RefreshClassifieds

Facebook has launched an updated Marketplace powered by the Oodle classfied service.  The relationship was initially announced a few months ago and has just launched today.  Leading up to the launch Facebook deprecated their Marketplace API, there is currently no way for Facebook Applications or Facebook Connect sites to publish to Facebook Marketplace.

The Facebook Marketplace had been neglected by Facebook with their focus on developing other areas of the platform.  It seemed like most of the Marketplace listings ( atleast in the Toronto area ) did come through the Marketplace API so it will be interesting to see how the new launch is received.

Oodle has been doing very as the online classified partner of choice for many online communities, including Myspace and AOL.  I was lucky enough to meet Craig Donato a few years ago at an ICMA conference but I’m impressed with the way he’s grown the business.  I’m sure there are many Newspaper executives are also envious of the Oodle growth.

Google is quickly becoming the dominate source for business directory listings.  Sensis announced they have partnered with Google to provide all of their business listings.  Sensis is the leading publishing of business directories and classified products in Australia.  No commercial terms were disclosed on the partnership but Google Australia and Sensis indicated there would be a revenue sharing relationship.

Google has a similar partnership with the Yellow Pages Group in Canada and competes aggressively in the US market with its Google maps service.

It would appear that more deals like this are invitable with the popularity of the Google Maps services and the ability to search business listings.  Business directory provides will need to negotiate with Google if they want to stay part of the advertising relationship or risk advertisers going directly to Google.

Trader Corporation, owner of the Autotrader brand in Canada, has announced an exclusive partnership with the Canadian International Autoshow.  The Canadian International Autoshow is held annually in Toronto and the largest Canadian Automotive show.

Typically attendees of the Autoshow are consumer that are looking for a new automobile.  Attendence for the week long event typically exceeds 300,000 and the show occupies 800,000 squarefeet in the convention center and the skydome.

This looks like a good partnership for both parties as Autotrader seeks to reach customer looking for an automobile and encourage them to consider a used vehicle as part of their search.  The Autoshow typically benefits from increased exposure on the Autotrader publications and Autotrader.ca.

The relationship seems to be focused exclusively on the Toronto show.  There is no mention of the regional shows in other Canadian markets.

Today we saw 2 announcements for very focused directories.  This is an interesting online trend which highlights the practicality of micro directories.

The first is for Roofing-Directory.com which focuses on connecting consumers with roofing contractors that will repair or replace your roof.   The site supports commercial and residencial roofing companies and is currently available in California, Florida, Illnois, Maryland and Virginia.   Contractors are pre-screened with an assurance from the site that they will provide a free estimate before starting work.  The cost is $10 for a lifetime inclusion for a roofing company and free for consumers.

The second directory we saw was local-attorneys.com, which focus on connecting consumers with legal council in their area.  The site includes a variety of different legal fields and is available in most states.  The cost $50 for inclusion in the directory and free for consumers.

Are micro-directories the future?  With web search it would seem to be a good strategy to use these directories to increase your visibility to consumers.  Its not clear how these micro-directories will stand up in the long term though with consumers not maintaining a relationship between the different sites.  The major directories services build up a level of trust and assurance with consumers so that consumers return and re-use the directory.  It will be hard for these micro-directories to build use trust, their biggest value might be as a SEO link provider.

Ziplocal.com has added reviews from Gayot, WaySpa, The Globe and Mail, EYEWeekly and Sweetspot.ca to its directory service.  Users generated reviews can be a great way for a business to stand out in a crowded directory listing.   The challenge with user generated reviews has always been avoiding people that try to manipulate the system.  By combining reviews from multiple sources it looks like Ziplocal is in a good position to avoid this sort of abuse.

Ziplocal has also added a new feature for restaurants that lets users make a reservation with the restaurant via the OpenTable system.  The system has very few listings in Canada though, with only 92 in the Toronto area.  This could be a great differentiator for the Ziplocal in the restaurant category, which is generally a high use and value category for directories.

Brandan Connell, the owner of Rankrover.com, has launched a new human edited directory to compete with DMOZ.   The new directory site is called Nicadema and features the ability accept reciprocal links and paid options.   Reciprocal links are free and paid options start at $9 and go to $21 dollars for sponsored links.   All payments are accepted via Paypal.

DMOZ , the open directory project, contains about 4.6M sites, 70K editors and receives around 2M unique visitors daily.  The DMOZ has become very big and doesn’t currently allow for paid options to separate advertisers.

Techcrunch is reporting that OLX.com raised $13M from General Catalyst, Bessemer Venture Partners, Founders Fund, and DN Capital.  OLX.com aims to compete with Craigslist and other free classified sites but seems.
The most interesting aspect of the OLX business plan is perhaps their partnership to white label their site with Friendster.com, the social networking site.    Unlike the early Oodle partnership with Facebook, the Friendster relationship seems to provide OLX as the exclusive classified site.

OLX.com is also very popular outside of the US and a great web experience for users.    The sites traffic has been relatively flat over the last year and it would appear that a growth strategy for North America is required.

Overall its great to see a Classified sites still getting funding with Craigslist and Kijiji competing so actively.

Homenet Inc and Gumiyo have announced a partnership to leverage the Gumiyo’s mobile platform with the Homenet dealer inventory management tools.  The Homenet Inventory Online service is used by over 12,000 dealers primarily in the US and processes 2.5 million vehicles daily.

A key requirement in the US automotive industry are window stickers which are required in most states and need to be very accurate.  As a result most dealers outsource the inventory management process to third-parties, like Homenet.

Gumiyo provides the ability to view classified information on mobile devices.  Gumiyo users can view small brochures with the classified listings.  Gumiyo can support a variety of classified services but the Homenet service would be focused on the Automotive business.

This looks like a great relationship for both companies, the dealers they service and ultimately classified users.  With increasing pressure from free classified provides its good to see innovative approaches and partnerships.

Autotrader.ca has launched a New Car search and Autotrader New Car publication. Autotrader.ca is the number one automotive site in Canada with 2 million unique monthly visitors and it makes sense that they would expand into the New Car category. The Autotrader New Car magazine will be distributed in Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, and Montreal with 230,000 copies in circulation.

Autotrader Canada has traditionally been a used car source and the brand took over the automotive classified advertising space in many Canadian markets. Newspapers and other media outlets have been forced focus on New Car advertising revenue, and done fairly well off the automotive manufactures.

The Autotrader.ca New Car offering appears to be positioned at giving automotive manufactures more choice with regards to advising. Currently the New Car search is separated from Used Cars but its not clear that consumers make a hard distinction between New and Used when they start searching. In most cases the price point of new cars puts them out of reach but with some incentive programs the cost for a new car is very close. In the future it new and used advertising may share more of the media outlets.

Disclosure: Colin Smillie worked with Trader Corporation in 2007, which owns Autotrader.ca.

Yellowpages Corporation is running a video contest for the funniest Canadian video and offering a $500,000 cash price and $500,000 charity donation.   The contest is part of the Yellowpages.travel site launch with positions Yellowpages Corporation in the travel industry.

Yellowpages.travel focuses on aggregating travel offers from a variety of sites.  Users can complete a single search and get results from :

• Expedia
• Travelocity
• Orbitz
• Priceline
• Kayak
• HotWire
• SideStep
• Hotels.com
• other major travel websites

This is a better experience for users since that don’t have to visit multiple travel sites and positions Yellowpages Corporation in a category where directories have traditionally not done well.