The next 10 years for .CA

**Irish31** · 12-26-2009, 02:46 PM

Hey all,

Since we are about to turn the page on 2009, I found it interesting to look back on the maturity that .CA went through over the last decade. I also started tossing around the question of:

"What is in store for .CA in the coming decade?" 10 years is quite a long time to look ahead to, however it does bring up an interesting question. Several of us on here have made significant time and financial investments into the .CA name space.

So for many of us, a vested interest to see .CA do well is present. But as we approach 2010, is .CA what we thought it would be now, when we started investing in the early - mid 2000's? Has buying decent .CA names and holding / developing paid off for us? Is there any reason to expect a marked uptick in sales and overall exposure if CIRA continues its lack of advertising and promotion?

What about the residency restrictions? And our low population (relative to the other big boys in the CCtld world)? Is there a good reason to think this was the best place to put your money 5 years ago, opposed to saving up and just owning 1 or 2 good .Com's?

I find myself looking through my portfolio and considering what i've done so far, and if any New Year's resolutions should be considered. Anyone else have a few cents to toss into the pot on this one? I'm not asking for peoples warm, fuzzy feelings on the CCtld, just what they think the future holds, and facts supporting it.

Ok, I just really want to get an interesting discussion going

!!

Regards,

Jay

**TheLegendaryJP** · 12-26-2009, 03:01 PM

As for the end user market Jay, I see good things but not great unless the economy as a whole turns around of course. More CA businesses will look to get on the web or at least realize the need for a .ca within Canada, how big a pus there is for this is anyones guess though.

When it comes to reseller markets, honestly I can sum it up in about one sentence. The belief among resellers the .ca will grow and grow well will be seen in the reseller prices. The true believers will invest 5+ figures in keywords well the less faithful will speak out of both sides of their mouth and hold tight to their purse strings.

**katherine** · 12-26-2009, 03:41 PM

Time flies

I took part in the 2000 landrush and TBH I was thinking .ca would be much stronger ten years later.
Truth is, I should have bought more .com instead.

I think the restrictions are hurting and not just speculators, imagine how many US businesses could use .ca domains to tap the Canadian market.
The good news is that the penetration rate is not that high, so there is room for growth. But it will remain a cozy and limited market if current conditions prevail.

**whitebark** · 12-26-2009, 06:25 PM

I for one don't believe there is any large business left in Canada not yet with a website. Only small businesses or start-ups are without - most of those with a few exceptions won't be paying huge dollars for a domain name. There is room for large companies to buy domains for marketing efforts and the such but that too is a small niche market and as we have seen, they will use some rather oddball fresh-registered domains most of the time.

It's also not hard for a US based business to get a .ca for use here - so many of them already do.

I also don't ever see the domain space opening up without the restrictions. Only domainers want it and they (we) have little say inside CIRA - we can't even get one single of our own voted to the board for crying out loud! The average Canadian .ca user and in turn board member doesn't even have it on their radar. Personally I want to see it kept closed - I'm not a reseller per say so it doesn't hurt me much.

In terms of country penetration we are far superior to our NAFTA partners and that certainly helps those of us developing .ca websites.

But the question is ten years from now - who knows what the net will be like then!?

**Banned: theinvestor** · 12-26-2009, 07:30 PM

I know many may think there has not much progress in the last ten years but there actually has been a lot. You may not see it from a reseller point of view but the domainers that are in this market succeed because of their end user sales.

I can speak for some...but not everyone. The money that us domainers are making in this .ca space are all from end user sales. Maybe in the future that will change but in this small market i don't think it will anytime soon.

Let's hope for a strong year in 2010.

**Premiumhosted** · 12-27-2009, 02:08 PM

Buying and selling domains is the past.... Instead of waiting for the end-user, why not be the end-user?

**hugegrowth** · 12-28-2009, 01:13 AM

In the last ten years we'd post here when we'd see a .ca in a commercial, or see a big company using a .ca. That used to be important news, nows it's normal.

As long as the internet keeps growing, and people still need domains for email and websites (two points that I think will hold true), then the use and market for the .ca extension will continue to grow. It won't be fast growth in my opinion, just slow and incremental like in past years. People who hold good domains will get more inquiries and do more and higher priced sales over time.

Growth will be quicker if restrictions on .ca ownership are removed, it will bring a lot more speculators into the market.

It is pretty simple, if you think internet use will continue and grow in Canada, and more businesses and people will be looking for domains for their websites, then it's got to be good for .ca.

I also think more of us who were building portfolios in the last 10 years will start to build sites and develop, and some have already started.

Another plus for .ca is that good .com's keep getting harder to obtain and more expensive.

**revolution1** · 12-28-2009, 02:30 PM

i don't think anyone can properley predict the next ten years of anything, least of all something that is so relatively new and unstable as domaining. Will there be some more huge job.ca sales in .ca, almost certainly. Will there be more registrations sure... anything else is pure guesswork. If Adam gets into CIRA things could get shaken up in a matter of months. My best guess is to say i don't know with any degree of certainty what the future of .ca is, but for the relatively small risk to potentially huge reward factor, I think I will hold on to my names and develop the one that I see as my retirement plan.