So what do you use?
To be honest, nothing really works well for me. I’ve tried them all…
Yellow Pages
True Local
Dlook
Google maps search.
There is even a company trying to build a solution out of it from the top down;
Nowwhere, ANZ - but it thinks my origin is New Zealand so not perfect.
Some restaurant guides do OK, but there is definitely no clear winner.
I’ve found recently that I go to Google Maps and start there. At least it seems to try and keep the results ‘inside the frame’ of where I am.
The Problems
Seems like there is a big lag of leftovers from the Yellow Pages that no one can get over. I either get sponsored listings from people not in my area or I get normal listings of people not in my area.
- Is Australia too small?
- Are too few businesses actually online to build a good enough database?
What do you use and why?
What would make you use one?
Popularity: 32% [?]
15 responses so far ↓
1 Paul Keen // Jul 27, 2008 at 10:58 pm
I agree, and Sensis has a lot to answer for with rubbish data filtering through to everyone else.
brownbook.net is interesting with it being a directory based around a wiki.
2 Megan // Jul 27, 2008 at 11:18 pm
I don’t think it is the size of the DB, technology or any of that - it is a business model problem. Sensis makes money by selling listings that appear near the top of searches. Advertisers don’t want to pay money and NOT get displayed near the top of the search results page. Consumers want the most relevant result returned.
The only way this problem is going to be solved is for Sensis/someone/anyone to come up with a decent business model that caters to both consumers and advertisers. Given that Sensis makes about $1 billion dollars in revenue from Yellow (directories and online combined), it’s going to have to be one hellava model :-).
3 Martin Wells // Jul 27, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Mostly I use google maps, especially on the iphone.
In the valley it’s yelp, but they aren’t here, so not many options that work very well.
4 Meg (dLook) // Jul 27, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Mick
I find it’s generally a matter of taking a couple of seconds to filter the results. Most directories have the option of displaying only businesses located within your search parameters, or refining your search results.
It’s generally a trade off between providing maximum exposure for businesses and relevant results for consumers - hence the ability to refine.
For example you are looking for a plumber in Chatswood, do you care if the plumber comes from Chatswood or Parramatta? You might if it’s an emergency, but why shouldn’t the plumber from Parramatta have a chance at winning your business?
5 Todd Forest // Jul 28, 2008 at 2:44 am
Martin is right. In the US, Yelp has become the dominant player and best consumer experience. (though monetization is not as effective as the old yellow pages model). True Local recently launched a major redesign and appears to be focused even more on consumer feedback and input.
When you are looking for a good electrician, what do you do? Ask your friends and neighbors if they’ve used a good, reliable, cheap one. The Yelp model does this but at scale….. hopefully, this can be done in the AU market.
6 Sherif // Jul 28, 2008 at 7:13 am
Google AU + Google Maps on my mobile if im looking for something near by.
Having ‘dedicated’ local search sites is useless, because at the end of the day, Google search is getting better and better, it almost seams pointless shaving yellow pages - more and more people are just searching on Google
7 clickfind // Jul 29, 2008 at 3:21 am
At http://www.clickfind.com.au you won’t
get sponsored listings from people not in your area as we don;t do sponsored listings at all.
We have three types of matches, but we also don’t display normal listings of people not in your area.
>> Is Australia too small?
I wouldn’t think so with more than 2 million businesses. Obviously they are not all online.
>> Are too few businesses actually online to build a good enough database?
A database with few listings is not bad database is it? Agreed, it would work better because you would get the results you’re after, but thats a different matter.
cheers
8 Simon // Aug 2, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Yelp is different because Yelp delivers a local experience. If you’re in San Francisco you only see SF businesses. Most of the Australian solutions don’t work that way. OurPatch is focussed on rural and regional Australia where we’ve adopted the same model. While there are 2 million businesses in Australia there are only 4000 in Tamworth. If you live there you only need a view of this subset. Also in small towns there are only a few businesses in a particular category and premium pages are the only way truly differentiate your business from the others.
9 Dean (Booking Angel) // Aug 12, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Megan is exactly right. Its the business model. If sites can focus on just giving the most relevant results to users and leave the monetization to some third party (like us, or adwords or pay per call ;-) then you have no bias against promoting one business over the next as the website earns the same amount of money…. A system where the best business for your needs is promoted to you and the business itself only pays for the leads generated. Its where the world is heading its just Sensis has no incentive to change. When your making $1 billion from charging small businesses a fixed monthly fee for a relatively unkown return on investment. Your not going to change unless someone forces you to. True Local has an opportunity with the resources of News behind it. Someone with some relatively deep pockets and balls has a big prize on offer if they go for it.
10 Ross Hill // Aug 27, 2008 at 3:32 am
Australia has plenty of businesses, and plenty of people searching for good businesses. You don’t need to have a database with every business in the country (yellow-pages style), you just need to have the best and worst in each category.
The business model is a good question - but I think there are a number of good teams working on that :) I’m certainly looking forward to getting something out there.
11 Mick // Sep 1, 2008 at 1:55 am
Ross, top 3 in each category in each town would probably be ok, but that’s still huge. I’m happy not to see the worst.
Why can’t there be a CPC model? I guess that is what Google is going for, but they struggle to fill it up still. Most small businesses in Australia are skeptical of CPC and they don’t have a good web presence.
I wonder if BookingAngel is looking to spread her wings into more general lead generation for small biz?
12 Meg // Sep 1, 2008 at 2:06 am
Mick,
In my experience, I’d venture to say most small businesses are blissfully ignorant of CPC and have no understanding of the meaning of “sponsored links”.
13 Mick // Sep 1, 2008 at 2:11 am
Yes, I agree Meg, but how do you get them to get onto a local search app or do you not need them?
Harder to monetise without them and hard to offer complete service without them.
Directories were too broad and too much competition.
Why hasn’t user driven directories - by voting - succeeded? Too fragmented?
14 Simon // Sep 1, 2008 at 2:17 am
Most small business people are pestered with 10 marketing opportunities a week. Most of them are swamped and just trying to stay one step ahead of the bank. They don’t have the time, space or mindset to come to grips with CPC. Let’s face it most large businesses with huge resources have not quite worked it out. Also most people are looking for incremental business and it’s hard to show CPC as incremental, we all know it probably is but it’s hard to prove. So most people keep doing what they are doing now.
15 Meg // Sep 1, 2008 at 2:27 am
Education - one by one, which is time consuming and resource intensive. Have to relate it to what they know - i.e. where do YOU go to look for XYZ. Selling the broader search engines rather than the specific & providing concrete examples. Remember, most of these people use a search box as an address bar…
As to voting… apathy and ignorance I suspect. High-end users really are a small subset of the community.
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