garyp
08-09-2004, 05:15 PM
YAHOO, GOOGLE ACT LOCAL
San Jose Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/9349115.htm
Mike Bazeley with an excellent overview of the local search market.
Local businesses spend nearly $100 billion on advertising a year, most of it ``offline'' and going to local television stations and newspapers, Yellow Pages publishers and direct mailers.
Only about $1 billion of local ad dollars are spent online. But analysts say billions of dollars more are poised to come online in the next few years. The Kelsey Group, a New Jersey firm that studies local search trends, estimates that local online advertising could grow to more than $5 billion by 2008.
But faced with competition from Google, Yahoo and others, SuperPages revamped its Web site and business model this year to include pay-per-click listings. About half of Verizon's customers now use pay-per-click, with the rest staying with the subscription model, company executives say. Verizon also links to businesses' Web sites, if they have them, and takes information from phone-book ads to build online business profiles.
Norman Hersch, who owns a company that stores inventory for companies, has a one-page Web site that offers a brief explanation of his business and contact information. But like Fleece, his business leads come over the phone.
``A click on a Web site is worthless to me,'' he said. ``To me, a click is a window-shopper. To me, a call is someone who comes in the front door.''
San Jose Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/9349115.htm
Mike Bazeley with an excellent overview of the local search market.
Local businesses spend nearly $100 billion on advertising a year, most of it ``offline'' and going to local television stations and newspapers, Yellow Pages publishers and direct mailers.
Only about $1 billion of local ad dollars are spent online. But analysts say billions of dollars more are poised to come online in the next few years. The Kelsey Group, a New Jersey firm that studies local search trends, estimates that local online advertising could grow to more than $5 billion by 2008.
But faced with competition from Google, Yahoo and others, SuperPages revamped its Web site and business model this year to include pay-per-click listings. About half of Verizon's customers now use pay-per-click, with the rest staying with the subscription model, company executives say. Verizon also links to businesses' Web sites, if they have them, and takes information from phone-book ads to build online business profiles.
Norman Hersch, who owns a company that stores inventory for companies, has a one-page Web site that offers a brief explanation of his business and contact information. But like Fleece, his business leads come over the phone.
``A click on a Web site is worthless to me,'' he said. ``To me, a click is a window-shopper. To me, a call is someone who comes in the front door.''