Starting a new .ca site

Hello,


I am starting a new .ca website. I have already a good .com website.

The .ca will have a excellent domain name as for keywords. It will will have the most important keyword in my field in it name (4 letter).

I will sell the same products as my .com site except it will be in French and English.

In Google Canada, I am sure that I will be number 1 because of there are very weak rankings right now and there is basically no competition. A problem could be the Google sandbox.

My questions to you are:

Should I put link in my links page or in an other page of the websites ( .ca in .com and .com in .ca ) ?

Should my .ca be a mirror of my .com except of the extra language ?

Thanks for your time,

Intravino

I wouldn't copy verbatim english products from .com to .ca, that's duplicate content. why not just build something into .com for canadian prices. keep .ca just french. link between both with a flag or something.

That sounds very much like what I was about to suggest. Put a "French Logo" (France Flag or simply "Version francaise") at the top of your English site pointing to the .ca site with the French Version. That's probably the best thing to do. If your .com site is well made, it should get to the top of Google Canada SERP *anyway*.

In any case, I would strongly recommend not to duplicate your content (the english part) on both the .ca and the .com. Google won't like it, I can assure you!

Another question you have to ask yourself is whether you want to host it on the same account or not.

Let us know what you've decided to do!

Thanks for advice guys!

.ca hosting is Netfirms and .com with Yahoo. So it will be very different.

I will try to do the .ca website with Dreamweaver and .com is done with sitebuilder that is very basic.

I think I should use like you said the .ca for French only.

I am at the same ranking with my major keywords with Google Canada then Google USA, with some minor differences.


How should I links the two sites?

In the links pages?

Should I make 2 way links?

Thanks,

Intravino

Remember one thing - do what is best for your users in terms of linking.

DO NOT duplicate pages with same content on both domains.

I tried netfirms, not saying they are a bad company, but in terms of getting CANADIAN hosting from them it's hit and miss. They can't guarantee you'll get an IP from Canada thus eliminating your SEO advantage of geotargeting. I had to switch.

If your .com is 100% English and your .ca is 100% French, you can still just add a hyperlink on each page: English > French or French > English, i.e. you will just be switching between the .com and .ca pages/sites.

Thanks for the tip. If I cannot get an IP from Canada, I will switch also.I don't like their webmail allready.

What is the way to know if Netfirms is using an Canadian IP for my .ca website?

What is a good hosting company for .ca sites ?


Thanks,