The guys over at Palore have been sending me some interesting info on the local search sites they have been crawling. Recently they looked at how many sites a particular business appeared on as an advertiser. According to their data it looks like a high percentage of SMBs advertise on only one site. Check these out:
Makes sense to me. A typical SMB is probably advertising online as part of print/online package from a local Yellow Pages co. The real interesting data will be to see how this changes over the next quarter or two, particularly for Xmas.
I would expect the Reach Locals, Weblistics, and other local internet sales plays to start pulling SMBs into multiple sites.
One Response Comment
Andrew,
I believe your observations are right on. I was in the field for the last 2-3 years talking to the SMB and a large majority of them were “buying” their local yellowpages.com and that was it.
A simplified approach to extend their brand is what they are looking for but the newspapers sells the newspaper.com, the television sells the television.com and so on.
While they are selling it they are telling the advertiser this is all you need. (Causing confusion and making them purchase the wrong thing or nothing)