cctld Why the .CA will always struggle

[urlurl]

yes we all agree .com is king, people will buy the .com over other extensions because it is "the known" extension. but I find it hard to believe some ones choice over a name would come down to a $5 difference. Obviously Al must be a newly wed, because anyone who has been married for a while knows to ask his wife specifically what coffee she wanted even before he left...and even asked for a few alternatives - just in case they were sold out of Maxwell house. lol

 

[urlurl]

I think many people would go for the cheaper .com, instead of a .ca that's a few more dollars to hand reg. For sure. Usually the .com is already taken though.

Most people also still don't know/care about the benefits of owning their domain in .com/.ca. They figure if they have one domain it's enough.

There is still a lot of education to happen out there.

I am all for cheaper .ca renewals! And while they're at it, they can open the extension up to non-Canadians and get the market moving - lol.

if they opened up the .ca to non-Canadians it would tank the appeal and worth. The reason people have .ca's is to identify the site as being Canadian. Short term we would all make a few bucks...but after a while they would be useless.

 

[msn]

yes we all agree .com is king, people will buy the .com over other extensions because it is "the known" extension. but I find it hard to believe some ones choice over a name would come down to a $5 difference. Obviously Al must be a newly wed, because anyone who has been married for a while knows to ask his wife specifically what coffee she wanted even before he left...and even asked for a few alternatives - just in case they were sold out of Maxwell house. lol

I think you miss the point each time. It is not the $5 but the trigger to look for the .ca domain.

Now you own more than one .ca domain, which already makes you 'above average' in this regard. You also know .ca exists, which places you in a group which is smaller than the group of people who know that .com exists, and so on.

Al, on the other hand, only knows he should think about a web site. He does not know what HTML is, what a web designer does, or what an SEO should be. He only knows he should probably get an web address, just in case he needs it.

If he goes to GoBadly he will see absolutely nothing informing him that .ca is a good choice, and most likely will see nothing about .ca at all.

How is he going to hear about .ca names, and if he does, why will he decide to register one?

Now if the GoBadly web site says 'Hey, **you are on a Canadian English or French browser/Canadian English or French operating system/Canadian IP address so** let me show you the great .ca deals we have on' then he might pay attention, but that is not what happens. They simply sell Al the first thing he picks and tries to add on to the order, and not once does it offer him a .ca domain as an option.

Setting a low price will create awareness, and awareness builds market share.

 

[hugegrowth]

When I do a search at Godaddy it does suggest the .ca to me in the results. I assume it detects the search is coming from Canada.

I think if the average Canadian has to choose a domain to register, most will be picking between .com and .ca. Usually the .com will be taken, so if the .ca is available in their preferred term many would take it. .CA has been around enough and has enough awareness to make it a top 2 extension here.

There are many examples of open country code extensions where the extension didn't become useless, such as .es, .de and .be. The .us doesn't do too well and it's technically a closed extension. Other country codes have actually picked up more use and prominence such as .tv, .co and .me, but those are special cases. There are good arguments for and against opening up .ca, but I don't think it becoming irrelevant is one of them.

 

[msn]

When I do a search at Godaddy it does suggest the .ca to me in the results. I assume it detects the search is coming from Canada.

I think if the average Canadian has to choose a domain to register, most will be picking between .com and .ca. Usually the .com will be taken, so if the .ca is available in their preferred term many would take it. .CA has been around enough and has enough awareness to make it a top 2 extension here.

There are many examples of open country code extensions where the extension didn't become useless, such as .es, .de and .be. The .us doesn't do too well and it's technically a closed extension. Other country codes have actually picked up more use and prominence such as .tv, .co and .me, but those are special cases. There are good arguments for and against opening up .ca, but I don't think it becoming irrelevant is one of them.

You do get it in the results page where they list alternatives vertically, but not on the one where they show results horizontally.

Just the same, you get .ca as the fifth of ten options, along with .ws and others, but if you note, it will also be the second or third most expensive option.

As an example, we search for 'superfuntimes' and are told that for just $1398 that superfuntimes.com can be ours along with these recommended options:

superfuntimes.co $6.99 was $29.99
superfuntimes.info $2.99* was $11.99*
superfuntimes.net $9.99* was $14.99*
superfuntimes.org $20.98
superfuntimes.ca $12.99/yr
superfuntimes.me $9.99 was $19.98
superfuntimes.ws $15.99/yr
superfuntimes.us $3.99 was $19.98
superfuntimes.mobi $9.99* was $17.98*
superfuntimes.biz $5.99* was $14.99*

We would have to do a focus test, but I estimate a majority of would-be buyers would either ignore the list or not understand that .ca is a viable alternative from that list.

 

[dcristo]

When I do a search at Godaddy it does suggest the .ca to me in the results. I assume it detects the search is coming from Canada.

I think if the average Canadian has to choose a domain to register, most will be picking between .com and .ca. Usually the .com will be taken, so if the .ca is available in their preferred term many would take it. .CA has been around enough and has enough awareness to make it a top 2 extension here.

There are many examples of open country code extensions where the extension didn't become useless, such as .es, .de and .be. The .us doesn't do too well and it's technically a closed extension. Other country codes have actually picked up more use and prominence such as .tv, .co and .me, but those are special cases. There are good arguments for and against opening up .ca, but I don't think it becoming irrelevant is one of them.

In Australia .com.au is above .com and it's not even close.

 

[katherine]

if they opened up the .ca to non-Canadians it would tank the appeal and worth. The reason people have .ca's is to identify the site as being Canadian. Short term we would all make a few bucks...but after a while they would be useless.

Strongly disagree.
The most popular extensions like .de .nl .ch .es .pl .co.uk etc are all open to foreigners and have a healthy aftermarket. The lack of restrictions has done nothing to dilute the identity of these extensions.
Personally I have registered domains in quite a few ccTLDs for commercial and strategic reasons, because we like to target local markets even if we have no physical presence there... I'm not going to wait for the local competition to snag those domains

If .ca was less restricted I guess a lot of American end users would want .ca - think about it: the pool of eligible buyers is multiplied by ten overnight :yes:
For many American companies, Canada is an extension of the US market.

 

[dcristo]

For many American companies, Canada is an extension of the US market.

I am sure many Canadians would strongly disagree with you lol.

 

[hugegrowth]

It is like adding another California (at least population wise).

 

[katherine]

I am sure many Canadians would strongly disagree with you lol.

It goes both ways of course.

 

[urlurl]

I think you miss the point each time. It is not the $5 but the trigger to look for the .ca domain.

Now you own more than one .ca domain, which already makes you 'above average' in this regard. You also know .ca exists, which places you in a group which is smaller than the group of people who know that .com exists, and so on.

Al, on the other hand, only knows he should think about a web site. He does not know what HTML is, what a web designer does, or what an SEO should be. He only knows he should probably get an web address, just in case he needs it.

If he goes to GoBadly he will see absolutely nothing informing him that .ca is a good choice, and most likely will see nothing about .ca at all.

How is he going to hear about .ca names, and if he does, why will he decide to register one?

Now if the GoBadly web site says 'Hey, **you are on a Canadian English or French browser/Canadian English or French operating system/Canadian IP address so** let me show you the great .ca deals we have on' then he might pay attention, but that is not what happens. They simply sell Al the first thing he picks and tries to add on to the order, and not once does it offer him a .ca domain as an option.

Setting a low price will create awareness, and awareness builds market share.

Compared to them, Go Daddy gives you:		Network Solutions[SUP]®[/SUP]	Register.com[SUP]®[/SUP]	Namespro.ca
1 Year Domain Registration (.COM)	C$8.29* C$8.19*	C$34.99	C$38.00	C$12.88
1 Year Domain Registration (.CA)	C$9.99	C$34.99	C$50.00	C$12.88
Domain Transfer	C$8.28	C$19.00	C$12.00	C$12.88
FREE personalized email
FREE hosting with website builder â€			--	--
FREE photo album â€		--	--	--
FREE "For Sale" page		--	--	--
FREE status alerts		--	--	--
FREE advanced DNS control
FREE parked page
FREE Getting Started Guide			--	--

I go onto godaddy this is on the front page .com is first and the second and only extension is .ca

 

[msn]

Compared to them, Go Daddy gives you:		Network Solutions[SUP]®[/SUP]	Register.com[SUP]®[/SUP]	Namespro.ca
1 Year Domain Registration (.COM)	C$8.29* C$8.19*	C$34.99	C$38.00	C$12.88
1 Year Domain Registration (.CA)	C$9.99	C$34.99	C$50.00	C$12.88
Domain Transfer	C$8.28	C$19.00	C$12.00	C$12.88
FREE personalized email
FREE hosting with website builder â€			--	--
FREE photo album â€		--	--	--
FREE "For Sale" page		--	--	--
FREE status alerts		--	--	--
FREE advanced DNS control
FREE parked page
FREE Getting Started Guide			--	--

I go onto godaddy this is on the front page .com is first and the second and only extension is .ca

I know you are trying really, really hard, but that is not their home page.

Nice try, just the same.

 

[urlurl]

sorry, you are right. but it is the page that shows when I click domains.

 

[msn]

sorry, you are right. but it is the page that shows when I click domains.

Not to worry, GoBadly would find a way to mix things up anyway.

If we ever get to the point that a Canadian customer would land on a Canadian landing page, be offered .ca domains, and the customer would have to go looking for the .com version, then that would be something!

 

[hugegrowth]

How do people see the .ca market now, compared to say three years ago?

Are you getting more interest, more offers, higher offers, more sales, or not? How do you see the next 2 to 3 years for .ca?

 

[COR]

I came to .ca quite late and so only have few years experience but i am seeing more inquiries and my completed sales keep going up. So I believe things are improving slowly but surely.

What this TBR week tells is that the aftermarket is healthy and kicking and many investors are hungry for a good quality domain (Most TBR weeks are anemic in that regards). Malls.ca has 22 bidders!

I believe the future is quite bright for good generics, geos, and 2-3 letter domains.

 

[msn]

I came to .ca quite late and so only have few years experience but i am seeing more inquiries and my completed sales keep going up. So I believe things are improving slowly but surely.

What this TBR week tells is that the aftermarket is healthy and kicking and many investors are hungry for a good quality domain (Most TBR weeks are anemic in that regards). Malls.ca has 22 bidders!

I believe the future is quite bright for good generics, geos, and 2-3 letter domains.

When the market is good people do not let domains like malls.ca drop in the first place.

 

[hugegrowth]

I don't think that's much of an indicator, valuable .com's still drop all the time too.

 

[msn]

When someone lets a name drop that then sells big money in TBR, something is very wrong.

 

[katherine]

A few valuable domains from the last TBR were from same owner right ?
Every single one of us can die suddenly, and without planning the same would happen.

Not saying the market is brilliant though.