Local Matters Makes Executive Changes

Local Matters has made a number of changes this press release is showing:

Local Matters, Inc. founder and Chief Executive Officer Perry Evans has been elected Chairman of the company’s board of directors. He will also assume the position of President of the Media Publishing Division. Evans is succeeded as Chief Executive Officer by Mat Stover, current board member and former CEO of several local media companies.

The company had to abandon an acquisition of Copenhagen-based MobilePeople last year and has been unable to go public, as was its intention. However the business has a number of revenue streams and legacy businesses to help weather the recession.

YP.com Benefits from Verizon-MSFT Deal

I wrote about the Verizon-Microsoft search and ads deal at LMS and SEL. But here I wanted to talk about the indirect beneficiary of that deal: Yellowpages.com. By being Microsoft’s partner (formerly it was Superpages), Yellowpages.com advertisers gain exposure and distribution through these Live Search deals. See the result, for example for Boston Hotels from m.live.com:

Verizon has 80 million users. Not all of them are going to be searching — indeed the number is less than 20% of the mobile population right now. And it’s not clear how many Verizon customers will actually adopt Live Search after it rolls out. Regardless, however, there will be millions of Verizon users that this deal will affect in all likelihood, and through it Yellowpages gains additional exposure and distribution. 

Yellowpages has its own mobile initiatives of course. And it has had success on the iPhone with its app. But the potential reach here is huge — a pretty nice perk for being Microsoft’s partner.

I suspect this also gives a big boost to PPCall, whose natural home is mobile. Recall that Yellowpages.com purchased Ingenio last year (or was it ’07?).

Frustration with Google’s LBC

At this point there’s probably nobody that understands the intricacies of Google’s Local Business Center, its benefits and challenges more than Mike Blumenthal. Mike has tirelessly documented the problems and made suggestions for fixes and improvements. He’s like a one-man focus group/Q&A team for Google in some respects.

Yet in this post Mike seems to almost be throwing up his hands in frustration in response to Google’s inability to get it right:

Yet in so many ways the Local Business Center continues to fail in its promise and the possibilities remain unfulfilled.  It is still bug ridden, the interface & process is hard for most people to learn, and it seems to be a poor step child in the pantheon of Google products. Despite its importance in the marketing plans for many bricks and mortar business the LBC receives little in the way of upgrades and less in the way of support.

Why do you think that many of the problems Mike identifies haven’t been fixed or corrected?

Yelp Lands in London

Last year Yelp quietly expanded to Canada without any fanfare. And when I interviewed Yelp co-founders Jeremy Stoppelman and Russell Simmons at SF’s Commonwealth Club last year Stoppelman said that Yelp would go into the UK at some point although the timing was uncertain. Well today the site is launching in the UK, with a focus on London. 

I was told that there are already a considerable number of people from the UK that use Yelp’s US listings. That rise in usage from “across the pond” is what triggered the move to the UK at this time apparently. 

The irony of Yelp’s UK launch is that a number of UK sites have been influenced or inspired by Yelp’s model and success in the US. Now Yelp will be directly competing with them. There is room for multiple restaurant and entertainment guides of course. To name only a few: TrustedPlaces, TouchLocal, Tipped, YourLocalLondon, TimeOut and so on. 

That doesn’t include competitors such as established yellow pages publisher Yell. My recommendation some time ago was that Yell should buy TrustedPlaces and I would still argue that’s a good move. Because in a world of competitive “social directories” (i.e., Yelp et al) the online yellow pages are vulnerable to usage erosion. 

Beyond its brand, its community model and UK usage jumpstart Yelp is apparently bringing its offline “Yelp parties” to the UK. This will help drive viral adoption of the site. It also helps with branding as the offline events make being online at Yelp like an extension of the party. Yelp also has iPhone and mobile sites, which will be significant as well in winning usage in London. 

Acquiring SMB advertisers is a more difficult matter and will be challenging for all the reasons we’ve spoken about in the past. However what helps in that effort is name/brand recognition. As Yelp gains usage it will be easier to sell ads accordingly. And success in London, as the UK’s largest market, will make penetrating the country as a whole some easier if Yelp develops momentum. It’s not like the US where you have to “start over” to a large degree in market after market.

Coen Forecast Numbers on Local

From December . . . Robert Coen’s forecast numbers for 2009:

Search & Local Growth Areas for IAC in ’09

According to a research note from Citigroup Analyst Mark Mahaney, Barry Diller delivered the keynote address at the company’s EMT Conference. Here’s the summary of Diller’s remarks: 

Diller was particularly cautious on the macro economy in ’09 . . . he expects CPCs at Ask to be down. However . . . Service Magic has [ ] been performing well. Mr. Diller believes areas of growth for IACI are in Search and Local . . .

Defamation on Yelp?

CNET has a lengthy piece about a Yelp user who wrote a negative review about a Chiropractor and is now being sued for defamation:

San Franciscan Christopher Norberg went to a chiropractor after being injured in a car accident in 2006. After a disagreement with the chiropractor over billing, he posted a negative review of the business on Yelp suggesting that the doctor was dishonest. Now he is facing a defamation lawsuit that could chill self-expression on the popular gripe Web site.

An earlier article on the Consumerist blog offers the verbatim statements in dispute. Here’s the discussion on Yelp about the litigation and the claims.

Here’s the concise definition of defamation: A false statement that injures someone’s reputation and exposes him to public contempt, hatred, ridicule, or condemnation.

Here’s a quick statement of the legal test for defamation:

1. False statement of fact (not opinion)
2. Communicated to third parties
3. Harmful to the reputation of the person the statement concerns

A simple example is:

• I think John is a terrible person (not defamatory)
• John is a child molester (defamatory if he is in fact not one and it hurts his reputation).

Yelp is not a defendant. This is really about whether the defendant was expressing “facts” or “opinions” and whether the particular Chiropractor was in fact harmed. The guy has lots of positive reviews on Yelp, but the controversy might turn some people away.

Another issue is whether the “culture of reviews” would be harmed if the defendant were found liable. It remains to be seen but my guess is no unless there was lots of press coverage and publicity around such a decision. Even so, it would probably only affect people who are marginal contributors.

Newspapers in a ‘Post-Print’ World

A terrific and dead-on piece in The Atlantic contemplates the potential end of the NY Times print edition. Here are some excerpts and some thoughts:

The collapse of daily print journalism will mean many things. For those of us old enough to still care about going out on a Sunday morning for our doorstop edition of The Times, it will mean the end of a certain kind of civilized ritual that has defined most of our adult lives. It will also mean the end of a certain kind of quasi-bohemian urban existence for the thousands of smart middle-class writers, journalists, and public intellectuals who have, until now, lived semi-charmed kinds of lives of the mind. And it will seriously damage the press’s ability to serve as a bulwark of democracy. Internet purists may maintain that the Web will throw up a new pro-am class of citizen journalists to fill the void, but for now, at least, there’s no online substitute for institutions that can marshal years of well-developed sourcing and reporting experience . . .

In this scenario [the NY Times without the print edition], nytimes.com would begin to resemble a bigger, better, and less partisan version of the Huffington Post, which, until someone smarter or more deep-pocketed comes along, is the prototype for the future of journalism: a healthy dose of aggregation, a wide range of contributors, and a growing offering of original reporting. This combination has allowed the HuffPo to digest the news that matters most to its readers at minimal cost, while it focuses resources in the highest-impact areas. What the HuffPo does not have, at least not yet, is a roster of contributors who can set agendas, conduct in-depth investigations, or break high-level news. But the post-print Times still would.

The article captures what’s happening and what’s likely to happen: the end of many daily print newspapers, preserving profitable Sunday or weekend editions (e.g., the Chrisitan Science Monitor). 

The NY Times in particular is a trusted, multi-media brand that could potentially survive the scenario described in the article. However there are few other papers that could (WSJ, USAToday and a few others). The Web will provide the content, albeit of potentially lesser quality in most cases, that may disappear with the end of most daily print newspapers. Wire services such as AP, AFP and Reuters would dominate the online news, supplemented by commentary, columns and blogging. Video from TV and amateurs alike would also be prevalent. 

People are more interested in news today than at any time in the past arguably. They’re just not willing to pay for a daily newspaper. 

We can’t predict the future with certainty; and the “consequences for democracy” of the demise of daily print newspapers might not come to pass at all. In fact the Web might shine more light on government, etc. But we clearly seem to be reaching the end of an era culturally. 

Take a look at the article and let me know whether you agree or disagree with its predictions and observations.

SpotMixer Gains New Funding, Distribution

There are lots of folks in the SMB video-ad-creation segment: TurnHere, Jivox, Mixpo, Spotzer, SpotRunner and SpotMixer, among many others. The challenges in the space, generally speaking, are three: 

• SMB advertiser acquisition
• Features/functionality (video quality might be in here)
• Distribution (and tracking/analytics)

Those aren’t in any order of difficulty.

In “round 1″ everyone was busy pushing video to SMBs through sales channel partners and/or trying to gain self-service adoption if that was the model. In addition, competitors were trying to build scalable and economically efficient “platforms” for video creation. The Spotzer-MerchantCircle deal is perhaps the ultimate example of automated, mass video-ad creation. 

But the missing piece in many of these scenarios was distribution. Many companies put videos on their own sites or directories put them up and very often the videos wind up on YouTube.  That helps for SEO but doesn’t really represent actual distribution in my mind. That’s because people generally don’t go to YouTube to look for plumbers or contractors or lawyers. However, hosting video on YouTube does allow it to be uploaded to Google Maps, where it is relevant to those sorts of lookups. 

SpotRunner of course began with cable TV distribution and moved online later. DIY video site Jivox has been building a video distribution network. And Mixpo, which has been positioning itself as a platform did a deal with Comcast, which has its own cable TV distribution of course. 

SpotMixer, which this post is really supposed to be about, has had distribution via YellowBook, Superpages and several other places. The company is now announcing the addition of the Google content network (AdSense for Video) and combining it with Google TV Ads distribution (since July, 2008) via Google’s cable partnerships. The two distribution options now for SpotMixer customers are: the SpotMixer Network ($49 per mo.) and Google content network distribution (CPM or CPC). 

SpotMixer video creation is free; SMBs pay for distribution only. 

In speaking with Kathleen Farley, product VP, and John Love, CEO, they told me they were somewhat surprised by the apparent sophistication of many of their DIY SMB video creators, who were using pre-existing radio or cable TV ad assets and the SpotMixer video tools to create new commercials. They also described a range of A/B testing scenarios that their SMBs were doing, which were surprising to me. 

Here are some video-related data from the recent Opus/AllBusiness SMB advertiser survey:

Building out broad and appropriately targeted distribution is going to be a critical success factor unless you’re positioning entirely as a toolset/ platform or production facility. In addition, offering distribution through other media will also be a potentially significant differentiator. SpotRunner, Spotzer and SpotMixer are the ones, to my knowledge, that offer this today via cable TV. 

But an arguably greater challenge — indeed the challenge of the SMB market as a whole — is advertiser acquisition. Farley and Love told me that their newly announced $9 million B round was in significant part about building awareness and SMB customer acquisition.

SpotMixer is owned by consumer DIY video site One True Media.

Snake Oil for SMBs

One of the reasons why SMBs are not moving online more quickly is the “noise” from all the competing marketing offers directed toward them, many with dubious associated claims. Indeed, there’s a fair amount of “snake oil” out there. 

I’m not sure whether this falls into that category but it’s yet another directory launch trying to attract SMB marketing dollars: LookItLocal. 

And check out the testimonial:

“I am always on the lookout for sites like LookItLocal.com that can help my small business grow efficiently while advertising at a reasonable cost. Our sales have quadrupled, and calls to our store have gone through the roof. We only purchased the $30 a month plan and were very happy with the return on the investment. Where were you 5 years ago when I started my business. I’m glad your services are here today help small and medium business”.

This quote seems a bit too “canned” to be real. And I couldn’t identify/locate the person whom it’s attributed to.

What Should the YP Publishers Do?

Inspired in part by Chris Silver Smith’s post yesterday I’d like to invite any and all to make suggestions regarding what measures — general and specific — the yellow pages publishers should take to improve the outlook for the industry.

Those who would like to provide guest posts on this blog are welcome to. Others can either comment or email me suggestions. I’ll compile the list and republish them.

This is no time for schadenfreude but instead for constructive suggestions. Put yourself in the CEO role at one of these publishers. What would you do?

Now’s your chance to help/second guess/etc.

Putting the Reviews Debate to Rest

When reviews first started showing up in the local segment there was a debate about whether they would alienate advertisers and whether they were optional or mandatory from a consumer standpoint. Over the course of the past three years that question has been answered many times: yes they’re mandatory and yes they’re challenging from an advertiser POV (though most SMBs have a positive view of reviews).

Here’s relevant online consumer data that Nielsen put out in December (n=1,000):

• 81%  of online shoppers have read product or retailer reviews by other customers when doing their holiday shopping this year
• 71% agree that consumer reviews make them more comfortable that they are buying the right product
• 63% of online shoppers indicated that it was important to have multiple reviews for each product
• 14 % looked for reviews from an established source
• 3%  sought out reviews by people they knew personally

Here are some of the charts (all Nielsen created):

Note in Table 3 that people are doing price comparisons and inventory checks to the extent they can before visiting the store. And 12% said they ordered online and picked up in store (see Krillion, NearbyNow).

Also, in Table 4 note the role of trust/brand in the decision of which sites to visit (direct navigation). Search followed probably after a generic product search (e.g., “All Clad 14 inch pan”).

___

Will Scott pointed out that these are datapoints related to product shopping. Here’s a post that contains a range of data on consumers’ use of reviews in a service business context.

Didn’t Get Your Fill of Predictions?

Never fear. Matt McGee has done the painstaking work of rounding up lots and lots of predictions and organizing them by category and posting them here on a Big List. 

Here’s the Local-Mobile category:

• Greg Sterling: Prediction: Much More Mobile in 2009
• Kelsey Group: Kelsey Group Analysts Identify Key 2009 Trends to Watch in Local Media
• Web Analytics World: Predictions for Mobile in 2009
• Local Search News: Local Search in ‘09: Going Mobile
• Local SEO Guide: Local SEO Predictions 2009

Most predictions turn out to be directionally correct but mostly wrong on their timing. That’s even more true with revenue forecasts. 

This year the economy will really be the lever that determines how fast or slow everything goes. That’s the massive “X variable” in this equation.

SEL Column: ‘Saving the Yellow Pages’

Chris Smith, who used to be with Idearc, writes today’s Locals Only column at SEL in which he makes a range of specific recommendations to directory publishers. Here’s his list:

1. Come up with some way to stop distributing books to people who no longer use them.
2. Make it clear on your phonebook covers how you’re making up for the environmental impact of the books, if you must continue to blanket-distribute.
3. Get industry usage statistics to be rock-solid and dependable.
4. Step up your public relations game!
5. Add tracking phone numbers to every single YP ad, and let advertisers see the results.
6. Drop the cost of print advertising!
7. Bundle, bundle, bundle!
8. Time to get Internet and mobile savvy!
9. Fix your damn data!
10. Merge yourselves.

Some of these things are being done to varying degrees today. It’s an interesting and thoughtful discussion, however, and worth a look.

Another idea might be to develop more direct outreach to SMBs and involve them directly in product decision-making in a similar way to what Google is doing with mobile.

Here Come the ‘Internet Ready TVs’

Last week I briefly blogged about the Internet coming to TV. Sling Catcher now goes “both ways,” streaming Internet video to TV as well as TV to PCs. Obviously Apple TV does a version of this too. Indeed, there are now a range of boxes and ways to get online video onto a TV screen.

Today both the WSJ and the NY Times offer a preview of TVs that to varying degrees are incorporating Internet access capabilities without the need for a set-top box. From the Journal:

On Monday, Netflix Inc. is expected to announce a deal with Korea’s LG Electronics Inc. that will make a Netflix online-video service available on a new line of high-definition TV sets from LG due out this spring. The online service offers 12,000 movie and television titles.

Amid other developments pegged to this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Yahoo Inc. and Intel Corp. plan to announce support from several major consumer-electronics companies to sell TV sets that come with software, dubbed widgets, that make it easier to call up Web content on TV sets using ordinary remote controls rather than computer keyboards.

The Times’ piece is generally about whether consumers will bite on Blu-ray or whether they’ll simply bypass the technology and go for the new generation of Internet-enabled TVs:

This year will be crucial for the new format. Heavy holiday discounting and the natural decline in electronics prices over time have pushed prices for some Blu-ray players under $200, a drop of well more than half in the last few years — and into the realm of affordability for many. At the same time, Blu-ray’s backers, including Sony and the Walt Disney Company, face a growing chorus of skeptics that says the window for a high-definition disc format may be closing fast.

One reason is that discs of all kinds may become obsolete as a new wave of digital media services starts to flow into the living room. On Monday, for example, the Korean television maker LG Electronics plans to announce a new line of high-definition televisions that connect directly to the Internet with no set-top box required. The televisions will be able to play movies and television shows from online video-on-demand services, including Netflix.

Beyond these new TVs, Blu-ray is trying to gain adoption at a time when consumers are less likely to replace perfectly good DVD players and disks. Blu-ray really hasn’t successfully made the case to the public and the recession makes it more of an uphill battle for the new format.

The “win” over HD last year may turn out to be a Phyrric victory.

New Local Search News Site

eLocal Listing’s Steve Espinosa has launched Local Search News. It’s a mix of tactical/practical advice and general news. Most of Steve’s current contributors are SEO practitioners.

But it appears to have an interesting range of voices and will contribute more knowledge to the local segment.

Congrats Steve.

Newspapers, YPs Sing the De-Listing Blues

First it happened to Idearc and now RH Donnelley:

R.H. Donnelley Corporation, one of the nation’s leading Yellow Pages and online local commercial search companies, announced today that The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has determined that the trading in the common stock of R.H. Donnelley should be suspended in view of the fact that the Company did not maintain a market capitalization of at least $25 million over a consecutive 30 trading day period as required by the continued listing standards. As a result of the suspension of the NYSE listing, R.H. Donnelley expects its common stock to begin trading over-the-counter (OTC) on the Pink Sheets beginning on January 2, 2009 under the symbol RHDC. Pink Sheets provides the leading inter-dealer electronic quotation and trading system in the OTC securities market.

Newspaper publisher Lee Enterprises also faces de-listing. According to MediaPost:

Lee informed shareholders that it received a letter from NYSE warning of possible de-listing on Dec. 30, but also said it has a plan to increase share value and market capitalization to restore compliance. It said it would tell NYSE the details of this plan by Friday, Jan. 9; the NYSE allows a six-month grace period for noncompliant companies to shore up their stock prices, but this grace period can be canceled if market capitalization also remains too low.

What’s amazing is that Idearc and RH Donnelley have billions in revenues that are many times their market caps, which reflect their debt loads and investors’ pessimistic view of their prospects.

Separately in a move to boost ad revenues, the NY Times said it will sell display ads on the front page of the print edition. This has been done by other papers for some time, but the Times had yet to cross that line.

2009: Newspaper Apocalypse?

As US consumers look for ways to save money, one of the things that will continue to suffer is newspaper subscription revenue. Paid newspaper circulation reached its peak in 1999 and has been on a downward trend since. But 2009 could bring a dramatic decline to those rolls.  

Pew recently found that the Internet was second only to TV as a source of news for Americans:

Currently, 40% say they get most of their news about national and international issues from the internet, up from just 24% in September 2007. For the first time in a Pew survey, more people say they rely mostly on the internet for news than cite newspapers (35%). Television continues to be cited most frequently as a main source for national and international news, at 70%.

Source: Pew People and the Press (12/08)

The “newspaper of the future” is the smartphone and you’re starting to see specialized apps (i.e., for the iPhone) from AP, USAToday, ABCNews and others accordingly.