.us What could we learn from .Ca

[oldtimer]

What could we learn from .Ca

I just read this month’s DNJ cover story and I was wondering about the similarities between .Ca and .US , I know its wrong to compare .US to .de and .co.uk of Germany and England, because those ccTLDs (Country Code Top Level Domains) took a foothold a long time ago and thus were able to grow alongside with .com , but .Ca was made available to the public at a much later time and just like .US (that was made available to the public in April of 2002) had to fight to gain a bigger mind share and market share in an environment that had already been dominated by .com . Although ccTLDs in general are growing, but how is it that .Ca has been able to advance so much faster than .US considering that they both had a late start.

What role has the .Ca registry and .Ca domainers played in making .Ca more popular in Canada, what has their Association (DOAC) done to promote this extension.

Some people here have said in other threads that there was not much that the registry or the .US fans could do to accelerate the acceptance of .US in the United States and that .US should be allowed to take its natural course, but it seems to me that there is so much that we can learn from the way that .Ca is being helped along to become a major contender.

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[DU]

At first:
USA = COM.

Then later:

Canada <> US <> COM -> .CA
USA = US = COM except when taken then other.COM -> then -> .US

Canada is a separate country. It makes more sense.

 

[oldtimer]

While we were recently told by some here on this forum that having an association was not going to have that much of an impact on improving the level of acceptance and popularity of an extension, but I think that our Canadian friends would probably think otherwise considering their mission statement and members benefits that are currently indicated on their domain owners association website at DOAC.ca


quote:

Mission:

Founded in 2009, the mission of the Domain Owners Association of Canada (DOAC) is to provide a collective voice for individuals and corporations in the Canadian domain industry including domain owners, registrars, domain parking providers, lawyers, advertising agencies and the media.

As part of its mission, the DOAC will:
· Promote the registration and use of dot-ca domains in Canada and globally
· Enhance the value of dot-ca domains
· Represent its members with governments and regulators
· Protect its members from domain-related fraud


Member Benefits:

The key benefits of becoming a Domain Owners Association of Canada membership are:
· Staying up-to-date with the latest developments in the dot-ca domain industry
· Being among the first to know about sales of dot-ca domains
· Sharing of domain monetization strategies and tactics
· On-going contact with other dot-ca domain owners
· Representation with CIRA to encourage them to lower registration fees and invest in the promotion of dot-ca domains

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[wayne_chance]

both .ca and .us are worthless. Now you learned something.

 

[bmugford]

both .ca and .us are worthless. Now you learned something.

Thanks for that brilliant piece of wisdom.

Brad

 

[oldtimer]

both .ca and .us are worthless. Now you learned something.

On the contrary, I have learned that ccTLDs are the way of the future.

As we have already seen with .Ca and many other successful Country code TLDs people will eventually gravitate towards the extensions that they can identify with and that they can take pride in associating their business with. Even though that .US has had a late start, but I am sure that it will catch up with the other major ccTLDs in the future, the thing that we are trying to figure out here is how to accelerate the acceptance and popularity of .US and whether we as .US fans can have a more positive impact on the growth of this extension both individually and or through an association.

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[MasterOfMyDomains]

I dont like the idea of taking the Canadian presence away from registering a .ca
Thats what makes it special,its Canadian.This guy with all his domains would be a billionaire if .ca went global.
Sure my names would go up in value,but names that i can still reg,would all be gone,game over for the little guy
Reforming.ca they should buy that too,its not reg'd
It would be a long fight to lift the residency requirement
Imagine what sunny.ca would be worth to someone in california,compared to what it is worth to them now.
I should be all for it,but an sick of these rich big shots trying to control everything,wether it is domaining or land development.

 

[Traveler]

At first:
USA = COM.

This is true, as far as anyone in the US thinks... the .com is the extension. I'm from the US and just about no one knows that .us exists.

 

[Animator]

.CA is asking for a canadian citizen.

Too restricted for my taste.

.CA = .CN

 

[mis_chiff]

both .ca and .us are worthless. Now you learned something.

what wisdom have you learned that leads you to make a statement like that...do share

---------- Post added at 08:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:12 PM ----------

.CA is asking for a canadian citizen.

Too restricted for my taste.

.CA = .CN

LOL

and .CN has the same restrictions doesn't it??
.cn = .CN FAQS
.ca = CIRA - Canadian Internet Registration Authority - FAQ: Canadian Presence Requirements

 

[DU]

Screw .ca what can we learn from .co?

 

[Entrepreneur888]

Dont Agree

both .ca and .us are worthless. Now you learned something.

I strongly disagree with this statement.

For example, If you own a business based in Canada and own the .ca domain you will naturally rank higher in google.ca, which is the default browser setting for people living in Canada.

Therefore if you are promoting a local business you are better off having a .ca domain (unless you can get the exact .com)

IMHO .co is over rated, I highly doubt it will catch up to .com/net/org in the "next 5 years". With the price of registration, it seems like a big cash grab, you can bet there are some very wealthy people who just got more wealthy,

Just my 2 cents.

 

[oldtimer]

Screw .ca what can we learn from .co?

We have learned that top keywords are hard to come by with in popular ccTLDs and those who have managed to get some are going to be the future millionaires.


An extension has to have something special going for it in order to have long term viability and growth, whether it’s the already established mindshare or market share that helps keep it on top or whether it’s the geo targeting or patriotic aspect of it that helps people identify with it easier and find it more credible, or whether it somehow enhances and gives more meaning to the domain, ultimately only the extensions with the best qualities will rise to the top, especially as more and more TLDs start to come around.

As people get more accustomed to seeing more and more extensions and as their old habits change they will pay more attention to what is on the right of the dot, its hard to remember several hundred TLDs so only the ones that make sense and that people can recognize easily will be able to compete in this new era of Internet.

In my opinion ccTLDs for bigger countries will have a better chance of getting more mindshare if they focus more on their own domestic market than trying to rebrand themselves as global TLDs, as shown with .Ca and other successful ccTLDs it seems like more and more people are becoming aware of what ccTLDs are and are developing certain expectations when visiting those ccTLDs.

PS: I have just registered USTLD.US and plan to showcase some of my top domains there.

USTLD.US ©
All rights reserved for all other domain and website related services and uses.

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[Larry Fling]

I love .ca's but at the same time hate them.. I own many .ca's but selling them can be quite the hassle and with the restrictions makes it that much more difficult.
I'd say that APPS are the future.. but stick with .com's..

 

[Carlton]

What can be learned is that cctld's are becoming increasingly more relevant every day. And that a fair number of people don't want to see this happen.

 

[mis_chiff]

Screw .ca what can we learn from .co?

Since this IS a .ca discussion, perhaps you should ask that question in the .co thread

 

[DU]

Since this IS a .ca discussion, perhaps you should ask that question in the .co thread

I'd rather avoid them and spread my rhetoric where it matters.
A more interesting question is what did .CA learn from everyone else:
Any ccTLD launched as a CC TLD and not G TLD will be successful for its END USERS.

All CC should have stayed CC. .CO is a disservice to Colombia imho. One day it *might* matter for .US but it's different being .COM baby brother.

 

[mis_chiff]

I'd rather avoid them and spread my rhetoric where it matters.

Well good thing it doesn't matter here, and .co have their own thread,
as mentioned already