question What to do with a high grade domain? Go.LA

[TheBaldOne]

I have been pondering just what to do with 'Go.LA' since acquiring it as I think it is likely to be one of the most valuable domains of it's type, in the 6 figures according to me from the research I have so far done in affiliate marketing field.

Obviously never having been to the US let alone Los Angeles or Louisiana (both of which would be ideal as development potential for the domain) I am not in a position to personally develop the domain name into a worthwhile website. (I should admit rather shamefully that my knowledge of Los Angeles and Louisiana are from TV, film, and newspaper articles - not the best basis on which to think you can develop either a city or county website from in the case of Los Angeles or a State website in the case of Louisiana.)

So I am left with the following options:

- Try and find a developer to build the domain into a site, maintain it, keep it updated and relevant, and be totally trustworthy - and also be on the ground and be in Los Angeles city or county or in the State of Louisiana.

- Just put it up for sale and wat up to 10+ years for the domain to sell at the price I value it at. (I am not concerned about annual renewal fees as that are presently under 80 cents per week, or put another way less than 11 cents a day. I don't think that will break the bank. LOL)

So does anyone know a 'REAL' and appropriate firm of developers who might work on a percentage basis?

If not then I shall keep pondering what to do and put up an advance Epik parking landers page I guess.

 

[frank-germany]

Go.la
is a great name

if it's as good as the owner thinks
time will tell

.la stand for Laos the country

so you have potential end-users in that country, too

you don't need to fear that the .la extension will disappear
as many new tlds will

 

[Mike Goodman]

Some domainers fall into the trap of becoming starry-eyed by their own visions for their names, and price them according to the best-case value of their developed dream site/business on that name.

They go further. They totally ignore the costs of marketing that domain to a whole city, or worse, a whole state, audience to gain approval for the purchase. That alone would eat up the bulk if not all of the $4m. @TheBaldOne, achieving that sale at that price would probably put you into serious financial debt.

I liked your earlier aspiration, tens or even low hundreds of Ks. That will cost far less to discover if it is realistic. You could still profit even if it isn't.

 

[TheBaldOne]

Well just a quick update.

Last night sat down with the 'Boss', 'She who must be obeyed', LOL. Upshot is that everything else should go, every domain, and just solely concentrate on Go.LA. This murder of the portfolio means that I shouldn't play with domain registration anymore, AND includes the liquidation of my two most cherished domains, JesusChri.st and Fig.ht. That is how serious I am and consider the domain name Go.LA.

I guess I brought this on myself by researching for Go.LA, the potential is literally so huge it is mind boggling. The budget just for the 2028 Olympic Games is now set at $6.9 Billion (and that figure was from April last year). The TV rights for broadcasting in the US is contracted to NBCUniversal, the Wikipedia entry states:

"NBC has held the American broadcasting rights to the Summer Olympic Games since the 1988 games and the rights to the Winter Olympic Games since the 2002 games. In 2011, NBC agreed to a $4.38 billion contract with the International Olympic Committee to broadcast the Olympics through the 2020 games, the most expensive television rights deal in Olympic history.[1] NBC then agreed to a $7.75 billion contract extension on May 7, 2014, to air the Olympics through the 2032 games.[2] NBC also acquired the American television rights to the Youth Olympic Games, beginning in 2014,[3] and the Paralympic Games for the 2014 and 2016 editions.[4] NBC is one of the major sources of revenue for the IOC.[5]"​

I had no alternative in the end but to agree with 'She who must be obeyed' that the Go.LA project had to take not only precedence but had to become my one and sole aspect of business, anything else would dilute attention paid to the ultimate goal.

 

[Joe N]

Well just a quick update.

Last night sat down with the 'Boss', 'She who must be obeyed', LOL. Upshot is that everything else should go, every domain, and just solely concentrate on Go.LA. This murder of the portfolio means that I shouldn't play with domain registration anymore, AND includes the liquidation of my two most cherished domains, JesusChri.st and Fig.ht. That is how serious I am and consider the domain name Go.LA.

I guess I brought this on myself by researching for Go.LA, the potential is literally so huge it is mind boggling. The budget just for the 2028 Olympic Games is now set at $6.9 Billion (and that figure was from April last year). The TV rights for broadcasting in the US is contracted to NBCUniversal, the Wikipedia entry states:

"NBC has held the American broadcasting rights to the Summer Olympic Games since the 1988 games and the rights to the Winter Olympic Games since the 2002 games. In 2011, NBC agreed to a $4.38 billion contract with the International Olympic Committee to broadcast the Olympics through the 2020 games, the most expensive television rights deal in Olympic history.[1] NBC then agreed to a $7.75 billion contract extension on May 7, 2014, to air the Olympics through the 2032 games.[2] NBC also acquired the American television rights to the Youth Olympic Games, beginning in 2014,[3] and the Paralympic Games for the 2014 and 2016 editions.[4] NBC is one of the major sources of revenue for the IOC.[5]"​

I had no alternative in the end but to agree with 'She who must be obeyed' that the Go.LA project had to take not only precedence but had to become my one and sole aspect of business, anything else would dilute attention paid to the ultimate goal.

You know that you could just set your "cherished names" to auto renew and leave them on make offer... They don't actually have to take up even a second of your time.

 

[TheBaldOne]

@Joe Nichols - No, time moves on and so will I. When a decision is made you stick with it. Why even have the domains if you have no plans for them????

Just let them expire, life is too short to do otherwise.

 

[lambo.com]

The new valuation that I envisage it at is in the region of $x,xxx,xxx. I presently have the domain listed on Epik.com at $4,000,000, though that figure could well change in the near future. (I have got much more research to do yet, but if the figure is going to change then it will only be in an upwards direction.)

Oh yes, how could $4m possibly be enough?

 

[TheBaldOne]

@lambo - I am NOT selling the domain name.

 

[bmugford]

Well just a quick update.

Last night sat down with the 'Boss', 'She who must be obeyed', LOL. Upshot is that everything else should go, every domain, and just solely concentrate on Go.LA. This murder of the portfolio means that I shouldn't play with domain registration anymore, AND includes the liquidation of my two most cherished domains, JesusChri.st and Fig.ht. That is how serious I am and consider the domain name Go.LA.

I guess I brought this on myself by researching for Go.LA, the potential is literally so huge it is mind boggling. The budget just for the 2028 Olympic Games is now set at $6.9 Billion (and that figure was from April last year). The TV rights for broadcasting in the US is contracted to NBCUniversal, the Wikipedia entry states:

"NBC has held the American broadcasting rights to the Summer Olympic Games since the 1988 games and the rights to the Winter Olympic Games since the 2002 games. In 2011, NBC agreed to a $4.38 billion contract with the International Olympic Committee to broadcast the Olympics through the 2020 games, the most expensive television rights deal in Olympic history.[1] NBC then agreed to a $7.75 billion contract extension on May 7, 2014, to air the Olympics through the 2032 games.[2] NBC also acquired the American television rights to the Youth Olympic Games, beginning in 2014,[3] and the Paralympic Games for the 2014 and 2016 editions.[4] NBC is one of the major sources of revenue for the IOC.[5]"​

I had no alternative in the end but to agree with 'She who must be obeyed' that the Go.LA project had to take not only precedence but had to become my one and sole aspect of business, anything else would dilute attention paid to the ultimate goal.

You are likely going to run into major issues with your "LA 2028" slogan and Olympic rings on that logo. The Olympics are highly protective of their trademarks and intellectual properties.

Brad

 

[TheBaldOne]

@bmugford - I totally agree, I only used it on here as a 'nudge' to get to people who think the domain is pointless, and I assure you it is nowhere on the website being developed.

I already have another logo that I will be replacing it with very soon.

(Daft I may be, stupid I am not. {Well not most of the time anyway.} LOL)

 

[Reddstagg]

@bmugford - I totally agree, I only used it on here as a 'nudge' to get to people who think the domain is pointless, and I assure you it is nowhere on the website being developed.

I already have another logo that I will be replacing it with very soon.

(Daft I may be, stupid I am not. {Well not most of the time anyway.} LOL)

You should trademark your domain name now...it seems that anything is possible these days lol.

 

[Joe N]

Why even have the domains if you have no plans for them????

To sell them? Although I agree that they're unlikely to sell for name value alone.

 

[MasterOfMyDomains]

I would not put all my eggs in this basket.

 

[Reddstagg]

To sell them? Although I agree that they're unlikely to sell for name value alone.

I knew I shouldn't have skipped lesson 2...doh!!!

Sometimes in life you just have to say f@@k it and go where others fear to tread and live and die by those decisions. Not everyone will understand but sometimes you just have to be 'The One'.

Good luck to everyone with your journeys. It may be bumpy lol.

Regards,

Reddstagg

 

[Reddstagg]

I would not put all my eggs in this basket.

If you don't put all your eggs in a basket, do you even have a chicken???

 

[MasterOfMyDomains]

No chicken. I buy at farmers market. Just sayin, its a nice name but i wouldnt go all in. but i dont know what his portfolio looks like, just hacks listed for sale with higher than .com reg fee’s

 

[Way3]

a lot of us have great names in obscure cc extensions or ngtlds. LA is just a polluted & almost has-been city as far as I've heard lately. Many desperate to get out, and not too many going in. Like Apple computers, living off the name, but far behind for awhile. Plus I heard there's poop all over the sidewalks!

Native Californian. Lived in LA for a time. Not my favorite city of all time but a cool place, certainly not as bad as all that. Every major city has poop on some sidewalk somewhere. Even Paris. Does that make Paris less desirable? Apparently not.

To OP: LA is a city of dreamers, all the non-native folks living there came in on a dream. So dreaming? Cool.

LA is also a city of people who like to be on point. Of all the major cities I've lived in LA is the least likely (in general) to be a city that would embrace non .com domains. Just my two cents as a former resident. Nothing wrong with trying though. If you can build out the domain to stellar perfection, and get some big time influencers (more than one mind you) to talk it up online. You could fetch a decent price. Millions? Perhaps, but very unlikely.

 

[TheBaldOne]

@Way3 - Thank you. (And that appreciation is sincere.)

Indeed, as you will be aware from my previous posts on this thread I am aware that even GoDaddy's attempt wasn't as successful as they had hoped. I also agree it takes real work to succeed in something like this (not a half hearted attempt from a boardroom). It needs a combined faceted marketing campaign to get it to break through the conservative nature of the populace. (You have to be inventive enough to join a lot of small changes into one.)

But it is not just the city with a population of circa. 4 million nor just the county of circa. 10 million, but also the tourists each year that pour into the area that will be targeted, but in nuanced ways appropriate to each. The aim is to do something that hopefully would end up impressing even those who have successful geo-sites at the moment.

It could be interesting that a 61 year old Englishman is aiming for gold not from the 2028 Olympics - but rather because of it.

 

[Way3]

@Way3
It could be interesting that a 61 year old Englishman is aiming for gold not from the 2028 Olympics - but rather because of it.

And here I am trying to figure out how to get from here to your side of the pond...

 

[TheBaldOne]

Thought a bit of light hearted humour was called for.

Obviously working through all kinds of things to do with Los Angeles at the moment and came across the 'official' song of Los Angeles County:

Verse 1:
God made the world and then He looked around
To find Him a county and this is what He found.
A land of sea and mountain and desert wilderness.;
And he made an earthly paradise He called Los Angeles

Refrain:
Seventy-six cities. Plenty room for more.
Seven million people. Open is the door.
Angels we are none, but Angelinos nonetheless.
For we come from the county they call Los Angeles.

Verse 2:
It grew and grew and grew and grew and grew and grew and grew and grew.
The oranges did blossom and the mighty aircraft flew.
If its growth continues in this most astounding way
New York City soon will be a suburb of L.A.!

Verse 3:
Your seventy-six cities, seventy-six mayors
Seven million people, seven million cares.
Well it could be Los Angeles that shows humanity
How to live and work together like a family.

Verse 4:
Whether it's an earthquake, a fire, or a flood
Angelinos rise above it with that spirit in their blood.
This world that's torn asunder with prehistoric hate
Needs the County of the Angels to bring it up to date.

(Copied from https://lacounty.gov/government/about-la-county/official-song-flag/#:~:text=The official flag of the,is blue, green and gold. )
​

It is the wording of 'verse 2' that made me laugh, "If its growth continues in this most astounding way
New York City soon will be a suburb of L.A.!" LOL. (No mention of all the States and cities in between either. )

I never even thought that LA County would have a ' County song'!

Oh, and the flag of LA county (which is what I went searching for when I came across the above) is:

 

[TheBaldOne]

Had an interesting conversation yesterday with a developer who is well versed in US geo-development and he pointed out to me that of course the 'Go.LA' could be used for an even bigger region, the 'Greater Los Angeles Area' (this would then include the counties of Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange. Including these counties would increase the target population to circa. 19 million, almost doubling that of the circa. 10 million present target of Los Angeles County by itself).

At first the above sounded great, but ......... it would severely increase the workload and in my personal opinion severely dilute the brand, at least at launch.

In the end we came to the conclusion that expanding to the 'Greater Los Angels Area' was something that should be left on the shelf as a possibility for the future.