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Sharp21 · August 3rd, 2006

Should I register a .com or a .ca??
I like to keep it Canadian, but would this deter over the border sales?
Or whatabout registering Both & having mirror sites? Having local pricing would probably be a benefit.
S.

tcrowder · August 3rd, 2006

If it were me, I'd register both. Just forward the .com to the .ca, that way you stay true to the Canada location but get the .com exposure too.

Sharp21 · August 3rd, 2006

Thats what I was thinking too. I could also keep the .com site in USD & the .ca in canadian. Then I would have the lil flags up top & if you clicked one or the other it would take you to the country of your choice.
But would there be a search engine conflict? This is my biggest concern...
S.

dub3325 · August 4th, 2006

I'd pick both as well....but if it were one or the other....I'd definitely go with a .com.

Its universal URL lingo. Everyone knows what a .com is....but not everyone will remember a .ca. Even .net is debatable.

T-BOT · August 4th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sharp21


	But would there be a search engine conflict? This is my biggest concern... S.

all you need is 1 website really.
You can get/register all the domains you want and just let them sit.

yes, SE our days pick up duplicate content spam in days and will penalize you for it.

---DO NOT SET UP MORE THAN 1 SITE WITH THE SAME CONTENT---

however, It is ok to set up different sites like google.com, google.ca, froogle.google.com etc.... as they do. Nothing wrong with that.

Rodney · August 4th, 2006

I would register both as well, but like Lucy said, make sure not to setup the same content on both.

You could have the .com redirect automatically to the .ca if you want to keep your Canadian "presence". The .com will be easier for people to remember and type in if you do any offline advertising.

Registering the .com will also help you protect your brand so someone else doesn't register it once your .ca site starts to take off.

Sharp21 · August 4th, 2006

I would advertise the .com site, but if there were canadians shopping on the site, they would click the maple leaf & be redirected to the .ca, with canadian prices...
S.

sarafina · August 4th, 2006

Don't worry to much about the .ca....

Register it so that somebody doesn't use it but I suggest you use the .com as the main site. Having two sites means promoting two sites and one is hard on its own.

Canadian internet usage (for shopping) is a fraction of US. Unless your brand is specifically Canadian aimed, when you're online the majority of your N.American customers are going to be from US. I understand you feel partial to your country but from a purely business perspective, .com should be the main.

Vtec44 · August 4th, 2006

Go for .com since it's a commercial domain.

Sharp21 · August 4th, 2006

Ill get them both. I realize the bulk of the business would come from south of the border, but I plan to aggressively guerilla market the city in which I live, so hopefully will get some results...
What about registering a .co.uk domain???
S.

Rodney · August 7th, 2006

I don't think you can register a .co.uk domain unless you are a uk business or resident.

I tried registering one domain but I didn't meet the requirements.

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