The Los Angeles CVB site, called "L.A. Inc" is visually captivating. Celebrity after celebrity pops onto the screen with a short quote about the city and its attractions. The recurring theme is "See my LA". Unfortunately it is all run together--seemyLA--and is easily pronounced "seamy-LA". The page designers were careful to include faces of all ages and ethnic backgrounds. Even Barbie adds her bit. Translations of the site are available in Japanese and Korean, but not Spanish, which seems a natural.
L.A. has a lot going for it. You can't argue with beaches, Hollywood, professional sports, and theme parks. Wait! Yes, you can! With smog, traffic, congestion, and price. (Did I miss anything?) The site accentuates the positive very well, and says nothing about the negative.
The first tab on the home page is devoted to the individual visitor. Then comes a tab for cruises. Then the tab for "Meeting Professionals". Does this dual character bother the CVBs? Wouldn't it be better to provide one site for potential visitors/tourists and another for potential conferences and conventions? They would tell much of the same information, but the focus of the home page would differ. As is, this site is catchy, but it offers many distractions to the person wanting to know about facilities, costs, accommodations, conflicting events, etc.
I just visited the LA Inc website seemyla.com. It is horrible. It made me dizzy and had very little information (or information I could find). This is the website that represents LA? Who runs that place? If I were the mayor I'd fire them.
Posted by: Jack | July 15, 2006 9:12 PM | Permalink to Comment