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Here's the The Lowdown
from DN Journal,
updated daily
to
fill you in on the latest buzz going around the domain name industry.
The Lowdown is
compiled by DN Journal Editor & Publisher Ron
Jackson. |
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Website
Developer From the "Show Me" State
Unveils Plans for an Online Local Media Empire
at Missouri.me
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Interest
in development continues to grow among
domain owners
who
want to free themselves from
dependence on PPC revenue,
especially now that those earnings have
fallen off a cliff. I've always felt
that the best chances for development
success lie in finding an underserved
niche and building the best
resource within that niche. That is
exactly what |
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Bruce
Marler
Founder
LocalTek, LLC |
Missouri's
Bruce Marler is trying to do
right now with development of a
statewide portal at Missouri.me
that is focused on serving the
advertising needs of small to medium
sized businesses in Missouri's underserved
rural communities.
Marler, who
quit
a six-figure a year high tech job
this summer to follow his
entrepreneurial dream, set up a new
company, LocalTek, LLC, to serve
as a one stop shop geared to making a
web presence a no brainer for local
businesses. Marler said that LocalTek provides web development, advertising, and targeted online marketing packages that virtually any business can afford. |
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Missouri.me
serves as the foundation for a network
aimed at tying together over 1,000 communities
across the state. Each town within the
network has its own site on a sub-domain
of the main platform. For example a site
for Linn, Missouri is located at Linn.Missouri.me. Marley
got the Linn site off to a flying start
by contacting the county
government |
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there,
which had no website of their own, and
offering to build one for them at no
charge. They accepted and with that
stamp of approval local businesses
started buying ads on the site
(much to the chagrin of the local
newspaper who lodged a furious
protest to no avail). Marler
has started hiring people across the
state to personally call on small
business owners with an offer to put
them on the web at a price they can
afford. |
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Marler
is so convinced that he can cash in on
the migration of media consumers from
traditional sources to the web that he
has gone on to acquire nearly
half of the 50 U.S. state
names in the .me extension.
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Certainly
some will question his decision
to use .me which is the country
code for Montenegro. As
most of you know the government
of Montenegro cut a deal to
re-purpose .me, opening it for unrestricted
global use with the world's
#1 registrar, GoDaddy, as
a powerful backer and promoter
of the extension.
Playing
off the popularity of the word
"me", the
extension has done pretty well
in aftermarket auctions since it
was relaunched. How well those
prices will hold up and the
degree to which .me will be
accepted by web users remains to
be seen but if it does gain a
foothold people like Marler who
are building well crafted useful
websites on it will be the ones
who deserve the credit. |
As
much as we love domains, content is
still king and his appears to be strong
enough to give him a realistic shot
at making "me" part of a
unique "brand" that people
will remember, especially with his focus
on catering to businesses who aren't
used to such personal service. "We
created LocalTek and the Missouri.me
concept to level the playing
field," Marler said. "Missouri.me
allows each and every community in the
state to have their own online presence
while LocalTek’s web development and
targeted marketing services provide
value that cannot be matched by
traditional advertising only firms,
newspaper and even radio."
One
other thing that could work in his favor
from a branding standpoint is the fact
that Missouri's nickname is the "Show
Me" state!
Marler's
company will undoubtedly lose
some traffic to the very
attractive site that Local
Matters operates at Missouri.com
(under license from Telepathy),
but by zeroing in on his own well-defined
niche LocalTek appears to
have a good chance of forging a
separate identity for
Missouri.me.
For
this who want to follow his
progress, Marler writes a blog
about domaining and site
development at BruceMarler.com.
In one bit of very good advice
he posted there Marler wrote
"develop, develop, develop,
find an idea that is interesting
and works from the business side
AND that you will enjoy
and good things will happen. Find
a hole and fill it, provide
solid service at a fair price. People
will buy."
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