According to a Press Release out today, my fellow Sherpa Page Howe, a “veteran domain name investor and educator, has been tapped to lead the effort to educate and encourage adoption of the .LA domain extension in and around Los Angeles and Southern California. ”
“Domain names are the real estate of the Internet, and the .LA domain namespace is the exact location for online marketing in Los Angeles.
.LA Domain names are available now at most major registrars, www.la and LaDomainNames.com.
Page Howe is quoted in the PR as saying:
“Local is everything in online marketing. The time is right for companies and inside and outside Intellectual Property advisors to consider adoption in the .LA extension in advance of wider publicity and relaunch in 2015,”
“Los Angeles is unlike any city in the World and a .LA domain allows a company to market to the tastes and styles found in Los Angeles,.
“Page Howe and his team are available to help companies, hosting companies, web developers and community/governmental organizations become familiar with the opportunities available by adopting a .LA domain name.
Online, the new effort at iLove.LA is designed to educate and inform local businesses, developers and companies about the .LA namespace, best practices in SEO, and registrar opportunities.
iLove.LA will initially focus on Restaurant/Food related businesses, Concert and Entertainment venues, Homes and Real Estate projects and Developments and Media.
These businesses are advertising to Los Angeles residents about LA businesses, with an LA look, feel and style. In the .LA namespace, they will find over 99% of the names taken in .com are available for registration.
Born and raised locally, Page went on to speak on the history of .LA:
“This namespace has been consistently live for the past ten years, managed by a strong registry operator. The ICANN introduction of new Tlds and other geographical extensions such as .NYC, .Paris, .Vegas and .London, has brought illumination and increased confirmation of the benefits of city namespaces.”
Howe expects to announce the “Rancho” Founders Program to help websites, companies and causes/initiatives with additional advertising and promotion across the .LA network. Opportunities also exist to acquire discounted premium names in exchange for joint promotion and publicity.
Some of LA’s best-known companies use a .LA domain name, including Craft Brewery GoldenRoad.LA, Accelerator Amplify.LA, Fashion brand Made-in.LA and Directory Represent.LA.
Howe is a domain name expert, speaker and consultant seen weekly on the DomainSherpa.com industry review show, and has sold over $5 Million in names over the past 10 years. “”
Congrats Page.
“Local is everything in online marketing”
yes and that is why Intuitive geo targeted domains are so popular.
AND with DOT LA the whole idea is to be a cross-promoting community of ” rodney king can’t we all just get along” “.la” domains – yes – when in fact just a bunch of speculators get crucified ?
But tell me where .co is with that same marketing gimmick – and for that matter where is Juan Calle at now ?
Hi Brian, thanks for your comment, well said. And if this is just a marketing gimmick, your right. Mike was nice to publish this but i purposely didnt even send to our community because its my work with real business in .LA that will payoff in the long term.
So all i can say if for my part if there is a way to do this right thats what i am after. Ive been in LA meeting real people encouraging real adoption and i believe this namespace can be a difference maker for people and business, in real life.
This things arent cheap, $35-50 so i dont want a bunch of people to buy 20 and then do nothing and drop in a year. Buy one, build it, see if it works, any site today needs a little boost form some real content and effort.
Or wait, and see how i do, im after success in the long term. Right now im after Founders Program candidates and working on adoption locally.
So we may be slower growth with real sites. If you want to speculate, come on in, but i will encourage you at each step to try to build and add to the community of sites each reinforcing the brand to users/customers in LA
We have had some great adoption, here is our pinterest page of up and running sites using the .LA domain. https://www.pinterest.com/joedomains/la-domain-sightings/. We are adding more sites like blogging.la, a community of those wanting to make la a better place. 5Steps.LA is a disaster preparedness site. Sites like these will be where we rise and fall.
Page
Indeed, this is very good news for .LA. Are you going to partner with Page via losangeles.domains?
Have I missed something here. They are promoting .la as representing Los Angeles in California, USA.
But isn’t .la the country code for the Asian country Laos?? .la is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Laos.
Ah, I get it. Like .co is the country code for Colombia in South America. Right?
Hmmm. Didn’t we see another ccTLD successfully rebranded, i.e., .TV? Not sure why it couldn’t be repeated with other ccTLDs, especially .LA.
Page –
Life is too short and then someone digs a hole in the ground and plants you.
So instead you try new things.
Clearly you are in your element with this one – and knowing you – you will achieve some success.
So what do you say when your target market asks about DOT CA ?
Bri