Domain Names and Web Hosting
Domain Names and Web Hosting
Please note: This guide assumes that you have not yet registered a domain name or web hosting.
Proceed to
shopping carts section if you have already registered a domain name and web hosting.
We strongly recommmend getting all the features listed above together rather than having to deal with separate companies for each item.
Digital Pacific have everything you need to get your new ecommerce shopping cart online and secured.
Before registering there are a couple of questions that need answering.
Do you have an Australian business name registered?
The Australian Domain Name Administrator (AUDA) has a number of eligibility and allocation
rules when registering .au TLDs (Top Level Domains). This includes .com.au, .net.au, .asn.au, .id.au and .org.au.
If you registering a .com or .net there are no current rules governing these domains so you can proceed to order.
If your planning on registering some other domain please be sure to check any rules that may govern that particular domain extension(s).
Are you planning to sell only to Australia or are you going worldwide as well?
If your just starting off and just getting a feel for the online world it is highly recommend focusing purely on Australia, especially if you are selling tangible
products that will require postage. This is mainly due to payment, taxes and postage rates which can all vary significantly depending on where in the world visitors
are purchasing from.
If your starting in Australia and your main intension is to move into overseas markets you might want to register more than one domain name now to avoid it being registered by someone else. For example, if you registering a .com.au and you find that the .com or .net is also available, it would be in your best interests to register that domain and alias it to your .com.au website.
Web hosting is a very important consideration when creating an ecommerce store. Your chosen web host should be reliable providing phone and / or email support and be able to run shopping cart software.
Most shopping cart software requires php which is a server-side scripting language used to create dynamic web pages. A mysql database should is also required.
Digital Pacific an Australian provider of web hosting and domain names and has everything you need to get started with your new ecommerce store. For a small fee they will even install a shopping cart for you.
An SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Certficate is used to encrypt information when website transfers occur. SSL certificates ensure data can be
exchanged between your browser and the site without being decrypted (stolen) by a third party. Personal details and credit cards can be safely used where an ssl
certificate is present.
Buy SSL Certificate
Websites using ssl certificate require a separate ip address. (1 per domain). The reason for having a separate ip address is
that a certificate is bound to a domain name but the actual ssl protocol is bound to a static ip address.
Any certificate-enabled web site must have its own unique IP address.
Buy IP Address
Choose a web host that provides good quality support that's locally available. Overseas hosts may be slightly cheaper however the difference in time zones especially in the states can lead to poor support and uptime. Web hosts normally do updates on servers during slower periods for minimal discruption, however when everyone in the states is sleeping and getting upgrades causing disruptions across their servers, Australia's time zone is in peak business hours.
It has also been heavily debated that the country you are hosting influences your search engine rank. Google, yahoo and msn may not be as kind to your site in Australia if it is hosted in the US.
Fast phone and email support should also be a high priority.
