How do I choosea domain namefor my business?

Use your business name, or as close to it as you can get, and make sure it's easy to say out loud and spell. Pick .ca if your customers are in Canada, or .com if you also sell beyond it. Either one costs about $24 to $28 a year at regular prices.

The short version: This is an evening's job, not a month's. Write down three options, check they're free, say each one to a friend over the phone, and buy the one they type correctly. Here's what we'd tell a client: a plain name that matches your sign beats a clever one nobody connects to you.

What is a domain name?

It's your web address, like sparklecleaning.ca. People type it to find your website, and your business email uses it too, as in hello@sparklecleaning.ca. The ending, like .ca or .com, is called the extension.

You don't buy a domain forever. You rent it by the year from a company called a registrar, and you can renew it for as long as you like.

Think of it like your business phone number. Once it's on your truck, your cards and your Google listing, changing it is a pain. Squarespace's guide makes the same point: pick a domain you won't want to change for a long time.

Should I use .ca or .com?

Use .ca if most of your customers are in Canada. Use .com if you sell across borders or the .ca is taken. Both work fine.

For Google, the ending barely matters. Its own SEO starter guide says the extension only matters when you target one country's users, and even then it's "usually a low impact signal." (SEO, or search engine optimization, just means helping Google show your site to the right people.)

The bigger difference is who can buy one. A .ca is only for people and businesses with a real tie to Canada, such as citizens, permanent residents and companies set up here. The rules are set by CIRA, the non-profit that runs .ca, and more than 3.3 million .ca domains were registered as of September 2024.

Our own site is on .com, loudlaunchdigital.com, and it works fine for a Calgary business. A cleaner who only works in Calgary has no reason to avoid .ca either.

What makes a good domain name?

A good one passes the phone test: you say it once, and the other person types it right. Here's what helps.

• It matches your business name, so customers who know you can guess it.
• It has no hyphens or numbers. Nobody remembers whether it was sparkle-cleaning or sparkle-cleaning-87.
• It uses ordinary spelling. "Kwik Klean" sounds fine and gets typed wrong every time.
• It's as short as your name allows. Ours, loudlaunchdigital.com, is 17 letters before the .com, longer than ideal, but every word is easy to spell.

If your exact name is taken, Squarespace suggests adding a short word like "the" or "shop", or trying another extension. Adding your city works too: sparklecleaningcalgary.ca.

Don't stuff search words into it, like bestcheapplumbercalgary.ca. Google says words in the domain have "hardly any effect beyond appearing in breadcrumbs," the small path shown above a search result. It just makes you look less like a real business.

How much does a domain cost in Canada?

Usually $20 to $30 a year. Here are the regular yearly prices at Hostinger, one large registrar, checked today in Canadian dollars.

You'll see much lower first-year deals, sometimes a few dollars. Look at the renewal price, because that's what you pay every year after. Some registrars sell at cost: Cloudflare says it "does not mark up domain prices at all."

Squarespace also suggests buying common misspellings of your name. For most small local businesses, we'd skip that and spend the money on something customers see.

What do most beginners get wrong?

The most common mistake is not knowing who controls the domain. A cousin or an old web person registered it years ago, and now nobody has the login. Whoever holds it can be anyone you trust, as long as you know who it is and can get it moved to your name when you ask.

The second is letting it expire. When a domain lapses, your website and your business email stop working together. Turn on auto-renew and keep the card on file up to date.

The third is skipping a quick search. Type each option into Google before you buy. If another cleaning company two towns over uses nearly the same name, customers will mix you up.

What should I do this week?

1. Write down three options based on your business name.
2. Say each one to a friend over the phone and ask them to type it. Keep the ones they get right.
3. Search Google for each one to make sure no similar business nearby already uses it.
4. Check whether the .ca and .com are free at a registrar.
5. Buy it for at least a year, turn on auto-renew, and write down where it's registered and who has the login.

If you're getting a website from us, you can skip the shopping. When we build a custom website, your domain is registered for you, and we move it into your name whenever you ask. Book a free call and we'll help you pick a name that passes the phone test, check it's free, and set it up with your site and email.

Drafted with AI help from our notes and checked against the sources above.

This post is general information and our own take, not legal, financial or professional advice for your situation. Prices, features and availability change, so check the linked sources before you act. Accurate as of November 13, 2026. See our terms.