Courtesy of Lost Remote is this story by Cory Bergman about a smart new service from Google for the US marketplace. When searching for a business you get to connect with them by phone – easily. The service is free for callers and the businesses. Google is on a win win with this. Who needs the Yellow Pages? Who needs flyers in the letter box promoting local businesses? Who needs local newspaper classifieds?
I think what this goose and people like him seem to forget is that most people really dont want their phone number on some marketing list which will almost certainly find it’s way to an Indian based telemarking company.
What happens then?????
I think we are all familiar with that special accent which calls us at the worst time to happily inform us that we have won a trip around the world AND a Merceded Benz “no strings attached”.
This call back technology has been around for years and so far no good.
Hi Observer, or coward really.
Valuable information is shared on this blog, why would you call someone a goose for no other reason than you can, hiding behind a name.
If you read between the lines, one can observe that this blogs owner may be looking to the future and the future of newspapers etc and therefore his business.
Contructive critism is cool, not critism because you got out of bed the wrong side.
A lot of our clients have drastically cut YP spend this year. I am talking reductions in size of ad and consequent cost savings of thousands. Some of this money will go to improving their online presence and some on Google and other PPC.
This year’s Sydney YP 2 volumes look a lot thinner. Has anybody still got last years edition so that we can do a page number comparison?
A lot of people I know are also advertising on the free ads in Cracker etc rather than Trading Post which must be having an effect.
Those T3 punters may be in for some shocks.
Derek Derek Derek
Who made you God?
I commented on the blog which is what this forum is for isn’t it?
Or perhaps we should run things past a sensitive petal like you first in case a comment infringes the parameters you set.
My comments are my own, as yours are your own.
I say the author of the blog is a goose if he thinks that people are going to blatantly make their private phone numbers public property.
As I stated the “call back” system has been around for at least 2 years that I know of and probably longer. Why hasn’t it taken off yet.
I’m not an advocate of the print media. I think it has it’s place but they are in for a bit of a shock if they think the next generation will be relying on newspapers and magazines the way we do.
I am an advocate of the internet. This year, for the very first time, my employer cancelled his yellow pages print advertising and instead opted for the yellow pages online product and the dLook.com.au online directory to ensure national coverage at a fraction of the cost of the printed product.
Actually “Dereck” doesn’t really sound like an Indian name, perhaps you are the Australian agent for one of those pesky telemarketing companies who will no doubt use the “call back” system to make themselves the pain in the butt that you are.
Sydney YP is down about a 100 pages in a quick page check. Is that significant in a publication of over 3000 pages in two volumes? I am not sure since this does not take into account differences in the amount of editorial material but there would have been a reduction in revenue in any event given the significant discounts being offered.
I had a look at dlink.com.au – $25 per month seems a bit much for what’s on offer. No visitation stats leaves one wondering – the link to Hitwise doesn’t go anywhere. Have you had any results from Dlook Obbo?
We used http://www.alexa.com and http://www.ranking.com to check http://www.DLOOK.com.au stats.
Both these sites are very favourable to the new site.
We are a real estate company and so far we have had a very good response to our listing. We actually took the $49.50 per month option and got to cover the whole of Australia.
I think it will take some time to see a significant drop in yellow pages print advertising but I think it’s days of growth are over.
I did a quick survey in our office (25 people) and as I suspected not one person uses the print copy of the yellow pages.
The sales people in our office are using the “print listings” feature of the dLook product to produce daily call lists. The online quote system of the dLook product is also a feature we use a lot in our property management department to secure better prices for our landlords repairs which we are responsible for arranging.
WOW, this reads like an ad for the dLook directory site but for $49.50 per month we think it’s good value.
One of the girls in our office actually went out on a date last Friday with a guy she met on the dLook dating pages.
We looked at the $25 per month option but I agree with you in saying that it didn’t really offer that much value. That’s why we went with the premium option.
Our yellow pages online listing is also producing good results for us but for $5,840 per year it would want to.
We also listed on True Local and My Local directories but so far they have been a waste of time and money.
List at http://www.findit.com.au – it’s free and when we do start charging for directory entries will be around $10.00 a month for small businesses. We launched the new look today – check it out.
Hi Mark
Just looked at the find it site. Thanks.
Our interest is in http://www.findit.com.au