TELSTRA’S Yellow Pages division hopes to enhance its digital offering to small business advertisers by striking up an exclusive partnership with US-based online review company Yelp.
The tie-up between Telstra subsidiary Sensis and Yelp will accelerate the launch of the US group’s Yelp.com.au site in Australia, which is expected to go live before the end of the year.
The site relies on user reviews of businesses such as restaurants, hairdressers and dentists.
Sensis chief executive Bruce Akhurst said the companies were yet to release the full details of how the offering would work in terms of payments and pricing for advertisers, but it is thought clients would be given the opportunity to have their ads placed with both Yellow Pages and the new Yelp site.
“The idea behind this is that small businesses are looking for customers to come through their door, and the whole phenomenon of Yelp and what they’ve been doing is a rich source of leads and customers for small businesses,” Mr Akhurst said.
Yelp was founded by two former PayPal executives in San Francisco in 2004 and has since expanded its social networking-user review site to Europe.
Co-founder Jeremy Stoppelman said the Sensis partnership was the first time the company had chosen to team up with a directories service business for a new-country launch.
Mr Stoppelman said Yelp’s push into the Australian market would be accelerated because of its ability to mine the existing Yellow database, which already has extensive listings coverage of small businesses nationally.
The increase in the number of online searches for reviews of businesses was a key driver of the partnership, Mr Akhurst said.
“Buyers are no longer just looking in books or online for where to go, they’re looking in iPads and in all sorts of social media searches,” he said.
“Our studies show two-thirds of buyers now read online reviews before making a purchase decision, so when you see that sort of statistic you realise you need the capability to provide this service to small businesses.”
Users are encouraged to build a social network around Yelp. Business reviews can be commented on, and recommendations can also be made through links to other websites such as Facebook.
Websites such as TrueLocal already provide a similar service, and market insiders also note there are several popular review sites in categories such as restaurants and accommodation.
But Mr Stoppelman argues that Yelp is likely to steal the lead from its rivals.
“While there are other sites that look Yelp-like, once we get going we are a different animal and consumers will recognise the difference,” he said.
Tracy Lee – July 21, 2011 12:00AM
theaustralian.com.au/business/companies/yellow-pages-says-yes-to-yelp/story-fn91v9q3-1226098625503
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