Domain Name Registration – Secure the Web Address That Matches Your Business Name

A domain name is the address people type to reach your website, and the part of your email address after the @. It is bought from a domain registrar, not from Corporate Registry, so there is no government fee and no registry filing. Your corporate name and your domain are two separate registrations: having one does not give you the other.

Who this is for

• The founder who has just cleared a name with an Alberta NUANS report and wants the matching.ca or.com before the incorporation is filed.
• The owner of a numbered company who trades under a brand and wants that brand as a web address and email.
• The owner still using a personal email address who wants mail at their own domain without a weekend of technical settings.

How it works

1. Tell us the name you want and the ending you prefer (.ca,.com or both). We check availability while we check your corporate name, so you learn about both in one call. About 10 minutes.
2. A trained agent checks eligibility and spelling: that a.ca can be issued to you, and that the domain matches the name on your NUANS report or articles, letter for letter.
3. We register the domain with you or your corporation as the registrant, and your email and phone on the account.
4. We set up your business email (for example, [email protected]) and send you the sign-in details with a short note on using it from your phone and computer.

Domain name for a new corporation: check it when you check the name

An Alberta NUANS report reserves a corporate name for 90 days, but it does nothing for the web address. The best moment to check the domain is while you are still choosing between two or three names. If the.ca and the.com for your first choice are both taken, you can adjust the name before the NUANS report is ordered and the articles are drafted. A numbered company (for example, 1234567 Alberta Ltd.) needs no NUANS report at all, so for many owners the domain is the only name decision left to make.

Common mistakes we catch before filing

• A domain that spells the name differently from the articles: an "and" for an "&", a dropped hyphen, an American spelling.
• A.ca ordered for a registrant who may not meet the Canadian presence rule.
• The domain registered in a web designer's or an employee's name, so the business does not control it.
• The renewal reminder sent to a personal address nobody checks, so the domain expires along with the email.

What you need before you start

• Your first and second choice of domain name, and whether you want.ca,.com or both.
• The exact corporate name from your NUANS report or Certificate of Incorporation, or your trade name, so the spelling matches.
• Who the registrant will be (you personally, or the corporation), plus a contact email and phone number that will stay current.
• The mailbox name you want (for example, hello@ or your first name).

Requirements in Alberta

• Nothing about a domain is filed with Alberta Corporate Registry. Your corporation's legal name is the one on its certificate; the domain can differ from it.
• If your corporation does business under a name other than its legal name, Alberta requires a trade name registration. A domain alone does not register a trade name. -.ca domains follow CIRA's registrant rules, which require a Canadian presence.