valuable digital asset is registered under your name and you have complete control over it.
If your web developer manages your domain name for you, they can add themselves as a technical contact. But you should be named as the registrant, or domain name holder.
Tip 3: Keep your domain name registration details current.
For existing domain names, check the registration details to ensure they are in your name and have the correct contact details. You can use our availability tool for all .nz domains or ICANN Lookup for other domain extensions.
Domains can be taken down if their holders can’t be contacted or if the provided address is obviously fake. Update your details if necessary and keep them current.
Tip 4: Always have access to the email address that you used for your domain name registration.
This address will receive payment reminders and verification requests from your domain name provider. If you miss these letters, your website or email may stop working. It’s a good idea to use a contact email address not associated with the domain name to ensure you receive emails about this domain name no matter what.
So don’t use [email protected] as a contact email address for mybusiness.co.nz domain name because if the domain name expires, the email address associated with it will stop working.
Tip 5: Know who your domain name provider is.
After registering your domain name, securely note the provider company's details, their website, and your login and password.
Why is this important? First, so you can renew your domain when it’s time (often annually). Second, to configure your domain for your website and email. Third, it's much harder to be scammed if you’re confident about who you’re dealing with.
Tip 6: Note your domain name renewal date.
Imagine waking up and discovering that your website and email are no longer available because you forgot to renew your domain name.
Online sales have stopped, people can’t contact you, and new quote requests are not coming through. That’s going to have a significant impact!
To avoid that, set up a calendar reminder for your domain name renewal to keep your domain safe from lapsing. We recommend a calendar reminder three months before your domain name is due for renewal. Alternatively, there should be an option to select ‘auto-renew’ — just remember to update your payment details before they expire.
Tip 7: Keep your account with the domain name provider secure.
It goes without saying — use a strong password and turn on multi-factor authentication for your account with the domain name provider. Your domain name is vital to your professional online presence, so it’s crucial to protect it well.
FAQ
Registering it with a different extension or slightly changing the spelling with a hyphen seems obvious. However, make sure the name is not a registered trademark, or you may end up in a dispute over your domain name later.
Also, if your preferred domain name is very similar to another established name, you may lose customers because they’ll land on that website instead of yours.
Sometimes, someone registers a good domain name, aiming to resell it for profit. You can purchase it from that person via auction sites or other platforms. Be careful, research, and ensure you are not getting scammed. But also, be ready to pay more (sometimes significantly more) than the average retail price for that domain name.
Did you know that Voice.com has been sold for a whopping US$ 30 million? Beer.com changed hands for $7 million, while whisky.com was sold for $3.1 million.
Sometimes, the best way forward is to get back to a whiteboard and be creative. You may come up with a completely new domain name or add a keyword or location to a desired domain name.
For example, if greenplants.nz is taken, you may consider growgreenplants.nz.
InternetNZ’s statistics show that approximately 70% of all domains ending with .nz are .co.nz domains like mybusiness.co.nz, and 20% are direct .nz domains like mybusiness.nz.
You can choose either option or register both mybusiness.co.nz and mybusiness.nz to protect your brand and avoid future domain name disputes. You can use more than one domain for just one website.
You pay an annual fee for a domain name. During the paid period, you can use it for your website, email, or marketing campaign. If you don’t renew your domain name, your website and email will stop working. If you forgot to renew your domain name, there’s usually a brief period to restore it. After that, it becomes available for anyone to register. That’s why it’s essential to renew your domain names in time.
A domain is not a website. Let’s go back to the physical store analogy. Your physical store has a street address. Without the address, people won’t find it. In the online space, your website is your digital office and store. And your domain name is your online ‘street address’ — without it, people won’t be able to find your website and buy what you have to offer.