It is still possible to pick up 3 letter .ca and word domains. You just need to know where to look and how to buy them. 

Every 2 weeks CIRA the organization that manages the .ca domain provides a list of the domains to be released. You can see this list on there site here.

 If you look at the list a few great grabs would be:

• vsv.ca
• unn.ca
• gxt.ca

To own a .ca you do need to be a Canadian Citizen, Landed Immigrant or own a Canadian trademark or business.

Once you have found a soon to be released domain from CIRA you can then go one of 3 ways:

1. You can wait and see if anyone else does grab it. This is the cheapest way but with the most risk.
2. You can use a tool like our domain hook at BlueFurDomain.com to grab the domain on the renewal day. This does cost money but has minimal risk of not getting it.
3. You can also use a service like Pool.com. If you do use Pool.com then they will most likely grab the domain before the other 3. They use 100′s of services to request every second to the registrar of deleting domains. If Pool.com does grab it you will have to pay a high fee and possible have to win the auction if anyone else wants the same domain. So the cost for this option can be very high but the risk is low as you know that you can purchase it but you just need to want it more.

Finding the right domain is not always the easiest thing to do but looking at deleted domains may help.

Here are 10 online marketing tips to help you with marketing your site.

1. Keep your domain name short and easy to remember.
2. Keep your sales message simple.
3. Be sure to pick up all the extensions you can for your domain to be sure that there will be no issues with  competitors later.
4. Avoid using dashes or hyphens in your domain name.
5. Choose a domain that is easy to type out on the keyboard.
6. Make sure that the domain is somewhat relevant to what you are doing.
7. Speak the language your customer speaks on your site. Remember your not selling to you but to your customer.
8. Understand your core business and do not inundate your customers with too many different options at once.
9. Design a clean and simple site that is as small as possible.  A third of your visitors are most likely still using dial up.
10. Update your site regularly.

Most people who run a business have some sort of business plan for their business. To have a successful site I suggest building an action plan, much like a business plan, for your web site. This will allow you to create a detailed schedule and budget for all your marketing needs.

Strategy

The first thing you need to do is set a goal for how many visitors to or sales you want from your site each month. Once you have decided on the goal, choose from the various marketing options available to promote your site. I suggest that your strategy should encompass several different methods to increase the visitors to your site.

Budget

Now that you have a goal for number of visitors and amount of sales you want to your site, it’s time to set a budget. Be realistic .  Set an amount you can easily affort to spend each month. I suggest having a budget minimum of $50. There is a lot you can do to market yourself with just $50.  Some of the best marketing tools are free.

Create a Timeline

Sit down and write a timeline of when you want to implement each marketing tool. Determine how long you want to spend on each strategy and in what order they should be done. If you are trying out a new marketing medium, I suggest that you do a small test to see how well it works. Many advertisers will want you to commit your whole budget to them, promising extraordinary returns, but I suggest you resist the urge and only do a small test run in order to calculate just how great a return on your investment you will actually make.

Tracking Results

If you do any marketing it is definitely important to track the results. You could simply track visitors to your site using web stats, but then you won’t know where those visitors are coming from, and you won’t know if the marketing you did was effective. To track it I suggest creating mini splash pages that are geared toward a target audience. For example, if you buy a banner on a site, make it so the clicks go to a page that says something like: ”Welcome visitor from X site”.  This will not only help you track traffic from that specific banner, but will help with conversions if you are selling something.

The title of this book caught my eye when I was looking over marketing books at the�local Chapters. After reading this book I would suggest that if you have an interest in Marketing this is an excellent read. The book gives examples and suggestions on creating unique marketing ideas for your business.

The key to marketing from the Authors perspective is finding something that makes you stand out from the others. Finding your own purple cow can be a hard process but the book does spark ideas for you to think about with your own site or business.

If you would like to buy this book you can find it here.

You can also view the Authors site here.

�

I attended a great presentation today from Surrey’s own Steve Chandler. Steve is the author of the successful book “9 Lies That Are Holding Your Business Back“. Steve shared with us some of his great ways to help a small business grow and how to avoid falling into the lies that businesses believe.

I recommend this as excellent reading for anyone looking to grow their business to new heights.

If you live in the GVRD and did not attend Massive 2005 then you should really block out some time to go down to Science World this year. This is a great opportunity for you to network with other locally techies.

EVENT FORMAT: Go big or go home is our motto. Within a 54,000 square foot, 5000+ attendeees, 175 exhibit booths, 25+ speakers and a 3-level facility, expect to see a variety of interactive activities.

Massive is a three part event that consists of a Tradeshow, Conference, and Networking where attendees are encouraged to explore, learn, and then connect with other business professionals.

LOCATION: World of Science 1455 Quebec Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada

DATE: Tuesday, February 28, 2006  8:00 AM – 7:00 PM

More information on this event can be found here.