Archive for the ‘Local Search’ Category

« Older Entries

Dex One Partners with Yelp to Provide Consumer Feedback on Its Listings

Thursday, March 4, 2010

When Dex One emerged from bankruptcy last month, the Yellow Pages provider said it would further develop its hybrid range of advertising solutions including online and mobile search, print yellow pages directories, voice-search platforms and pay-per-click networks.

Yesterday, the company took another step in that direction by announcing a new agreement with Yelp, the popular local business review site, to provide consumer feedback on its local search listings.

Starting next month, DexKnows.com’s approximately 500,000 small business clients will begin seeing Yelp-branded content—including ratings and reviews written by the Yelp community—appear within their individual local businesses listings. The Yelp content will complement the existing user-generated content already provided by DexKnows.com users.

User review sites such as Yelp are very popular with consumers. Consumer opinions posted online are among the most trusted forms of advertising, second only to recommendations from personal acquaintances, according to the Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey released in July 2009.

For more, check out the press release by clicking here.

March 4, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , ,

Travel Searches Take Off in March

Monday, March 1, 2010

It should come as no surprise that each year in March, the number of travel-related Yellow Pages searches increases as families and students plan their Spring Break trips. However, what I was surprised to discover is that the number of travel searches for “airlines” is actually sky-high in March, receiving more references than any other time of the year. Combined, the “travel agencies” and “airlines” headings receive more than 65.6 million references annually.

What does this mean for our local advertisers? Among the various YP platforms consumers use to search for travel agencies, our data shows local businesses make up nearly two out of every three references. Because nearly 60% of all users do not have just one travel agency in mind when turning to the Yellow Pages, there is a real opportunity to generate qualified leads and establish long-term client relationships. In fact, travel agents that invest in YP advertising are typically seeing a 3-to-1 return on investment.

According to Chris Russo, president and chairman of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), Yellow Pages has been a critical tool in the overall marketing plan of the organization’s members.

For more information – as well as tips from the ASTA on selecting the best travel agency to fit your needs – click here.

March 1, 2010 | 1 Comment
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Don’t Forget The Place Your Customers Call Home

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Last week I wrote an article for Search Engine Land on the latest consumer usage trends and the new opportunities they offer for local search providers and small business customers.

As SuperMedia’s Chief Executive Scott Klein suggests, understanding new online and mobile local search initiatives is key for growth heading into the new year. Also important is ensuring directories and advertisers reflect the quickly changing search patterns of specific communities. Some things to consider include urban vs. rural technology access; age and gender; ethnic demographics; print directory usage patterns; and varying degrees of economic growth by region.

Growth in 2010 will certainly be shaped by our ability to develop innovative online and mobile capabilities. At the same time, a complete portfolio is what will allow us to reach as many of our unique consumers as possible in their specific communities.

You can read my full piece at Search Engine Land here.

January 21, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Tags: ,

Search Engine Land Gives Companies Tips to Manage Profile on Internet Yellow Pages

Thursday, November 12, 2009

I came across this article on Search Engine Land today from product marketing expert Lore Weimann, “Protecting Your Brand On The Online Yellow Pages” advising business owners to review their listings online and take a few steps to ensure they “get the best exposure on local yellow pages search” for their brands.

Weimann’s tips include:

  • Running a search of your top generic terms on the popular yellow page search pages and make note of the results including yellowbook.com, yellowpages.com, and superpages.com.
  • Being sure to advertise on your top terms.
  • Controlling your resellers and/or affiliates so that their advertising efforts, ad copy, and offers, are consistent with your own.

While I agree with this advice, I think it also highlights the need – more than ever – that yellow pages representatives provide informed marketing counsel to their customers.

As an industry, we’ve spent the last year transforming our approach to a more customer-centric consultancy model. Taking that extra half hour to walk through the what’s and why’s of a robust online search program really helps our customers achieve the maximum results online.

As Weimann notes – the local search space is growing every day. It is also changing by the minute, and the more guidance we can offer to deliver results in an integrated print, online and mobile world, the better.

November 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , , , ,

YPA and ADM Boards Vote Unanimously to Create Largest Local Search Trade Organization

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Our merger with the Association of Directory Marketing (ADM) crossed an important milestone yesterday with ADM’s board approval of the merger.  Our board gave its approval in a meeting last week, and now the proposal goes to a vote of our respective members.  I’m confident they will see the value in this effort.

Our industry is amidst a dramatic and exciting transformation.  For 130 years, we have changed and adapted to advertiser and consumer trends.  Today, our members are evolving from single-product to multi-platform advertising companies that help local and national businesses generate relevant sales leads across print, digital, mobile, social and other mediums.  With the changes in our industry, it only makes sense for us to also transform the associations that represent them.

With final approval of memberships, our combined association will become the largest local search trade organization in the world, representing 90% of the United States and Canadian Yellow Pages industry as well as key players in 29 countries worldwide.

As one association, we’ll speak with a stronger and more consistent voice that fully represents the point of view of all the participants in the Yellow Pages business; publishers, Yellow Pages agencies and suppliers.   YPA and ADM have worked together in a number of areas in the past, but I’m excited that we’ll soon be an integrated team with a common purpose and mission.

As you can expect with any integration of two organizations, a significant amount of planning and work has gone into this from both organizations.  I’d like to thank staff members at both YPA and ADM, our board members, and all of our members who’ve provided valuable input and assistance in making this happen.

The local search space is ripe with new opportunities.  With this merger, our industry is in a stronger position than ever has been to take advantage of them.

October 22, 2009 | 2 Comments
Tags: , , , ,

Superpages.com Brings Local Search to Twitter

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Idearc’s Superpages.com last week launched a local search tool for Twitter users, bringing an advanced solution for finding local businesses to the much-talked-about social networking site.

You can access the Superpages.com tool by following Superpages.com on Twitter at www.twitter.com/sp411.  Superpages.com will automatically follow you back.  Then, you’re ready to search.

To conduct a search, Tweet a direct message to sp411.  Here’s an example: “d sp411 pizza 75261″.

After that, five results are sent back as a direct message.  The direct message will provide the business name, address, phone number, and a link for more information that takes you to the Superpages.com profile for that business.

The feature also provides search capabilities for a host of other useful information:

  • Local Weather: “d sp411 weather Chicago”
  • Movies: “d sp411 movies (street) (city) (state) (zip)”
  • People: “d sp411 (last name, first name OR first name last name) (street) (city) (state) (zip)”
  • Reverse Phone Number Lookup: “d sp411 (phone number)”
  • Walking or Driving Directions: “d sp411 (walking directions OR directions) from (address 1) to (address 2)

It’s pretty easy and fun to use, and it integrates very nicely with existing Superpages.com information, which has everything from hours of operation to user reviews for businesses.

This announcement is a great example of the ongoing work at Yellow Pages companies to innovate new products that help businesses generate sales leads and diversify the mix of search tools available to consumers.  Until now, we’ve really only talked about Twitter’s potential role in local search but hadn’t seen any practical application of it.  Now, Yellow Pages companies have jumped on the opportunity that Twitter offers and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.

September 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , ,

Microhoo Changes Local Search Landscape for Small Biz

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

In this month’s Search Engine Land “Locals Only” column, I take a look at the impact the Microsoft and Yahoo! search alliance might have on local search.

With “Microhoo” official, the local search landscape for small business is changing – again. While Google maintains approximately 65 percent of the U.S. search market, the alliance between Microsoft and Yahoo make Microhoo, with Microsoft’s Bing search tool, the definitive No. 2 in the local search space.

For local search, implications include:

  • Local businesses will need to consider how they can optimize their content for both engines.
  • Making decisions about where to place Internet advertisements and sponsored key words will become more complicated.
  • Consumers may decide to visit multiple engines before buying.

The bottom line is that the local search space continues to evolve, and competition will mean new opportunities and new challenges. We must help our small business advertisers stay on top of these opportunities, because Yellow Pages representatives are one of the few personal contacts most of them have to understand the evolving local search space.

August 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Catch a Flick With DexKnows.com

Monday, August 24, 2009

Internet Yellow Pages sites are continuing to identify ways to make local search more convenient. R.H. Donnelley announced today a new partnership with Tribune Media Services, Inc. to offer searchable movie data – including showtimes, theaters, ratings and reviews and more — on DexKnows.com.

In its news release, R.H. Donnelley said that the deal also brings advance movie ticket purchase functionality to DexKnows.com by way of Fandango, the nation’s leading movie ticketing destination.

Movie information and ticket purchasing is available on DexKnows.com as well as the mobile site (m.dexknows.com) and mobile app, available for download for the iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, and other smart phones.

Deborah Eldred at R.H. Donnelley compared the partnership to “mixing butter and popcorn.”

I gave the new feature a test run. I typed in “movie theaters” and a Las Vegas zip code in the search box.

DexKnows.com quickly generated a list of nearby theaters, indicating which it offered showtimes and which offered online ticketing. When I clicked on a show time of interest, it forwarded me quickly to Fandago to buy the ticket. It all worked together seamlessly.

Of course, there are a number of sites out there to find movie information, so the added power in incorporating this feature into DexKnows.com is that it further centralizes the local information consumers need. Instead of visiting one site to find a nearby restaurant, another to find a movie, and a third for an after movie dessert – you can locate it all in one spot.

For advertisers, this feature delivers added value and more sales leads – exactly what they need in a tough economy.

I give this deal five stars and a big thumbs up!

August 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , , , ,

NYT: Managing an Online Reputation

Friday, July 31, 2009

Online local review sites are “the new Yellow Pages,” according to an article by Kermit Pattison this week in the New York Times.  At face value, you’d probably think that I’d take exception to that statement, but actually, there’s some truth to it.

For starters, it’s true because Internet Yellow Pages sites are by their very nature local review sites.  Online Yellow Pages sites (like SuperPages.com and YellowPages.com) offer users the ability to rate, comment on and review businesses across a long list of headings categories.

Additionally, many online review sites feed our local business data.  In that way, you could say they are a “new” kind of Yellow Pages.

What’s most interesting is that search engines are mixing it up even more, taking our data and displaying it along with other information relevant to their users.  Do a local search on Bing, and you’ll get sponsored listings from YellowPages.com, map/location content, data listings that we provide, and aggregated reviews from various sites – all in one spot.

There are a lot of things businesses can do to take some control of their online reputation.  Pattison gave some good advice about businesses adding content to their profiles on local review sites and placing advertisements to generate attention.  Helping local businesses do that has been a priority for us and I’d recommend that every business owner talk to their Yellow Pages sales rep about their Internet Yellow Pages profile.  Many experts agree that Internet Yellow Pages sites play an extremely important role in search rankings.  Yellow Pages reps can also provide helpful information on search engine optimization and other online marketing strategies as well.  A solid reputation is something that any business can be proud of and that makes managing yours all the more important.

July 31, 2009 | 1 Comment
Tags: , , , ,

Getting Ready for the Fourth of July Weekend

Thursday, July 2, 2009

The 4th is almost upon us and many American families will be hosting guests, having cookouts and going to watch the fireworks at their local parks.  Some will be camping, many will be playing baseball and others traveling to visit friends and family in distant places.  And of course, there will be lots of good food – crab cakes, ribs, hot dogs, potato salad and apple pie.

With so much to do and so little time, here’s where the Yellow Pages – print and online – can really save you time and money.

Holiday Need
 Heading
Need to board your pet while you travel? Kennels
Camp Site? Campgrounds & Recreational Vehicle Parks
Baseball Equipment? Sporting Goods
Rental Car?     Automobile Renting   
Hotel for overflow guests?      Hotels  / Motels
Extra tables, chairs, tents?                 Party Supplies-Renting
Flowers for the table? Florists
Red, white and blue decorations?            Party Supplies
Barbecue supplies?    Barbecue Equipment and Supplies
Apple Pie? Bakeries

The list goes on and on.  Whether you get out the book or go online, the Yellow Pages are there with the right business to help you out.  And don’t forget to look for the discount coupons to help save some money while you save precious time.

Baseball, Apple Pie and the Yellow Pages.  Sounds like a holiday to me.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

July 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , ,

« Older Entries