Where’s the Local AdSense Alternative?

In the Locals Only column today, Andrew Shotland asks the question “Where Is The Competitor To AdSense In Local Search?“:

Google has created a great thing with AdSense.  I work with several sites that generate thousands of dollars a month from of it and I have built an entire business that does nothing but help local search sites optimize their AdSense revenue.  I love it and so do my clients.  That said, it seems like the world is screaming out for a credible AdSense competitor that is not Microhoo and I think the local search world is the right place to start.

Because yellow pages-type search queries typically signal an intent to purchase locally, they have an extremely high value, particularly in relation to a lot of other types of ad inventory on the web.  Local search directories that generate a decent amount of traffic can make anywhere from $15 to $100 eCPMs just by participating in the AdSense program.  Perhaps this is why there are so many sites jumping into the local search game.

In the UK directory publisher Yell offers a version of “local AdSense” today. There’s also a local-mobile version in the US through V-Enable. Reach Local has a Local Xchange. And MediaTraks has an IYP exchange (don’t know if it’s still operating). Beyond this, I know of a couple of efforts to make something like this for the local PC Internet. We’ll see whether they in fact show up.

At #SMX East Today: Lo-Mo Search

I’ll be moderating the local and mobile sessions today at SMX East. Over at Twitter I’ll try and post any interesting tidbits, data and general observations on any of the subjects that arise during the sessions on:

• Mobile search
• Mobile apps
• Local Search Ranking Factors
• Maps

8Coupons: the Coupon Site That Could

I met briefly last week with 8Coupons, which is based in NY. The very small company began life exclusively as a mobile platform for coupon distribution, doing direct sales to local businesses. Talk about hard: selling local SMBs on mobile couponing. (In past surveys I conducted with Opus Research, about 10% of SMBs said they were using mobile as a marketing platform; but I think that number is high.)

Over the course of the past couple years, 8Coupons has learned its lessons and is now using mobile simply as one distribution channel among others. The site’s also still focused on small businesses and local deals, but not as focused on selling ads directly to them. It’s also pursuing a range of relationships with third parties that will enable it to gain coupons and deals content without relying upon direct local sales.

They told me that the site is allowing users to post deals (like RetailMeNot), as well as SMBs directly — anyone can post a deal. Interestingly they said that they see NY area merchants sometimes posting coupons and linking back to MerchantCircle pages where those coupons were created. I was also told that they see roughly 22% redemption on average for their signature “Ocho Loco” coupon deals.

I’m always pleased when I see entrepreneurs able to make course corrections and finding success. I was somewhat skeptical of the model when I first heard about it last year:

Another thing that prompted me to write this was a conversation with a coupon startup in the NY area called 8coupons.com. The site is trying to sell coupons to local SMBs — lots of heavy lifting there . . .

But it seems that they’re doing well in their home market of New York, and they’ll be expanding over time (they’re in other markets but without the deals density of NY). There’s a new site coming and some other interesting developments as well. These guys are in a very crowded space but they’re forging ahead. They’re self-funded, so far. As they gain more visibility they’ll get more VCs coming out of the woodwork to offer them investment deals (each time they appear in the NY Times, for example [2-3 times to date] they get a call).

Another Take on Telmetrics’ Call Data

Telmetrics’ Bill Dinan released data a couple of weeks ago about leads and calls coming out of print yellow pages, direct mail and online. Dinan argues that print yellow pages should move to a PPCall model and his data support that position. The top-level data put out by Telmetrics were the following:

• Print Yellow Pages ads average 20.5 calls per month at 2.7 minutes in length
• Internet Yellow Pages ads average 20 calls per month at 1.3 minutes in length
• Direct Mail ads average 8.4 calls per month at 1.7 minutes in length
• Interactive/SEM ads average 6.4 calls per month at 1.3 minutes in length

Richard Rosen a call-tracking veteran, who now runs FastCall411, made several comments on my post reporting the data, not about the wisdom on going to a PPCall model for print yellow pages but about why IYP calls were half the length of print (so are SEM ads). He offers his own thoughts on the data in a blog post:

With several years in the call measurement space serving Yellow Page publishers, I concur that Print YPs deliver leads and should not be afraid to report them. However, the difference in the data – average call length of IYP (1.3 mins) vs PYP (2.7 mins) – strikes me as unusually high. I look at the Telmetics data above and I do not see the superior quality of PYP leads and an argument for pay-per-call, I see a fundamental issue with IYP call tracking and an opportunity to solve the challenge revealed within the data: Why are IYP leads 50% in quality compared to PYP leads?

Rosen’s full post is here.

Local.com and the Case of the Fake Release

A fake press release went out late Thursday falsely stating that Microsoft had acquired Local.com:

The Microsoft Deal buyout of Local.com Corporation (LOCM) at over a 100% premium is just shy of a $200 Million dollar deal, a real success for shareholders of LOCM which has increased from teh $3 range to over $5 by close of trading today.

On Friday morning the company issued its own statement to correct the false impression:

The company has not been acquired, nor is it in discussions with Microsoft about a potential acquisition.

Barron’s has more detail on the controversy. I suspect it might have been someone trying to pump up the stock and then sell it before the truth was discovered. It’s unclear what went on exactly but it appears to be more than a prank.

Who Owns Maps on the iPhone?

I was alerted yesterday by Anthony Avolio that Google is putting sponsored links on Maps on the iPhone. Here’s an example for “Hotels, Boston”:

They’re also in the list view:

I suppose it was a matter of time before Google did this to mirror the PC experience as it has been doing elsewhere in mobile (with syncing searches and starring locations).

But the question of who “owns” maps on the iPhone arises in my mind. Apple and Google worked closely together to develop the experience but Google’s inclusion of ads suggests that Google believes it owns the iPhone’s map. However Apple may not be entirely pleased with this change. It’s not clear to me. I haven’t spoken to anyone at either company. Apple might be indifferent to the addition of the ads; they’re fairly unobtrusive.

But what do you think? Do you think this will upset Apple? Do you think that Apple will inevitably bounce Google (as many do) from its central mapping role on the device?

Mark Law Leaving MapQuest

It was pointed out to me that Mark Law, who’s been a driving force behind many of the improvements and upgrades at MapQuest, is leaving AOL. 

I haven’t spoken to Mark about it so I don’t know the story. But it’s a loss for AOL in my view. While there remain many qualified people at AOL there this is a time of danger for MapQuest, which must continue to add features, experiment and innovate or it could fall into a permanent second place (or worse) position to Google Maps. Yahoo! is the cautionary tale: a leader until it stopped investing and then neglected its mapping property for the most part. 

Yext Scores a $25M Round of Funding

I guess presenting at the recent TechCrunch conference was a big win for Yext, to the tune of $25 million. Reportedly the money will be used to hire sales people and expand the range of categories that Yext is going after. Any direct sales effort to the SMB market is dicey but Yext claimed at the show to be on track for $20 million in revenue this year.

It’s not entirely clear to me how they’ve reached that revenue level without a brand and much visibility in the market, but I’ll find out.

Also, here’s another seemingly immutable principle of the VC culture on display: if you’re already succeeding there’s plenty of money to take you to the “next level” — or should I say “yext level.”

Plusmo Acquistion: Strategic Role of Mobile

Anyone in the local segment that isn’t already up and running in mobile or doesn’t have a mobile strategy is in a difficult spot. There’s a deepening connection between local and mobile, between the PC and mobile handset, as evidenced by yesterday’s announcement of the acquisition of app and widget developer Plusmo:

AT&T Inc. today announced the acquisition of privately-held Plusmo, Inc., a leading provider of cross-platform mobile application solutions, bringing to AT&T an open standards technology that will simplify mobile application development, accelerate innovation and deliver a better application experience for consumers. Plusmo will become a part of AT&T Interactive, and the Plusmo mobile application development platform is expected to be used by multiple AT&T subsidiaries, including AT&T Mobility. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

As the quote from the release says this is about a range of AT&T properties and use cases, not just local. But it will be housed in the locally focused shop AT&T Interactive. Plusmo has strength in the feature phone area as well, which can be potentially exploited by AT&T to reach broader audiences than would be available exclusively through a smartphone strategy alone. There are roughly 40-45 million smartphones in the US market (comScore says 32 million), out of a total of well over 250 million mobile users (CTIA says 270 million).

It will be very interesting to see what comes out of Plusmo and AT&T over time. It could well be highly verticalized widgets/apps and movement away from YP branded properties (see Have2P, Have2Eat, etc.). 

Stepping back what we’re starting to see with directories is less a focus on particular products (print, online, mobile) an a growing focus on “leads” (in some cases performance-based) driven through whatever mechanism, platform, network or  source. The publisher wants, however, to own as much of that as possible to reduce their costs and increase margins.

Vook Launches: Multimedia Books

I first wrote about Vook in April. Today it appears the site has formally launched with four titles:

Vooks have text but also filmed scenes or sequences. It’s essentially a new medium envisioned by Brad Inman, who founded Turn Here. To call Inman’s timing impeccable might be an understatement in this case. Here’s what the email announcing the launch said:

The Vook Team is pleased to announce the launch of our first vooks, all published in partnership with Atria, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc. These four titles—Promises, a romance by Jude Deveraux, The 90 Second Fitness Solution, a fitness book by Pete Cerqua, Embassy, a thriller by Richard Doetsch and Return to Beauty, a health book by Narine Nikogosian—elegantly realize Vook’s mission: to blend a book with videos into one complete, instructive and entertaining story.

With the iPhone, other smartphone platforms and forthcoming tablets this will become a hot medium. Indeed, all future digital books will probably incorporate video in some way (either author interviews or Vook-like scenes).

Placebase, Google and the iPhone

There’s of speculation (and many conspiracy theories) about Apple’s purchase of a small mapping company Placebase earlier this year. Placebase had a product called Pushpin, which was a competitor to Google Maps essentially. Pushpin still exists; the product is now being operated by Urban Mapping.

Former Placebase CEO Jaron Waldman is now at Apple, with most of his team — on the “geo team.” I spoke to Waldman at some length a week ago at the Metaplaces event and have known him casually for awhile. Wisely he wouldn’t talk extensively about what he’s doing except to say that he liked being at Apple and that it was a really interesting place.

It’s pretty clear that Apple values geo/location/maps. It’s also clear that Apple considers Google a competitor. So there’s logic behind some of the conspiracy theorists’ statements that Apple may be gearing up at some point to replace Google Maps or have its own proprietary offering. But the geo team, I’ll wager, is about much more than simply maps and Apple already has some patents in the area, which they’re probably working on building out.

Newspapers, Pay Walls and ‘the Future of News’

There are lots of experiments going on with news reporting and online news. Among the most interesting is non-profit investigative journalism project Pro Publica. But the SF Bay Area News Project recently announced may be another model. Also a non-profit (I believe), it represents an online collaboration among the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, the Hellman Family Foundation and SF public radio station KQED. The Hellman foundation is providing $5 million in seed funding. The NY Times may also be involved in some way. The site will formally launch in 2010.

These are serious traditional journalism efforts. On the other end of the spectrum are the efforts of Examiner.com (an SF newspaper turned national online network). There much of the content comes from users and quasi-professional writers and it’s very very uneven in terms of quality. Then there’s the new national push from San Diego News Network’s Neil Senturia. These two are representative of new national news networks that seek to compete with established, traditional media and online-only local news and content sites such as Topix.

Meanwhile the NAA has reported that the print newspaper circulation slide has slowed or stopped. (MediaPost has more detail.) As news organizations look to circulation revenues to make up for ad losses, large numbers of newspapers are going to erect pay walls either this year or early next year. But free and non-profit news sites such as the Bay Area News Project (which will probably be free) will likely thwart the success of those efforts, unless they’re especially clever and thoughtful.

News remains hugely popular and one of the most popular and long-lived mobile app categories. But the issues now playing out revolve around content creation and the business model to support it.

One “X variable” in the newspaper world is the rise of the media tablets and how they’ll affect news consumption and paid content. There’s an absolute frenzy of speculation and rumor-reporting going on around Apple’s allegedly forthcoming tablet and there are at least 10 competitive offerings already in the market — or coming — including the Kindle.

Readers might be willing to pay for an “all access pass” that provides some value-added features or content and ensures one could get a publication on all the platforms desired: print, online, mobile. Micropayments ain’t gonna fly. But we’ll see.

Even as traditional newspapers and news reporting are suffering, this is also an exciting and creative time that will see the birth of new hybrid models going forward.

Bringing Real-Time Images to Google Earth/Maps

From FastCompany/Gizmodo: Here’s is an experimental approach to adding real-time information (“dynamic visualization”) to Google Earth. Watch the video; it shows traffic, sporting events and even individual movements based on the placement of cameras in and around the represented areas:

This isn’t the only effort to marry video and Google Earth. On one level this is “cool” and potentially very useful and one can imagine many applications and use cases, especially as Internet content and applications such as Google Earth move to TV screens. For example, watching live sporting events via Google Earth rather than on cable TV, or checking traffic on the commute in the morning. But there are obvious privacy and surveillance concerns.

All the Hollywood dystopian visions come to mind: Blade Runner, Terminator, Enemy of the State and so on.