Google Maps Listing Quality Guidelines

Some good info from Google on how to submit good listings to their maps site and avoid being Map spam...

Google Maps Adds Business Listing Quality Guidelines

Local Video Spam!

Leave it to MerchantCircle to figure out how to game the system. They've done a big deal with Spotzer (similar to Spotrunner, etc - produce local videos) to produce thousands and thousands of video ads for local businesses. They'll use the businesses information to create the ads, but from the looks of the sample, they aren't doing any customization or adding any information, real value, or real images or video of the business. Here's the text from the sample ad (a home theater store in Tennessee):

"When it comes to shopping, it's not easy to find just the right thing. Well look no further. We've got what you're looking for" (business name, phone number, city state and zip shown at the end - no street address)

So, what's the point of these ads, since they don't really provide any information on the business. They don't even include the street address, just a phone number (most likely a tracking number) and City information? The point is to be taken in by Google as "video spam", hoping Google will index the city information and phone number. If a user looking for information does see this, they'll have to call the number or click through to get any real information. This is what makes it spam. No real value or information, just there to fool Google. Let's hope they're too smart for this. But that's MerchantCircle for you.

MerchantCircle and Spotzer Partner for SMB Vids « Screenwerk

Phone Book Myth on Mythbusters This Week

For those of you who can't get enough of Local (and Yellow Pages specifically) at work, Mythbusters is doing an episode this week that includes a YP myth (there seems to be a myth that if you collate 2 phone books together, their pages will magically stick). I've never heard this myth before but apparently it exists. Tune in to the Discovery Channel Weds at 9PM Eastern/Pacific.

Mythbusters Phone Book Episode Schedule

The Worlds Oldest Phone Book

Time for the lighter side of local. Christie's auction house has just auctioned off the world's oldest phone book. It had a residential directory and a yellow pages. Here's the great part, though: There aren't any phone numbers in it, just a list of people who have phones (I guess you just asked the operator for the person you wanted). If you click through, there's a video of it too. No mention of what it sold for.

Video: the world's oldest telephone book - Boing Boing

Drop in Real Estate Newspaper Advertising

Adding to the earlier story about newspapers losing money, look at this chart, from the Trulia Blog, another of those sites I mentioned that's killing the papers' classifieds business.

Ouch! Trends in Newspapers and Real Estate Advertising

Can Newspapers Be Saved? Here Are Some Ideas...

Building on the Newspaper discussion begun the other day, Search Engine Land has an article asking the question Can Newspapers Be Saved and how? The gist of it is:

1. This is the standard one we always hear. Advertiser relationships are the biggest asset for newspapers (just as they as for yellow pages), so they must defend those relationships and extend them, acting as trusted resources to provide a broad base of advertising products.
2. Sell everything your advertisers want. Not just newspaper, but IYPs (YellowPages.com, SuperPages and Dexknows are mentioned) and other local Internet traffic sources like CitySearch.
3. Focus on phone calls. As we've discussed here, most advertisers are not focused on directing clicks and traffic to their websites, except as it drives phone calls. Their sites are typically not optimized for conversion and they are not set up to do rapid responses to emails, so just skip the middle man and send the phone calls directly.

Everything else in here has to do with sales. Invest in your team, keep it easy to sell (this is a key - package products together rather than making it a complicated sale that seems like you're nickle and diming them), and make sure your sales comp is aligned with the new product set.

Sounds like pretty good advice. Will newspapers take it? That's another story...


Can Newspapers Be Saved? Part 2: Potential Solutions

Yelp 2.0 for iPhone on its Way

According to Greg Sterling, the next iteration of the Yelp iPhone app is coming. The first version is by far my favorite local app on the iPhone, and it sounds like this one will only improve on it, offering more information, more search options and some other fun things on top of it. These guys definitely get how to build an iPhone app.

Yelp 2.0 for the iPhone Coming Soon | LocalMobileSearch

Newspaper Ad Revenues Dropping Fast

I don't post too much about newspapers here, but they are a large (though shrinking) and important part of the local advertising ecosystem. I've argued for a while that, while yellow pages companies are in a tough position, newspapers are even worse off. Why is that? Because they face a lot more competition and on different factors compared to YPs. Any local blogger can cover local news (sometimes better than the big papers, especially when you're talking about a neighborhood or smaller area). They can go deeper on topics, have a better understanding of the day-to-day life in an area and, most importantly, they can be more timely with their news delivery. While newspapers publish once a day (and their online schedules are not that much more frequent), bloggers publish anytime. And via blog readers and other notification channels, interested people can know the news as soon as it happens. While this will impact other local players, like radio and TV, the biggest impact is in the newspaper industry. Yellow Pages obviously face significantly new media competition as well, but it's not as likely that one person in their house will provide the same competition for YPs that they provide for newspapers.

So what's the point of all this? According to the Newspaper Association of America (via Techcrunch), newspaper advertising revenues have been dropping off a cliff. Not only that, but their Internet revenues are decreasing as well. Most people I know think we're in a recession and advertising is bound to drop off as a whole. But it definitely looks like newspapers are taking the brunt of it (though the YPs are not exactly feeling good either). Classified ads, one of the big revenue areas for newspapers, have been eaten away for a while now, by Craigslist and vertical sites like Rent.com, Realtor.com, Monster.com and the like. But now it seems like display is following, and it's just going to keep going down from here.

Negative Momentum: Newspaper Ad Revenues Gaining Downhill Speed (Even Online Is Declining)

What does a New Zealand YP Company have to do with us?

Kelsey group had an interesting writeup today of Yellow Pages Group New Zealand's acquisition of a majority stake in a couple sites targeted at people over 50. On it's face, seems like it's not a big deal, but thinking about it further, I tend to think this is a really astute move and something we should think about when looking to expand our local (and YP specifically) businesses in the US.

The core Internet demographic (teen-40 years old) are getting pretty locked in to going to Google or Yahoo or other Internet pure-play sites to get their information. It's that activity that's hurting YP revenues with those types of users. However, print Yellow Pages still experience strong usage among people 40 and over, and haven't slowed too much in that age group. However, that slowdown is likely to come, and before it does, Yellow Pages companies should be looking to expand their brand equity with that demographic by providing them with Internet destinations and experiences that suit their needs and wants. Similar to the posting I wrote about women being a core demo of YP sites online, I'm going to argue that we need to focus our experiences towards those customers who still provide us good usage, that we have not yet lost to the Internet pure-play companies.

YPGNZ has shown us an example of that kind of forward thinking, and we need to start thinking that way here as well.

Kelsey Group Blogs » Yellow Pages Group New Zealand’s Boomer Acquisition

Search Insider Recommends Yahoo! Buy RH Donnelly

What should Yahoo! do? How can they improve their business? How can they undo the major mistake they made in not selling to MSFT? Lots of people have their opinions, but according to the Search Insider column (via Greg Sterling), one of the recommendations is for them to buy a yellow pages company, specifically RHD. Why not Idearc? Not sure, any more than I'm sure why Barron's recommended RHD stock vs. Idearc.

But what this shows is that there are potential synergies between Search companies and Yellow Pages companies. Search, like many Internet businesses, has trouble getting a critical mass of small businesses. Yellow Pages companies have those relationships (and long-term established ones), but for the most part, don't have the Internet products to go with them. The question is going to be, does a Search company want to take a huge cut on their margins by acquiring a company that has a huge sales force in exchange for increasing their market share? I guess we'll see...

“Buy the Yellow Pages” Returns « Screenwerk