RefreshClassifieds

Editor & Publisher, a journal covering the Newspaper industry, is reporting that SFGate.com and Tulley’s Coffee have engaged in a test program to provide LCDs in Tulley Coffee locations with free access to SFGate.com.   Access is currently limited to news updates but may include Classified Information in the future.

We thought this was an excellent example of a Newspaper thinking outside of its traditional distribution mechanisms.  We hope to get more feedback on the test program and inclusion of Classified Information.

Over the past few weeks Google has been re-evaluating how to they rank different web directories, specifically those that are being used exclusively to get high search engine rank. For years its been a common strategy to get your web site listed into as many web directories as possible and use the combined inbound links to increase your page rank. Google appears to be changing the rules on this a little and we have the following recommendations for evaluating web directories:

1. Quality of the Companies and Links

What are the quality of the Companies and Links in the directory like? Do they all resolve? Be wary of sites that have a lot of links to companies with ad specific landing pages or under review just don’t really appear to be legitimate businesses.

2. Fee Process

Is there a fee to submit? If the fee is setup exclusively to ensure search engine ranking or covers multiple directory sites be wary. The fee should be structure should be setup such that you are paying for someone to review your company and ensure it is legitimate. If you are paying for anything else as part of the submission, like inbound links etc.. be concerned.

3. Rejection Process

Mos legitimate directories will have a rejection process and a process to mediate rejection. If the directory you a submitting to guarantees acceptance or offers assurance about increased page rank, we recommend moving on to another service.

With these quick steps you should be able to find legitimate Web Directories that can help both your business and your search engine ranking.

The Yellowpages Groups in Canada has launched their new 2007/2008 print directory in Montreal.   The Yellowpage Pages Group publishes more than  340 annual directories across Canada and runs the industry leading Yellowpages.ca web site.  The most interesting aspect of the launch announce is the quote from Jean-Pascal Lion:

“The Yellow Pages directory is still the research tool of choice for anyone ready to make a purchase,” said Jean-Pascal Lion, Vice President, Marketing, Yellow Pages Group. “Even today, contrary to popular belief, we see that advertising expenses still favor the print book. Every month, some 110 million searches are made in our directories in Canada: 74 million in print and 36 million online. Nearly twice as many users consult the print directory than Internet.”

Its interesting that the company is able to pin point that 110M searches were made with both print and online, and that online is actually the smaller category.   It would be interesting to see some independent third-party research to back this up.  It would also be interesting to compare the number of online searches with other online search providers like Google Local in Canada.

Disclosure:  Yellow Pages Group purchased Trader Media Corporation in 2006 and I was an employee of Trader Corporation from 2006 to 2007 which was owned by Yellow Pages Group.  I still own stock in Yellow Pages Group as a result.

In a response to increased driving and parking fees in the London core,  the Sun UK Newspaper has expanded its classified section to focus on parking services.  An excellent example of a classified provider seeing a market need and adapting quickly to provide service for the category.  The service is also providing some pricing guidelines to help both the renter and the landlord decide on appropriate rates for the parking spot.

Finditt.com has added Dating to its list of Classified Services.  Finditt.com has done reasonably well as a search engine/business directory but has recently been expanding into more of the classified markets.   The focus for Finditt.com seems to be on creating small micro-sites for different business verticals.  Recently they added a specialized Sushi Category to their Business Directory for this reason.

Its not clear whether this approach of creating micro-sites will help or hinder Finditt.com.  Creating too many fragment sites or sections may confuse consumers who want the simplicity of a Google like interface with multiple searches from a single interface.  It could be argued thought that by specializing they can create a more unique experience for users interested in that category and provide a more indepth experience.  In anycase it will be interesting to see if Finditt.com can apply all the resources required to develop each category.