Entrepreneurship & Small Business

Canadian company doing business in the US - Quick thoughts on this TLD question?

  • Last Updated:
  • Mar 2nd, 2018 12:22 pm
[OP]
Newbie
Dec 23, 2009
21 posts
oakville

Canadian company doing business in the US - Quick thoughts on this TLD question?

We're a Canadian marketing company but plan on expanding down to the US (initially through warm leads but eventually through cold outreach, and on track to open a branch)

We can't get the .com for our URL because someone is squatting on it and wants an outrageous amount of money for it.

We have the following TDLs: CompanyName.ca, CompanyNameInc.com, CompanyName.net

Question: Given that we want to do the majority of our work with US clients (though keep Canadian ones and grow in Canada too, but equally as much in the US if not more) is a .ca a bad move? Does it seem like spam to American's, especially via cold outreach?

We like how much cleaner .ca looks. I've searched how ccTDLs effects Google rankings and we're not too worried about it.

The main issue is should we go with the longer URL that's a .com because .ca will look off to American small business owners? We figured .net was the most spammy looking of the three, but I could be way off on that?

Thank you in advance for your insight!
2 replies
Deal Addict
Jul 3, 2017
3859 posts
2809 upvotes
I don't think customers will look too closely or care too much about the url as long as it's not something exotic.

.net is generally fine, but the key issue is that you want to avoid potential confusion, especially if CompanyName.com is sold to someone else. It's probably better to use something distinctly different like CompanyNameInc.com so that you don't get customers being misdirected by failing to notice the .ca instead of .com.
Deal Expert
User avatar
Aug 2, 2010
15196 posts
5000 upvotes
Here 'n There
People don't care really. I see tons of .nets out there from established companies but having said that I'd choose .net over .ca as it does not suggest company location. However, you already have the .com and .ca so why not the former for US and latter for Canada?

Also, someone owning a website is not a 'squatter'. They are only a 'squatter' if someone else owned it and they parked themselves on it, which is of course impossible for a website. It's just like real estate, where the term originates from. You can only be a squatter on a property someone else owns and this website you want is owned by someone else and it doesn't happen to be you. I own a few website names only because they are great names and I am waiting for a good offer. That doesn't mean I am a squatter but rather a savvy investor and I am holding out for the highest price (which I'll get).

Top

Thread Information

There is currently 1 user viewing this thread. (0 members and 1 guest)