Crafty Bastards

Crafty = skillful in underhand or evil schemes; cunning; deceitful; sly.

Bastard = a vicious, despicable, or thoroughly disliked person.

The above definitions are from Dictionary.com

And to whom am I referring to with such strong language?

The Local Search Association.

Who are they?

According to their website... Formerly the Yellow Pages Association...Neg Norton is president of the Association. Joe Walsh, CEO of Yellowbook, is the chairman of the board of directors. Local Search Association board member companies include Super Media, Local Insight Media, DexOne, DAC Group, AT&T Advertising Solutions, Wahlstrom, Telmetrics, Inc, Nationwide Media, Yellow Pages Group and Marquette Group.

And:

Mission Statement

The mission of YPA is to LEAD, SERVE, GROW and ADVOCATE for the Yellow Pages Industry.

What has me upset is that the phone book people are trying to piggy back on data that is clearly not about them.

Read the following but be careful, you and I are not looking at the online yellow pages, we are Googling, Binging and Yahooing.

Internet Yellow Pages Thrives on Reputation

According to The State of Local Search study by comScore, new data show local searches now account for 13% of all core search activity on top web search portals as of January 2011. Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) and local search sites also exhibited strong growth with 5.6 billion local searches in 2010, a 15% increase over 2009.

According to Neg Norton, President, Local Search Association, "...convenience, trust, and brand are all important in attracting the search...local search providers that offer all three attributes to the consumer will be in a good position to deliver to the advertiser..."

58% of respondents who choose an IYP site first, like DexKnows, Superpages, Yellowbook and YP.com, do so due to brand recognition and reputation. Nearly a third (30%) indicated they chose an IYP site first because of its reputation for local business information.

Portal searchers were more likely to conduct local searches as part of broad information gathering, while primary IYP searchers reported conducting local searches to look for contact information with specific products or services in mind. Despite differences, over half of local business searchers choosing portal or IYP sites for primary local search are highly satisfied.

The study shows significant growth in mobile local search use, which provides opportunities for local businesses to engage with potential customers via mobile. In January 2011, 77.1 million mobile subscribers accessed local content on a mobile device, up 34% from the previous year. Local content users accounted for 33% of mobile subscribers, with 87% owning a GPS-capable handset (up 9% from the previous year).

App use for mobile local content grew 34%, with 56% of respondents using apps for local content. Browsers lead in usage of local content with 73%, dropping from 75% last year. Local content via SMS dropped to 25% from 30%.

Core mobile usage behaviors showed local content dominating, as mobile subscribers increasingly turn to their mobile phones for information on maps, weather, traffic, retail and other local content. Online daily deal offers and discounts have also emerged as an additional customer acquisition channel for local businesses.

According to Gillian Heltai, Senior Director at comScore "...many new entrants to the daily deal space, but awareness is a big issue...wth IYP sites already interacting with local business searchers...there is the prospect of intercepting shoppers who are looking to buy and could become return customers."

Norton concludes that "...the market is changing so rapidly that...small and medium size businesses are working to understand how to be effective and use these tools to their advantage..."

(Source: The Center For Media Research, 07/26/11)

Sphere: Related Content