Canadian Domain Name World Update

NamesPro.ca Updates Their TBR System

When trying to log in to the TBR system for NamesPro.ca I noticed the following message regarding their dropping domain name bidding system.

Attention to all TBR bidders,

We are in the process of rebuilding our TBR system in order to serve you better. All TBR bidding will be temporary disabled to ensure the new system is properly tested. Service and bidding will resume for the TBR session on January 13, 2008.

NamesPro.ca Super Thanksgiving Transfer Sale - Do Not Miss This!

Better than an early Christmas present comes NamesPro.ca's super Thanksgiving transfer sale. NamesPro.ca is the domain name registrar of choice for .ca domains for FYO Canadian Domain Names. You will not find a better registrar for customer service, reliability and overall customer satisfaction. And at a rate of $9.88 per year it's the best deal in Canada!

NamesPro.ca is the registrar for Canadian universities, colleges, businesses big and small, political parties, charitable organizations and users from coast to coast.

Canadian Domain Name World Update

As some of you are already aware, there has been a marked downturn in the domain and website sales pace experienced in the past couple years. The general malaise in the wider economy is surely playing its part. This doesn't mean there hasn't been some large sales, because there has been many, and it also doesn't mean that new sources of information and places and opportunities haven't arisen.

For those investing in Canadian domain names and dot ca websites there has been two new newsletters started. And .ca auctions by MyID are coming back soon.

GoDaddy To Start Offering Dot Ca Domains For Registration

According to a press release by The Go Daddy Group, Inc, GoDaddy.com are going to start offering Canadians and others able to meet the Canadian presence requirements the opportunity to register .ca domains. To help advertise this move, Go Daddy will be a broadcast sponsor of a NASCAR event on Canadian television.

A Go Daddy subsidiary - Go Daddy Domains Canada is a certified .CA registrar and is based in Ontario. Through this relationship Go Daddy will be able to offer dot ca domains. Go Daddy is known for having value priced domains and cheap web hosting. It is not yet known at what price they will be offering .ca registrations, renewals and transfers. How they handle registrar and registrant transfers is still unknown as well.

This writer believes that Go Daddy coming into the world of dot ca domains came in large part to their recent hiring of the successful Canadian domainer Adam Dicker of DNForum. It would not be surprising to see Go Daddy also become heavily involved in the weekly TBR - To Be Released - drops.

New Service Just for Thriving .ca Aftermarket

DomainAssets.ca is launching the first Canadian domain newsletter to serve the growing .ca domain name aftermarket. The newsletter will bring together buyers and sellers of .ca domain names in a marketplace that specifically serves Canadians.

Canada's internet domain extension - the ".ca" - has reached the 1 millionth registration, and continues to be grow. Canadian businesses are getting onboard the .ca bandwagon by increasingly using Canadian domain names for their marketing in television, newspapers, billboards and direct marketing.

"Businesses recognize that ".ca" means "Canadian" and it's important to use the .ca brand domain name in their marketing to reach Canadians online. Businesses who understand the value of good domain names and need .ca's in their target niche can meet sellers at DomainAssets.ca We want the DomainAssets.ca Newsletter to help buyers and sellers of .ca domains in a marketplace just for our extension - the .ca"

CIRA and Canadian Domain Names

There has always been a low-level antagonism between the actions of CIRA and those in the domain name industry in regards to the marketing and advancement of the Canadian domain namespace. And this is further emphasized by the walk-through CIRA provides to visitors to brief them to dot ca domains.

Nowhere does it mention that a domain name can be purchased from someone who currently has it registered. To a domain investor this seems like a give-in, but many people just don't know that they can buy an existing domain. A simple one line mention is all it would take. This lack of explanation is further compounded by, "Nobody owns a dot-ca domain name,"* without explaining just what that really means. I'll let you decide how you feel about that one.

CIRA really dropped the ball with the 1 millionth active domain registration. The publicity gained was so weak because their effort to alert the media and the Canadian public was pathetic. Domainers need to get into a position to be heard inside CIRA. Adam Dicker of DNForum was up for election to the board but was unsuccessful. Somehow the dot ca domain community couldn't get one of their own inside. If there is to be finger pointing it should start with Canadian domainers.

New Canadian Internet Registration Authority WHOIS Protection

Today the Canadian Internet Registration Authority put into action new WHOIS protection. The new WHOIS protection is in line with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

So what does this mean for the average dot ca domain holder? Not much except a spot less spam email, but for domainers it means big changes.

For all Individual Domain Name Holders the new policy is set by default. To remove your domain name from the protection you must log in to your CIRA user account and manually change the settings. For those looking for WHOIS protection this won't matter much, but my next point might..

Website Directory Submission - A Real How To Guide By A Link Directory Owner

This guide is for both seasoned Internet veterans and those new to search engine optimization and website directory submissions for the purpose of gaining better search results. The guide will cover directory basics, how to submit to a directory, choosing quality directories, how to increase your chances of being listed, and choosing submission companies.

On the surface submitting your website to a directory seems rather easy, so why the need for a guide? As someone who operates a number of directories, I can tell you that each and every day I see submissions of varying quality and competence. For a directory owner who cares about what they are doing, having a clean, spam-free directory that is well organized, is their top priority. And to achieve this goal, they must check each and every submission to ensure they meet some basic standards. And that's where we will begin.

What is a Directory?

A directory is a website that lists other websites in some form of searchable listings. Website directories cover just about every topic under the sun. Some directories are "general directories" meaning they cover a wide range of topics. Other directories are "niche or topic specific" types. They cover a very narrow range of topics and categories such as travel or focus on a particular country or region.

Some Dot Ca TBR Results For March 19 2008

This particular week's crop of available dropping names was not that thick with quality names overall, but it did have a few nice domain names, and plenty of three character - LLL.ca - domain names.

Sibername and Pool both did fairly well grabbing domains for their users this week. Pool's large grab was ****er.ca and is currently still in auction.

Sibername managed to nail down and these are the final results for - October.ca ($2650), Gout.ca ($1615), testosterone.ca ($161), and Newsfeeds.ca ($155).

Domain Registry of Canada Alert

As a holder of a domain name in Canada you may or may not have received at one time or another a ‘domain name expiration notice’ from Domain Registry of Canada out of Markham Ontario. If you haven’t heard of them before, please read on.

Domain Registry of Canada is well known for sending letters by mail to registered owners of domain names in Canada in a format that cannot be confused for anything but a bill. While the text in the letter does say that it is not a bill, it is very easy to overlook that. Combine the look of the letter with the text explaining that your domain name is about to expire and you will lose it if it is not renewed you can see how many Canadians fall prey to this unsolicited renewal notice.

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