| by Shankar Gupta, Monday, Dec 5, 2005 6:00 AM EST |
| ONE YEAR AFTER ACQUIRING THE YellowPages.com URL, SBC and Bell South last week joined forces to launch a local directory and search engine at the site. The venture combines the telephone directory databases of SBC and Bell South, and also offers maps and directions, city guides, and product guides. Kelsey Group Analyst Greg Sterling said that uniting the SmartPages.com, RealPages.com, and YellowPages.com brands is a good start, but that the search tool isn't yet in shape to compete with the Internet giants now inhabiting the local space--Google, Yahoo!, and MSN. "It's an evolutionary step, and it was a challenging thing for them to integrate all these things," he said. "They've made it more user-friendly, but it's definitely a product that will need to continue to evolve to be competitive." He added that the online local space is becoming a very tough market to crack indeed. "All these companies are focused on this area. Yahoo!, AOL, MSN, and Google--they're doing some very, very interesting things, so it's a very competitive marketplace," he said. "They [SBC and Bell South] clearly want to be thought of when people think of local information. I think they see very clearly that Yahoo! and MSN and AOL and Google are competitors."
|
Monday, December 05, 2005
SmartPages, RealPages Partner For Local Search
GETTING WARMER
Canadians are visiting Hawaii and staying longer in 2005 than a year ago. Here are year-to-date Canadian visitor numbers through October.
Visitor arrivals: 188,381, up 10.1%
Average length of stay: 12.99 days, up 0.6%
Visitor days: 2.4 million, up 10.8%
Average daily spending: $128 per person, off 0.4%
Average trip spending: $1,656 per person, up 0.2%
Total expenditures: $312 million. up 10.4%
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
indie city websites
Independent City Sites Compete With MSM [by rafat] : Our conference contributor Dorian Benkoil has penned an interesting report for Borrell Associates, covering the indie city website competing against local TV and newspaper websites. These low-cost and scrappy competitors shun local news, obituaries and classified ads, focusing almost exclusively on fun and interesting things to do around town.
Many of these independent local sites are reporting revenues well into six figures, and some recently formed their own trade group, Associated Cities. A flurry of acquisitions has begun as well, including a $500,000 acquisition for a "City.com " URL, and a $12 million offer by a newspaper publisher for LasVegas.com. (This reminds me of the New City Network of indie websites back in the late 90s..it is now defunct)
Independent sites tend to have a fraction of the traffic and revenue of competitors who are financed and promoted by traditional-media outlets, but the underdogs offer an interesting lesson: Keep it simple, keep it upbeat, and don't forget the out-of-market traffic. They are focusing on sites that win attention from locals and travelers alike, and are tapping ad revenues from some of the largest spenders on interactive advertising: hotels, casinos, airlines, real estate agents, resorts and restaurants. [Nov.29: Link] | Nanopublishing |
Many of these independent local sites are reporting revenues well into six figures, and some recently formed their own trade group, Associated Cities. A flurry of acquisitions has begun as well, including a $500,000 acquisition for a "City.com " URL, and a $12 million offer by a newspaper publisher for LasVegas.com. (This reminds me of the New City Network of indie websites back in the late 90s..it is now defunct)
Independent sites tend to have a fraction of the traffic and revenue of competitors who are financed and promoted by traditional-media outlets, but the underdogs offer an interesting lesson: Keep it simple, keep it upbeat, and don't forget the out-of-market traffic. They are focusing on sites that win attention from locals and travelers alike, and are tapping ad revenues from some of the largest spenders on interactive advertising: hotels, casinos, airlines, real estate agents, resorts and restaurants. [Nov.29: Link] | Nanopublishing |
Borrell: Independent Local Sites Threaten Newspapers
| by Wendy Davis, Wednesday, Nov 30, 2005 6:00 AM EST |
| AS IF THE NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY didn't have enough headaches, a new study finds they face growing competition from independent local Web sites that focus on travel and entertainment. "Locally focused pure-play Internet sites have gained a foothold in many markets," states the report, "Independent City Sites Gain Steam: A New Threat to Old Media," released Tuesday by Borrell Associates. These independent local sites are growing quickly and "elbowing in on territory that traditional local media properties have been trying to stake out for the past decade," states the report. Many of these sites use a url that includes the name of their city, like Houston.com and Toledo.com. As a result, they garner traffic even without much marketing, because some people navigate the Web by typing proper names directly into a url field. Toledo.com, for instance, is the tenth most trafficked site in the city, according to the report. For the most part, these sites focus on entertainment, nightlife, and travel, while rarely reporting on local news, according to the report. Borrell also states that annual revenues at these local sites have "moved into the six-figure range"--and in some cases, surpass $1 million. "As the Internet tide rises, these once-mired local boats have begun to float," states the report. "From Atlanta to Yuma and from the suburbs of Syracuse to the tiny Gulf town of Port Aransas, Texas, small, independently run local sites have begun to pick up significant steam." So far, however, independent city.com sites have profit margins of around 24 percent--compared to Web sites of local media, which are around 60 percent, according to Borrell. The independent sites also account for less than 1 percent of local online advertising, while media-run Web sites take in between 3 and 18 percent, according to the report. The newspaper industry, meanwhile, continues to struggle with profit margins and circulation, as well as ad dollars that have been lost to online classifieds like Craigslist. Earlier this week, the Pew Internet & American Life Project and comScore Networks issued a report stating that 26.3 million Web users visited one of the top 15 classified sites in September--marking an 80 percent increase from last year. |
Monday, November 28, 2005
Partnerships are key to online travel search survival
| |  |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
By Kyle Peterson
CHICAGO (Reuters) - The online travel search market is fast filling up with Web sites offering the cheapest bookings, and experts warn that the smaller entrants without partnerships with major service providers are sure to fail.
Unlike full-service online travel agencies such as Expedia Inc. (EXPE.O: Quote, Profile, Research) that sell tickets and make reservations, travel search engines sniff out bookings and direct users to Web sites where they can make purchases. Some travelers use search engines to avoid booking fees that travel agencies charge.
The newest breed of these businesses are the so-called meta-search sites that present users with lists of bookings for comparisons.
The trouble is that too many sites are doing the same thing and too few travelers care, according to Henry Harteveldt at Forrester Research.
"There is a glut. They're not working," Harteveldt said. "Our research indicates these meta-search sites just aren't gaining any traction."
Data from Forrester shows that only 6.5 percent of travelers who planned trips online used travel search engines to plan a trip, compared with 44 percent who used a travel agency.
About 27 percent of travelers researched trips using general search engines such as Google and Yahoo!. And 25 percent looked at sites hosted by travel service suppliers such as airlines and hotels.
"The truth is that meta-search really doesn't matter," Harteveldt said.
An Internet search for "travel search engines" yields dozens of results, including not only well-known brands like Expedia and Orbitz, which is owned by Cendant Corp. (CD.N: Quote, Profile, Research), but also a slew of names like AllCheapFares, Kwikfly and Travel Now.
Experts say the travel search market is reaching a point where competitive pressures threaten to smother start-ups before they can get a toe hold.
"I think it's going to be a lot tougher road for some of the new companies to try their hand at travel search," said Phil Carpenter, vice president of corporate marketing at search engine SideStep. "I think it's getting really challenging for new players to enter the space."
Carpenter said the key to success is in partnerships with big-name travel suppliers and other travel service companies. Only then will users be confident that they are getting access to the best deals possible, he said.
SideStep, a leader in travel search, just this month announced deals with Hilton International, Amazon.com and American Airlines.
SideStep searches more than 100 Web sites for travel bargains. But the company is not alone in that approach and faces competition from search engines like Kayak.com and Yahoo! FareChase. Other competitors include general search engines.
Meanwhile, online travel agencies such as Expedia and Priceline.com (PCLN.O: Quote, Profile, Research), which made their reputations locating cheap fares, are adapting to the new competitive environment by personalizing research and bookings instead of relying solely on finding low prices. The agencies hope to expand their businesses by addressing all travel needs and making recommendations.
"The online travel agencies haven't really felt the pinch," said Lorraine Sileo, an analyst at PhocusWright, a travel research company. She said the newest crop of travel search sites are a bigger threat to each other than to established travel agencies.
Still, the appeal of ad revenue, lucrative partnerships or a buyout remain key motivators for people looking to jump on the travel search gravy train. What's more, e-commerce trends suggest their optimism is not misplaced.
Data from Forrester Research showed that in 2005, travel has been the largest sales category in online commerce with $62.8 billion of the total sales of $172.4 billion. The travel component on Web commerce is expected to account for $119.1 billion of a total $328.6 billion by 2010, Forrester said.
SideStep's Carpenter said there is still money to be made in the online travel industry as long as a company has an innovative approach and the funds to carry out a vision.
Friday, November 25, 2005
Google Space
| Google extends searching offline | |||
Google Space, at Terminal One of London's Heathrow airport, will allow people to log onto the net and check e-mail while they wait for flights. For Google, the space will be used to test its myriad product launches on the public. "We see it as a huge focus group," said Lorraine Twohill, Google's European director of marketing. "For many of our users, we have always been something in their computers and they have never actually met us," she said. Core DNA
With trained Google staff on hand at the booth, it will be a chance to road-test some of its new product launches and get invaluable feedback. Depending on the success of the Heathrow "pod", Google could become a recognised physical presence in airports, stations and even high streets around the world, said Ms Twohill. Google has been a phenomenal year of launches, even by the standards of a cutting-edge tech firm. Desktop search, Google Earth, Google Mail, Google Local, Google Toolbar, picture management store Picasa and Google Mobile have all come online in recent months, as Google continues to expand its search catalogue to all aspects of daily life. Also out of the labs this month is Google's personalised search, which, alongside a bespoke homepage which can be built to your own personal needs, also offers more personalised searching, remembering what you have previously looked for and selecting things it thinks you want to see. While it may seem as if Google has its fingers in many pies at the moment, all its products are interlinked, said Ms Twohill. "It all comes back to our core DNA of search," she said. As well as moving into a physical space, Google is also likely to make a play for our pockets too, with Ms Twohill earmarking mobile - alongside personalisation - as important areas for the firm in the future. Google's ever-expanding product portfolio has led some commentators to question whether it is making a bid to be the next Microsoft. According to Ms Twohill, its ambitions are more modest. "We are still a tenth the size of Microsoft and are not ready to be compared to them," she said. It is true though that Microsoft is increasingly vying for a share of the search market and this can only be a good thing, she thinks. "A space like search needs two or three key players. While search is not Microsoft's heritage, if it sets its mind to something it will do a good job and grow the space for everyone," she said. | |||
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Neighborhood search a boon for real estate
Neighborhood search a boon for real estate
Online services take local search to a new level
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
By Glenn Roberts Jr.
Inman News
 Yahoo! Local map |
Neighborhoods are taking shape online as Internet companies expand the capabilities of local search.
Neighborhood-specific searches allow users to move beyond the typical geographic parameters of city or ZIP code to find relevant matches, though defining neighborhood names and boundaries can be an imperfect science.
Yahoo! in August announced the launch of a " search by neighborhood" feature for major metropolitan areas, through Yahoo! Local. It is now possible to search for real estate agents in San Francisco's "Lower Haight" or "Marina" areas, for example, or in New York's "Chelsea" or "Soho" neighborhoods.
Yahoo! Local has divided San Francisco into 31 neighborhoods, and New York City into 24 neighborhood areas.
Other online sites, too, provide neighborhood-specific information to users, and experts say real estate is a natural beneficiary of neighborhood-based search.
As some print advertising dollars shift online, the battle has heated up among online search sites to tailor information and advertising opportunities based on the criteria selected by users. Local online search has grown into an important subset of national search – an estimated 15 percent of all searches on the Web are local – and neighborhood search is an emerging subset of local search.
"There are a lot of people who recognize that the way that people look for things is by neighborhood or by colloquial names that exist," said Greg Sterling, program director for The Kelsey Group, a company that provides research and analysis for yellow pages, electronic directories and local media companies. The end result is more flexibility – and less search time – for users.
"What's at stake? Better ad targeting and the ability for advertisers – especially in the real estate context – to buy keywords aligned with neighborhoods, which is the way people really think about their environments in the real world. Accordingly, this will offer a better local-search consumer experience," Sterling said. "This is definitely the way these things are going to move – (companies) are trying to make these tools conform to the way that people really live."
Sterling also said that Yahoo! is a front-runner in neighborhood-specific searches, and the company's announced plans to acquire Whereonearth, a local online search and advertising technology company, should aid the efforts to expand local search.
Point2 Realty Solutions, a real estate technology company based in Saskatoon, in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, is working to define neighborhood names and boundaries to provide more property-search options. The company's Point2 Homes site allows users to search properties by neighborhood .
"Our goal is to geographically identify every area in North America, and then eventually the world, by its local neighborhood names," said Jeff Tomlin, manager of market research at Point2. The company started the project this summer.
Local municipalities and real estate professionals have been a solid source of information on neighborhood names and boundaries, Tomlin said. "The solution we are building has two benefits: Number one, we want to create a solution for our members that helps them be more easily found; and we are helping our users to create a better connection to consumers."
Point2's real estate customers are accurate in describing the neighborhood location of properties that they list for sale, Tomlin said. "The client knows exactly what neighborhood they're in, even if they're sort of on the edge of two neighborhoods. Our members are the best sources for that – they know the area themselves."
The neighborhood project "is a work in progress – it'll be a work in progress for some time," he said, adding that neighborhoods are continually evolving and forming.
Craigslist, which operates online community sites in major markets across the globe and carries for-sale and rental property listings posted by its users, allows users to self-identify location by neighborhood. A user who wishes to post a property for sale in San Francisco, for example, can choose from a list of 32 neighborhoods, and the neighborhood name appears in the top line of every posting.
The New York Times' real estate site allows users to search for properties by neighborhood areas, and several other property-search sites also offer neighborhood-specific listings.
Keith N. Hampton, assistant professor of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, said that Internet technologists are struggling with the same questions about neighborhoods that sociologists have been struggling with for decades, adding that it's "fascinating" to see efforts to expand local and neighborhood search capabilities online.
"Defining neighborhoods is certainly difficult and problematic. What are neighborhood boundaries for any given neighborhood? It is almost impossible for outsiders to define boundaries in a way that makes sense (for local residents)." Every person has a mental map of neighborhood areas, Hampton said, so it is typical for people to disagree on neighborhood boundaries.
Hampton is a principal investigator for I-Neighbors.org, an Internet site that allows residents to define neighborhood areas and connect with their neighbors.
It's beneficial for actual neighbors to define neighborhood boundaries, he said, because it is a means to "establish local trust in self and identity – being able to identify what your community really is. The value of the Internet is supposed to be in its ability to cut down the cost of traversing great distances. But it has this localization – the ability to bridge very local distances."
He noted that neighborhood boundaries change, and in some cases some small neighborhoods can potentially be amalgamated or absorbed into a larger neighborhood area, and can lose individual character or identity in the process.
Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia Web site that allows its users to edit entries, features numerous neighborhood descriptions , including rough or specific neighborhood boundaries.
Jimmy Wales, a spokesman for Wikipedia, said he doesn't know how many neighborhoods are defined at the site, though, "Community input would be crucially important to determining where a neighborhood begins and ends, because 'neighborhood' is absolutely a social concept, a social construct, and there's no a priori or algorithmic way to guess at it."
 Lockhart Steele, Curbed.com |
"I think everyone in New York defines neighborhoods in slightly different ways. Some neighborhoods are literally defined by a couple of blocks," said Lockhart Steele, founder and publisher of the Curbed.com blog site.
Curbed.com readers can choose to read postings that are specific to neighborhoods. The site identifies 14 Manhattan neighborhood areas, for example, and also includes information categorized by neighborhood in Brooklyn and Queens.
Earlier this year, Curbed.com hosted a light-hearted neighborhood-naming contest, dubbed "'Hoodwinked." The winner pitched the name "RAMBO (Right After the Manhattan Bridge Overpass)" for a neighborhood stretching between Tillary Street and York Street, north of the Manhattan Bridge.
There is a general trend, Steele said, to provide more focused information online. "You can always get more detailed. There is the question of: 'Do readers want to view everything?'" For editorial purposes, Steele said that he adopted fairly rigid neighborhood boundaries for Curbed.com.
"I think neighborhood-specific search...is going to be a pretty big deal," and real estate companies have already inquired about placing advertisements on neighborhood-specific pages at his blog site, Steele said. "Drill-down search is presumably one of the better ways to find really qualified leads." While neighborhood search is one potential avenue for expanding local search capabilities, Steele said innovation in search technologies is not a one-way street. "I don't believe search is moving in any one direction.
***
Send tips or a Letter to the Editor to glenn@inman.com or call (510) 658-9252, ext. 137.
Copyright 2005 Inman News
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
About Me
