Home - News - March, 2005

New Classifieds Search Engine Has Oodles of Potential

March 28, 2005: Source - Search Engine Lowdown

Oodle is a newer classifieds search engine that lets you search for products, services and employment in Chicago, Dallas and Philadelphia. If you own a business in one of these areas, it could be a good advertising tool. The price is sure decent (free).

Search Engines' Retail Influence Grows; Newspapers' Role Declines

March 22, 2005: Source - TechWeb

"This is a reflection of how pervasive the Internet is becoming in our daily lives," Kelsey analyst Neal Polachek said. "It's not just about buying airline tickets or some of the other things people did five years ago."

Putting E-Shopping in the Pole Position

March 21, 2005: Source - Presstime Daily

"You (newspapers) have to focus on the consumer experience, what the consumer is doing" online.

This article discusses which newspapers are leading the pack in local online advertising. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution seems to be in the lead. If you click on their sports, living, or any other page (warning - you get pop ups), chances are you'll see a relevant local advertisement on the right. They use a nice search and local shopping vehicle as well. It sounds like they're providing positive results for themselves, advertisers, and most importantly, users.

Local Search: Convert and Win

March 21, 2005: Source - ClickZ

"My ROI on local search advertising is literally 10 times better than my Yellow Pages ad."

It's nice to see an unsuspecting success story like this. In my opinion, local search isn't a new idea for users, but the marketing and advertising opportunities are now easier to understand.

Google Launches Self-Service Local Biz Center

March 15, 2005: Source - Local Media Blog

If you're a local business wondering how you can get a Google Local site listing, their new local business center is a good tool. Fill out the steps and they'll snail mail you a postcard with further directions.

As Google's local program has arguably been a step behind their Yahoo local counterpart, this may be a great way to legitimize actual local businesses who want to be included in the Google Local listings.

DCCI Brings Local Numbers to Ingenio's PPCall Platform

March 15, 2005: Source - Local Media Blog

The pay per call local advertising model has been quite the buzz lately. Your ad is provided with a toll free number and you're charged only when someone calls you. This deal would provide a local number instead.

Is this good? As a user, and if I'm looking for a local company, I'd rather see a local number. As the brief points out, there are pros and cons to both.

Study: IYPs at a Competitive Disadvantage in Local Search

March 07, 2005: Source - ClickZ

When trying to find a map of Las Vegas showing the locations of all Indian restaurants in the area, it required 5 clicks on SuperPages, but only two clicks on Yahoo! Local to produce a similar page of results.

As a local business, does this mean you should not advertise with IYP's (Internet Yellow Pages)? No, but it's important to fully research which one(s) that will provide you the best return.

Kanoodle Targets Local Content Pages

March 07, 2005: Source - ClickZ

So far, Kanoodle hasn't signed up publishers with local content pages, but the company is working to recruit some.

It would be nice to see some established partners. However, according to Kanoodle's LocalTarget page, they are focusing on local TV stations, newspapers and directories. This might be a benefit to a potential advertiser. The LocalTarget page also gives you an idea on how your ad might look.

Google Buffs Up Local Search

March 03, 2005: Source - ClickZ

...it (Google's local search product) drew more traffic in December than Google's shopping search product, Froogle, during the holiday shopping season...

Very impressive. Froogle's very well-known. The article also hints that user reviews, hours of operation, etc... help determine your search engine rankings.

Search Going Loco for Local

March 02, 2005: Source - CNet

Looks like 'local' had some more public announcements at this year's NYC Search Engine Strategies conference. Google includes their new maps in their local tabs, AOL helps you find local movie tickets online and plans future mobile phone 'local search' soon.

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