Posts Tagged ‘YellowPages.com’

AT&T Interactive Expands YP.com Rebranding

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Back in April, we blogged about AT&T Interactive’s introduction of YP.com as the new name of its flagship YELLOWPAGES.COM web property and brand.

Now the company is debuting a new logo, tagline, and homepage for the popular Internet Yellow Pages destination. YP.com’s new tagline, “Click Less. Live More”—as well as its new vibrant, image-based homepage focused on encouraging users to “eat, play, and live” within their local communities—reflect the site’s goal “to help consumers easily discover ways to live locally.”

While users can still take advantage of YP.com’s popular search tools to find and browse local businesses, the new graphics on its homepage encourage visitors to discover places as well:

  • Eat: One-click access to local restaurants and dining categories, with the option to book reservations at select restaurants through Opentable.com.
  • Play: Ability to check local event listings and movie times, and buy tickets for select theaters. Can also search for hotel availability and book rooms.
  • Live: Options to search for a new or used car, find a florist, or browse YP’s extensive list of service business listings.

Additionally, YP.com features a variety of other useful tools, including money-saving coupons, the ability to share businesses and events via social networks and mobile, and 16,000+ local business videos.

I’m excited about AT&T’s ongoing efforts to expand and improve YP.com, which with more than 36 million unique monthly users, plays an extremely important role in representing our industry’s successful embrace of the digital space. Be sure to check out the new YP.com by clicking here.  Then Eat, Play, Live!

August 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment
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AT&T Interactive Partners with Expedia

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

AT&T Interactive just announced an exciting new partnership with Expedia Affiliate Network, the online travel company that owns Expedia.com.  Users will be able to check hotel rates, room availability and book rooms for hotels listed on AT&T’s YellowPages.com and YP.com.

The move is the latest by a Yellow Pages company towards developing new online tools and partnerships as a means of generating new revenues. As we reported last month, Canada’s Yellow Pages Group acquired Restaurantica.com, a popular restaurant and dining online community, in an effort to capitalize on the growing trend of users making their dining decisions online and based on user recommendations and reviews.

According to the release, the agreement creates a “natural extension” to the travel and hotel information already available on AT&T’s local search sites. In addition to local travel-related listings, users will now have access to Expedia’s expansive hotel content, including maps and points of interest, hotel photos and virtual tours.

While the partnership is a win for AT&T, it’s also a great indication of the importance that online retailers such as Expedia are placing on Yellow Pages’ local search. As Sunil Bhatt, vice president and general manager for Expedia Affiliate Network, notes, “Aligning with AT&T Interactive gives Expedia a way to reach consumers who are already looking for local hotel information.”

And the number of consumers going online for travel is growing. According to PhoCusWright U.S. Online Travel, more than 39% of all travel bookings are now being done on the Web. With today’s announcement, Yellow Pages will have an ever greater opportunity to be a part of the action.

February 9, 2010 | 1 Comment
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R.H. Donnelley Emerges from Bankruptcy as Dex One Corp.

Monday, February 1, 2010

We’re excited to share news that Yellow Pages publisher R.H. Donnelley, which we heard last month was close to exiting bankruptcy, has announced its emergence from Chapter 11 protection as the new Dex One Corporation.

In a press release this morning, the company introduced a new board of directors and its listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “DEXO.”

Dex One chairman and CEO David C. Swanson stressed his company’s plans to further develop a hybrid range of advertising solutions including online and mobile search, print yellow pages directories, voice-search platforms and pay-per-click networks.

“We selected the Dex One name because it clearly communicates who we are and what we do – Dex, your trusted marketing partner for over a hundred years, and now, your One stop shop for getting your business exposed to active buying consumers whether they’re searching our robust suite of Dex products or on other major search sites or search engines,” Swanson said.

As we’ve noted, Dex One currently lists 11.5 million businesses online through its DexKnows.com Web site, supplies content for YellowPages.com, and has deals with search engines such as Google and Yahoo. The company is also beginning to offer online video advertising and reputation management for companies seeking to improve their online customer reviews.

For more information, read the full release here.

February 1, 2010 | Leave a Comment
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Reuters: Idearc and R.H. Donnelley “Plot High Tech Road”

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Reuters ran a piece this weekend looking at the high-tech futures of two major Yellow Pages companies, Idearc and R.H. Donnelley.

Reuters reports that both companies are likely to emerge from bankruptcy protection very soon and that their revitalized futures lie in developing new opportunities for small businesses on online and mobile platforms. Already, these companies have established viable online businesses: including creating new online directories such as SuperPages.com and dexknows.com, providing content to YellowPages.com and major search engines such as Google and Yahoo, and offering advertising support to services such as Google Maps and Microsoft Map Point.

Idearc and R.H. Donnelley also expressed confidence that their print directories will continue to serve as important tool for small businesses for years to come. Idearc’s research indicates that consumers still conduct billions of searches in print directories each year.

Read the full Reuters article here.

December 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment
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YPA Stresses Online and Mobile Opportunities for Local Search

Thursday, December 3, 2009

I wanted to share an article posted on TheStreet.com earlier this week regarding YPA’s efforts to steer its members towards developing new search opportunities on mobile, social networking, and local-based Internet platforms.

As we’ve written on this blog recently, social media and mobile are playing increasingly important roles as a growing number of consumers adopt these mediums to conduct local searches.

In an interview for the article, I explained how Yellow Pages members are making a concerted effort to embrace these new tools. Some of our members’ efforts include:

Click here to view the full article.

December 3, 2009 | Leave a Comment
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The Buzz on Bing

Monday, June 29, 2009

In case you missed it – check out my piece on Bing and the IYP connection on Search Engine Land today. It’s already getting some interesting comments, and I’m curious to hear your thoughts.

As I report in the article: Following some quick search queries, I’ve been encouraged to note that Bing is already showing a healthy reliance on Internet Yellow Pages (IYPs) like Yellowpages.com and others for its search results.  I think this provides great evidence that, in the larger pool of local search resources, a Yellow Pages referral carries a lot of weight – almost like a Good Housekeeping seal of approval.

As the competition among search engines (er, decision engines?) continues to intensify, I expect that the reputation of IYPs will only increase as a go-to source for credible business information. With decades of experience evaluating and supporting business-to-consumer interactions, we have the systems in place to ensure that online consumers will find the credible, reliable and locally-relevant information they seek.

To read more about my test drive with Bing, read my piece at Search Engine Land.

June 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment
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Forbes.com: Not Ma Bell’s Yellow Pages

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Forbes.com posted a story today that previews a next-generation Yellowpages.com offering built for an under-30, social networking-oriented audience:

Later this year, AT&T plans to roll out an alternative brand for local search, geared primarily at younger users. The site will feature the same core data – listings and advertiser information – as Yellowpages.com, but differ in how it presents information and how it uses user-submitted information. While Yellowpages.com returns data based on advertisers’ profiles, similar to a directory, the new site will prioritize results based on a user’s social connections and recommendations, says Yoo.

Forbes.com says that AT&T advertising solutions unit, which includes its Yellow Pages business, generated $1.3 billion in revenue in the first quarter of the year, employs more than 5,000 salespeople to help businesses reach these consumers, and attracts between 21 million and 30 million unique visitors a month to YellowPages.com.

Take a couple of minutes and read the full story. It’s great that Forbes is recognizing change in our industry, especially innovation that’s tied into important social networking trends.

June 18, 2009 | 2 Comments
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MSN City Guides Redesigned With Prominent YellowPages.com Exposure

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Greg Sterling posted some screenshots of the redesigned MSN City Guides pages, and his initial review is positive:

Without doing lots of searches and checking out all the new functionality it appears to be a big improvement. Local ads are from Yellowpages.com and events information comes from Zvents. There are also reviews from Yelp prominently featured on profile pages.

It certainly is an interesting mix of local information coming together, which could help MSN City Guides compete against competitor CitySearch. CitySearch also launched a redesign of its site last fall.

May 12, 2009 | 1 Comment
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