.la - What's your thoughts on this extention?

[htmlindex]

I know that people register .la because that it can be used for Los Angeles, but it's officially Laos. What do people think about this extention, worth registering? Know of any cheap good registrars?

I can only see 3 sales for this name.

condos.la
$6,500 2006-12-30 Sedo
Hotels.la
$1,682 2006-03-14 Sedo
blu-ray.la
$213

Has there been any others?

 

[TheBulldog]

As said many times previously, it is now Officially the extension for Los Angelas.

 

[TheBaldOne]

Pets.la sold for $614 last year. Medium term investment prospects look good as large geographic population base. Reg cheap and hold is how I look on this one.

 

[kubativity]

I've also mentioned a bit about .la
It is all speculation really, but I believe it is a highly recognizable abbriviation for los angelas. Some key words work well with this extension if they relate well to LA.

I have www.hotgirls.la. Right now it points to my partner site torontojungle, but it will soon be a nice repository of hot girl pictures!

Also, I have bikinis.la and I hope to brand it as a bikini site. Makes sense for LA.

I think this one is a very high risk investment. If you look at the sale of hotels.la, which is a very hot keyword, you will see that it only went for a grand. That basically means that there is not too much value right now.

the thing i like about these odd ccTLDs is that you could still find nice keywords, so you could have a very nice site. And if the extension sounds good than these days not too many people will even flinch at an odd TLD...

as other TLDs such as .tv and ccTLDs such as .la, .ca become more common, it will be much more valuable.

If people become comfortable using these extensions (which is a reasonable thing to expect) than the good key words will grow in value.

 

[TheBulldog]

Actually all it would take is say one of the news channels out there buying an LA and then telling people to go to that name to get word of mouth going. Or a studio. Or meh.

Basically someone needs to know someone big over there to get the ball rolling. But once it does.....watch out. Every two bit table jocky actor wannabe will be putting up a resume and headshot on their .la page.

Actor.la I could see going for big money. (I don't own it, but you get the idea)

 

[kubativity]

keep in mind that the market for los angeles is relatively small:

compare .la to .ca

Canada population: 31,612,897 (wikipedia, census 2005)
Los Angeles population: 3,694,820 (wikipedia, census 2000)

So, again, this is a long shot investment. Stick to best keywords and premiums!

Hope this helps!

 

[traderonline]

it might come handy in the long run

 

[ALGDomains]

keep in mind that the market for los angeles is relatively small:

compare .la to .ca

Canada population: 31,612,897 (wikipedia, census 2005)
Los Angeles population: 3,694,820 (wikipedia, census 2000)

So, again, this is a long shot investment. Stick to best keywords and premiums!

Hope this helps!

This is a naive opinion and misrepresents the actual facts.

There are 10,000,000 people in Los Angeles County and if you entend the border 2 hours in every direction that number almost doubles (Orange County, Inland Empire, etc.). Strict city population quotes do not reflect the actual situation.

This massive population owns houses with a median home price of $500,000 $USD, add up that home equity & buying power. And realize that in LA county the only houses for $500K are in places you'd never live. What fraction of that amount is the median home price for the nation of Canada in $USD?

Also note that the State of California has the 6th biggest economy in the WORLD, larger than entire civilized countries like Italy, Canada, etc.

Do not dismiss the massive economic power of Los Angeles.

Not being adversarial, just accurate.

 

[accent]

As said many times previously, it is now Officially the extension for Los Angeles.

I have read this on the promoter's website, without explanation. I have seen nothing to make me think that the city or county of LA even know the extension exists.

I WISH it was official.

 

[VisualArtistFrankBonilla]

This is a naive opinion and misrepresents the actual facts.

There are 10,000,000 people in Los Angeles County and if you entend the border 2 hours in every direction that number almost doubles (Orange County, Inland Empire, etc.). Strict city population quotes do not reflect the actual situation.

This massive population owns houses with a median home price of $500,000 $USD, add up that home equity & buying power. And realize that in LA county the only houses for $500K are in places you'd never live. What fraction of that amount is the median home price for the nation of Canada in $USD?

Also note that the State of California has the 6th biggest economy in the WORLD, larger than entire civilized countries like Italy, Canada, etc.

Do not dismiss the massive economic power of Los Angeles.

Not being adversarial, just accurate.

and Hollywood, Beverly hills, all the actors, all the actresses, all the studios, all the musicians, and music venues. All the pro sports teams, all the big time companies who headquarters are there.... and on an on and on.....

LA's economy (from Wikipedia):

The economy of Los Angeles is driven by international trade, entertainment (television, motion pictures, recorded music), aerospace, technology, petroleum, fashion, apparel, and tourism. Los Angeles is also the largest manufacturing center in the United States. The contiguous ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach together comprise the most significant port in North America and one of the most important ports in the world, and they are vital to trade within the Pacific Rim. Other significant industries include media production, finance, telecommunications, law, health and medicine, and transportation.

For many years, up until the mid-1990s, Los Angeles was home to many major financial institutions in the western United States, including First Interstate Bank, which merged with Wells-Fargo in 1996, Great Western Bank, merged with Washington Mutual in 1998, and Security Pacific National Bank, which merged with Bank of America in 1992. Los Angeles was also home to the Pacific Stock Exchange until it closed in 2001.

The city is home to three major Fortune 500 companies, including aerospace contractor Northrop Grumman, energy company Occidental Petroleum Corporation, and homebuilding company KB Home. The University of Southern California (USC) is the city's largest private sector employer.[14]

Other companies headquartered in Los Angeles include Twentieth Century Fox, Latham & Watkins, Univision, Metro Interactive, LLC, Premier America, CB Richard Ellis, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Guess?, O'Melveny & Myers LLP, Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, Tokyopop, The Jim Henson Company, Paramount Pictures, Robinsons-May, Sunkist, Fox Sports Net, Health Net, Inc., 21st Century Insurance, L.E.K. Consulting, and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.

The metropolitan area contains the headquarters of even more companies, many of whom wish to escape the city's high taxes. For example, Los Angeles charges a gross receipts tax based on a percentage of business revenue, while most neighboring cities charge only small flat fees. The companies below clearly benefit from their proximity to Los Angeles, while at the same time avoiding the city's taxes (and other problems). Some of the major companies headquartered in the cities of Los Angeles county are Shakey's Pizza (Alhambra), Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Beverly Hills), City National Bank (Beverly Hills), Hilton Hotels (Beverly Hills), DiC Entertainment (Burbank), The Walt Disney Company (Fortune 500 – Burbank), Warner Bros. (Burbank), Countrywide Financial Corporation (Fortune 500 – Calabasas), THQ (Calabasas), Belkin (Compton), Sony Pictures Entertainment (parent of Columbia Pictures, located in Culver City), Computer Sciences Corporation (Fortune 500 – El Segundo), DirecTV (El Segundo), Mattel (Fortune 500 – El Segundo), Unocal (Fortune 500 – El Segundo), DreamWorks SKG (Glendale), Sea Launch (Long Beach), ICANN (Marina Del Rey), Cunard Line (Santa Clarita), Princess Cruises (Santa Clarita), Activision (Santa Monica), and RAND (Santa Monica). The L.A. area is also home to the U.S. headquarters of all but two of the major Asian automobile manufacturers (Nissan North America is in the process of relocating its headquarters from Gardena to the Nashville area, and Subaru's U.S. operations are based in Cherry Hill, New Jersey). Further, virtually all the world's automakers have design and/or tech centers in the L.A. region.

Downtown Los Angeles is also the home of the Los Angeles Convention Center which hosts many popular events including the annual LA Auto Show

Frank

 

[owntype]

As said many times previously, it is now Officially the extension for Los Angelas.

http://www.iana.org/root-whois/la.htm

 

[VisualArtistFrankBonilla]

http://www.iana.org/root-whois/la.htm

From your post
URL for registration services: http://www.la , which is :
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
About CentralNic
In May 2006, the responsibility for providing technical and customer support services to LA Names Corporation was assigned to CentralNic Ltd. CentralNic has now assumed responsibility for operating and managing the WWW.LA website.

CentralNic operates the WWW.LA website, and takes credit card payments, on behalf of LA Names Corporation. Credit card statement items for domain name registrations and renewals made on this website will appear in the name of CentralNic.

About CentralNic
CentralNic was established in 1995 as an independent global domain name registry committed to making it easier for Internet users to establish new and distinctive domain names with regional and country-specific identities.

Headquartered in London, CentralNic currently has a portfolio of more than 18 domain names available to users worldwide, including EU.COM (Europe), UK.COM (United Kingdom), US.COM, (United States), CN.COM (China) and RU.COM (Russia). Additional domain names are regularly added to this portfolio.

CentralNic also provides consultancy and technical services to a number of ccTLD and gTLD registry operators.


Frank Love your avatar!

 

[owntype]

From your post
URL for registration services: http://www.la , which is :
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
About CentralNic
In May 2006, the responsibility for providing technical and customer support services to LA Names Corporation was assigned to CentralNic Ltd. CentralNic has now assumed responsibility for operating and managing the WWW.LA website.

CentralNic operates the WWW.LA website, and takes credit card payments, on behalf of LA Names Corporation. Credit card statement items for domain name registrations and renewals made on this website will appear in the name of CentralNic.

About CentralNic
CentralNic was established in 1995 as an independent global domain name registry committed to making it easier for Internet users to establish new and distinctive domain names with regional and country-specific identities.

Headquartered in London, CentralNic currently has a portfolio of more than 18 domain names available to users worldwide, including EU.COM (Europe), UK.COM (United Kingdom), US.COM, (United States), CN.COM (China) and RU.COM (Russia). Additional domain names are regularly added to this portfolio.

CentralNic also provides consultancy and technical services to a number of ccTLD and gTLD registry operators.


Frank

So? :bah:

 

[AdoptableDomains]

Just because Los Angeles has the large economy and spendable income is why I think .la is poorly marketed to that market. Those with money and power, particularly Hollywood, want .com and world domination.

Personally, I think it would be better marketed as Latin America to cover Mexico and Central America like .eu does for Europe.

Or maybe for Louisiana (Postal code LA).

Or the Florida panhandle which some called LA for "Lower Alabama", aka "The Redneck Riviera".

In reality, no matter how it's marketed it is still officially a Laosy TLD.

 

[accent]

In May 2006, the responsibility for providing technical and customer support services to LA Names Corporation was assigned to CentralNic Ltd. ..... CentralNic currently has a portfolio of more than 18 domain names available to users worldwide, including EU.COM (Europe), UK.COM (United Kingdom), US.COM, (United States), CN.COM (China) and RU.COM (Russia).

This is a step into the big time. These are some of the strongest CC names out there. (But the EU landrush was a mess, wonder what CentralNic had do do with that?)

A new registry (well, fairly new), perhaps a better marketing plan?

 

[dpari]

negocio.la

What do you think about this domain name?

Negocio is Business in Spanish.

I am thinking that it could be used in ways to serve the huge Spanish
business markets in Los Angeles as well as Latin America.

Just a thought.


-dpari

 

[smartpc]

hoop.la and moo.la came to mind straight away as funny brandable domains but there registered. I cant see any real money in the domain besides really hot domains in the entertainment sector such as radio.la

 

[TheBaldOne]

There is this perpetual marketing question, not just with .la but with any ccTLD. The problem faced can be split down into the following areas:

With Domainers

1) There is a substantial body of domainers who ridicule and deride any ccTLD simply because it is not a dotcom, and therefore they belittle constantly any attempts to rationally market a suffix in the domaining community.
2) The price of registration of .la (as with most ccTLD's) is much higher than that of registering a gTLD.
3) Those domainers who do invest in ccTLD's act as independant entities and do not support each other or openly debate the pro's and con's of such extensions with conviction when challenged by those mentioned in '1' above.
4) Generally the ccTLD domainers do not market their wares to end-users in a positive manner, ccTLD's tend to marketed as individual domains rather than as a choice from a portfolio.

With the Public

1) The public are the ultimate end-user of a domain generally. If they are not made aware of a ccTLD suffix then there will be no end-users for a domain with that suffix.
2) The public and businesses have to see a benefit to use ccTLD's, including .la. As mentioned in a previous post in this thread perhaps an agressive marketing campaign could be the answer. Get the public used to seeing the suffix and not just in dribs and drabs. Get local businesses to see the benefit of being identified with .la as a geographic reference instead of dotcom (not all businesses are suited to getting traffic from the whole world).
3) Los Angeles is by far big enough and wealthy enough to make the extension a success if marketed to the mass public, but this requires a co-ordinated publicity campaign (and this need not cost the earth). It could well be via local interest stories. But this is for the registrar to do and not for domainers to do.

Personally I see .la as a strong geographic domain suffix.

 

[xman]

TheBaldOne you made some very interesting insight and your reasoning was well explained.