DexOne has launched a weddings vertical:
Per the release . . . features of DexKnows Weddings include:
— Videos — Hundreds of wedding-related videos from local businesses, including ‘how-to’s’ in photography, floral arrangements and food design
— Q&A — A social networking community where brides can chat with other brides about wedding planning needs and ideas and offer suggestions on local vendors
— Celebrity Wedding Planner — Wedding planning tips and secrets from renowned celebrity wedding planner Yifat Oren, who has coordinated weddings for such stars as Kevin Costner, Jason Bateman and Mariska Hargitay, among others. Yifat provides the latest in wedding design, inspiring alternatives and tips for brides on all types of budgets.
— Articles — Thousands of original articles designed to provide informative content, such as tips, recommendations and how-to guides
This is smart and probably the beginning of a number of verticals by Dex.
The only “risk” in such a verticals strategy is that it would be done primarily for SEO value and thus not given the kind of attention and quality that would be required for long-term success of such an effort.
Screenwerk 
March 15, 2010 at 3:01 pm
SuperPages is doing something similiar with http://www.superpages.com/supertips/ yet they also seem to be having trouble with bit.ly short links. I find the strategy very forward thinking. About time the big publishers recognize the value of article writing and content!
Thanks for the heads up!
Mike
March 15, 2010 at 8:57 pm
I beg your pardon but SEO is not a crappy approach. This will give you more visibility if done ethically.
March 16, 2010 at 2:13 am
Interesting tidbits from The Knots’ recent (Feb 2010) earnings release:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/189437-the-knot-inc-q4-2009-earnings-call-transcript
“In general, the wedding industry proved to be recession resistant, and during the course of 2009 over 1.9 million members enrolled on The Knot and WeddingChannel just as they did in 2008.”
“Our local online business, which had a record fourth quarter in 2008, maintained its sales momentum, growing every quarter in 2009 both sequentially and over prior year quarters”
“Keep in mind, we reach 80% of the brides who are planning a wedding in the United States. We are currently servicing less than 3% of the vendors.”
So they may see it as attractive vertical, or it may be a defensive move as The Knot looks to increase ad buys from local vendors .
March 16, 2010 at 1:05 pm
Thanks Mike. Yes, weddings are a good vertical. Don’t think DexOne is doing this defensively. It’s part of a broader “verticals” strategy
March 16, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Andre:
Not saying SEO is crappy. But local SEO is now much less viable that it once was. Can’t simply launch a site now for SEO reasons and expect it to perform in the same way it once could
March 28, 2010 at 9:46 pm
This looks like a great resource for planning my wedding, thanks 🙂
April 13, 2010 at 11:16 am
[…] By Greg Sterling Not long ago DexOne (formerly RHD) launched a vertical strategy with a weddings site. I didn’t talk to the company but assumed this was the first in a series of verticals that it […]