Interchange Corporation (www.interchangeusa.com), a leading provider of local and national paid-search services, announced on March 7 that it has acquired the Local.com domain (www.local.com). The company paid $700,000 for the domain name. The Local.com site will be re-launched in the second half of 2005. The company plans to develop Local.com into a worldwide local-search brand, focusing initially in the U.S. and Europe.
The Local.com brand will be marketed to consumers as a local-search destination site, and will incorporate a local content and search syndication model. Interchange’s current local-search assets, including the Local Direct™ search and advertising platform, the company’s recently released SMS LOCAL™ wireless directory assistance service, and the company’s planned WAP-based mobile search service, will be united under the Local.com brand.
Local.com will utilize Interchange’s Keyword DNA™ local-search technology and new search technologies from the recently completed acquisition of Inspire Infrastructure. The Local.com domain acquisition and planned destination site represent four of the company’s previously discussed five-point growth strategy – enhanced local-search services, expanded Advertiser Network, expanded Distribution Network, and international expansion.
Interchange CEO Heath Clarke said that consumers need access to better local-search services on the Internet, that Interchange believes that it can meet those needs with one brand – Local.com, that Local.com represents an existing source of direct local-search traffic, that Interchange intends to develop this site into a natural destination for consumers searching for local businesses, products or services, and that in conjunction with the planned WAP and recently released SMS LOCAL search services, Local.com will be available to consumers anytime, anywhere.
