Hello again thehappycoupleco1-ga,
There is a tremendous amount of information available about Citysearch
and its competitors. It?s difficult to choose criteria for evaluation
because there are several ways to classify the players in this
industry. Initially, Citysearch and its competitors were simply
glorified online yellow pages type directories. As technology and
search capabilities increased a whole new category of local search
developed to help people find more detailed local information and to
enable businesses to advertise to very closely targeted markets. In
the past two years, there has been further development in city guides
offering reviews and recommendations and services that look more like
a social networking site.
How you will rank Citysearch among its competitors will depend a lot
on what category of business you think it is. Clearly it has a huge
segment of the city guide market and covers worldwide territory. It
provides both directory information and some reviews. It?s scope is
huge. The major competitors are the ever more aggressive local search
initiatives from Yahoo! Local and Google Local.
You also indicated that you?re interested in offering very focused and
personal recommendation to customers looking for local information.
Some of the newer social networking sites might better meet your needs
for this type of approach.
You can find the information about ?how one partners with them? by
following the links on the websites of all the companies I?ve
identified. Each company has a variety of advertising and partnership
offerings and you will need to evaluate these for yourself to see how
they compare against whatever criteria you?re using for choosing the
best website for your purposed.
I have collected a spectrum of resources for you to help you continue
your research in whatever direction is of greatest interest to you.
Please don?t hesitate to ask for clarification on anything I?ve
provided.
Wishing you well for your project.
~ czh ~
==================================
CITYSEARCH EVALUATIONS AND REPORTS
==================================
http://www.hoovers.com/citysearch/--ID__51052--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml
Citysearch - Overview
This online enterprise tracks down things to do all around town.
Citysearch is a leading provider of local entertainment and business
listings on the Internet, operating city-specific Web sites covering
more than 40 metropolitan areas across the US. In addition to
searchable listings, the sites offer a variety of reviews and guides
to help people find the best restaurants, night clubs, and other
attractions that their city has to offer. Citysearch also provides
local information on more than a dozen areas in Australia, Canada, and
Europe. It operates as a unit of Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp.
Top competitors of Citysearch
craigslist
Google
Yahoo!
Primary and secondary industries for Citysearch
Media
Internet Content Providers (primary)
=====
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/main?q=citysearch&url=http://www.citysearch.com/
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?&compare_sites=&y=t&q=&size=medium&range=&url=http://www.citysearch.com/
Site Stats for citysearch.com:
Traffic Rank for citysearch.com: 411 ( 141)
Other sites that link to this site: 4,030
=====
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7BC9422DA6-AAE8-4893-83C3-81304E06C0AB%7D
MarketWatch, May 16, 2006
Citysearch touts human relations
Commentary: Staying relevant as competition gets heated
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- With the emergence of popular social
networks and faddish user-generated city guides, or services like
Google Maps, one would think Internet pioneers like Citysearch would
be losing their audience.
Yet that's hardly the case. Citysearch, an Internet pioneer which
debuted in 1996, remains a great source for local information and
reviews, especially about restaurants and entertainment.
In April, Citysearch saw 11.2 million unique visitors, up 122% from a
year ago, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. The company also swung to
a profit in the first quarter, up from losing money in the year-ago
period, on sales that increased by 65%, according to Briggs Ferguson,
Citysearch CEO, who stopped by the MarketWatch studios Monday.
Citysearch served up 4.1 million search queries in March vs. 254,000
at Ask.com local, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. Also, based on
traffic figures, Citysearch traffic grew faster than Yahoo (YHOO , ,
) , which grew its audience base to its local site by 23% in the same
period.
"Citysearch has struggled to expand beyond its core restaurants and
entertainment categories," observed Greg Sterling, of the eponymous
local marketing research firm. "The going forward threats remain the
local products of search engines and the localization of social
networks that have massive usage, such as MySpace, the Facebook,
"directed" social network-cityguide hybrids like Yelp and even its
sister company Ask.com."
Ask.com is a search engine and not a content site, said Ferguson. At
Citysearch's core, it is a search and directory, but it adds layers of
editorial and user content -- like ratings and reviews -- that other
search engines don't.
Citysearch has about 100 employees in its editorial division who
create reviews. Additionally, Citysearch has about 130 to 150 ad
salesmen and is adding more. These ad salesmen educate local
advertisers on how to improve their local advertisements and on how to
optimize their ads to get noticed in the algorithmic listings.
Therefore, some of Citysearch customers show up on Ask.com's or other
search engines' algorithmic search listings. Citysearch's local
merchants also provide 1% of the sponsored listings that show up on
Ask.com.
=====================================================
COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE IN LOCAL DIRECTORIES AND SEARCH
=====================================================
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/local-online-marketing.htm
Local Search
Here are the major players in local search ? you can take the time to
set-up accounts with each. (Or find an easier way revealed below.)
Google Local - https://www.google.com/local/add/login?hl=en_US
Yahoo Local - http://listings.local.yahoo.com/
Super Pages - http://www.superpages.com/about/new_chg_listing.html
City Search - https://selfenroll.citysearch.com/
True Local - http://www.truelocal.com/getlisted.aspx
SwitchBoard - http://www.switchboard.com/cobrands/sb/help_yp.asp#YP31
YellowPages.com - http://www.yellowpages.com/sp/contact/update.jsp
Local.com - http://www.local.com/partner.htm
Insider Pages - http://www.insiderpages.com/
Judy?s Book - http://www.judysbook.com/merchant/
In each case you may have to complete a form and give out details such
as store hours, forms of payment and directions. Some of these sites
have premium paid listing some are free.
=====
http://www.alexaholic.com/yelp.com+judysbook.com+insiderpages.com+zagat.com
website traffic graphs comparing yelp.com, judysbook.com,
insiderpages.com and zagat.com
=====
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/15/technology/15ecom.html?ex=1281758400&en=dee5f6608e83def7&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
An IPod for Your Thoughts: A Web Site Offers Incentives to Reviewers
August 15, 2005
It may not be all that much of a gamble. Analysts say local online
advertising is on the verge of taking off. The Kelsey Group, a
consulting firm, projects that it will increase to $5.1 billion in
2009, from $1.05 billion this year.
While attracting merchants is the ultimate goal, persuading users to
share their thoughts with the world is the more immediate, and often
trickier, hurdle. Of the roughly five million plumbers, hairdressers
and restaurants clicked on in a given month on Citysearch, only about
a million have been reviewed or rated.
=====
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/05/business/yourmoney/05money.html?ex=1156910400&en=bc35e31a96958cf6&ei=5070
August 5, 2006
Let?s Say Your Toilet Backs Up. How Do You Find a Good Plumber?
Then came the epiphany. ?I thought, wouldn?t it be great if this
information resided on the Internet?? The next year he started his
version of that neighborhood stroll, Insider Pages
(www.insiderpages.com), a Web site of reader-written reviews of
service providers.
It is not a unique idea. Entrepreneurs have formed companies from A to
Z with the same goal. Angie?s List (www.angieslist.com), which got its
start as a phone-in service, developed a Web strategy in 1999. Intuit,
the maker of Quicken and TurboTax software, started Zipingo
(www.zipingo.com) last year.
The local search sites are trying to capture word-of-mouth wisdom,
catalog it and disseminate it online. Like a Friendster or MySpace,
they apply the social networking power of the Web, but they do
something a bit more useful than share the self portraits that
teenagers take in their bathroom mirrors. (Social networking is
dot-com-speak for, ?We get our users to supply our content free.?)
Each company is racing to expand to every major American city to get a
bigger piece of what is estimated to be a $92 billion market in local
advertising. Each has raised $6 million to $9.5 million in venture
capital financing to get there. Each of the sites is a glorified
version of Yellow Page listings.
=====
http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060516-143557
Citysearch: Act II
Posted by Greg Sterling on May. 16, 2006
Citysearch was the undisputed source of restaurant and local
entertainment information and one of the few sources of local reviews.
But times have definitely changed and it now competes with the local
products of the major search engines, including Yahoo! Local and
Google Maps, stand-alone sites like Local.com and Openlist, social
networking-directory hybrids such as InsiderPages, Judysbook and Yelp,
not to mention yellow pages and newspaper sites. And the competition
is getting more numerous seemingly by the week.
=====
http://www.telemapics.com/localexam.htm
A Breakdown of the Local Search Market
-- Type of Service
-- Description of Service
-- Examples of Service Providers
=====================================
CITISEARCH COMPETITORS -- CITY GUIDES
=====================================
http://cityguide.aol.com/
Are you ready to see what your city has to offer? Do you need a
vistor's guide for a city you've never seen? We'll help you search and
find local movie listings, restaurants, hotels, concert tickets,
personals and hot nightlife. Search has never been easier with AOL
CityGuide: Browse our city's best places to visit in your local area
or on vacation.
=====
http://www.marchex.com/press/20060808b.html
Marchex Launches More than 100 Enhanced Local and Travel-related Web Sites
SEATTLE, WA - August 8, 2006 Marchex, Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHX, MCHXP),
today announced that it has launched enhanced versions of more than
100 local and travel-related Web sites across its network of more than
200,000 Web sites. This list of 100 Web sites includes several of
Marchex's hotel and restaurant Web sites.
These Web sites feature integrations from Marchex's search technology
and content aggregation engine, Open List (www.openlist.com), and
include the following information and functionality: (i) an improved
user interface; (ii) category search capability; (iii)
multi-dimensional local search refinements based on personal
relevance; (iv) local mapping; (v) related Web site suggestions; (vi)
expert third-party reviews; (vii) user-generated reviews and the
ability for new users to post reviews; (viii) awards; (ix) comparison
hotel rate information; and (x) detailed descriptions and feature
summaries.
-----
http://www.openlist.com/
Whether you're looking for a local gem or about to travel afield, Open
List brings you the most comprehensive scoop on where to stay, where
to eat, and what to see and do.
=====
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/extraday/index.htm
USATODAY.com City Guides
Get USA TODAY's recommendations on what to do, where to eat, where to
stay, and more when you are visting a city on business ? and
considering spending an extra day enjoying it.
=====
http://www.wcities.com/
http://corporate.wcities.com/aboutus.html
Founded in 1998, Wcities is the world's premier location-based
information service provider with coverage that currently spans over
1900 cities and has operations in over 70 countries.
We deploy a globally scaleable, end-to-end technology platform which
allows us to compile, and aggregate location-based information and m-
& e-commerce services, package it with geo-coding, mapping, routing,
personalization features and third-party content, and optimize it for
distribution via multiple platforms and devices.
=====
http://www.yellowpages.com/guide/cityguides/
=====================================
CITISEARCH COMPETITORS ? LOCAL SEARCH
=====================================
http://local.yahoo.com/
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/index.php
http://www.ysearchblog.com/archives/000175.html
-----
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3527176
Yahoo! Local Trumps Google in Local Search
August 12, 2005
Yahoo local (local.yahoo.com) drew 4.4 times the number of visitors as
Google Local (local.google.com) in July 2005, according to a new
report from Hitwise.
Despite Yahoo Local's visitor dominance, Google local saw its market
share increase by 61 percent between February and July of 2005. During
the same period, Yahoo Local grew by only 14 percent.
Growth in the local search category continues as both Yahoo and
Google's respective map sites develop. In July, Hitwise reported 17
percent of Yahoo Local users accessed maps directly through Yahoo
Maps. Google Maps now holds the number three spot in the Hitwise
Travel Maps category.
-----
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3529381
Yahoo! Local Expands With City Pages and More User Reviews
September 21, 2005
Yahoo Local has expanded, with new city and neighborhood pages and an
increased display of maps and use of community reviews.
Yahoo features custom pages for major cities throughout the U.S., with
areas of those cities broken down into individual neighborhoods. In
addition, it covers all U.S. cities and offers information in various
ways.
-----
http://battellemedia.com/archives/001805.php
August 17, 2005
Yahoo Debuts New Rev of Local
Yahoo Local has been getting better and better of late, and today
Yahoo launched another rev of the service which I think comes close to
redefining the idea of local from that of a search based application
to that of a destination - no small feat, given all the mojo and
investment inherent in the "local search" terminology.
-----
http://www.ylocalblog.com/
Upcoming launches Undiscovered Events, Flickr Integration, and More
August 28th, 2006
The Upcoming, Flickr and Yahoo! Local teams have teamed up to launch a
ton of new features related to Yahoo!?s events offering today.
=====
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3591521
Targeting Local Audiences with Search, Part 3: Google Local
March 16, 2006
So far in this series, we've looked at the local search opportunities
for MSN and Yahoo. This week, we'll delve into Google's local
offerings.
-----
http://directmag.com/searchline/8-16-06-Google-Valpak/
Google Maps Makes a Deal for Bargains
Aug 16, 2006
In a move that underscores the link between online research and
offline shopping, Google will offer printable coupons for selected
searches on its Google Maps feature.
The first phase of the initiative will partner Google with Valpak
Direct Marketing Systems, a division of Cox Enterprises, and will
offer 20,000 coupons from current Valpak marketers, updated daily.
Valpak already offers printable coupons over its Web site as well as
via direct mail.
-----
http://localonliner.com/?cat=23
August 16th, 2006
Getting Paranoid About Google?s Move Into Coupons
There?s a little summertime hysteria going on about Google?s
progressive move to include local coupons in Google Maps. Jeff Jarvis
goes so far as to say ?this is a stake in the heart of local
newspapers,? whose only hope has been to go hyperlocal via targeted
promotions. Donna Bogatin, referencing an earlier post she did on
Google?s ecommerce payment system, says that ?Google has officially
launched its ecommerce payment service with a predatory pricing model
to lock in its advertisers, increase advertiser spend with Google and
attract new Google advertiser customers.?
Estimate: Google Pulls in $200 Million from ?Local?
Google doesn?t break out its revenue for local, but we can speculate.
Piper Jaffray has said that 10 percent of Google?s revenues are
attributable to ?geotargeting,? per Greg Sterling. Based on Q2
earnings of $2.46 billion, that would mean Google grossed about $240
million from local in Q2, up from $225 million in Q1.
=====
http://www.local.com/
What is Local.com?
Local.com is a next generation local-search engine. Local.com provides
over 16 million business listings as well as a broad selection of
content from websites that are geographically local to your search.
For example, search for 'porcelain veneers Irvine' and you'll not only
get a relevant list of local dentists nearby, you'll also see direct
links into the appropriate sections of their websites. Local.com is
more than just business listings. A search for 'romantic restaurants
Menlo Park' yields reviews of local restaurants by local websites, as
well as the contact information for the restaurants so you can easily
make a reservation for that special night out.
-----
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=149713
Local.com Announces Second Major Local Search Milestone
IRVINE, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- August 02, 2006 -- Interchange
Corporation (NASDAQ: INCX), owner of Local.com, a leading local-search
engine, today announced that it has reached 10 million unique visitors
to the site for the month of July.
"Today's news follows the recent announcement that Local.com reached
the critical milestone of a positive return on ad spend. This new
milestone puts us in position to increase our market share at no
additional cost to our bottom line," said Heath Clarke, Interchange
CEO. "Reaching this important second milestone visibly demonstrates
that we are increasing our market share during the third quarter."
Search traffic on Local.com generates revenues from a variety of
advertising, including banner, cost-per-click and cost-per-call.
According to comScore data for June 2006, Local.com ranked as #102 of
all US websites, and reached 5% of all US internet users. The company
expects that this recent increase in traffic will place Local.com in
the comScore top 100 US websites for the month of July.
=====
http://local.infospace.com/
Find it in your neighborhood!
Now finding things in your area is easy. Look up movies, restaurants,
businesses and more - by city, by neighborhood or even by using a
major landmark as your point of reference!
-----
http://www.infospaceinc.com/
InfoSpace is a leader in mobile entertainment, private-label search
and online directory. Our mission is to connect people everywhere
with the entertainment and information they desire ? both online
and on mobile devices.
===========================================
CITISEARCH COMPETITORS ? REVIEWS AND SEARCH
===========================================
http://www.insiderpages.com/
At InsiderPages.com people share reviews of local businesses and find
great services they can trust. We now have over 500,000 customer
reviews from across the U.S. and over one million people visit our
site each month to get the Insider scoop on local businesses. We are
also helping thousands of small businesses find new customers over the
Internet. We're a small company but we count some of the biggest names
on the Web as partners including Yahoo and Google.
-----
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3422451
Socially Networked Start-Ups Challenge Big Boys in Local Search
By Pamela Parker | October 15, 2004
Think Yahoo Local and Google Local are the only games in town? While
the big portals are attracting the majority of local search attention,
several start-ups with impressive pedigrees and innovative approaches
are angling for the local market, too.
Combatants include Seattle-based Judy's Book, which recently banked
$2.5 million in venture capital financing; and Insider Pages, an
idealab-incubated start-up based in Pasadena, Calif. Just this week
another player surfaced. Yelp! is a San Francisco-based start-up,
reportedly backed by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin. Other entrants
include the Boston-based local-i, focused thus far on compiling
restaurant reviews. All the players are in the earliest stages of
building their businesses, but competition is mounting.
-----
http://www.solutionwatch.com/258/insider-pages-yellow-pages-written-by-friends/
Insider Pages: Yellow Pages Written by Friends
Insider Pages is a new service that allows you to signup and join a
network of friends so you can easily swap reviews of businesses in you
and your friends area.
-----
http://localonliner.com/?p=25
Insider Pages Bets It All on Pay-Per-Call
October 19th, 2005
InsiderPages, IdeaLabs? women-oriented social network that collects
user-generated reviews for local businesses, says it now has
?thousands of pay-per-call advertisers? and ?is probably the biggest?
pay-per- call network.
=====
http://www.judysbook.com/
http://www.judysbook.com/about/#company
Judy's Book is an online community where people share valuable,
real-life information about the best and worst services and products
in their area.
-----
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judysbook.com
Judy?s Book is a Seattle based internet company and online community
that?s home to reviews of real-life information about all types of
local businesses and products. The content is user generated, creating
first-person opinions of local businesses. The site is a national
platform and home to active members and reviews in all 50 states.
-----
http://technorati.com/tags/JudysBook
33 posts tagged JudysBook
=====
http://localonliner.com/?p=167
Yelp Adds Mobile, Partners with Palm Treo
August 10th, 2006
Yelp, a social network/Yellow Pages hybrid, has launched a mobile
version for the Palm Treo as part of a broader marketing relationship
between the two companies. Terms are not being disclosed, but cash and
tech support have likely been provided in exchange for Yelp?s
?optimizing? for the Treo, and for advertising the Treo relationship
on the Yelp site, its weekly member newsletter and live member events.
-----
http://www.yelp.com/
Yelp is...
...the ultimate city guide that taps into the community's voice and
reveals honest and current insights on local businesses and services
on everything from martinis to mechanics.
...made of 100% user generated content. Just real people, writing real
reviews, and that's the real deal.
...a fun and engaging place for passionate and opinionated influencers
to share the experiences they've had with local businesses and
services.
-----
http://www.techcrunch.com/2005/10/12/yelps-local-reviews/
Company: Yelp
Launched: in Beta (since late 2004)
Location: San Francisco
Yelp is a website that allows users to write and share reviews of
local businesses. It also has social networking features (adding
friends, groups, etc.) to share reviews with a trust network. The idea
is that people generally trust their freinds? recommendations.
All of this user-generated content on local businesses, combined with
the Yelp search engine, also provides great inventory for Yelp to sell
local businesses contextual advertising.
-----
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yelp
Yelp is an internet company based in San Francisco, CA. Yelp hosts a
website database of user reviews, mainly of restaurants and stores,
but also of medical providers, automotive services, cultural venues,
professional services, other websites, and the like. Humorous entries
for subjects as diverse as ex-boyfriends, beer, squirrels,
sleepwalking, and tater tots can also be found. Yelp's success derives
from merging social networking with local reviews. Yelp also hosts
"elite" events at nightclubs and bars in San Francisco, New York,
Boston, and Chicago.
===============
SEARCH STRATEGY
===============
citysearch competitors
yahoo local
city guides
local entertainment OR restaurant guide OR search
entertainment OR restaurant guide OR reviews
local search |
