E-marketing

classifed advertising

2006-10-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

My scrap book- classified advertising

2006-10-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

In our daily life, we can see many Classified ads on the newspaper. They are small-space, words only ads presented in a clearly labeled section with no surrounding editorial content. In the recent years, there has been an increase in classified display ads, which are ads in the classified section that include graphics and large sizes of type. There are used primarily by local business such as car dealers and real-ester firms. We can see the following picture about the car dealers display classified ads. But the traditional classified still focus on the local people. With the technology development, is there a way to create another channel for classified ads revenue over the long-term.
On-line classified advertising can consider potential growth in future. Compare with the traditional newspaper classified ads, there are some benefit for consumers.
Firstly Consumer can use keywords to search for only those ads pertinent to them marks online classified advertising can deliver far more than print classified ads.
Secondly compared to a page in a newspaper, a website provides far more space for photos and can offer multimedia enhancements, such as interactive video tours of homes. Further, the internet is global, unlike traditional classified advertising outlets, such as local newspapers.
Thirdly most of online classified advertising is free for consumers, traditional they are priced according to word count, generally run multiple times
Then discuss the business model of the on-line classified ads. As the new and growth business, many on-line classified ads are free, such as Google. Bases many company used this free promotion way, they want to pay attention for the advisers and enhance awareness. And most of them gain the revenue from plans to charge a subscription fee for power sellers and paid model for certain usage levels and for high-volume users in certain vertical markets. But now some newspaper classified ads give respond to free classified ads. I found one evidence from the local newspaper, this newspaper provide some space for free classified ads. I think on-line classified ads are larger space then it. the following article “Start-up Plans to Streamline Classified Ad Creation”, “As Google Base Builds, Local Advertisers and Vertical Sites Get on Board” and “ Now Serving More Free Classifieds” etc related to this business model.
Marketing mix, traditional newspaper off-line classified ads marketing combine with the on-line classified ads marketing. There are considers as the efficiently for the business. On-line newspaper is popular now. Some classified ads put on the on-line newspaper and off-line newspaper. “Online Newspaper Ads Spiked in Q1”, “Newspaper Self-Help Guide Aims to Shake up Old Habits” etc to support this argument.
Technology on the on-line classified ads, such as Microsoft offers windows live expo classified service will make paid display ads more accessible to free classified advertisers, on and offline classified player IPIX admission has rolled out and internet classified platform. “ A Richer Classified Ad Is Born” and” Microsoft Offers Paid Display Ad Upgrade to Free Classifieds will give the idea of the technology”.
Finally my scrap book also gives the article about the challenge of on-line classified ads and future opportunity.

Start-up Plans to Streamline Classified Ad Creation

2006-10-26T09:37:00.000-07:00

A small start-up in San Francisco is targeting sellers in its quest to find big profits in the booming online classified advertising market. The company will not compete with established players in the space, but will rather enable the posting of listings on numerous sites, with value-added services layered over the top.vFlyer, a self-funded company with a handful of employees, emerged from stealth mode Tuesday with a new service offering templates and a simplified interface for creating -- and posting -- virtual fliers on all the major classifieds listing services.“There are a lot of services targeting the buyer, a lot of established companies doing great things around searching and finding listings. But no one is paying attention to the seller. We want to be the seller’s best friend,” said vFlyer co-founder Oliver Muoto.In an interview with ClickZ News, Muoto said vFlyer will use a combination of paid subscriptions and advertising embedded in user-generated listings to generate revenue.The tools offered by vFlyer allow sellers to choose templates from 30 classified ad categories to create professional looking listings with attractive designs. The ads are automatically generated on landing pages hosted by vFlyer.vFlyer will handle the posting on all the major classified search engines and listing services, including eBay, Google Base, Oodle, Edgeio and Vast. It generates HTML code that can be embedded on services like Craigslist that only accept ads submitted by users.The listings come with a viral marketing component consisting of a strip across the top offering the ability to forward to a friend, save on a computer, or send to a printing service for bulk printing.Listings can also be used as an e-mail marketing solution for sellers. Muoto said the service can import e-mail addresses from a user’s address book and auto-send HTML mails to the entire list.vFlyer will offer a spell-checker, helpful hints during the ad-creation process, graphics that can be customized and a stats counter that keeps track of actual ad views on the third party listing services.“We’re not a classified ad marketplace. You won’t find ad listings on vFlyer. In many ways, we’re the un-marketplace,” Muotu said.The business model is two-fold, Muoto explained. The service is free today but the company plans to charge a subscription fee for power sellers. “We’ll have a paid model for certain usage levels and for high-volume users in certain vertical markets. For those users, we’ll provide enhanced services like custom galleries and the ability to use their own logo [on the virtual flyer],” he added.The company will also sell and embed contextual advertising from Google on the “contact reply form” that appears on every virtual flyer. Muoto said that visitors to that page are considered valuable “in market” eyeballs for businesses offering complementary services.“We won’t have competing ads there but if the flyer is selling a house, we can put a mortgage company’s ad there,” he explained. .Google separately introduced a "Store Connector" that allows merchants with a presence on eBay, Amazon or Yahoo to automatically export store information and product listings to Google Base.

source: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623590

By Ryan Naraine October 3, 2006

Start-up Plans to Streamline Classified Ad Creation

2006-10-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

source: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623590

By Ryan Naraine October 3, 2006

Microsoft Offers Paid Display Ad Upgrade to Free Classifieds

2006-10-26T09:14:00.000-07:00

Interactive banner advertising isn't exactly an option for most individuals trying to unload their old clunkers or the houses they've outgrown. A classified ad format now available to users of Microsoft's Windows Live Expo classifieds service will make paid display ads more accessible to free classifieds advertisers. The question remains, however, whether they'll be willing to pay for them.As announced today, classified ad technology firm AdMission will enable Live Expo's free classifieds advertisers to pay to have items featured in display ads. The advertisers won't get the whole ad to themselves, though. They'll have to share them with others selling similar car models or homes nearby; up to 10 listing images can be featured at once. AdMission's Spotlight ads, which are currently available in standard banner, leaderboard, skyscraper and wide skyscraper formats, feature thumbnail photos representing multiple listings. Users can scroll through the ads and expand the ad from each listing image to learn more information about a specific item and link directly to a full listings page."Microsoft is going to be the first big rollout of [the Spotlight ads]," said Leif Welch, VP of business development for AdMission. Welch describes the dynamic units as "a hybrid between a typical banner ad for one advertiser that is branding focused and one for multiple advertisers. Rather than being immediately directed to a Web page, you're presented with a qualifying step."The company provides its classifieds content collection and display technology to online newspapers, Web directories and classifieds sites including Cars.com, YellowPages.com, WashingtonPost.com, Apartments.com and The New York Times Company's Boston.com and NYTimes.com. AdMission was spun off from the now defunct IPIX Corporation, which had once provided image hosting services to eBay.Expo users will be able to upgrade their free listings to exhibit item photos in the Spotlight ads, which will be served on search results pages and homepages within related listings categories, according to Welch. Expo will most likely charge advertisers between $10 and $20 to include items in the Spotlight units for a four-week period, Welch suggested, adding "We let the publishers do the price point." Microsoft chose not to comment for this story."How these online classifieds sites are going to monetize has kind of been a challenge," observed Kelsey Group Senior Analyst Mike Boland. "One way is with a paid upgrade," he continued, alluding to the new Expo up-sell."The strategy makes a lot of sense for portals like MSN," opined Peter Krasilovsky, principal of local media consulting firm Krasilovsky Consulting. Still, he said, "I don't know whether it's going to be considered worth the premium." Krasilovsky believes advertisers should see value in having their listings highlighted in such a prominent manner on a big brand site like Live Expo. However, because Microsoft is competing directly with other free listings sites like Craigslist, he cautioned, the publisher "will really have to do a marketing job to convince advertisers that this is the way to go." In its initial Live Expo offering, the ads will be made available only to auto and real estate advertisers, according to AdMission. "They're going to gain more traction within those verticals," commented Kelsey Group's Boland. Real estate and auto advertisers, he said, "will be willing to spend more because those are the advertisers traditionally in newspaper classifieds they're already used to paying for." Also, selling to high volume, high-ticket item verticals such as these will help Microsoft gauge whether the offering could be successful for other advertisers who aren't used to paying often for ads. "This is something that will maybe allow [Microsoft] to tap into a different segment of advertisers that Expo doesn't appeal to now," added Boland. When users click to expand the Spotlight ads in Expo, they'll find larger photos and text. However, AdMission enables in-ad features Microsoft will not use in the Expo ads, such as send-to-a-friend, e-commerce and "make an offer" functionality, as well as PayPal integration. AdMission will target the ads based on context, keywords, geographic data, item descriptions and other information. Ad metrics including CTR and impressions can be tracked through the Windows Live platform.Those targeting and tracking capabilities will be especially important if, as AdMission's Welch hinted at, Microsoft eventually runs the ads outside of Live Expo in other areas of MSN. The site's Local search, Autos and Real Estate sections are obvious fits.

source: http://www.auctionwire.info/archives/4440-Microsoft-Offers-Paid-Display-Ad-Upgrade-to-Free-Classifieds.html

Yahoo Throws Down Classifieds Gauntlet with New Division

2006-10-26T08:54:00.000-07:00

As local search, online classifieds, and Web business directories continue what seems to be an inevitable merger, Yahoo has planted a stake firmly at the crossroads. The firm announced today a new classifieds and listings division and the appointment of newspaper industry veteran, Hilary Schneider, to steer the U.S. unit.In her role as SVP of Marketplaces, Schneider is charged with developing the division's classifieds and listings strategy, including introducing innovative ways to profit from Yahoo's various listings offerings. The Marketplaces unit will encompass the broad array of Yahoo's listings properties, including Autos, Classifieds, HotJobs, Personals, Real Estate, Shopping and Auctions, Travel, and Yellow Pages.Schneider most recently hails from now-defunct newspaper publisher Knight Ridder, where she co-managed operations and led its digital division as SVP. In the past, she held CEO positions at Red Herring Communications and Times Mirror Interactive. Schneider also served in multiple roles at The Baltimore Sun Company. Schneider starts her new job on September 18 in Sunnyvale, CA, reporting to Yahoo's EVP of Finance and Administration and CFO Susan Decker. Schneider's move from the newspaper business to the online heavyweight mirrors the overall progression of newspaper ad dollars from print to the Web, often towards non-newspaper sites like portals, search engines and job and real estate classifieds sites. Although the new division will surely affect internal operations at Yahoo, no changes to the newly-tethered classifieds and listings operations will be reflected on Yahoo's Web site, according to a Yahoo spokeswoman. "This won't change the consumer relationship," she said, adding that the Marketplaces unit will join the existing pieces of Yahoo's listings business "effective immediately." For now, Schneider will focus strictly on Yahoo's listings business in the U.S., according to the spokeswoman, who would not comment on future plans regarding the potential for an extension of the unit beyond the states."This is a big horse entering the race," commented Colby Atwood, president of local media research firm Borrell Associates, in regard to Yahoo's Marketplaces plans. "It's an ambitious agenda, but it makes sense," he continued. "Local online advertising is the final frontier for everybody."A recent report from Borrell showed local online banner ads and classified listings will account for 73 percent of online local ad dollars by 2007, dropping by nearly a quarter to 49 percent of local Web ads by 2010. "[Online listings] prices are being forced down by competition, so the amount of money that's actually being spent on those ads could go flat, or even go down, even though the amount of advertising goes up," explained Atwood.Yahoo in May forged an agreement with eBay by which Yahoo is serving ads and paid search results to eBay, and Yahoo search results will display more up-to-date eBay product listings. Although Yahoo's Shopping and Auctions listings business will be folded into the Marketplaces unit, another Yahoo spokesperson told ClickZ News, "This change has no effect on the eBay deal."

source: www.marketingvox.com/archives/2003/07/28

Real Estate Ad Shift Continues, But Web Adoption Is Mixed

2006-10-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

When the Newspaper Association of America feels the need to run an ad campaign promoting papers as "a destination, not a distraction," it may come as no surprise to learn that real estate agents are reducing their print newspaper spends, as was reported yesterday by Classified Intelligence. However, though they plan on boosting their online ad spending, many Internet ad options such as search, online newspaper sites and national realty listings aren't exactly wowing them."Real estate agents and real estate advertising are undergoing a very significant transition period, which is certainly not a surprise," observed Peter Zollman, founding principal of Classified Intelligence, publisher of the Real Estate Advertising 2006 report. "And when it comes out the other end," he continued, "online will be a substantial winner and daily newspaper print is going to be a significant loser."According to the study's findings, 19 percent of the 100 real estate agents surveyed online this June spent less than 20 percent of their total ad budgets on newspaper print ads, and 17 percent steered clear of print paper ads altogether. Although many said their overall ad spend will increase this year, money isn't simply shifting directly to the Web. Sixty-one percent of respondents did not buy into online newspapers at all. "Local newspaper Web sites, which in many cases have done a very good job of developing online tools, are not viewed very highly by the real estate agents," opined Zollman.Other online media may also leave something to be desired. The study found 69 percent of participants didn't spend on local niche publications online, and the same portion of participants kept dollars off national and regional Web services. Fifty-eight percent of respondents stayed away from local search ads, too."Many local advertisers still struggle with the search advertising component because it's still pretty complicated," Zollman noted. As for online options, 21 percent of respondents put 10 percent of their ad budgets towards local newspaper sites, and 12 percent spent 20 percent on local paper sites. Sixteen percent surveyed put 10 percent towards local niche Web publications; 5 percent spent 20 percent of their budgets on online niche publications. National and regional Web realtor services didn't fare much better: 17 percent allocated 10 percent of their ad dollars to sites like Move.com and Realtor.com, and 6 percent put 20 percent on such sites. Fourteen percent of realtor respondents put 10 percent of their overall ad spends towards local search advertising; 12 percent spent 20 percent on search.So, if 58 percent of real estate agents surveyed are raising ad budgets this year, where is the money going? Where they are spending the bulk of the money online, in fact, is on their Web sites. Twenty-six percent spent 10 percent and 29 percent spent 20 percent of their budgets there. Just 6 percent did not spend at all on their Web sites. Though they cost nothing monetarily, free classifieds sites like Craigslist and GoogleBase are attracting just 51 percent of realtors surveyed. "The free sites are free of charge, but they are not free of effort," stressed Zollman, noting the need to set up automated listings feeds, manually submit listings, and manage listings on free sites. The numbers show realtors are still spending in traditional marketing venues. Thirty-six percent of participants spent 10 percent of their ad budgets on print papers, 19 percent spent 20 percent there, and 8 percent put 40 percent of their dollars into print papers. Direct marketing and local niche print publications are also still garnering a relatively significant chunk of spending. However, tried-and-true yard signs, flyers and billboards still fare well compared to other media. 36 percent of respondents put 10 percent of their dollars in such places, and 28 percent placed 20 percent of their ad spends on flyers, signs and billboards.As report panelist Vince Malta, president of the California Association of Realtors, notes in the report, "I generally see that people are advertising a great deal through their signs and putting Internet links on their signs." Companies like Prudential Real Estate and Yahoo are hoping to benefit from this new trend. As announced Tuesday, Yahoo is promoting its real estate section offline through thousands of Prudential home sale yard signs featuring Yahoo branding and a property-specific searchable code that leads to a Web page featuring property details and photos.Real estate ad monies may not have moved online completely yet. Still, the report asserts, "Usually, sellers are also buyers – and better than three-fourths of U.S. home-seekers are using the Web. Realtors will eventually convince home sellers that they should advertise in the same places they are looking to find their next home.""[Realtors] understand the future is not where the past was," concluded Zollman.

source: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623309

Recent Deals Signal Classifieds Convergence

2006-10-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

Convergence is beginning to hit the newspaper classifieds world if two recent agreements are any indication. One between online classifieds site LiveDeal and e-commerce transaction firm AdStar will bring together LiveDeal's Web classifieds and local print classifieds, online and off. Another deal aligns Monster Worldwide's job classifieds site Monster.com with Philadelphia Media Holdings papers through a new co-branded Web destination.
The pair-up between LiveDeal and AdStar gives LiveDeal access to the 40-some print newspapers employing AdStar's classified ad transaction system. AdStar print partners include Advance Internet and Fairchild Publications NY papers, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Sun Times, The Washington Times, San Jose Mercury News, Boston Herald, Orlando Sentinel, and Denver Post.
Online classifieds advertisers will have the option of upgrading their listings by paying to include them in the classifieds sections of relevant local print papers. On the flipside, print classifieds advertisers will have the opportunity to publish their ads within LiveDeal's Web listings. After submitting LiveDeal listings, interested advertisers will be sent to AdStar's platform to purchase print ads in selected papers and customize them.
All LiveDeal online classifieds are free other than those advertising jobs and business services, which cost $9.95 per listing. Individual newspaper publishers will determine the cost of Web-to-print upgrades, according to LiveDeal CEO Rajesh Navar.
The newspaper industry is feeling the tightening grip of free Web classifieds services; the LiveDeal arrangement with AdStar represents a potential for cooperation among print newspaper publishers and the online classifieds outfits threatening to eat their ad revenue supper.
The classifieds site's deal with AdStar acts as "a bridge that needs to be built between the online and offline world," suggested Navar. He doesn't think AdStar's newspaper clients will face a tough decision when it comes to implementing the LiveDeal classifieds option. "From online to print, it's just extra money, so I don't think it will be an issue," he explained.
LiveDeal already has an arrangement in place with Canada's Torstar Corporation to distribute free local listings to Web versions of The Toronto Star, The Hamilton Spectator, The Record and The Guelph Mercury. The online classifieds firm gets 50 percent of its revenue from ad placements on its site; the other half comes from pay-per-lead services sold to advertisers and other listings enhancements.
Another Web classifieds beast whose shadow has loomed over the traditional newspaper jobs classifieds market, Monster.com, Tuesday announced an agreement with Philadelphia Media Holdings, the new owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and philly.com. Starting August 14, the two firms will launch a co-branded job search and recruitment site, allowing access to Monster's resume database, as well as online and offline recruitment services to employers in the large Philadelphia metro area. Until now, Philly.com's job classifieds were powered by Monster rival CareerBuilder.
In April, The Washington Post Company launched its D.C.-metro area site, Express, which licenses Oodle's technology to run free and paid classifieds. Oodle also licenses its technology to Lycos and Backpage.com, a free classifieds service run by Village Voice Media.
A recently-published white paper from local media research firm The Kelsey Group reinforces the notion that tides are shifting from classifieds competition to the convergence of various forms of online and print ads. The "Newspapers 2.0, Part 3: Changing Directions in Newspaper Advertising" paper observes that publishers are starting to see Web classifieds products, as well as performance-based advertising and Yellow Pages ads as offerings that can provide supplementary ad revenue and attract a new segment of advertisers. The Kelsey Group suggests newspaper publishers now have the opportunity "to converge classified, display and performance-based advertising with Yellow Pages advertising. To do so, newspapers must develop better search technology to index and serve combined local and national news, classifieds, and Yellow Pages results."

source: www.kelseygroup.com/news/2006

on line newspaper ads combine with off line newspaper ads

2006-10-26T08:18:00.000-07:00

this is a newspaper picture. it showed that one on-line newspaper webiste http://news.com.au/heraldsun. the classfied ads can also put in this on-line newspaper . this is marketing mix for on-line and off-line. The fact that online newspaper readership is growing may be convincing advertisers to put more money into Web newspaper ads, too.

now Autos, jobs and real estate advertisers, the bread and butter of newspaper classifieds, are putting more money into online classifieds sites and other Web venues.

other related source:

"Online Classifieds: A Fresh Look, Part 2",http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3611141

'Newspaper Self-Help Guide Aims to Shake Up Old Habits',http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623569

Online Newspaper Ads Spiked in Q1

2006-10-26T08:13:00.000-07:00

Online newspaper ad spending rocketed up nearly 35 percent to more than $613 million in Q1 2006 compared to Q1 of last year, according to a new Newspaper Association of America (NAA) report. Though other print ad categories dropped, print classified advertising rose 4.7 percent, led by a big boost in real estate classified spending. In all, print paper ads were up 0.3 percent to $10.5 billion.
"Newspapers are beginning to establish separate value for their online ads," commented Peter Krasilovsky, principal of local media consulting firm Krasilovsky Consulting. "That accounts for some new dollars coming into the stream." Until recently, many newspaper publishers provided Web advertising as value-adds, meaning they were given as a free bonus along with purchase of print ads.
Despite struggles to compete as local advertisers put money once spent on print newspaper ads into search engine marketing and other online ad opportunities, total print and online ad spending on newspapers during the 1st quarter was up slightly by 1.8 percent to $11.1 billion over Q1 2005.
Autos, jobs and real estate advertisers, the bread and butter of newspaper classifieds, are putting more money into online classifieds sites and other Web venues. The report shows that auto advertisers spent 14.5 percent less in print in Q1 '06 than Q1 '05, shelling out $940 million. Real estate advertisers, however, drove a good deal of print classifieds, spending $1.1 billion, or over 26 percent more than in the first quarter of 2005.
Real estate advertisers continue to place print classifieds because "real estate agents like to have total market coverage," observed Deanna Lewis, sales manager for Suburban Online Network, a division of non-profit trade association Suburban Newspapers of America.
As the real estate market softens from its recent boom, Krasilovsky noted, "Now real estate agents are much more eager to push every button they can." He suggested that at the height of the boom, real estate agents didn't need to do as much classifieds advertising since demand was so high.
The fact that online newspaper readership is growing may be convincing advertisers to put more money into Web newspaper ads, too. An April report from the NAA found that unique visitors to newspaper sites rose 21 percent last year.

source: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3611141

By Kate Kaye June 5, 2006

As Google Base Builds, Local Advertisers and Vertical Sites Get on Board

2006-10-26T08:05:00.000-07:00

Matthew Scherg used to post job ads on Monster.com, but the leads were lacking and the price became too high for SITE Staffing, his Wisconsin-based job placement firm. On Monday, the skilled staffing coordinator began posting free ads on Google Base in hope of finding candidates to fill roles as manual lathe machinists and sheet metal fabricators.
Scherg knows the Google name, and uses the site for Web searches, so "it just made sense as something to try out," he explained. Scherg figures he'll post anywhere from 30 to 50 jobs on the new free local classifieds site in the next month, and go back daily to update his listings.
Sherg is just one of many advertisers testing the performance of Google Base, the search company's free structured data entry system that has the potential to challenge online classifieds players. As Google works to drive more traffic to Google Base listings, just last week beginning to feature them more prominently on Google.com search results pages, ClickZ sought out advertisers to learn their reasons for trying Google Base, and determine how it is performing thus far.
Cadillac and Saab of Greenwich, Connecticut yesterday placed its first car listings on Google Base. The car dealer also posts listings on Cars.com, which "is not producing that much" in the way of leads, according to a company spokesperson. (It's bringing in about 5 or 6 leads per month). So, the luxury vehicle seller decided to see what other online ad options were available and turned to Google Base. The dealer believes free listings service Craigslist is unfamiliar to its older target market, but believes Google is "a little bit more broad. I think more people would know more about [Google Base] than Craigslist."
Gary Malin, COO of Manhattan residential real estate brokerage Citi Habitats, says the company has been posting listings to Google Base since late February and uploads its listings in bulk to the system. "I have not taken money away from my standard advertising at this point [because of either Craigslist or Google Base]," said Malin. Citi Habitats also buys classifieds in both The New York Times print and online editions, and has a staffer dedicated to search engine optimization. The broker has placed more than 3,400 of the 680,000+ listings in the Google Base housing category. Google Base includes The New York Times classifieds in its listings index.
"I don't see [Google Base] as a threat," commented Terri Sutryk, Web developer at ABetterWay.com, a free real estate listings site that derives ad revenue from local contractor listings. In fact, Google Base has helped drive an average of 700 to 800 unique visitors each day to ABetterWay.com, she said. The company has featured 1,900 listings on average on Google Base for the past three months, and uploads listings in bulk each day to the system. "Technology is bringing the buyer, seller and real estate professional together whether Google's involved or not," opined Sutryk.
Google is certainly not the first company to venture into the free online classifieds business. However, the fact that the Google brand is so well known and synonymous with finding anything online positions Google Base as a strong contender in the local search and classifieds business.
"Now I believe more of the smaller [real estate] firms and even the agents are going to quickly become aware of Google Base," predicted Peter Conti, VP at local advertising research firm Borrell Associates Inc.
But some question whether Google has mastered the subtleties of the classified search space, which is very different from the more generalized search in which the company specializes. For one thing, information in real estate, job and merchandise listings can go stale rapidly. "Vertical search is date stamped...it's not a persistent Web page," stressed Paul Forster, CEO of classifieds search company Indeed. "It's not as if [Google] can just simply map what they have already into the vertical areas." Indeed is not feeding listings into the Google Base system.
Mitch Golub, CEO of Cars.com, is concerned that free sites like Google Base allow fraud to proliferate. "Free sites are a haven for fraud and the fraudsters have attacked used cars as much as any other area that we know of," he commented, adding that shysters have been known to post free listings just to get people to send deposits to phony accounts. But Cars.com isn't shunning Google Base entirely. It's experimenting by sending its vehicle listings feeds to the service.
Other vertical listing sites like CareerBuilder.com and free event listing service MollyGuard feed listings to Google Base, too. Golub believes that his site provides more robust services to car sellers and buyers, and reaches buyers in a more advanced buying stage than a free classifieds site might. He anticipates that, like Craigslist, Google Base will begin charging for some listings as it builds up an audience.
If Google Base drives the right results, SITE Staffing's Scherg would continue placing job ads on the site even if he had to pay, "I'd have no reason not to," he concluded.
In a world where classifieds advertisers have the upper hand, results may just be the key. Craig Donato, CEO of classifieds search firm Oodle, likened the changes in classifieds to the transition from pay-for-publish to pay-for-performance in the online ad space. "We can see a similar sort of rebirth with online classifieds," he observed. How Google Base will stack up in terms of performance remains to be seen.

source: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3598386

By Kate Kaye April 12, 2006

Vast.com and Its Ilk Please Some, Annoy Others

2006-10-26T07:46:00.000-07:00

Vast.com may be the latest classified ad aggregator to hit the market, but the service is raising some familiar concerns.
Like its competitors, the firm insists it is simply scouring the Web for relevant information based on user queries and driving traffic to that content, just like search engines. However, when required site registration is bypassed, server speeds slackened, and unqualified traffic delivered, classifieds publishers get miffed.
"This is called stealing content…there's no advantage to me to have them steal," commented Laurel Touby, founder and CEO of media industry site mediabistro.com, upon learning that Vast.com had linked from its search results to full mediabistro.com job listings pages, even though those pages require registration when accessed on the mediabistro.com site.
Vast.com CEO Naval Ravikant said Vast.com's crawlers do not automatically register or login to sites, so they must have found passage through the mediabistro.com system via a legitimate entryway.
Others are raising questions of resources.
"Right now we're not thrilled with the impact [Vast.com] is having on our services," stated Mitch Golub, president of online auto classified publisher Cars.com. Vast.com's crawlers "are taxing our server," he explained, noting that as the Vast.com makes contact with Cars.com's server to grab listings, they slow it down, which affects the site's user experience.
Craigslist last year raised similar issues about Oodle, which lists classifieds in a variety of categories including Real Estate, Services, Jobs and Pets. The aggregator complied craigslist's request to stop crawling its server for classifieds. Vast.com currently features listings derived from craigslist in its results pages.
Vast.com, which launched last week, currently sifts through 40,000 sites to track down job, auto and personal classifieds. "We really are crawling the Web," explained Ravikant. "We're not vertical specific….We're trying to build a much more structured search than what's out there today."
Ravikant said the company does not intend for Vast.com to be a destination site per se, but rather a means of getting to classifieds on other sites. The firm offers anyone and everyone the ability to place a Vast.com search engine on their own sites, which would allow visitors to those distributor sites to search Vast.com's classifieds. Results would appear on the distributor sites. Jobs classifieds aggregator Indeed offers a similar distribution option to sites.
Additional classifieds categories will be made available in the future through Vast.com. At least six months down the road, the firm plans to sell prioritized listings to classifieds advertisers, "very similar to Google's AdWords," according to Ravikant. Vast.com site partners would get a portion of that revenue, he said.
Indeed already sells sponsored text links similar to Google AdWords ads, while classifieds search site Oodle runs actual Google AdWords ads alongside classifieds it gathers from across the Web.
Paul Forester, CEO and co-founder of Indeed, which boasts The New York Times Company as a member of its board, said that no publishers have requested that Indeed discontinue crawling their sites. "Every day we get emails and contacts of publishers of jobs that want to be included [in Indeed's listings]," commented Forester. The company provides aggregated job classifieds to NYTimes.com to supplement the publisher's own classified ads, and delivers all classifieds in About.com's job search.
Vast.com is "not in competition" with online newspaper classifieds, stressed Ravikant. In fact, he noted with surprise, "The people who have been most responsive positively are the newspapers." The way he sees it, the true threat to the newspaper classifieds business comes from sites like Google Base and craigslist. Both allow users to post classified-style listings in some or all categories for free.
There's no doubt that many classifieds publishers appreciate the traffic boost delivered from aggregator and search site. Still, Cars.com's Golub says it's not always such a big boost. Although the site provides feeds to aggregator sites, he commented that Cars.com gets less than 1 percent of its traffic from all aggregator sites combined. Listings are "only part of the process" when it comes to selling cars online, he added. Many sites like Cars.com facilitate connections between car buyers and dealers looking for sales leads.
Some classifieds publishers simply aren't interested in any extra, possibly un-qualified traffic. Take mediabistro.com's Touby. She believes that by expressing knowledge of mediabistro.com by visiting it, those who frequent the site indicate they are more qualified than people who may stumble upon it randomly through listings on Vast.com and similar sites. "It dilutes the quality of the candidates," she insisted.

source: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3593976

By Kate Kaye March 24, 2006

Unused Potential in Online Classified Ads

2006-10-26T07:39:00.000-07:00

Dramatic gaps exist between the classified offerings of large newspaper publishers, smaller publishers and online-only players, suggesting that newspapers are missing the opportunity to use audio, video and other technologies. That's the conclusion of a new study conducted at the University of Missouri's graduate school of journalism.
The research paper, "Interactivity and Vividness in U.S. Newspapers' Online Classified Ads," was written by graduate student Sarah Farebrother and assistant professor of journalism Shelly Rodgers. Farebrother evaluated the automotive, employment and real estate classifieds at 24 online newspapers of various sizes, examining their interactive and rich media features.
The study states that while many newspapers have increased interactive and rich media features on their sites, "they appear to have gone after the low-hanging fruit, those features easiest to add," Farebrother wrote. None of the newspapers studied use audio clips; video clips are deployed by only 4.2 percent; audio/video clips are available on just 8.3 percent of sites, and an IM chat feature can be found on just 2.8 percent of newspaper classified sites. E-mail notification is another feature popular with online-only sites, yet missing from the majority of newspaper publishers.
When rich media was used in newspapers' classifieds ads, it most often was in the real estate vertical. Three newspapers used advanced technologies for virtual tours, while another used rich media to highlight a local real estate agent. Two publishers included audio slide shows, in which photos of homes were accompanied by audio descriptions.
Though some hoped the Internet would reduce the cost barrier for large and small publishers to compete with each other, making the medium a "great equalizer," this is not happening, the study suggests. Photos, animation, search functionality, and email or Web-based forms are often deployed on the verticals of larger papers.
The study notes the online newspapers must deal with constraints that aren't faced by online-only classified sites. Newspapers rely on formats established by print editions, and need additional technologies to facilitate the publishing of both print and online versions.

source: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3555941

By Enid Burns October 13, 2005

Now Serving More Free Classifieds

2006-10-26T07:21:00.001-07:00

Knight Ridder Digital has lifted fees for ads placed in its online classified section for merchandise-category goods in 22 of its 27 online markets. The company is betting that giving away some listings will allow it to make money in other categories.
The merchandise category includes items like appliances, music and sports and fitness gear. Previously, users placing classifieds to sell merchandise over $200 had to pay fees. Other sections, including automobiles, real estate and help wanted, are still paid placements.
The play by the online publisher is not the first of its kind. The Tribune Company began offering free classifieds in six markets in May. The moves come as newspapers' online sites have struggled under pressure from free listings sites like Craigslist, forcing them to scramble for solutions that allow them to maintain revenue. Knight Ridder Digital is betting that it can make more money by offering some listings for free.
"By creating this rich and robust marketplace driven by free categories, it provides critical mass that drives users to come back when they need to place a fee-based ad," Tom Mohr, president of Knight Ridder Digital told ClickZ News. "We feel confident that it will create the revenue stream we are looking for."
Though most advertisers in this category are one-time buyers, Mohr believes offering free classifieds will help it build more revenues in the long run. Classifieds bring traffic to the site; they also establish a relationship that might pay off down the line. Someone who placed an ad to sell merchandise in the past may come back to place a paid ad when they are selling a house or looking to fill a position in their office.
The free ads are only available on 22 of the 27 digital markets including the sites for the Detroit Free Press, the San Jose Mercury News, and the Charlotte Observer.

source: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3508956

By Enid Burns June 1, 2005

A Richer Classified Ad Is Born

2006-10-26T07:21:00.000-07:00

On- and offline classifieds player IPIX AdMission has rolled out an Internet classifieds platform that, if successful, will let businesses place rich ads on regional newspaper Web sites.
AdMission Classifieds is a template-based tool allowing easy creation of graphics-enhanced listings, a first for a bundled newspaper platform. Finished ads contain multiple tabs. They can include contact information, coupons and directions to a store or business. Searchers need not click away from the results page to learn more about an advertiser.
"Consumers are moving online rapidly, but there's a gap when it comes to [marketing] local goods and services," said Sarah Pate, general manager of IPIX AdMission. "This is for local advertisers to create compelling, relevant ads that connect to consumers."
Local small businesses are able to create and place ads using an online self-service module, although IPIX said the more common scenario will be advertisers processing their listings via phone with newspaper staff. The AdMission platform can compress and upload images on the fly.
Initial publishers to sign on include The Seattle Times, The LA Times, The Austin American Statesman, The Atlanta Journal Constitution and others. In the coming week, the company said it will announce further publisher partners.
In addition to a publisher's sponsored listings, which appear at the top of relevant classified search results pages, the AdMission platform provides business listings from Interchange's local business database. When a user conducts a search on a newspaper's Web site, the Interchange results appear below direct sponsored listings and are targeted according to a number of factors, including population density. (The more crowded the region, the smaller the geographical radius results are pulled from.)
By combining direct sponsored listings with courtesy listings from Interchange, IPIX brings a more robust set of search results than searchers would find were newspapers to carry only the paid listings they sold directly. Interchange last month struck a deal with YellowPages.com to offer PPC local advertising via its Local Direct search platform.
AdMission Classifieds uses a subscription-based pricing model. IPIX said the goal is to turn it into a fixed-price PPC system and eventually introduce keyword bidding.
Next month, IPIX will roll out another platform in its AdMission line. Called AdMission Directories, it will use similar templates to target yellow pages and other directory publishers.

source: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3367421

By Zachary Rodgers June 14, 2004

Study: Classifieds to Drive Internet Ad Growth

2006-10-26T06:15:00.000-07:00

Online classifieds might not be the most glamorous segment of Internet advertising, but the sector is poised to be one of the engines of growth in a rebounding market, according to a new study by Jupiter Media Metrix .
According to the New York-based researcher, spending on online classified advertising grew 38 percent from 2001, rising to $1.2 billion this year. By 2007, that figure will almost double to $2.3 billion -- making it the Web ad industry's fastest-growing segment.
Jupiter attributes much of this growth to marketers' increasing shift of offline ad dollars to the Internet -- as illustrated by the 15 percent drop in traditional classified spending from 2001 to 2002.
"Although 2001 was a transitional year for online advertising, the fundamental value remains clear," said Jupiter Research Senior Analyst Marissa Gluck. "Online advertising is a strong impetus of consumer action -- including increasing traffic and sales, inspiring loyalty and promoting referrals."
Overall, Jupiter predicts that the U.S. online ad market will to grow from $6.2 billion in 2002 to $15.9 billion in 2007, a compound annual growth rate of 21 percent. In 2007, online ad spending will represent about 7 percent of total U.S. ad spending, up significantly from the approximately 2 percent market share it currently enjoys.
The firm said that trend would be driven by growth in the online population -- especially broadband users -- as well as improvement in the economic environment.
While Jupiter also expects average impression-based ad prices will drop between 2001 and 2002 -- from $2.60 to $2.50 per thousand impressions -- analysts believe media consolidation and larger-format ads will drive prices back up. Faced with decreasing amounts of online inventory, media buyers can expect average CPMs to reach $4.18 by 2007, the firm said.
"Although spending on online advertising was virtually flat between 2000 and 2001, it is faring slightly better than offline," Gluck said. "In fact, only cable fared better than the Internet, which actually bodes well for the Web as it increasingly adopts the niche-orientation of cable TV."
As with most attempts to calculate and predict industry-wide revenue, Jupiter's figures doesn't match other researchers' findings. In their most recent findings, PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Interactive Advertising Bureau, for example, found that classified ads grew from 4 percent of the industry's 2000 revenue ($184 million) to 10 percent (or $820 million) of 2001 spending.
Despite differences in precise figures, the overall trend of growth in online classifieds -- especially as compared to the decline in ad spending for the Web ad industry at large -- illustrates the rationale behind the recent showdown between TMP Worldwide's Monster and Yahoo over recruitment site HotJobs.com, and its employment classifieds.
In addition to beating out Monster for HotJobs -- which helped to diversify its sources of ad revenue beyond the usual online media types -- Yahoo also has taken steps in recent months to beef up other areas of its classified advertising. Last week, for instance, the firm added new ad payment plans and enhancements to its Yahoo Autos site.

source: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=1025461

By Christopher Saunders April 30, 2002

other related article: "Classifieds to Drive Internet Ad Growth", http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=1026021

AdOne Leverages Classified Advertising Content

2006-10-26T05:58:00.000-07:00

You've got a decent online classifieds business, with cheap and searchable help wanted ads, personals, apartments, etc. But with all that content, is there a way to create another channel for usership and revenue over the long-term -- especially in a crowded online advertising market? That was the dilemma facing AdOne, a mature Silicon Alley start-up that long ago cut a niche in the digital classifieds business.
Today, AdOne released its answer that question -- Abracat, a national service that creates a locally-based "to do" list for consumers, and then provides answers to daily tasks via AdOne's database of 13 million local classified listings. Users enter their zip codes, and then select from a list of tasks -- finding a pet, buying a car, find a mate, take a vacation etc. And they're quickly served a list of classified ads from their regions.
"Abracat is all about local, convenient, reliable one-click access to the information everyone inevitably needs regarding cars, careers, business opportunities, homes, and everything in between," said AdOne Chief Executive Officer Brendan Burns.
Basically, the service gives AdOne clients -- most of which come to the company through relationships with large and medium-sized newspapers -- an extra bang for their bucks. And it gives AdOne more access to traffic; the service seems built to easily export to other sites via an ASP solutions. Already, CBS Switchboard.com, Lycos, and USA Magazine have signed on to use the system. It's also aimed at getting into the Yellow Pages market, by offering local listings to doctors, lawyers, churches etc. And it gives AdOne another shot at building a national brand, something it's had mixed success in doing.
AdOne was founded way back in 1995, and has partnered with 700 newspapers. Indeed, the company is majority-owned by a consortium of 11 print media companies, including Hearst and Scripps. It runs the popular ClassifiedWarehouse.com site.