Home - News - December, 2004

An Interview with Ali Diab - Part II

December 30, 2004: Source - Yahoo! Search Blog

From the second of a two-part series, Ali Diab further explains the Yahoo Local program... and even answers some personal questions.

Local Advertisers Lack Search Zeitgeist

December 29, 2004: Source - ClickZ

...The local search report includes the top five most popular queries for health, sport and professional services, (e.g. "doctor" and "real estate"); and the top local entertainment and cuisine searches, topped respectively by "spa" and "pizza."

When these terms are searched on Google Local, only 1 in 20 queries generate ads from local, as opposed to national, advertisers.

Not the best news for Google or Yahoo trying to establish their advertising services to small and local businesses. They don't have the sales troops to knock on the doors.

However, it's great news for the smaller or local businesses that already use local search advertising programs.

An Interview with Ali Diab

December 22, 2004: Source - Yahoo! Search Blog

From the Yahoo! Local search team and first of a two-part series, Ali Diab explains the competition of the local search market, and their role as industry leaders.

Study Reveals Impact of Search Engine Usage on Consumer Buying

December 13, 2004: Source - comScore

comScore estimated that 92 percent of all buying activity following a CE/C (computer electronics or computers) search occurred offline.

Another reason to track your online AND offline sales. The rest of the study (albeit long) has some interesting tidbits.

Converting Potential into Reality: Selling IYP (Internet Yellow Pages) and Local Search

December 8, 2004: Source - Kelsey Group

Now that Internet Yellow Pages can offer online ad solutions powered by search engines such as Google, their sales reps have a better selection of features/benefits to sell you. Maybe they've already contacted you. Are they worth it? Maybe.

Now if there was just a company who understood this market well enough to tell you which IYP programs will (or will not) help your particular business... (ending shameless self-promotion)

Yahoo Bolsters Local Search Engine Listings

December 8, 2004: Source - Search Engine Watch

Yahoo rolls out a service that gives businesses control over their listings in Yahoo Local through a new program. The features they offer with an enhanced listing are quite impressive.

CitySearch Launches PFP-Calls (Pay-Per-Call)

December 6, 2004: Source - CitySearch

FindWhat and Ingenio's "Pay-Per-Call" program now has company... in a huge CitySearch market. The pay-per-call model has been quite the buzz lately, especially for local sites. It will cost more than a "pay per click" program, but a phone call is worth more than a click when it comes to the actual sale.

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