Posts Tagged ‘Greg Sterling’

UK’s Yell Group Purchases TrustedPlaces

Thursday, May 20, 2010

In yet another example of a Yellow Pages company expanding its footprint in the popular online local review space, Yell Group announced today that is has acquired TrustedPlaces, one of the leading neighborhood review sites in the UK.

According to Yell’s press release, the addition of TrustedPlaces’ user recommendations, combined with Yell’s database of more than two million local businesses, represents “a major shake-up of the fast-growing local reviews market.” Yell believes its purchase will strongly benefit its small business advertisers by generating additional leads and creating an environment for valuable interaction between existing and potential customers.

While the initial integration will take place under the Yell.com domain in the UK, the company said it will share TrustedPlaces’ technology with other Yell companies in the US, Spain, and Latin America.

In a post on his blog Screenwerk, Greg Sterling notes that the acquisition is a “smart move” that complements Yell.com’s recent redesign, which also included the addition of new street maps features and a business video channel.

AT&T, Yellow Pages Group, SuperMedia and others have also recently introduced new offerings that take advantage of online consumer reviews and social media—adding additional value to the company’s Internet Yellow Pages directories.

May 20, 2010 | Leave a Comment
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Yell Introduces New Street Maps Feature and Business Video Channel

Monday, May 10, 2010

Back in March, we shared news that the UK’s Yell Group had launched a new Augmented Reality iPhone app for Yellow Pages listings – one that we felt showed the company’s leadership in the mobile search space.

Now, Yell is showcasing its latest innovations on its popular online Yellow Pages directory, Yell.com.

In a post on Screenwerk on Friday, Greg Sterling wrote that Yell worked with C3 and Tridoo to create new 3D maps and street-level photography tools on its website for cities including London, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds.

Sterling said that he believes Yell’s maps offering poses “the first real challenge to Google Maps in the UK” and “adds huge value to Yell.” I agree that the technology and quality of the images are first-rate – check them out by clicking here.

Additionally, Sterling notes that Yell introduced a new video channel that features clips from local businesses, and a “shortlists” tool, which allows consumers to create a list of their top 10 favorite businesses that can be shared via e-mail and social networks.

Yell.com launched the offerings with new branding and a fresh design on its website, including clearer layouts that improve the search experience.

Check out the new Yell.com here and let us know what you think.

May 10, 2010 | 1 Comment
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Advertisers Should Make Informed Decision

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

In my column this week on Search Engine Land, I talk about the need for local business advertisers to separate perception and reality about how people are searching for business information.

The marketplace is full of misleading commentary about whether print Yellow Pages is dead, without regard for the research that shows healthy usage, especially among certain age groups and in certain geographies.

In order to make an informed decision, however, local businesses need to be up-to-speed with current usage patterns as they relate to both traditional and new digital advertising options. They also should be aware of how Yellow Pages companies are integrating new platforms into their portfolios in order to deliver a hybrid model that maximizes consumer reach and drives business results.

I hope you’ll check out my column on Search Engine Land and some of the follow-up discussion on Greg Sterling’s blog.

April 6, 2010 | Leave a Comment
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SuperPages.com Adds SuperGuarantee to Mobile Apps

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Just weeks after announcing a continuation and expansion of its successful SuperGuarantee program, SuperPages.com said yesterday that it is integrating the program into SuperPages Mobile applications.

In a release, the company said its mobile users can now sign up for SuperGuarantee, find qualified businesses, register service appointments, and file claims straight from their wireless device. Currently, SuperPages mobile apps are available on iPhone or iPod touch, BlackBerry, and Google Android platforms—with Palm Pre and Windows Mobile apps coming soon, according to the company’s Web site.

Yellow Pages mobile apps are increasingly in the news. Last week, UK’s Yell Group announced an Augmented Reality iPhone App that allows users to see business information for more than two million local shops, offices, restaurants and other useful services through the iPhone’s camera viewer.

According to Greg Sterling’s blog Screenwerk, SuperMedia CEO Scott Klein credited the SuperGuarantee program in January with helping drive “meaningful spikes in registrations and healthy improvement in possession and usage.” Klein told Sterling that in “90% of measured markets; possession and usage are up in double digits” as a result of the program.

I think we can expect the mobile version of SuperGuarantee to only expand the program’s popularity and benefit to SuperMedia’s local business customers.

March 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment
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WhitePages.com CEO: White Pages Opt-In Shouldn’t Apply to Yellow Pages

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

If you’ve been reading the news over the last few days, you’ve seen a good amount of discussion on the future of the residential white pages.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution yesterday covered AT&T’s plan for opt-in residential white pages in parts of Georgia.

That news followed on the heels of a survey from the online residential information provider WhitePages.com that found the majority of consumers embrace opt-in residential white pages programs.

The WhitePages.com survey prompted some people to ask if the same applied to Yellow Pages. WhitePages.com CEO Alex Algard responded quickly with a guest post on Greg Sterling’s blog that clarifies his thinking on the issue.

In his opinion, Algard does not believe Yellow Pages “will or should” embrace opt-in for the following reasons:

  • Yellow Pages are a proven means of local advertising for small businesses across the country.
  • Without access to Yellow Pages, a small business’ ability to attract new customers suffers, thus greatly impacting their ability to generate revenue.
  • Yellow Pages play a useful role for consumers, as there is rich content (sometimes richer than what is available online), the listings are generally up-to-date, and the coverage of listings is generally comprehensive.
  • There is a viable financial model for Yellow Pages that supports an entire industry.

I applaud Algard for clarifying this position on Greg’s blog. Residential white pages and Yellow Pages are fundamentally different tools that serve different purposes. And the reasons for falling usage of residential white pages – namely, the increase in unlisted cell phone numbers and the information storage capabilities of mobile phones and handsets – don’t necessarily translate to Yellow Pages.

That said, we recognize consumer behaviors are changing and the challenges small businesses face are getting tougher.

For our advertisers, we continue to generate one of the best return on investments of any advertising medium and have tools in place to help measure that, such as our metered ad program. Yellow Pages advertising offers businesses more for their money by generating an average sales ROI of 27:1 for national display advertisers and nearly 13:1 for local display advertisers. No other advertising medium can offer this unmatched ROI for display advertising.

To address changing local search preferences, we offer digital and mobile search platforms, in addition to print. We also have launched www.yellowpagesoptout.com to make it easy and effective for consumers to manage the delivery of Yellow Pages to their doorsteps. But even as we’re focusing more than ever on consumer choice, we think it’s important to recognize that the value of print Yellow Pages directories to both businesses and consumers is still very, very high.

August 19, 2009 | 3 Comments
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Bloggers Debate About Blogs

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Greg Sterling (Screeenwerks), Sebastien Provencher (Praized) and Peter Krasilovsky (The Kelsey Group), joined me on stage this morning to talk about the power and influence of blogs. Commenting on Malcolm Gladwell’s presentation – “he made important ideas simpler” – they moved on to discuss where they get their ideas, from conversations, news articles and information provided by companies.

Each appreciates being asked into the “conversation” about new products, services and ideas and having an opportunity to share the story with their readers.

Commenting about the future of blogging, Provencher said, “I believe local media and social media are merging together – converging. Eventually we will only be talking about one thing. This idea is broadening my audience.”

Sterling added, “The reality is that social media is here to stay and so you have to get engaged.”

Krasilovsky jumped in to say, “I like to see other bloggers help others to understand new ideas – the idea-sharing part of this experience is very important.”

When asked who they read they listed the following:

Peter Krasilovsky: http://www.viralhousingfix.com/
Sebastian Provencher: http://radar.oreilly.com/tim/
Greg Sterling: http://www.techmeme.com/

April 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment
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What’s the Goal – Brand Awareness or Sales?

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Greg Sterling talked this week on Search Engine Land about new SEMPO data on the state of search engine marketing.

I would agree with Greg’s take that one of the most interesting findings of the study was that respondents said “brand awareness” was the top goal of paid search. Last year, “sales” ranked first.

I would be interested to see how this varied by size of business among the 800 respondents.

I can understand where large companies might want to use search engine marketing to build brand awareness, but it almost seems counterintuitive that small businesses would rank branding more important than sales.

Branding is accomplished most effectively through mass media, not targeted media. And it’s something that’s usually of greater interest to larger size companies.

For small businesses, advertising strategy is generally centered on expanding sales and reaching motivated buyers. And in online advertising, the buzz is all about targeting based on location, demographics, or perceived interests of the user. That’s why our industry performs so well with small businesses, because we can reach highly targeted consumers online – consumers who are usually ready to buy.

April 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment
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