september 2008

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Well we can’t work all the time! This year, a group of SEMs and I got together to form a Fantasy Baseball league-SEM08.  Well the season is over. Depending on who your team was, it could have been a good year. I had a lot of fun doing this baseball league and there was a lot of teams moving up and down the standings. I will definitely be doing it again, next year so if you are interested in participating next year, let me know.

Congrats to Gib Olander the overall winner!  

  Team Manager 1 Canseco’s Link Juice Gib Olander (Localeze)  92 pts 2 Boston Hard Heads Ben Saren (CitySquares) 91 pts 3 New England Pilgrims Tim Dineen (Indeed.com) 91 pts 4 The Metros Larry Sullivan (LocalBizBits)  83.5 pts 5 McStud’s Steve Espinosa (Buzzspot) 69.5 pts 6 Disastros Mike Belasco (seOverflow.com) 69.5 pts 7 Tim Tim Coleman (Convert Offline) 66 pts 8 RedSox2008 Nick Stamoulis (Brick Marketing) 49.5 pts

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A friend, said he can to my blog and was curious what it was all about. He asked if what I was doing was “shady”. LOL I tried to explain to him what it was all about but it got me thinking.

Why I am writing here? There are a lot of reasons. The main reason is because I want to help folks, primarily small business owners. Local search marketing is quickly becoming a huge market. I really think it is a no-brainer for the small business owner, but it seems like they know nothing about local search. Living in Augusta, GA, a relatively small market, I have quickly found out that it takes time for things to make it over here.  :(  None the less, I will continue forward.

Another reason, is I love to talk. LOL Since my lovely wife really does not get into Internet or search marketing, this blog gives me a way to converse with others on this exciting field. I have to say that this blog has helped me meet and network with a lot of great folks.

Finally, the last reason, which is related to the second, is I write for me.  I love learning and as I figure something out, find out about a new service, business, or web site, I usually report it here. Now I do not expect everyone to run out and use the services that I find but, knowledge is power. You can’t do anything about something if you do not know about it first.

My hope is that the information I provide helps shed some light on the subject of local search marketing. It can be very confusing and overwhelming but I think if folks take it one step at a time, they can wade through it all. If you do not find what you need here, check out my blogroll, there are some really great sites there for you to check out. Thanks for your support.

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This was my first Kelsey Group conference and I must say I was impressed. The sessions, breaks, snacks, meals were great. Not being a Yellow Pages guy, I learned a lot. It was a lot of fun finally meeting folks I have been talking with via email, Facebook, LinkedIn etc.

I walked away from the meeting, with a ton of ideas of what I can do for my local business customers. Right now the Yellow Pages industry is working to “re-define” itself. There are a lot of perception vs reality issues in the field that need to be addressed. 

The future is wide open and the Yellow Pages are not dead. Such areas of video, mobile search, IYP are going to be important components in the future. The term multi-platform was used a lot and you will probably be hearing that more.  This is where instead of just dealing with the offline Yellow Pages, the on-line Yellow Pages and related areas  will also be included in the mix. The Yellow Pages industry wants to be your “media specialists.”  Now this is not a bad thing, but if they contact you, get them to explain what all they want to do.

They spoke a lot about the sales aspect of the Yellow Pages and the improvements/changes that are needed there. I would tend to agree based on the limited contact I have had and that of some of my clients.

Overall though, I know a whole lot more about the Yellow Pages industry, IYP, and local search. Yes mistakes have happened in the past (in the Yellow Pages industry)  and areas have not lived up to expectations but the immediate and long term future look very promising.  (Over the next few weeks I am going to review all the slides and presentation notes I have. So much good stuff!)

Here are links to the others bloggers of the conference. A great bunch of guys: Praized Media Blog from Sebastien Provencher LocalSEOGuide from Andrew Shotland Small Business Commando from Dick Larkin

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Well I have returned from Atlanta and wanted to post on Day 3 of the Kelsey Conference. Instead of writing on each session, I thought I would comment on them here.  I thought the talks this day were great.

1. First up was Briggs Ferguson, President-Internet, Idearc Media whose talk was Local Search- What is Holding Us Back. Briggs feels more could have done (excluding the economy as a factor) to grow local search.  He showed estimates made 5 years ago on how much local search was to grow feel short ($7 billion projected vs $2 billion actual).  Briggs feels it is due to 4 factors:

1. poor traffic access 2. poor traffic quality 3. lack of standardization 4. not enough innovation

Despite these factors, there is lots of room for opportunity and the mobile market will play a big part in that growth.

2. The Online Video Opportunitywas a panel discussion with Chuck Lee, Executive Director, Internet Marketing, AT&T Advertising & Publishing, Olivier Vincent, President and CEO, Canpages, John McIntyre, CEO, PixelFish and Mark Moore, Cofounder and CEO, SpotMixer.

This was a nice discussion on where online video is and going. They commented that the number of people who viewed videos online is growing and will be catching up with those online searching.  The panel indicated that the barriers to video are going down thus more will be getting involved with online videos. They discussed the different types of videos and the options websites have to get videos on their sites.

3. Mobile Local Search — What’s the Role for Yellow Pages Publishers?with Bruce Crair, COO, Local.com and Lauri Kangaslahti, Director – Consumer Services Business Unit, Fonecta.

Bruce showed that US Mobile total ad spending will be $1484 million. Mobile is growing and on can deny that fact. Bruce also discussed what he saw as the problems with mobile search today.

• no standards for mobile search
• how to monetize –very small real estate  and how get smb to advertise on mobile
• bandwidth issues
• usability- screen size and speed of interaction

4. The final session of the day, The Change Imperative,  was a look into the future and where the panel thought we would be on a number of interesting and fun questions.  On the panel was Geoff Avard, GM, Strategy, Sensis, Perry Evans , President & CEO, Local Matters, Sebastien Provencher, Co-Founder, VP Product Management, Praized Media and Ken Ray, CMO, AT&T Publishing & Advertising. Check out the Kelsey Blog for a nice write up on it.

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Still have some stuff to post about Kelsey’s DMS but got this data from Palore the day, that I wanted to share.  This graph is from reviewing over 2,800 Denver auto dealers and repair shops.  The chart represents the breakdown of advertisers, with and without a website, to low, medium, and high-end spenders.

Thought this was interesting….takes money to make money.

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Today’s sessions at DMS’08 ended with an one-on-one interview with Sonia Survanshi McFarland, Head of Business Development, YELP and Peter Krasilovsky. What follows is a quick paraphrasing of their conversation.

Q. What is YELP? A. This is a city focused directory; which focuses on local community and local reviews. Right now, it has about 3.5 million reviews and 13 million unique visits (daily or monthly?)

Q. Talk about the YELP listing: A. Business can claim their listing for free but there are options to purchase various  advertising packages with a cost similar to what you might spend on IYP.

Q. What is YELP’s place in local space online: A. Right now local space is very fragmented and everyone can have a “seat at the table”  There is lots of room for different places and ”we have one piece” of local space.

Q. Is YELP only for the younger set? A. No, right now, the user demographics we have show 65%  of users are about 35 years old, and other 25%  25-35 years old.

Q. Comment on your Newsletter: A. We have a weekly email, that is themed based and hope to show “hidden gems”

Q. How are you moving into new cities? A. Currently we are in 21 cities, but right now it is ”sort of a viral thing, word of mouth helps us move from city to city”

Q. Where do you see YELP in a few years?  A. Right now we are 3.5 years old.  We will continue where we are going, collecting content, reviews,  moving into more cities, maybe internationally.

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Peter Krasilovsky, Program Director for The Kelsey Group hosted a session with Tom Bates, VP & GM, Kudzu, Cox Enterprises, John Busby, VP Product, Marchex, and Joel Toledano, CEO, Krillion

Peter began the session off with some of the advantages of verticals:

1. Verticals deliver consumers more relevant content. 2. Verticals deliver advertisers more qualified consumers. 3. They broaden the base of advertisers; are more searchable; and drive higher ad rates. 4. Rapid adoption will occur in some cases, but in others, there will be vertical “loss leaders’ to build traffic and enhanced advertiser value. 5. Best practices for verticals can be freely applied from one to another

Peter also defined 3 types of verticals:

Vertical products - Subject-specific editorial product Niche products - Demographic target editorial Vertical search - Subject listings and ads

Verticals are playing an important role in on-line advertising and is a place where small business need to get listed. This was a very good talk hearing about Kudzu, which is based here in Atlanta and then how Marchex (Openlist) is growing and building a local network and then what Krillion is all about.  I encourage you to go to see each site.

Peter asked the panel a number of questions:

Q. Importance of content in verticals?  A. Definitely Q. How long is the long tail?  A. Very long… Q. How use SEO?  A. It is key to Openlist, not really for Krillion Q. Is Google a threat to the verticals? A. No, Google could have taken them over a while back, but did not. They want to be horizontal search site, become your start page.

I thought this last question was important.

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In this panel discussion at DMS’08, there were a few large service business customers (Avis, Orkin, ServiceMaster) and the topic was the importance of the Yellow Pages to these businesses.  Now these are not your typical small business but I want to provide a general summary of what was stated. I was not going to get specific to speaker or company because the points they made are what is important.

• IYP and print Yellow Pages seem to be competing (for ad $) against one within these large companies
• Print Yellow Pages still in top 3 of their marketing strategies
• IYP are also fighting Google and the search engines for traffic
• Social media is seen as an opportunity and are working to implement
• Direct mailing marekting is playing an increasing role in marketing campaigns
• Pay per call in print ads is growing

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Frank Jules, President and CEO, AT&T Advertising & Publishing presented on where AT&T is and going. Their slogan is “Search, Discover, Transact” where the he believes the “simple” search is changing and evolving.  I thought it was a nice presentation, definitely learned a lot about where AT&T is and planning on going for the small business and consumer.

To explain the search, discover, transact model, Frank showed an example of what the movies section at YellowPages.com would be like. The user would go on-line and there would: a. pick movie & theater b. read review(s) c. purchase tickets d. invite friends, make a date

His point, the on-line users could do everything he wants to do or needs to do in one place.

Frank also gave us their definition of local search to be (paraphrased) “connect people with their world, everywhere…however they want.”  AT&T  is emphasizing what the consumer is using/doing on-line.

The 5 main platforms of AT&T Yellow Pages advertising are: a. Print - (the Yellow Pages directory) b. Internet -this platform will be growing; they will be adding more and more–”taking IYP to next level” c. Video - U-verse TV channel d. Audio -”1-800 yellowpages”,  this is a 411 offering; they are also working on voice recognition e. Mobile - will be adding to and  improving mobile yellow pages applications

At the end of the session, a good question was raised how they on-line advertising will this work in smaller to medium markets?  Frank said that that higher growth has been and will be seen in the larger markets due to broadband growth.

I definitely can attest to this. Augusta GA is not the smallest market but definitely has not seen the on-line growth places like Atlanta has. My take away from that is for the small markets it will take some time, but should get there.

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The first talk today at DMS’08 was The Future of Yellow Pages and Charles Laughlin shared his thoughts on the subject. He started off providing some ideas on perceptions vs realities in the Yellow Pages (see them here) field then moved into the following:

A. Where are we (Yellow Pages Industry) today? -print revenue declining -belief in product eroding in many areas, among small business, industry (the economy is a factor) -many publishers going to multi-product transition (on cusp of a fundamental change to directory business model)

B. Future: -Ad supported DA, Print YP, SEM, Mobile Search, and IYP all point to “bundled leads” -Global directional media are going to grow

C. Winners will: -measure everything and embrace transparency (be accountable) -invest in sales transformation -leverage technology to enable transition -recognize and protect core assets and shed the rest -continue to invest and believe in print

D. Predictions: -US print titles will decline by 30% by 2013 -printed residential white pages will be minimal on request print run -at least one global publisher divests it print YP business -professional services will have largely shifted print to online -print revenue in home services will remain stable -self-provisioning will account for 25% of directional media sales

Take away for small businesses (IMHO) - Yellow Pages are still viable, will continue to be effective for many types of business. You the small business owner needs to take a varied approach to your marketing campaigns both on-line and offline.

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Last week as I was reviewing, reading, blogging about the Yellow Pages, the question struck me. What defines a  web site to be a Yellow Pages site?  Now I had read this post  IYP Reach in the US (according to Google)which lists a good number of IYP sites but is there some characterisitc they all have?

Is it the logo or some variation on the “fingers doing the walking”? Using a lot of yellow on the site? Does the word Yellow need to be in the name some how?

Well, I decided I would ask a few friends and this is what they said:

Andrew Shotland: it’s sort of a you know one when you see one thing.  Certainly if you use the “Yellow” thing like Twellow does that’s a good sign.

Dick Larkin: Two things:  1. Total listings of all businesses in a market. Generally licensed from Infousa, Acxiom, Amacai, ibegin and 2. Some additional value to certain advertisers.

Tim Coleman: Good question Larry, it made me think.  I think what separates yellow pages from other directories is the information at the listing level.  The listing or ad in YP will always contain an address and telephone number, even if the address is sometimes limited… like Atlanta area.  An indication of location will be provided.

David Mihm: I’m not sure the distinction between a website or directory vs. a bonafide “Yellow Pages” site is all that relevant anymore.  The offline and online worlds are blurring together, and the YellowPages no longer owns the monopoly on the best data set.  But I guess I would probably define a Yellow Pages site as one that relies primarily on data from InfoUSA or Acxiom to populate its index, whereas a non-YP site would have a different primary data source (like Localeze, etc.). 

The Yellow Pages have been so far behind the curve online that it is almost laughable for such a major, major industry.  They’re trying hard to catch up but Google is now the start page for just about everyone, and there are other Local business portals like Yelp and Citysearch that have built a far superior online brand than the YP’s even if people go beyond big G.

Thanks guys.  What do you think?

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The REAL Future of the Yellow Pages - Cutting through the hype with research is a free webinar hosted by my friend Dick Larkin on September 11, 2008 1:00-2:30 PM EST.

The experts to be included in this webinar are from: - The Kelsey Group - The Yellow Pages Association - Borrell Associates - Association of Directory Marketing - Association of Directory Publishers

To sign up to go https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/147860327

If you want read Dick’s note about the webinar, you can check it out on Dick’s blog .

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Just read a great post by Ian Lurie over at Conversation Marketing: 10 Rules for Setting Your Internet Marketing Budget. Ian said he was a bit grumpy when he wrote it but hey, it needs to be said!  Too many small business owners have unrealistic expectations on how much it costs to create and promote a professional web site.

Small Business Wake Up!  I really enjoy helping small business owners but I have to agree with Ian I do get tired at times of folks questioning fees.   The take away message, as always it takes money to make money. Ok I am getting off my soapbox..back to work.

A quick update (9/8/08): found a nice post at Greg Sterlings website today on SMB Ad Spending Data, check it out.

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The Yellow Pages, in both forms print and Internet, are excellent avenues to promote one’s business. The print Yellow Pages’ use appears to be declining but the Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) in general are growing.

“IYP searches account for more than 30 percent of local commercial searches online…The number of IYP searches increased 102 percent from Jan. 2005 through June 2007.  IYP users, like Yellow Pages users, are “ready-to-buy” consumers who look for local businesses to fill a need”  Stephanie Hobbs Welcome To The Local Search Jungle

Over the last few months, there have been a few articles on the subject of how the Yellow Pages industry is using a multiplatform approach, combining the print and online Yellow Pages.  (I expect to hear more about this at DMS’08 in 10 days.)

“The yellow pages industry is now doing what the newspaper industry is doing, which is talking about the combined reach of the traditional and print products. This makes sense from a marketing standpoint.”  Greg Sterling   YPA: Print ‘Stable,’ IYP Growing

“Overall Yellow Pages usage is on the rise, the combination of print and online references rose to 17.2 billion in 2007…Internet Yellow Pages usage has experienced double-digit growth, climbing to 3.8 billion references in 2007 (comScore 2007), and print directory usage remains stable with 13.4 billion annual references. ” Larry Small Multiplatform Yellow Pages Usage On the Rise

In addition to this multiplatform approach, new technology such as mobile phones are effecting the IYPs. Stephanie Hobbs wrote a nice post (Local Mobile Search Takes Center Stage as Next-Generation Format of Yellow Pages: Industry Panel Weighs In) about a Yellow Pages Association’s conference that took place in April.  

“The local mobile search market has definitively taken the Yellow Pages market to the next level, as it naturally complements both the print and online forms of the medium.” 

It will be interesting to see how things shape up but hopefully it is clear that IYP show be part of your local search campaign. To answer the question I raised, Internet or Paper, I pick Internet.  :)

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I have collected a ton of articles on my computer about the print and Internet Yellow Pages to try to figure out where things are going.  Depending on what you read, you can get different pictures.  The main question surrounding the print Yellow Pages has been and is, when will it finally die?

“Print yellow page directories face the most uncertain future of all media. We’re estimating that the yellow pages industry will lose $39% of its in annual revenue over the next five years, amounting to a loss of $5 billion in annual revenue by 2013.”  SAY GOODBYE TO YELLOW PAGES - (July ‘08) from Borrell Associates.

“I have always contended that the decline in print classified revenue is a direct function of extreme product inadequacies of print versus online. Online produces a dramatically more effective consumer experience than print for home, car and job searching. “  yellow: used and bruised

“So, when will print yellow pages ultimately go the way of the dinosaur? It’s unclear since some analysts have predicted a 3% overall decline per year for printed YP income, while others have stated the rate could be accelerating…What is clear is that increasing access to alternative sources of information in the way of internet local search, 411 services, and search-enabled mobile phones are definitely eroding usage of print YPs by some degree.”  Top 25 Things Vanishing from America: The Yellow Pages

I agree that the use of the print Yellow Pages is declining, I know that I am using it less and less but it is not dead yet. When my clients have asked for my opinion, I tell them that they need to focus on the Internet aspect of things. Some do but many still spend the money on the print Yellow Pages. Why? Because it is safe and has worked in the past.

Now I can’t blame them, but the day will come when they will need to embrace the Internet Yellow Pages.  The sooner your business used the Internet yellow pages, the better.

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Hope everyone in the US had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend. 

Two weeks from today, the Kelsey Group will be having their Directional Media Strategies 2008 conference in Atlanta GA and yours truly will be in attendance. I am super excited about being able to go. If you are going to be there, drop me a line so we can catch up. For those who can’t make it, I will be blogging about the conference so make sure to tune in.

After looking over the agenda, it appears this conference will be packed with a ton of great information and speakers. I know that I do not know enough about the Yellow Pages and directional media and am looking forward learning from the best. Over the next week or so, I hope to post some on the IYP in preparation for the conference.

(nice to see a conference in my neck of the woods–hint, hint for those looking for a site for their next conference)

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In July I wrote The Power of Blogging where I spoke about how “powerful” blogs can be. Blogs are a great tool for individuals or businesses to use to promote. I really love my blog and it has been a wonderful tool. What is the biggest problem with a blog? The time involved; takes time to think, write, comment, manage posts but it is worth it.

I recently came across an old article (was written 2 years ago-that is ancient history in Internet time),  Why business blogs are important.  This is a very good article on why businesses should blog and some quick pointers to get started. Though the article in 2 years old, the information is right on.  Shows you how well blog are doing!

“Use the blog as a tool of communication, not only to your existing customers, but also the rest of the world. Use the blog to give small hints about new products, create a hype, start rumours etc. Make the press interested! More and more blogs are being quoted in newspapers and magazines - blogs are being more accepted as a way of communicating, than they ever have before. “

A more recent article:  9 Easy Tips for Effective Business Blogging provides some nice points on how to make your business blogging better for you and your readers. If you are going to do it, do it right.

The last point I want to make today is the concept of hyperlocal blogging. A great new site on the subject is Hyperlocalblogger by my buddy Matt McGee.  Matt says: “local blogs will grow because more people will become comfortable and familiar with blogging itself, and will naturally start to write about what they know: their neighborhood, hometown, the city in which they live, and the things they see and do there.

I believe local blogs will grow because small business owners will continue to adopt blogs as a tool for connecting with customers and prospects, especially in their immediate geographic area.”

So for small local businesses, they need to blog about what they know but in context of where they work, live, and play.  Matt sums it up nicely at Local Blogging: Don’t Forget the Local Stuff

“Hyperlocal blogging can work for many businesses and many industries. All it takes, really, is a sincere interest in your community and reasonably good writing skills.

If you’re a small business blogger, it’s not enough to only write about your industry. If you hope to capture local traffic, you have to write about the location, too.”

This makes total sense to me, how about you? Local business blogging is a win-win for all involved.