Should I Register a .ca or .com domain name
This is one of the most common questions I get from clients who are starting to build their first presence online, should my company register a .ca or .com domain name.
My recommendation, register both if they are available.
Before I explain my reason behind this, in case you don’t already know the .ca domain extension is reserved for Canadian entities. The .com domain extension, clearly the most recognized is available to anybody from any geographical location and refers to commercial web sites.
Neither domain extension is better than the other if your business is done in Canada, however, if you start to go North American or international, then I would recommend .com as the primary URL. In Canada we are used to either extension, just like we are use to “colour” or “colour” and “cheque” or “check”.
Why register both?
One reason – tracking. If you have both domain names, you will pick your primary domain for business cards, brochures, letterhead, envelopes etc. I recommend using the 2nd domain as the URL to place into traditional advertising, print, TV, radio, magazines, etc. to track results and paths on your web site.
Because you are using this 2nd domain in traditional advertising you know that the people typing in that URL were generated from your advertising efforts. If you have a process in place to track visitor paths on your web site you can start to determine what traditional advertising methods are generating the most favourable results.
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