So I wasn’t surprised to read a Canadian Press article late last week discussing a pending addition to the company’s digital portfolio: website building for small and medium-sized businesses.
According to the president and CEO of Yellow Media (which owns YPG), Marc Tellier, the company will create a new website building offering that focuses on the functionality, not just the look and feel, of business sites.
“The aesthetic nature of your site has sweet nothing to do with how you are going to get indexed on one of the leading search engines,” Tellier said in an interview for the article.
Tellier predicted 25% growth in digital revenues for 2011, as the company continues to expand its portfolio. YPG’s outlook trends well with BIA/Kelsey’s recent prediction that digital YP revenues in the U.S. will grow at a 17.2% compound annual rate through 2014.
With the addition of website building, YPG is poised to become a one-stop destination for the digital needs of local businesses. YPG is a great model for Yellow Pages companies globally, demonstrating how to grow and adapt to today’s changing media environment. I look forward to seeing what is next in store for YPG’s local business clients and consumers.
We’ve blogged recently about increased consumer usage of mobile devices such as Apple’s iPad and Google’s Android phones, and how Yellow Pages companies need to continue to create innovative mobile offerings in order to capture additional leads for their local business customers.
And now this week, Amazon, the popular online retailer, is making headlines for passing its own digital milestone—one that further emphasizes the need for our industry to embrace rapid consumer adoption of mobile offerings.
While the company did not disclose how paperback sales compare with e-book sales—paperback sales are likely still higher than e-book sales—it did note that it took just 33 months since the Kindle’s introduction for its sales to surpass hardcover sales, despite the fact the company has sold hardcover books for 15 years.
I doubt that Amazon will be pulling hardcover books off the site anytime soon, but clearly digital has momentum. Likewise, we still find our print directories to be a trusted and referenced tool for ready to buy consumers – and they will continue to be. But I’m proud of our industry’s efforts so far this year in developing new offerings in the digital and mobile space, including adding new local social search sites and social networking channels, partnering with major search engines and local directories, launching SEO/SEM program and mobile apps, and so on. I think today’s news is additional indication that we’re moving in the right direction in quickly adapting our business strategies to take advantage of opportunities in the mobile space.
All year, we’ve talked about the growing importance of digital and mobile in driving new revenues and opportunities for our industry. Recently, we’ve watched as major Yellow Pages companies have acquired a variety of online directories and vertical sites; launched SEO/SEM programs, online video, and local social search destinations; created new iPhone, iPad, and Android apps; and partnered with top search engines and new local search players.
Today, BIA/Kelsey released new forecasts for our industry which reflect the increased role that digital is playing in our business. According to a mid-year update to BIA/Kelsey’s Annual Global Yellow Pages Forecast (2009-2014), digital offerings—including Internet Yellow Pages, video, SEO/SEM, mobile, social and reputation management—will account for 39% of global Yellow Pages revenues by 2014.
The report found that while digital growth is occurring globally, it’s doing so at varied rates and with different emphasis in regions around the world:
U.S. – Digital revenues in the U.S. will grow at a 17.2% compound annual rate (CAGR) as a result of publishers selling a wider array of digital products. BIA/Kelsey expects significant growth in reputation management, SEO, social and mobile, as well as websites, SEM, and video.
Europe – Digital revenues will surpass print revenues across Europe by 2014, and even sooner in several markets.
Latin America – BIA/Kelsey estimates that digital will grow from 6.2% of total revenues in 2009 to 11.8% of total revenues by 2014.
Asia/Pacific Rim/ROW – Online directory revenues will grow by $446 million from 2009-2014. Many emerging markets such as China are expected to adopt a more vertical and mobile approach, bypassing print and Internet Yellow Pages as significant product categories.
BIA/Kelsey’s findings confirm our industry’s ability to adapt to today’s changing media landscape and create new opportunities to grow in the years to come. That’s great news for Yellow Pages, our clients, and consumers around the globe.
Over the past months, we’ve seen Yellow Pages companies launch apps for mobile devices for iPhone, Android and other wireless platforms that help local searchers find business information on the go.
It seems like much of the attention has been focused around the apps developed for iPhone and iPad. But the buzz about Android continues to grow, suggesting that we can’t forget about other mobile operating systems.
Consider this new data from comScore I saw at fortune.com: Android had some significant gains in market share between February and May of this year, moving from 9% to 13% of smartphone subscribers. That’s the biggest jump of any platform – in fact, all the other mobile platforms (RIM, Apple, Microsoft, and Palm) lost some share during that some time period.
And according to the comScore numbers, mobile is hot all around. By the end of May, 49.1 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones – that’s up 8.1% from the previous period. Despite losing share to Google Android, most smartphone platforms continue to gain subscribers as the smartphone market overall continues to grow.
This growth presents plenty of opportunity to local search companies. As we know, new features and hardware are constantly emerging that drive people to download the next great OS or purchase a new device. We have to keep up with these trends, understand how consumers use mobile so that we continue to be the most trusted, most accurate, and most convenient source to find a local business when you need it.
Scheduled for Sept. 14-16 at the InterContinental Hotel in Dallas, the conference will focus on the Yellow Pages industry’s best strategies for pursuing new opportunities in today’s rapidly changing media environment.
While speakers are still being selected, the general agenda is posted and includes a variety of interesting sessions:
The iPad — A Game Changer for Yellow Pages? The iPhone has been a huge catalyst for innovation in mobile Yellow Pages. Will the iPad, with its much larger screen, prove to be an even more significant new form factor for digital directories?
Mobile Yellow Pages Leaves the Laboratory. Mobile Yellow Pages has moved well past the science project stage, beyond the traffic supplement stage and is now well into the monetization stage. More and more publishers are generating a discrete, fast growing revenue stream. We will hear from directory executives at the leading edge of mobile Yellow Pages monetization.
Social Media + Yellow Pages = A New Lease on Life? Directory publishers worldwide have been investing resources in building social platforms in the hope of creating rich content in the form of consumer reviews, plus engagement with a new set of users otherwise disengaged from Yellow Pages brands. How are these efforts faring?
Verticals Showcase: Maids, Shades and Auto Repair. Vertical search has been gradually migrating from its original core of travel, jobs and homes to more explicitly local categories — home and personal services, retail, professional services and so on. In this special showcase, we’ll get a taste of how some of the more compelling local verticals out there generate content, attract users, form partnerships and, of course, make money.
As you can see, DMS ’10 will feature discussions on many of the major topics facing our industry and its individual companies—hosted by one of the most respected analysts in the field. It’s definitely not to be missed.
For more information, including registration and speaker submissions, visit the DMS ’10 website here. We’ll share additional information right here on the blog as soon as it becomes available.
YPG’s app—which comes on the heels of the company’s announcement in May that its mobile apps have attracted one million downloads—features business and residential search, reverse phone look-up, local proximity-based search and a “favorites” tool. Additionally, users can view video clips on participating merchants’ pages and share listing results with others via e-mail or text message.
Greg Sterling at Screenwerk also notes that the app links to other YPG properties including Urbanizer, Restuarantica and RedFlagDeals.com.
You can download YPG’s iPad app here. It’s great to see that a growing number of our members are embracing this exciting new technology and creating added value for both our local business clients and consumers.
Now iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch users can keep up on breaking industry news and thoughts on the local media landscape— everything from broadcasting and print to Yellow Pages and local search, according to the release. In the near future, BIA/Kelsey will add additional mobile platforms, as well as the firm’s conference and webinar content.
And speaking of conferences, let me take this opportunity to once again remind everyone of our partnership with BIA/Kelsey on the upcoming Directional Media Strategies (DMS) conference. Each year, the event brings buyers and sellers together for influential sessions on the challenges and opportunities presented by the changing local media landscape. DMS ’10 is taking place September 14-16, 2010, at the InterContinental Hotel in Dallas, Texas. For more information, see our previous post.
One of the interesting features of the app is the integrated information/maps split screen view—tailor-made for iPad—which generates results that feature expandable pushpin tags for each business. Users can tap pushpins for more information about a business, read reviews, get driving directions by Google Maps, or click through to a business’ website. The new app joins the company’s existing portfolio of yellowbook.com mobile web apps for Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, and other wireless platforms.
iPad users here at the Conference are looking forward to downloading these apps and trying them out. It’s exciting that our members are taking advantage of this great opportunity to create new advertising opportunities on one of the hottest new devices this year.
Local mobile search leader Avantar, a sister company to Yellow Pages Directories, announced the first Yellow Pages app for iPad. Based on the screenshots on their Web site, it appears the app allow users to seamlessly search for local businesses based on various categories, share their results, review and add reviews and ratings, as well as view locations on a map. The app will join Avantar’s suite of mobile apps, which now operate on iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android devices.
Additionally, Yellow Magic, which currently offers Yellow Pages apps for iPhone and iPod Touch, also introduced a new iPad app to its mobile portfolio. Interestingly, Yellow Magic apps include “all facets of the printed directory including covers, community pages, tabs, indexes…etc…” so that, “all elements and advantages of the printed book are retained with the added benefit of it all being searchable.” According to the company, this approach satisfies younger demographics who are increasingly using digital devices when searching for neighborhood business information.
I’m thrilled that Yellow Pages is taking part in the launch of yet another platform for local search. Our involvement shows our industry’s ability to leverage the latest trends to deliver real results for our business customers and the consumers who use our products.
In my “Locals Only” column this month, I discuss the impact of recent announcements by major tech, online, and mobile companies regarding their plans for local search:
In mid-January, Google’s Mobile division announced that it is upgrading its search engine on Android-powered devices and the iPhone to present results reflective of the current or last locations of it users, while Twitter began testing a local trends tool which allows users to see trends in their local countries and cities in addition to those for the entire site.
According to a recent patent submission, Yahoo is in the process of developing a mobile local search application that will take into account a user’s location, the time of day, information in the user’s calendar, past behaviors, weather, social networking data, information about the proximity of a social contact, and other data when providing results.
AT&T told Forbes about its plans to launch buzz.com, a new local social search site that will reportedly let users poll their friends and ask experts for advice about different nearby businesses.
And Apple announced its new iPad tablet, which incorporates iPhone apps, Google Maps, a built-in compass, WiFi, and wireless data capabilities – allowing users to access location-based information from wherever they are.
With so much change, I think it’s important to reflect on how these new technologies and services will affect our industry— and what our small business clients will need to do to keep up.
There’s no doubt that as media continues to fragment, and marketing tools become more complicated and sophisticated, many opportunities and challenges lies ahead for the small business owner.
For my thoughts, check out my Search Engine Land column here.
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