The Case For .ca

I’ve noticed that the vast majority of new sites coming up today are still dot com. As we all know, the real estate market in a domain is theoretically limitless, but has anyone stopped to think that these insanely long domains are going to be (a) a pain to type out, and (b) tough to remember?

When I first looked in to getting a domain, I naturally checked the dot com domain, and sure enough, matthewmiddleton.com was already taken. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that using a dot ca domain was a far more sensible solution, not just for myself, but for a lot of personal and business sites. So, without further ado, my case for using dot ca domains:

1. Real Estate

There are plenty of domains that are registered in the dot com domain, but are still unregistered in the dot ca domain. This means, you’re more likely to be able to get the domain name you want, and a domain name that isn’t a paragraph long.

2. Patriotism

I’m proud to be Canadian. We have a national domain, why not use it?

3. Nation-specific Content

Ever watch television programs from the UK? Plenty of corporations, both UK-local and global have co.uk domains. This allows them to focus in on a distinct group (people living in the UK), which can help marketing target the market more specifically. For example, say you’re a global tech company. By having a website under the local domain, you can provide geographic and culture-specific information. After all, wouldn’t it be handy to be able to access a local site and see only the events occuring in your country, instead of having to sift through a long list of international events?

Now, there are some drawbacks. Dot ca isn’t as burned in to people’s minds as dot com, though one could argue that this helps to further distinguish one’s company or website from other sites with the same name, but a different domain. Also, dot ca is more expensive – $20 a year versus whatever cheap rate you can find on the Internet for most other major domains. Personally, I don’t find the price a big problem, considering the costs of web hosting.

Overall, I think a lot of people could benefit from considering a .ca domain before they register, or as a way to provide content specific to Canada.