auDA (.au Domain Administration Limited) is the regulatory body and policy authority for the .au domain space. The auDA Published Policy (or Policies) are the authoritative source of the policy guidlines which are summarised below. The full (unabridged) guidlines may be viewed at auDA's website In order to register an asn.au domain name you must fall into one of the following six categories: 1) If you are an Australian Incorporated Association You must enter: (i) Your Incorporated association name; and (ii) State or Territory of registration; and (iii) Association Number 2) If you are an Australian Political Party You must enter: (i) Your Party Name 3) If you are an Australian trade union or organization under Workplace Relations Act 1996 You must enter: (i) Your Union or organization name; and (ii) Your Organization number 4) If you are an Australian Sporting or Special Interest Club You must enter: (i) Your Club name; and (ii) Your Club address; and (iii) Your Australian Business Number, if available (If you do not have an ABN, you must warrant to us that you are a club). Restrictions on .asn.au Domain Names There are certain restrictions on the .asn.au domain names you are allowed to purchase Your domain name must (i) Be an exact match of your association's name or, (ii) Be an abbreviation or acronym of your association's name or, (iii) Have a close and subtantial connection with your association's name. Examples of Close and Substantial Connections (i) A service that your association provides; or (ii) A program that registrant administers; or (iii) An vvent that registrant organises or sponsors; or (iv) An activity that registrant facilitates, teaches or trains; or (v) A venue that registrant operates; or (vi) A profession that registrant's members practise

There are now more than 20 million registered dot com domain names, and over 34 million domain names in total. Experts in the industry claim that there could be more than 500 million domain names registered in the next 10 years.

The dot com (.com) and dot net (.net) domains are mostly already registered for anyone who wants a short distinct domain name. With the future demand that is predicted more global registries are inevidable. The key to choosing the correct extension is in its ability to be recognised in the future. After dot com and dot net, the next two that are emerging as the favourites for sustainability and recognition are dot ws (.ws) and dot tv (.tv) .

The dot com domain was originally intended for commercial internet sites and dot net was intended for administrative internet sites. Today these domain extensions have been registered for every purpose imaginable, used as globally generic extensions. The dot ws domain is meant to signify WebSite, therefore having a trully generic meaning. The dot tv is generally associated with media purposes.

There are abosolutely no differences in functionality or usability of a dot ws domain compared with a dot com or dot net. It is quickly emerging as the strongest alternative for a highly marketable, keyword rich domain name for those that missed the dot com and dot net opportunity. Globally recognised domain names have a market value similar to real estate in many ways and the value of dot ws domain domains are quickly growing.

In addition most of the largest organisations in the world such as Yahoo and Intel have already purchased the dot ws equivalent of their dot com and dot net domains in recognition of its future value.

The dot ws domain registry was originally designated as a country domain for Western Samoa, however due to its relevancy as “WebSite” and the fact that Western Samoa had not started using it, it was changed to an open or global domain registry. It is now one of the most recognised global domain registries after dot com and dot net.

For a recognisable domain name for individuals, small businesses and major corporations, dot ws is an excellent alternative.