My disappointment with Canadian companies runs so deep that I yell (well, only to my wife) at signs for Canadian businesses that demonstrate, with .com, their lack of patriotism. In this post I am going to propose and discuss some ideas as to why Canadian companies are afraid of being Canadian online, but, by the end, I still won’t have a definitive reason. Only more questions.
The Myth of Price
In Canadian internet history price probably had an impact. Canada’s first .ca registrar, Internic, still sells .ca domains for $50 per year. That is outrageous! There are companies like Net Firms and Domains At Cost that sell .ca domains for just over $10 per year. Is there some benefit—unknown to me—to paying five-times more per year with Internic? Ten years ago, I would have called this myth confirmed and am sure price contributed to the lack of .ca domains in the 90s, but there is no excuse today. Myth busted.
The Myth of Limited Exposure
Complete malarkey! Dot-ca domains give you no less exposure to the global internet than .com domains. If your site is visible to search engines (and all that stuff) you will be ranked equally. And you get the benefit of being ranked higher on Google.ca or other localized search results.
Dreams of Globalization
Tying right into the limited exposure myth are dreams of globalization. Everybody wants their company to succeed and many companies want to expand globally. How does having a .ca domain stop you from doing this? Are you scared to lose customers when they find out your company is Canadian?
Dreams of Being American
I am sure many companies aspire to be more ‘American’. I, as a devout Canadian, think we, as Canadians, should try to distance ourselves more from our southern neighbours (yeah, that is how you spell it even when talking about Americans), but many people disagree. Is this really a valid excuse for using .com over .ca? Probably. But should it be? If you truly want to be seen as ‘American’ in your online presence, then go for it. But if you are a small landscaping business in the Ottawa area, who are you kidding? Really?
It’s Better Somewhere Else in the URL
This is another poor excuse: it is better to demonstrate your canadian-ness somewhere else in the URL. I have the perfect example, kraftcanada.com. Really? Why make me, as a frequent user of your site, type all that in? Now before you go and yell at me: yes, I am aware that kraft.ca works. And yes, I know that the Canadian division is called ‘Kraft Canada’. But in what conversation, am I going to say, ‘I want Kraft Canada Dinner’ and not just ‘I want Kraft Dinner’. (Actually I will never say that, because I detest Kraft Dinner) The same applies to your URL.
Is it the Fault of Web Developers?
Yes. I am sure there are countless developers in Canada that recommend their clients get .com domains instead of .ca and they are a lost cause.
Is it CIRA’s Fault?
This is a blurry issue that has been in the news lately, but generally, no. It is not CIRA’s fault, at least not completely. At any rate, CIRA should encourage .ca leasing, and I totally agree: CIRA Should Give Out Domains, Not Door Prizes.
Blame it on the Users
The users are partially to blame. I am sure some study has been done demonstrating that users assume web addresses end in .com and instinctually type those characters. But, I bet there are many times the amount of users who don’t even know what the URL is for web sites they visit regularly—Google abstracts that information away from them.
canada.com
I can think of one great example of where the .com is helpful: canada.com. canada.ca is taken (obviously) by the government, whereas canada.com is owned by one of the great media conglomerates of our fair country. So from canada.com’s point of view, this makes perfect business sense: draw users away from canada.ca by accident or poor web education and get them to use your site to find information about Canada.
Where Does That Leave Us?
So, where does that leave us? Well no where really… we still need more .ca domains and I still don’t know why Canadians are afraid to be Canadian online. If in doubt, buy both and redirect .com to .ca.