Peter Krasilovsky's

Local Onliner

Dec 29
2005

Women Pass Men in Key Local Uses

Men and women are frequently targeted by local online marketers for different applications. Men are generally thought to be more interested in tech, news, cars and just surfing around. Women are thought to be less interested in aimless surfing, but are more interested in community, shopping/coupons, health services and real estate.

To me, it is still safe to generalize like this. But an updated 2005 study by The Pew Internet Project, based on 6,403 surveys with a margin of error of 2+-, suggests the differences in men and women online are becoming less pronounced.

From a local vantage point, the study contains several little surprises. For instance, user-review services such as Judy’s Book and Insider Pages are largely aimed at women. But the new Pew findings suggest that men are actually more likely to “rate a product, service or person.” 33 percent of online men say they do it; 28 percent of online women.

Categories: Research

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Dec 22
2005

Big Talk: New Telecom’s Impact on Local

Microsoft Local Group’s Erik Jorgensen thinks “the majority” of local access will be from mobile devices in five years. My gut tells me that mobile access may not dominate quite so quickly.

But whatever the timetable, it suggests a sea change in local advertising models. It also suggests a stronger role for telecom players in serving mobile and IP-based content: whether they are traditional carriers, or just as likely, portals providing VoIP, PSTN and instant messaging services over mobile.

The impact on local usage and advertising will be a big one. And the seeds are being laid. As Issac Kato of General Catalyst Partners noted at the Kelsey ILM conference in early December: “Wireless is inherently local….when you do mobile search, pay-per-call becomes trivial.”

Categories: Local Search, Misc, Technology

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Dec 22
2005

Microsoft Local Pushes Maps, Imagery

When Microsoft quit its Sidewalk city guide in 2001, it promised to keep its foot in the door of local services. At that time, it was probably thinking “small business,” since it was bent on remaking the small business marketplace around the Great Plains software company that it had recently purchased.

But small business services have never really pushed local into new areas. Arguably, software never has. In fact, Microsoft’s role in local is only now getting established, due to the newly accorded prominence of two areas that Microsoft also considers part of its core competency: maps and imaging.

Speaking at Kelsey’s ILM conference in early December, Microsoft Local Group head Erik Jorgensen presented a masterful picture of local’s image-driven future. “People want true visualization, showing them ‘what is there,’ he said. “Fundamentally, people are visual. And people want location integrated into relevant services.”

Categories: Local Search, Mapping, Misc, Technology

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Dec 14
2005

AOL Promises ‘Local’ Progress in 2006

AOL was early in investing in its Digital City city guide, early to solicit local business reviews, early to see the power of mapping via its acquisition of Mapquest, and early to see the importance of offline activities by purchasing MovieFone.The company wasn’t necessarily strong on follow-thru, however.

Speaking at Kelsey’s ILM conference, AOL Senior VP Jim Riesenbach reminded the audience that AOL remains a major player in local. He promised that the company would see significant progress in 2006, especially now that AOL has worked out many of its transition problems and is widely considered a hot property again.

A major emphasis for AOL will be to leverage its assortment of platforms as a “communications suite,” now that it has been freed from emphasizing the fire-walled access service. “ To Riesenbach, local figures into all of it.

“It is counterproductive to think of local as a vertical,” he said, responding to a comment by a Microsoft executive earlier in the conference. “The question for us is how we integrate local as an enabler for everything that people do online.” Riesenbach added that the richness of AOL’s local offering will make its local search among the industry’s most compelling.

Categories: Local Search, Misc, Technology

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Dec 14
2005

Judy’s Book Launches ‘TrustScore’

Judy’s Book, InsiderPages, CitySearch and others run relatively open social networks. In their efforts to attract as many reviews as possible, they run the risk of accepting some phony reviews sent in by business owners, competitors, sarcastic college students and others that might be incented to cheat. Now Judy’s Book, the recent recipient of $8 …continue reading »

Categories: HyperLocal, Local Search, Yellow Pages

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Dec 14
2005

How Many Local Advertisers Are Online?

It is oft-repeated that there are “300,000 local advertisers online.” But it doesn’t strain the imagination to suggest there are at least 400,000. And that’s just on the search and pay per click side. Overall, there may be more than 900,000 local businesses advertising online.

It is all guess work on our part, but here is how we calculate. Google is close-lipped, but it is thought to have over 150,000 local advertisers. Yahoo Search Marketing (Overture) might have another 100,000. And then there are the localized efforts run by the remaining portals, and many smaller players to contend with, including the contextual networks, the social networks, and various other local services.

And all this is just for search and clicks. Looking at more traditional local advertising products (i.e. enhanced listings), the number of local online advertisers swells exponentially. Why does it matter how many local advertisers are really budgeting for online? Because the higher number shows that most local sites are really underperforming.

Categories: Sales Channels, Yellow Pages

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Dec 9
2005

WashingtonPost.com Revives City Guide

Spurred on by the likes of BackFence in its suburban territories, WashingtonPost.com has launched its third attempt at a city guide. The new effort, which succeeds previous efforts with CitySearch and Zip2, has a new search engine powered by FAST, search by location and proximity, improved navigation, selected newspaper content, editors picks, ShopLocal sales information, and a calendar that can be browsed by events and categories.

What the site does not include are Yellow Pages, which had been abandoned after Switchboard stopped supporting it. While washingtonpost.com has been an innovator in selling ads on podcasts, video pods and RSS, it has never found “meaningful ways” to sell local service and merchant ads. Indeed, CEO and Publisher Caroline Little, during a keynote at the Kelsey ILM show, said that washingtonpost.com is “4-5 years behind national players” such as Yahoo and AOL who have local templates.

A major emphasis of the new city guide is on “frictionless consumer generated media,” including user reviews of Washington area services and events. Soon, users will also be invited to comment on news and feature articles. Coming up in three-to-six months will be a photo library where users can send in their favorite photos – among the most popular features, coincidentally, on BackFence. “People love photos,” said Little. “We learned that on 9/11.”

Categories: HyperLocal, Local Search, Newspapers, Yellow Pages

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