Just over ten years ago, you would have been more hard pressed to find companies offering internet domain name registration as it was a more specialized business for select companies. Since then, the domain name industry has blossomed and currently their is in existence of hundreds to thousands of service providers offering the chance to pick up and register your own domain name. The most popular Top Level Domain (TLD) extension is the .com extension, and almost everyone will pick that extension up if available.

Do TLD domain name extensions exist that are specific for different countries? Yes they exist and you can purchase everything from .co.uk for United Kingdom (UK) based companies, to even .us domain names for United States companies. For those living in Canada, you also have available your own domain name extension which is the .ca domain. Anyone who wishes to register their site for a canadian audience and to show they are in the canadian market will register a .ca domain extension.

The controlling company for canadian domain names (.ca) is CIRA. This simply stands for the Canadian Internet Registration Authority. Their responsiblity is to oversee activity related to .ca domain name registration and when you decide to register a domain canada, an email will be sent to the administrative contact email indicating the registration process has been completed and you own the domain name.

Do you need to register the domain name through a company that is specifically located in Canada or will any cheap domain name registrar work? The answer to this is that any registrar will work provided that you find on their website that they actually offer ca domain names. Not every registrar currently offers the ability to register canadian domain names, but many do. One thing you will want to ensure when proceeeding with the domain registration is that the currency they are showing you is in canadian or us dollars. With the rate the conversion is at today, you will be paying more than the posted rate if it is in US Currency.