How to Register Canadian Domain Name

If you have decided to start a web-based business, it is of fundamental importance that you find and register a catchy and popular domain name that will work for you for years to come. In this line of reasoning, registering a good domain name may be a profitable long-term investment. Below are some of the main steps one has to take so as to register and manage a domain name in Canada.

Basic Notions
If your website is your home in the cyber space, the domain name that you will choose will be your internet address. According to the internationally-accepted Domain Name System (DNS), each domain name is composed of four elements: a server prefix, a domain name, extension, and a country code which in your particular case will be “.ca” (dot-ca). Of course, you can register a domain with any other extension, regardless of the fact that you live in Canada.

Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA)
In order to register a “.ca“ domain name, you have to contact CIRA (visit its website, that is) and find an available domain name. Remember that you should try to pick up a unique, easy-to-remember domain name that will be easy to find when people start typing its name or parts of it into the search engines. Let me give you a simple example: if your online business involves printing and selling funny postcards, a good choice of domain name will be”funnypostcards.ca”, where the extension .ca tells the visitor on your website that your business is based in Canada. The problem with good domain names is that they, just like many of the best-looking female models in the world, have already been taken by another man. Jokes aside, finding a good domain name often requires deep thought mixed with a good portion of creativity. Keep in mind that short domain names are easy to remember and you might want to avoid whole sentences or long phrases. Finding an old domain is a good option in certain cases, but it has some specifics as well.

Having selected a catchy and at the same time available domain name, you should now proceed by getting in contact with a CIRA registrar in your area. This is necessary because as a state authority, CIRA does not sell the dot-ca domain names directly, but uses a network of appointed re-sellers, instead. Once you register your domain name, you must confirm the registration before the internet registration authority. Thus, your domain name will be protected even if the reseller goes out of business. As to the term of your domain name’s registration, you can register it for a period of one or five years. If you want to be taken seriously by Google, select a longer period. If, however, you are unsure whether your website will become the next hit in the web space, go with a trial year first. You can also reach an agreement with your accredited registrar over a longer registration period, which is always a better deal. Finally, remember that CIRA domain names are distributed on the first-come-first-served principle, so you’d better pick up a domain name before setting up a website for your online business.